Дурам Атлетик Парк: История бейсбольного стадиона и фильм "Балл Дурам"

Baseball stadium in North Carolina, US

Durham Athletic Park, nicknamed "The DAP", is a former minor league baseball stadium in Durham, North Carolina. The stadium was home to the Durham Bulls from 1926 through 1994, the North Carolina Central Eagles and the Durham School of the Arts Bulldogs. The DAP sits north of the downtown area of Durham, on the block bounded by Washington, Corporation, Foster and Geer Streets. Durham Athletic Park became one of the most famous minor league ballparks in history thanks to the 1988 film Bull Durham, featuring the Bulls, Kevin Costner, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon. Most of the filming was done at the DAP, following the end of the Carolina League season of 1987. The film's wide acclaim helped fuel the burgeoning public interest in minor league ball in general. In the case of both the city and the film, this explosion of popularity caused the DAP to become a victim of its own success; despite expansion with temporary bleachers, it became too small to handle the increase in crowd size and the Bulls’ Triple A ambitions. The Bulls moved to their new home Durham Bulls Athletic Park (also known as "DBAP") in downtown Durham, starting with the 1995 season. The ballpark was built with a capacity to Carolina League standards, but the land that the DBAP was built on had more room in case the ballpark needed to be expanded for Triple A baseball. Triple A baseball came to Durham in 1998 and the Bulls moved up from High A to Triple A, with DBAP then expanded to Triple A standards.

In their early days, the Durham Bulls played at Trinity College's Hanes Field,—named for the founder of the clothing company, a Trinity graduate—now called Williams Field and still used for field hockey on Duke's east campus. From 1913 until early summer 1926 the Bulls played their games at Doherty Park in what was then called East Durham.

The Bulls sat out the 1934 and 1935 seasons, owing to the Great Depression.

The team's popularity received a large boost when the ballpark became the primary setting for the film Bull Durham, which also contributed to the end of the DAP as an important baseball venue. Increased attendance at the DAP, with frequent capacity crowds, and an interest in attracting a Triple A franchise prompted the city to build a new ballpark on the other side of the downtown, adjacent to the former American Tobacco campus. 1993 was promoted as the final season for the DAP, but construction delays compelled the team to play one more season there. In 1994, the club sold T shirts bearing the legend "2nd Annual Final Season at the DAP". On September 5, 1994, the Bulls played their final game at the DAP, a 6–2 loss to the Winston Salem Spirits in Game 1 of the Carolina League's South Division playoffs. In early 2008, the City of Durham pledged an additional $1 million to the renovation, the money coming from interest earned on unspent bond funds. A ground breaking ceremony was held on April 30, with reconstruction beginning in late July 2008. The stadium re opened on August 15, 2009, concluding the renovation with a picnic featuring former Bulls players and local celebrities.

On the evening of May 10, 2010, before a crowd of 3,911, the now Class AAA Durham Bulls returned to The DAP for a single regular season game against the Toledo Mud Hens. With additional lighting on hand to raise the field to Triple A standards, the Bulls fell to the Mud Hens 6–4, mirroring the score of the Single A club's final game in the stadium 16 years prior. Among other events scheduled for 2011 was another return to the DAP by the Bulls, again on the second Monday night in May. The game was played on May 9 and resulted in a loss to the Indianapolis Indians.

On September 2, 2011, Minor League Baseball announced that it would not renew its contract to manage the DAP. The Durham Bulls announced on December 27, 2011, that they will be assuming the operating agreement from Minor League Baseball.