Charlotte Knights Tickets

The Charlotte Knights are a minor league baseball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The team, which plays in the International League, is the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox major-league club. The Knights Charlotte Knights Tickets currently play in Knights Stadium, located in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners have begun pursuing a new downtown Charlotte Knights Tickets stadium for the AAA Charlotte Knights.

The Knights were created as the Charlotte O's in 1976. At that time, they were the AA affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles and played in the Southern League. The creation of the O's followed a 4-year absence of minor-league baseball in Charlotte. Charlotte had been a single A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins Charlotte Knights Tickets from the 1940s until 1972.Eventual major-league superstars Eddie Murray, 1976, Cal Ripken, Jr, 1980, and Curt Schilling (mid-1980s) played for the O's. Eventual major-league All-Star Eddie Murray was the O's original first-baseman. The O's were owned by the Crockett family, who had made their fortune in professional wrestling. In Charlotte Knights Tickets fact, wrestling announcer Tony Schiavone actually started out his career as the announcer for the O's (and after leaving wrestling, has been affiliated with the Atlanta Braves), and through the Crockett family entered the wrestling business. The team originally played in Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Park, Charlotte Knights Tickets (formerly Griffith Stadium during the Twins affiliate era, named for the Twins owner Calvin Griffith) commonly referred to as Crockett Park. In the late 1980s, the stadium Charlotte Knights Tickets (mostly wood-framed) was destroyed by a massive fire after a high school baseball game. The Crockett family built a temporary grandstand on the same site for the 1988 season In 1989, George Shinn (who would later own the New Orleans Hornets NBA team) bought the team from the Crockett family. In 1989, the team was renamed the Knights and was Charlotte Knights Tickets now the AA affiliate of the Chicago Cubs.

The team moved to suburban Fort Mill, SC, when Knights Stadium opened in 1990, located just off Interstate 77, next to the practice facility of Shinn's NBA team. (The arena next to Knights Stadium was renamed RLJ Arena in 2002, and became the Bobcats Training Center in 2004.) In 1991, Charlotte was awarded an International League franchise. They would become the AAA affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. Their first year in the International League was in 1993; that team included current major-league stars Jim Thome and Manny Ramírez. For the 1996-1997 seasons, the Knights were the AAA affiliate of the Florida Marlins. Before the 1998 season, George Shinn sold the Knights to N.C. businessman Don Beaver, who negotiated a AAA affiliation agreement with the Chicago White Sox. Notable former Knights under the White Sox affiliation include current White Sox pitcher Jon Garland and White Sox position player Joe Crede. Charlotte Knights Tickets This agreement has recently been extended to ensure that professsional baseball will remain in the Charlotte area for many years to come.

Recently, the Charlotte City Council and Mecklenburg County Commission approved a land-swap agreement which, barring potential legal action, will permit construction of a new AAA-sized minor league stadium in downtown Charlotte. If built, it will be located near Bank of America Stadium, home of the Carolina Panthers. It is hoped that this move will increase attandance to games by bringing the team Charlotte Knights Tickets back to its original city home.