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Friday, November 21, 2008
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 To avid sports fans, and movie buffs alike, triangle Triple-A baseball is a phenomenal way to enjoy a warm North Carolina summer evening. There’s an historical sports gem and popular tourist draw in the triangle area - The Durham Bulls.
The Bulls of the International League are the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ Class Triple-A baseball affiliate and regularly draw a crowd to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
But it hasn’t always been that way. Durham professional baseball is a storied past with a rough road that started in 1902, when the North Carolina League was formed. Over the years, the Durham baseball club has changed leagues, owners, stadiums, names and even affiliates. It has taken years off, due to major historical events such as the Great Depression and World War I. But baseball and Durham were drawn together, and a little adversity didn’t stand in the way! The team, and by extension minor league baseball, was the subject of a well-known 1988 film starring Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins. That’s when the Durham Bulls became a national household name.
It all started back in 1902, when Judge William G. Bramham secured the Durham Club. They weren’t the Bulls back then. They were the Tobacconists, and the played their first game against Charlotte, losing 12-2. Midway through the season, Bramham refused to send the Durham team to New Bern for a scheduled game, stating that the league was at an end as far as they were concerned.
There was an 11 year hiatus for professional baseball in Durham. But in December 1912, Durham joined the North Carolina State League and played its first game at Hanes Field on the Trinity College Campus (which is now the Duke East Campus) as the Durham Bulls. The Bulls won their opener 7-4 over the Raleigh Capitals. The N.C. State League folded in 1917 due to the start of World War I, and even though it was only 36 games, the Bulls took home the league title. In 1919, the Piedmont League formed, and the Bulls played their first game at El Toro Park.
Durham picked up its first affiliation, with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1932, and in 1933 El Toro Park is renamed Durham Athletic Park. In 1934-35, the Bulls didn’t play due to the depression, and another tragedy struck 1939 when the Durham Athletic Park burned to the ground and was temporarily restored two weeks later in order to resume play. The stadium was further restored in that offseason.
The Piedmont League became the All-Virginia League in 1944, and baseball ceased once more in Durham. In 1945, Durham baseball returned and played in the new Carolina League. In 1968, Durham merged with Raleigh to form the Raleigh-Durham Mets. The team folded in 1972. Once again, there was no professional baseball in Durham. It returned in 1980.
The Bulls now play at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park (a 10,000 seat facility) which opened in 1995. Just three years later, in 1998, the Bulls became the Class Triple-A affiliate to the Devil Rays. They won their first International League Title in 2002. It was their first title of any kind in 33 years, and they did it again the very next year in 2003!
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