Hometown Baseball in our NEW Hometown.

BY: MATTHEW PRESLAR

The plan for the future was to one day settle in a small town that was home to minor league baseball. The setting would need to be one that fit our personality: a smaller town in a growing area and preferably a new stadium that would indicate a stable baseball market. In our years of ballpark visits we saw many areas to help us build a template.

Under normal circumstances our world would not have had a 2020. Everything would have remained as planned and our schedule for this new life would be in seven to ten years. The children would be through with high school and hopefully much less on the payroll. Rebecca and I would still be young enough to enjoy a fresh start. We talked often of where we might be in ten years. 

​BUT LIFE HAPPENS AND YOU STILL HAVE TO MAKE YOUR WAY!

Even in the wake of the unusual, we need to see inconveniences as opportunities. Income changes, work schedule changes, and habit changes aren’t always negative, just different opportunities. 

Amidst the medical uncertainty and political turmoil, somehow the real estate market was doing very well. We learned we could make an outstanding profit on our house so we decided our future may be NOW. We began to research selling our home in Union County, NC and exploring the idea of finding that small town minor league market.

To our surprise, we didn’t have to look very far! Just an hour away from our Union County home is Kannapolis, North Carolina. While we have been to baseball games in Kannapolis, this small town hadn’t been on our radar until 2020. 

The organization rebranded to the Cannon Ballers and built a beautiful new stadium, Atrium Health Ballpark. While still residing at our home an hour away, we bought into Kannapolis baseball and became season ticket holders for what would have been a ONE HOUR drive for that many ball games... WHAT WE WERE THINKING???

2020 happened resulting in several job difficulties. Problem? No, opportunity! Our future plan presented itself NOW, but could Kannapolis check all our boxes? New stadium indicating baseball stability, CHECK! Growing area which makes owning real estate a great investment, CHECK! A wife and children that never ask why, but why not? CHECK! 

Finally... here we are, on the morning of opening day, May 4th (please keep your Star Wars jokes). We own a beautiful home less than ten minutes away from Atrium Health Ballpark. We have great neighbors and love everything about life at the moment.

Even though not “K Town” by birth, we are the new generation that will make this town a great place to live!