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Weekend Represents Historic Shift For Duke Baseball
2/24/2010 4:00:00 PM | Baseball
By JIM SUMNER
Ordinarily a baseball game between Duke and Fordham wouldn't be a big deal. But this Friday's game between the two programs is far from ordinary. As realtors say, location, location, location.
The location for Duke's home opener is the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the first public manifestation of what Duke and the Bulls hope will be a long, fruitful relationship.
Since 1931, Duke has been playing its home games on campus, specifically at Jack Coombs Field. The venerable facility was the middle of a trio of adjacent athletic facilities built around the same time, facilities that defined the school's sporting endeavors for generations. The Duke football stadium opened in 1929, the Indoor Stadium in 1940. They have since been named after former Duke coaching greats Wallace Wade, Jack Coombs and Eddie Cameron.
You probably know more about Wade and Cameron than Coombs. Jack Coombs was a superb major league pitcher. He posted a 31-9 record for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1910. Coombs came to Duke in 1929 and turned Duke into a baseball powerhouse, with championships, All-Americans and major leaguers.
Bill Werber, one of the many Duke players of that era to go on to the majors, once called Coombs "the most beloved teacher or coach to ever walk the Duke campus." But that amiability hid a fierce competitive drive, an encyclopedic knowledge of baseball's fine arts and a wealth of contacts in the baseball world. Duke went 382-171 under Coombs from 1929-1952 and advanced to the 1952 College World Series.
The Duke baseball field was named after Coombs in 1978, 21 years after his death.
Ironically, Duke's best bet to return the program to the Coombs glory days is to move away from the field named in honor of their architect. Despite some recent improvements, Coombs Field has not kept up with the competition. It lacks sufficient seating, concessions, media access, even restrooms. Duke has turned Cameron Indoor Stadium into the nation's most recognizable on-campus athletic facility and is in the early stages of upgrading Wade.
Duke has decided to take a different direction with baseball. Last fall a partnership was announced between Duke and the Bulls. The Durham Bulls are a Triple-A team, the defending International League champions. They also have one of the finest minor league ballparks in the nation, located just a few miles from Duke's East Campus. The DBAP opened in 1995 and is located a short distance from Duke's East Campus.
Sean McNally's Duke team will play 18 of its 31 home games at the DBAP, the site of last season's ACC Tournament. ACC rivals North Carolina, Miami, Clemson and Virginia comprise 12 of those games, in a quartet of weekend series. Florida State will visit Coombs.
The contract says three years but Duke Athletic Director Kevin White says Duke is moving downtown "in earnest. This is a pretty significant decision for a lot of players, Duke, the Bulls, Durham. We are going to invest in this financially--with marketing--and emotionally. We are excited about Sean's leadership and were looking for ways to advance the program."
McNally and his players share that excitement. Senior slugger Jeremy Gould says
"It's an awesome stadium. We were pretty comfortable there last year. To go from not-the-nicest stadium in the ACC to the nicest is huge. It's a great motivator for this year's team and should be a big help in recruiting."
McNally says the whole thing happened quickly. "Kevin came to me last spring. I had never thought about it. It came together over the summer, lots of meetings, lots of logistics to work out. I was in the loop all the way. It's a creative way to address the situation. It's a vote of confidence for our program. We earned our way down there."
McNally says he only has one concern about the move. "We built our team around pitching and defense, which fits our park. This will impact us to some degree. There is more of an opportunity to hit home runs, both for us and for the opposition. But the positives outweigh the negatives. Last season [at the ACC Tournament] we were excited and energetic. The kids were pumped up. The ballpark brought out the best in our kids."
Duke will not be able to generate that level of excitement for every game. The DBAP seats around 10,000 and many of those seats likely will be empty. Gould says not to worry. "We should get comfortable there pretty quickly. Baseball is baseball. It's going to be a fun atmosphere and that's the best thing you can ask for."
McNally adds "Players and coaches are locked into what's happening on the field."
The move is attracting attention. Aaron Fitt covers college baseball for Baseball America magazine. Fitt says the move is "a good, temporary solution. But is it a permanent solution? It will be interesting to find out. But moving from Coombs to the DBAP is a pretty big step. It should be a selling point to recruits and shows that Duke is getting serious about baseball."
Fitt also points out that schools like the University of Nebraska, the University of New Mexico and The Citadel have forged successful partnerships with professional teams.
Coombs Field isn't going away. Duke will continue to play some home games there, especially mid-week, non-conference games. It also will remain the team's primary practice facility. But any plans for a major renovation are on a very back burner.
The move is another part of Duke's outreach to Durham and places the program nearer to what White calls "Duke's downtown campus," the employees and programs located in downtown Durham. It also partners Duke with an organization White calls "incredibly cooperative; a heck of an organization."
But White emphasizes that the move was made first and foremost for competitive reasons. "This will put the program in a stronger condition to recruit and compete. It's a wonderful opportunity to take Duke baseball to the next level."
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