WHAT: Grand opening ceremony at the renovated Durham Athletic Park
WHERE: 500 W. Corporation St.
WHEN: Today, noon to 5 p.m.
COST: Free
Activities will include a softball game with Durham politicians and former professional baseball players; a mascot Olympics; a children's play area; free food and drinks, and more.
By Neil Offen
noffen@heraldsun.com; 419-6646
DURHAM -- The newly painted ticket windows at the Durham Athletic Park are pulled down and the sharply stenciled words on the wood say "closed."
But not for very much longer.
After little more than a year and a $5.5 million facelift, the DAP reopens for business today, with a free public grand opening from noon until 5 p.m.
"We are ready," said Jill Rusinko, manager of Minor League's Baseball's Durham operation, which is in charge of operating the ballpark. "I just hope it's not going to rain."
"The grand opening of our beloved Durham Athletic Park is an exciting day for our community since this historical landmark holds a special place in the hearts of Durham residents," Mayor Bill Bell said. "The Durham Athletic Park has been an integral part of this community since the early 1900s. This long-awaited renovation will allow it to once again serve as a vital recreational site for Durham."
The renovation was at the direction of Minor League Baseball, which will use the DAP primarily as a training center for business and facility operations in the baseball industry. The stadium also will serve as the home field for the baseball teams of N.C. Central University and the Durham School of the Arts, and will host some city events, such as this fall's Bull Durham Blues Festival and the World Beer Festival.
"We are pleased to be able to reopen Durham Athletic Park with this public celebration," said Minor League Baseball President Pat O'Connor. "The vision of the citizens and community leaders to make this possible speaks well of their affection for the DAP. Minor League Baseball ... feels privileged to be entrusted with the operation of such an important part of professional baseball's history."
That history dates back to 1926 when the Durham Tobacconists played their first game at El Toro Park (later to be known as Durham Athletic Park). Subsequently destroyed by fire in 1939, the modern park reopened in 1940. The Durham Bulls baseball team, however, left the venue in 1995, moving to the new Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Voters approved a bond referendum to renovate the old park in 2005.
The refurbishing of the stadium includes, among much else, a new field, new -- and more comfortable -- box seats, a glossy blue-brown-and-yellow paint job, new concession stands and more and larger bathrooms. There's even a new net to protect the fans sitting behind home plate. The home clubhouse has new wooden folding chairs lined up carefully in front of each cubicle and a connected training room, buried under the stands. The umpires have their own new spiffy clubhouse, too.
The old outfield bleachers are gone -- the stadium now has seats only for around 2,000 -- and so, of course, is the Bull, made famous by the film, "Bull Durham." That hovers over leftfield in the DBAP.
A couple of days before the opening, not much remained to be done. "We're just putting the finishing touches on it," said Rusinko. "All we need now is people."
Larry Hall, working on some drain pipes in the home dugout, grew up in Durham and remembered what the old ballpark used to look like.
"I was here 25 or 26 years ago," Hall said. "Looks a lot better now."
