Let me start by saying that "Bull Durham" is one of my two favorite baseball movies ("Field of Dreams" being the other). And let me also say that virtually no one but me would notice a small discrepancy, or even care. But as we were watching "Bull Durham" on Friday night during my annual pre-season ritual, I paid more attention than usual.
"Durham" is set in the 1987 Carolina League, of which the Durham Bulls were a part of, and features many of the teams in the league at that time. The authentic uniforms and stadiums are a great snapshot of the time and especially thrilling for an amateur baseball historian like myself. But there's a few small problems. Here are the actual Carolina League teams from '87:
Durham Bulls
Prince William Yankees
Kinston Indians
Winston-Salem Spirits
Peninsula White Sox
Salem Buccaneers
Hagerstown Suns
Lynchburg Mets
Every one of these teams is shown and/or mentioned during the movie- except the Prince William Yankees (who became the Potomac Cannons, and my current Potomac Nationals). That's bad enough- except the movie also includes the Greensboro Hornets and Fayetteville Generals, who were not in the Carolina, but the South Atlantic, League at that time. So what possessed the makers of this movie to exclude one team and include 2 non-teams, when everything else was so accurately done? It may be a mystery that is never answered.
3 comments:
you named the only reasons I can't watch that movie without annoying anyone with me.
great flick though. no question. and someone's got a soft spot for costner...
Yes I really go back and forth on which one i think is better..I think Field wins by a nose. Yes, Costner is a god when it comes to baseball movies, including the underrated For the Love of the Game. If he stuck to sports movies, he'd be all set.
do you think i could borrow your bull durham? if you have the dvd that is.
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