High Heat by Tim Wendel

Author:Tim Wendel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Published: 2011-03-11T05:00:00+00:00

The old ballpark of Bull Durham fame still stands. Unlike such parks in Brooklyn, Detroit, and Pittsburgh, it has been spared the wrecking ball, perhaps because somebody thought enough of it to film a baseball classic there.

On my way out of town, I decided to drive by and pay my respects. Instead of an aging dinosaur, I find Durham Athletic Park to be thriving. On this morning, workmen are painting the front facade and lining the base paths. As part of a $5-million renovation, the DAP now hosts summer collegiate ball, high school games, and professional women’s softball.

“If you build it, he will come.” Of course, that’s the famous line from W. P. Kinsella’s novel Shoeless Joe, which became the movie Field of Dreams starring Kevin Costner, who once played Crash Davis.

Here in Durham, they still come to what should be a forgotten ballpark because of another famous motion picture and characters we almost consider family. Sitting in the stands at DAP, I cannot help thinking of the next Nuke LaLoosh, a kid who somehow possesses the ability to throw thunderbolts from above. No matter how many radar guns are pointed in his direction, no matter how many years fly by, the mystique—dare we say, the fantasy—surrounding a prospective fireballer remains a key element of the game. The next great hurler could be from anywhere, even here, pitching in Nuke LaLoosh’s shadow.

By mid-May, David Price had seemed to right himself. After starting the season 1–4, he struck out five and walked none in 4 ⅔ innings, with Andrew Friedman, the Rays’ executive vice president for baseball operations, in attendance. His parents flew down from the Nashville area for his next start, against visiting Rochester on May 17. He didn’t disappoint, taking a no-hitter through five innings. Despite striking out nine, the Rays treated him like fine china, taking him out after 82 pitches. The no-hitter? It didn’t matter. Not at this level.

“We’re just trying to be patient,” says Debbie Price, who listened to her son’s Durham Bulls games over the Internet. “[The Rays] are kind of in a dilemma because if they bring Dave up, who are they going to send back down or trade off? It’s the ugly part of the business really.”

The Price family often don’t talk to one another after David’s starts. Perhaps a text message the next day, briefly connecting Durham and the family in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. But Debbie Price says that may be because the season so far hadn’t played out exactly as planned.

“Most nights we have the Tampa game on TV,” she says. “That’s another reason we’re rooting hard for him to get back up with the Rays. We went ahead and bought this MLB package and he’s not there yet.”

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