Charlotte Hornets (baseball)

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The Charlotte Hornets were a minor league baseball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The club was originally founded in 1901, and lasted in some form until 1973, capturing 11 league titles during its history. From 1937-42 and 1946-72, the Hornets were a farm system affiliate of the original Washington Senators franchise and its post-1960 successor, the Minnesota Twins.

The Hornets bounced around among several different minor leagues, as was typical for that era. This included the North Carolina League, the original South Atlantic League, the Piedmont League, the Tri-State League, and finally back to the South Atlantic League and its modern successor, the Southern League. At various times, they won championships in each of those leagues.

In 1940, the club opened a new ballpark, called Calvin Griffith Park (later renamed Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Park), somewhere on Magnolia Avenue. That park would remain the home of the Charlotte ball clubs for 45 years, until it was destroyed by arson.

After a two-year hiatus from professional baseball, a new Charlotte club was formed in 1976, currently called the Charlotte Knights. The new club continued to play at the redubbed Crockett Park until a deliberately-set fire consumed the wooden structure on March 17, 1985.

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