Baseball Roots

The Bulls have been celebrating the 30th anniversary of Bull Durham this summer, reveling in our Hollywood birthright. On Saturday, we are seriously cranking up the time machine - 160 years retrograde - for a vintage game of "base ball" at the iconic Durham Athletic Park. 1860 rules and old-timey uniforms. No gloves, no foul balls, no strike-outs, underhanded pitching. It's a benefit for the Duke Homestead State Historic Site. Adam Gold at 99.9 The Fan has organized the celebrity team. He calls it the ultimate throwback game:

We’re going back in time, not to the 80’s or the 70’s, but to the 60s - the 1860’s!!!  Back, before there was such a thing as Tommy John surgery or lunch angles or even the dreaded shift.  We’re going back to the game’s original rules, to the game as it was intended, with limited commercial interruption.  No mascots, no in-game human bowling, no Chicken Dance, just the game as it was intended.  

Duke Homestead is in for a tussle when the Fourth Estate Nine rolls into historic Durham Athletic Park.  13 members of the local media celebrating the game as it used to be - apart from the chewing and spitting - will turn back the clocks almost 160 years.  

The DAP gates open at 3:30, BP at 3:45, first pitch at 5:00. Five bucks will get you in. 

Here's the Duke Homestead release...

Join Duke Homestead Education & History Corporation at the Historic Durham Athletic Park on August 11 for a vintage "base ball" game that celebrates and includes all those who contributed to the game over the past century and a half!

Experience the beginnings of America's pastime in Durham's historic ballpark - just a bat, a ball, and a lively match. Organized by the nonprofit friends of Duke Homestead State Historic Site (Duke Homestead Education and History Corporation), a team of vintage ballers will take on local sports media personalities, playing by vintage rules. We'll have game-inspired crafts and activities for kids. Don't forget to bring your appetite for food trucks, Bull Durham Beer Company brews, and old fashioned concessions. Hurrah!

This program will also recognize Durham's rich and complex baseball history, which includes decades of segregation during the Jim Crow era. We will share the story of segregation at the Durham Athletic Park and the Negro League, as well as the the early history of the game.

Tickets cost $5 per person, kids 4 & under are free! Get your ticket in advance online, or at the door (cash only).

Thank you to our sponsors, Capitol Broadcasting Company, the Durham Bulls, and Stone Brothers & Byrd Garden Center.

All proceeds from the event will benefit the nonprofit friends of Duke Homestead, the Duke Homestead Education and History Corporation.