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Monday, February 19
Bowa: 'Earnhardt was a superstar'
Associated Press

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- The Philadelphia Phillies, who had a Class-A farm team in Dale Earnhardt's hometown of Kannapolis, N.C., for the past six years, mourned the NASCAR great Monday.

"Dale Earnhardt was a superstar," Phillies manager Larry Bowa said. "It's a tragedy."

Late last year, Earnhardt became part owner of the South Atlantic League team, the Piedmont Boll Weevils, who had changed their affiliation to the Chicago White Sox for this season. The franchise also changed its name to the driver's nickname, becoming the Kannapolis Intimidators.

Phillies catching prospect Eric Schreimann spent part of the last two seasons playing for the Boll Weevils, whose ballpark is only a few long home runs away from Earnhardt Blvd.

"Dale is the top priority of sports fans there," Schreimann said. "He got all the headlines."

A Missouri native, Schreimann didn't pay much attention to NASCAR until playing in Kannapolis, the site of Earnhardt's childhood home and garage.

"Being there a couple years, auto racing is such big news that you can't help but be around it all the time and I'd catch myself following it," Schreimann said.

Many of the Phillies players and coaches said they watched the Daytona 500.

"I didn't think it was that dramatic," Schreimann said of Earnhardt's fatal crash on the last lap. "Later in the evening, I put the TV back on and was shocked. I got a little lump in my throat. I couldn't believe it. It's devastating."

Jerry Martin, a Phillies minor league coach, was hitting instructor the last two seasons at Piedmont. Unlike most South Carolina natives, he didn't follow auto racing.

"I never went to a race, but when my wife called me last night, the first thing she told me was about Dale," Martin said. "I used to see Earnhardt bumper stickers, flags flying everywhere in Kannapolis. And even back home, I see (Earnhardt's) No. 3 everywhere I'd turn. This is really sad."

Phillies pitcher Paul Byrd gained an appreciation for NASCAR while pitching in Atlanta, which now is his home.

"(Braves coach) Ned Yost was a good friend to Dale and he got me into NASCAR," Byrd said. "Now I follow it. And I rooted for Earnhardt. I remember being happy for him when he finally won Daytona for the first time" in 1998.

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