Durham Bulls general manager Mike Birling feared that the team’s moment in the sun last September when they hosted the Triple-A National Championship would be spoiled by the one element he could not control: weather.

Roughly three inches of rain fell on Durham Bulls Athletic Park during the nationally televised finale of the minor league season and diminished what Birling had hoped would be a sellout crowd. However Birling’s fears appear to have been for naught, as Triple-A Baseball is turning to the Bulls for the second time in three years for one of its signature events. Durham announced today that it has been selected to host the Triple-A all-star game in 2014 for the first time in the event’s 25-year-history.

“A year and a half ago, we had a similar press conference and we were awarded the Triple-A National Championship game. At that time, one of the things that I stressed was the importance of getting that game and the importance of the support we needed for that game, could allow us to get bigger and better things to come to the Triangle,” Birling said at a press conference this morning in the team’s home clubhouse, where jerseys of former Triple-A all-stars hung in every locker. “From the perspective of the (International and Pacific Coast) leagues, it was a tremendous event.” [...] Continue Reading »