GASTONIA, N.C. — As Brandon Bellamy addressed the crowd on Thursday at the grand opening of FUSE Ballpark in Gastonia, he had a lot on his mind. Bellamy, the owner of the Gastonia Honey Hunters, thanked city leaders and his team for making the project possible. He tried to energize the crowd. And as his speech wound down, he quoted Jackie Robinson 74 years to the day after the sports legend broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier.
“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives,” Bellamy read.
Bellamy is a trailblazer in professional baseball in his own right. He is the only Black majority owner of a professional baseball franchise in the U.S. His purchase of the team, which will play in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, was announced in July 2020. The Honey Hunters are now slated to begin their first season at the Franklin Urban Sports & Entertainment District in west Gastonia on May 27. Thursday’s ribbon-cutting event marked the end of an 18-month-long construction process to build the $26.2 million, publicly funded park.
Bellamy’s role in Gastonia, though, is larger than running a baseball team. FUSE Ballpark is at the center of a major redevelopment effort throughout the West Franklin Boulevard corridor.
Check out photos and read more here about the next steps of that effort and how Bellamy’s role has served as a catalyst.
Cox Media Group
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