bstrickland@heraldsun.com; 419-6671
DURHAM -- Something old, something new, something borrowed and no one's blue.
The Durham Bulls will return to their old home, the recently renovated Durham Athletic Park, as a part of the 2010 schedule they unveiled Saturday.
The schedule will start out with the parent club Tampa Bay lending the Rays to the Bulls for an exhibition game.
Those developments are but a backdrop for the continuing healthy marriage between the Rays and the Bulls, who announced an extension of their union through the 2014 season.
"Really the most important thing today is that we're going to be extending our player development contract with the Tampa Bay Rays through the 2014 season," Bulls general manager Mike Birling said in making the announcements at Diamond View Plaza II underneath the famed snorting bull at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. "Today is a day where we secure our bright future with the Rays, but one thing we're always going to remember is the history of the Durham Bulls."
The Bulls have been the Rays' Triple-A affiliate since 1998, when they ended an 18-year affiliation as the Single-A partner of the Atlanta Braves. The teams' current contract was to expire following the 2010 season, but Saturday's extension seemed like a formality.
"This has been a great partnership, and we're excited to extend it even longer," said Chaim Bloom, the Rays' assistant director for minor league operations. "There are a number of things the Bulls do really well. Obviously you want a good and comfortable facility with a good playing surface, which we have here, and you want a good community with good fans, which we've always had here.
"You also want to have a great relationship with your partners, and we couldn't have a better one with the Bulls. It's outstanding. We've really got it all here in Durham."
The Rays, who advanced to their first World Series in 2008 and are still in the race for a playoff spot this season, will play the Bulls at the DBAP on either April 2 or 3, 2010. It will mark the third time the Rays have visited Durham but the first time since 2002.
"There's no better way to kick off a season than with an exhibition game, with the 2008 AL champions coming here to Durham," Birling said. "[Evan] Longoria, [James] Shields, [Jeff] Neimann, [Carl] Crawford -- the list goes on and on of players who have come through here.
"So to have them come back to Durham is going to be very special."
Then on May 10, the Bulls will return to the famed DAP for the first time since 1994 to face the Toledo Mud Hens in a regular season game. Birling said that he believes the game matches the most famous franchises in minor league history -- the Bulls because of the movie Bull Durham and the Mud Hens because of their reputation built by references to them by Corporal Klinger, played by actor Jamie Farr, in the smash television hit M*A*S*H*.
"It's very exciting for the Bulls to be able to approach us and be able to be a part of that game and bring it to the community," said Jill Rusinko, the Durham Athletic Park manager for Minor League Baseball who just oversaw the reopening of a renovated DAP earlier this month. "The DAP is something that the community loves, and we're just glad that it's open and finally ready to be used for this event."
Renewal packages were mailed out Saturday to fans who purchased season tickets or mini-ticket packages for the current season, giving them the first shot at tickets for the Rays visit and the DAP game. Ticket packages for the 2010 season will go on sale in a couple of months -- with those fans also given a chance to purchase Rays exhibition game and DAP tickets -- and individual game tickets will go on sale sometime around March.
Anyone interested in putting their name in a queue for 2010 tickets can contact the Bulls at (919) 956-BULL.
The Bulls, who are in good shape to make the playoffs for the eighth time in their 12-year affiliation with the Rays, will open the 2010 regular season April 8 at Norfolk and will play their first home game April 15, also against Norfolk.
"Today is a very important, exciting day for us," Birling said. "Usually with press conferences, you have one big announcement.
"We decided to have three or four big announcements at one time."
