Class
AAA farm team of the
Tampa Bay Devil Rays, in
Durham,
NC. Competes in the
International League Southern Division. Home field is
Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Started AAA play in
1998, when the AAA ranks
expanded to accomodate farm teams for the two new
major league teams.
In a previous life, the Bulls were a longtime Class A Advanced affiliate of the Atlanta Braves in the Carolina League, playing in a decrepit but historic stadium called Durham Athletic Park. As you may have guessed, it was this Bulls team that served as the setting for the 1988 movie Bull Durham. (Movie fans, in case you're curious, they did move the mechanical bull to the new stadium.) When the Bulls moved up to AAA status, the CL franchise moved to Danville, Virginia for one year as the Danville 97s while waiting for a stadium to be built, then became the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (Myrtle Beach, South Carolina).