Among other things, I'll be putting my favorite ballparks and pictures found of these parks on this blog.

The Durham Bulls were immortalized by Hollywood in the movie Bull Durham.

It rates superbly as a classic story about a lifetime Minor leaguer playing out the string, a rising prospect making it to 'THE SHOW' and the odd living in a minor league baseball town for a partly-obsessed fan/groupie... The characters make this movie.

Baseball is a sport to be worshipped, by the those romantically involved (Costner and Susan Surandon), but is barely important to 'Meat' (Nuke -Tim Robbins, Susan's real hubby), though he has all the 'tools' to make it.

Costner's Crash Davis ( a real MLB ballplayer) is closing out a record setting career...in the Minors.  Hitting the most HRs in the Minors is just a long forgotten memory to the fans, but for him, it's a justification for all the years plugging along. In trying to pass on some good information to a star-in-the-making pitcher "Nuke" LaLoosh, he finds a odd-working love in Annie Savoy that woos a different player each season. Nuke is her real goal.

A few of the classic quotes from the film:

• Crash Davis: Oh, hey, and another thing, Meat. You don't know shit, all right? If you wanna make it to the bigs, you'll listen to me. Annie only wants you so she can boss you around, got it? So relax! Let's have some fun out here! This game's fun, OK? Fun goddamnit. And don't hold the ball so hard, OK? It's an egg. Hold it like an egg.

• [On playing in the "show" - major league baseball]
  Crash Davis: Yeah, I was in the show. I was in the show for 21 days once - the 21 greatest days of my life. You know, you never handle your luggage in the show, somebody else carries your bags. It was great. You hit white balls for batting practice, the ballparks are like cathedrals, the hotels all have room service, and the women all have long legs and brains.
  

• Annie Savoy: These are the ground rules. I hook up with one guy a season. Usually takes me a couple weeks to pick the guy - kinda my own spring training. And, well, you two are the most promising prospects of the season so far, so I just thought we should kinda get to know each other.
  Crash Davis: Time out. Why do you get to choose?
  Annie Savoy: What?
  Crash Davis: Why do you get to choose? I mean, why don't I get to choose, why doesn't he get to choose?
  Annie Savoy: Well, actually, nobody on this planet ever really chooses each other. I mean, it's all a question of quantum physics, molecular attraction, and timing. Why, there are laws we don't understand that bring us together and tear us apart. Uh, it's like pheromones. You get three ants together, they can't do dick. You get 300 million of them, they can build a cathedral.
  [Crash laughs]

• Annie Savoy: What do you believe in, then?
  Crash Davis: Well, I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman's back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.

• Annie Savoy:I believe in the Church of Baseball. I've tried all the major religions, and most of the minor ones. I've worshipped Buddha, Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, trees, mushrooms, and Isadora Duncan. I know things. For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I heard that, I gave Jesus a chance. But it just didn't work out between us. The Lord laid too much guilt on me. I prefer metaphysics to theology. You see, there's no guilt in baseball, and it's never boring... which makes it like sex. There's never been a ballplayer slept with me who didn't have the best year of his career. Making love is like hitting a baseball: you just gotta relax and concentrate.....'Course, what I give them lasts a lifetime; what they give me lasts 142 games. Sometimes it seems like a bad trade. But bad trades are part of baseball - now who can forget Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas, for God's sake?...
  

Back to the ballpark description!!!

The park description is as follows:

Seating in the grandstand is divided into two levels, with a wide walkway dividing the two. Down each line are two group seating areas with picnic tables. Every fixed seat in the ballpark is an extra-wide theater seat (there are no bleachers), and 95 percent of the seats have drink holders. There really aren't any bad seats in the house: the outfield bleachers are close to the action, and for those who want to stretch out there is berm seating in centerfield near the scoreboard.

The roof that covers the main grandstand and the luxury-box level is strongly reminiscent of a roof you can still find in most older ballparks; it looks like and is scaled like an old wooden grandstand roof. (It's also functional: as you can tell from the photos of this visit, it was a rainy evening, and the roof provided shelter to the fans who arrived early for the game.) The Bulls employ an organist; he's positioned in back of the inner set of seats. A 32-foot-high "Blue Monster" wall in left field -- which serves no purpose save a nostalgic one -- and a hand-operated scoreboard complete the old-time feel of the ballpark.

In my photos file, I'll put more shots of Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Enjoy!!!