Durham Returns To Historic Ballpark
Bulls Host Mud Hens At Durham Athletic Park
Fernando Perez had been looking forward to the Durham Bulls' return to their famous old home, Durham Athletic Park, since he learned of the event early this spring.
Perez rolled his ankle in a game the day before, though, making him little more than another of the nearly 4,000 spectators who came out to see the Bulls play the Toledo Mud Hens in their first game in 16 years at their former ballpark. But Perez had no plans to sit idly by. If he couldn't be a part of history, he was at least going to record it.
Perez limped through the DAP's back gates an hour before first pitch with his teammates, most of whom strided purposefully past surprised fans in line for concessions. But Perez came armed with a camcorder, on a mission to learn about the cozy ballpark from regulars who had been coming here before Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon made it famous.
"I was wondering if people would be more amped up to come to this game," said Perez, who majored in creative writing at Columbia. "I was hoping to find salty purists waiting for this moment when baseball came back here."
Perez had plenty of candidates to pick from. He interviewed a father and son, beers in hand at the concession booth down the right-field line, who talked of seeing future big leaguers like Cecil Cooper come through the DAP. "People I have stacked Donruss cards of," Perez said.
He interviewed Pete Hall, who became a DAP regular in the late 1980s and watched every game for 10 years standing beside the front-row seats behind the Bulls dugout, the ones where Annie and Millie sat in "Bull Durham".
"That's Millie's seat right there," Hall loudly announced, as a balding man sheepishly waved from the historic spot.
"I was totally looking forward to this game," Perez said after finally making his way to the playing field. "It's a real cool experience. We appreciate the change of scenery. You must in this business. It lifts you from your routine."
Home Again
Going to the DAP had become part of the routine for many Durham locals before the Bulls moved crosstown in 1995 to their new home in the Durham Bulls Athletic Park—or DBAP, for short. A chance to see the team back at the newly renovated DAP, which was roundly praised for looking better than ever, was a welcome return for many in attendance. The 6-2 loss to the Mud Hens was little more than a footnote to the night.
Dennis O'Dell stood in the same spot he occupied for 11 years: the front of the line. The Durham native was the first through the gates, and he rushed to his favorite spot, where he hunkered down for the game. Like so many other things on this early May evening, it was just like old times.
"It's tradition," O'Dell said, donning a Durham Bulls hat that also looked a relic of the old ballpark. "I started coming to games in 1983. Once I really got into the Bulls, I would get off work and come here an hour before the gates opened. It was the only way I could guarantee my seat."
Glenn Burger sat on a blanket in the grassy area down the right-field line, where bleachers used to stand, with his wife Lori and 5-year-old son Will. Burger looked around wide-eyed, much like he must have been when his father brought him here for the first time in 1969 to see the Bulls take on the High Point-Thomasville Royals, better known locally as the Hi-Toms.
"It's like coming back home," Burger said. "This has been a long time coming."
Mission Accomplished
It seems that way too for the people who made this family reunion of sorts possible. It was just two years ago when Minor League Baseball vice president Tim Purpura toured a dilapidated DAP with Brickman Sports Turf president Murray Cook, shortly after MILB took over the facility's operations and agreed to oversee a publicly funded $5 million renovation in 2008.
"I couldn't help but wonder what we had gotten ourselves into," Purpura said.
Minor League Baseball president Pat O'Conner strolled across the manicured infield grass and recalled walking across a much different-looking field in 2008. The annual local beer festival had wrapped up the weekend before, and the worn field looked more like an abandoned lot than a baseball diamond.
"It's come a long way," said O'Conner, one of several minor league officials who attended the game. "This is what I envisioned. When you come in through the top of the park and look over the field, I want you to say, 'Wow.' We wanted wow. And if this doesn't make you say wow, I don't what will."
The DAP's renovation was one of several that Cook has supervised—he is currently working on getting Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, ready for a Marlins-Mets series in late June. But restoring the field at the DAP was personal for Cook, who made many a trip to Durham when he served as the Salem Pirates head groundskeeper from 1974-1983 (then just a summer gig) and as a college student at nearby North Carolina Wesleyan.
"I spent a lot of time in the bleachers with the Schlitz Malt Liquor bull. That's all they served then," laughed Cook, who went on to say that making the DAP a first-class facility is fitting for a place that means so much to the local community. "This is the baseball heartbeat of the town, and rightfully so . . . To have the first pro game here in 15 years—you couldn't write a script better than this. There are going to be more stories told in the stands here tonight than anywhere else in professional baseball."
Cook's pregame prediction seemed to come true as the evening played out. Bulls public-address announcer Tony Rigsbee told tales of broadcasting Bulls games for local television in the 1980s from the field-level press box behind home plate. "The umpire would walk over to you and tell you the lineup changes," Rigsbee recalled.
The real old-timers talked of Joe Morgan, the only Hall of Famer to play for the Bulls. The "younger" crowd told stories of Steve Avery, Chipper Jones and David Justice coming through Durham.
The DAP certainly lacks many of conveniences of a modern ballpark, and evidence of how far minor league facilities have come in 15 years could be seen in long lines at the concession stands and bathrooms. Bulls general manager Mike Birling waded into those lines and apologized for the inconvenience.
"Nobody seemed to mind," Birling said. "Our fans seem to understand that for one night they have to rough it a little."
Not that it didn't bother Birling and his staff. They were already brainstorming ideas for how to put on a better show if they return to the DAP again next year. The word "if" is key, however.
Birling was one of many enjoying the night, but he said a return in 2011 is not guaranteed. Assessing the safety of fans and players at the DAP would be among many topics he would discuss with his staff along with minor and major league officials.
If it were up to Bulls fans, however, the decision would be a no-brainer.
"Everyone wanted to know," Birling said, "if we are going to do this again next year."
Bulls Host Mud Hens At Durham Athletic Park
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PrintFernando Perez had been looking forward to the Durham Bulls' return to their famous old home, Durham Athletic Park, since he learned of the event early this spring.
Perez rolled his ankle in a game the day before, though, making him little more than another of the nearly 4,000 spectators who came out to see the Bulls play the Toledo Mud Hens in their first game in 16 years at their former ballpark. But Perez had no plans to sit idly by. If he couldn't be a part of history, he was at least going to record it.
Perez limped through the DAP's back gates an hour before first pitch with his teammates, most of whom strided purposefully past surprised fans in line for concessions. But Perez came armed with a camcorder, on a mission to learn about the cozy ballpark from regulars who had been coming here before Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon made it famous.
"I was wondering if people would be more amped up to come to this game," said Perez, who majored in creative writing at Columbia. "I was hoping to find salty purists waiting for this moment when baseball came back here."
Perez had plenty of candidates to pick from. He interviewed a father and son, beers in hand at the concession booth down the right-field line, who talked of seeing future big leaguers like Cecil Cooper come through the DAP. "People I have stacked Donruss cards of," Perez said.
He interviewed Pete Hall, who became a DAP regular in the late 1980s and watched every game for 10 years standing beside the front-row seats behind the Bulls dugout, the ones where Annie and Millie sat in "Bull Durham".
"That's Millie's seat right there," Hall loudly announced, as a balding man sheepishly waved from the historic spot.
"I was totally looking forward to this game," Perez said after finally making his way to the playing field. "It's a real cool experience. We appreciate the change of scenery. You must in this business. It lifts you from your routine."
Home Again
Going to the DAP had become part of the routine for many Durham locals before the Bulls moved crosstown in 1995 to their new home in the Durham Bulls Athletic Park—or DBAP, for short. A chance to see the team back at the newly renovated DAP, which was roundly praised for looking better than ever, was a welcome return for many in attendance. The 6-2 loss to the Mud Hens was little more than a footnote to the night.
Dennis O'Dell stood in the same spot he occupied for 11 years: the front of the line. The Durham native was the first through the gates, and he rushed to his favorite spot, where he hunkered down for the game. Like so many other things on this early May evening, it was just like old times.
"It's tradition," O'Dell said, donning a Durham Bulls hat that also looked a relic of the old ballpark. "I started coming to games in 1983. Once I really got into the Bulls, I would get off work and come here an hour before the gates opened. It was the only way I could guarantee my seat."
Glenn Burger sat on a blanket in the grassy area down the right-field line, where bleachers used to stand, with his wife Lori and 5-year-old son Will. Burger looked around wide-eyed, much like he must have been when his father brought him here for the first time in 1969 to see the Bulls take on the High Point-Thomasville Royals, better known locally as the Hi-Toms.
"It's like coming back home," Burger said. "This has been a long time coming."
Mission Accomplished
It seems that way too for the people who made this family reunion of sorts possible. It was just two years ago when Minor League Baseball vice president Tim Purpura toured a dilapidated DAP with Brickman Sports Turf president Murray Cook, shortly after MILB took over the facility's operations and agreed to oversee a publicly funded $5 million renovation in 2008.
"I couldn't help but wonder what we had gotten ourselves into," Purpura said.
Minor League Baseball president Pat O'Conner strolled across the manicured infield grass and recalled walking across a much different-looking field in 2008. The annual local beer festival had wrapped up the weekend before, and the worn field looked more like an abandoned lot than a baseball diamond.
"It's come a long way," said O'Conner, one of several minor league officials who attended the game. "This is what I envisioned. When you come in through the top of the park and look over the field, I want you to say, 'Wow.' We wanted wow. And if this doesn't make you say wow, I don't what will."
The DAP's renovation was one of several that Cook has supervised—he is currently working on getting Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, ready for a Marlins-Mets series in late June. But restoring the field at the DAP was personal for Cook, who made many a trip to Durham when he served as the Salem Pirates head groundskeeper from 1974-1983 (then just a summer gig) and as a college student at nearby North Carolina Wesleyan.
"I spent a lot of time in the bleachers with the Schlitz Malt Liquor bull. That's all they served then," laughed Cook, who went on to say that making the DAP a first-class facility is fitting for a place that means so much to the local community. "This is the baseball heartbeat of the town, and rightfully so . . . To have the first pro game here in 15 years—you couldn't write a script better than this. There are going to be more stories told in the stands here tonight than anywhere else in professional baseball."
Cook's pregame prediction seemed to come true as the evening played out. Bulls public-address announcer Tony Rigsbee told tales of broadcasting Bulls games for local television in the 1980s from the field-level press box behind home plate. "The umpire would walk over to you and tell you the lineup changes," Rigsbee recalled.
The real old-timers talked of Joe Morgan, the only Hall of Famer to play for the Bulls. The "younger" crowd told stories of Steve Avery, Chipper Jones and David Justice coming through Durham.
The DAP certainly lacks many of conveniences of a modern ballpark, and evidence of how far minor league facilities have come in 15 years could be seen in long lines at the concession stands and bathrooms. Bulls general manager Mike Birling waded into those lines and apologized for the inconvenience.
"Nobody seemed to mind," Birling said. "Our fans seem to understand that for one night they have to rough it a little."
Not that it didn't bother Birling and his staff. They were already brainstorming ideas for how to put on a better show if they return to the DAP again next year. The word "if" is key, however.
Birling was one of many enjoying the night, but he said a return in 2011 is not guaranteed. Assessing the safety of fans and players at the DAP would be among many topics he would discuss with his staff along with minor and major league officials.
If it were up to Bulls fans, however, the decision would be a no-brainer.
"Everyone wanted to know," Birling said, "if we are going to do this again next year."
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