Remembering Opening Day, 1980

Last week, Bryant Walker came across, as he describes it, “a little souvenir.” The souvenir, you ask? A ticket to Durham Bulls Opening Day, 1980. That’s right, his ticket stub from 38 years ago.

Hit Bull Win Blog reached out to Bryant to see what he could remember from that day, and here’s what he told us.

I remember reading in the Durham Herald-Sun an article about the home jerseys being stolen a week before the season started. If I’m not mistaken the Bulls opened on the road in 1980 so the Home Opener they wore the road blue unis.

Yup, this happened. The team had to play in the road, powder blue uniforms for the opener.

The weather was cool/chilly that night. I attended the game with my late grandfather, the man that taught me the game and to love the game of baseball.

Based on the Bulls’ archives, it was 45 degrees for the contest.

It was a capacity crowd that night, the Bulls franchise coming back to Durham. (It was great) especially for me because they were affiliated with the Braves and I had been a Braves fan since I was 7 or 8 yeas old.

It had been eight seasons since the Bulls had played a game in Durham, as the team was disbanded prior to the 1972 season. Further, the Bulls hadn’t played a game as the ‘Bulls’ since 1967, taking the field as the Raleigh-Durham Mets in 1968, Raleigh-Durham Phillies in 1969 and Raleigh-Durham Triangles in 1970–71.

I bought tickets because it was Opening Night of professional baseball returning to Durham. I still live in the area and I attend Bulls games.

Also of note, Bryant’s son (and fellow Bulls fan) is finishing up his Master’s in Athletic Training this semester. His first gig out of college? An AT in the Atlanta Braves’ organization.

WATCH: Sights and sounds from that game from WRAL’s stock footage.

Tickets for 2018 Opening Day are can be purchased here. Hold on to your ticket stub (or maybe screen shot your mobile ticket), and who knows, maybe you’ll find it 2056.