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USA Baseball Announces Move To Durham Bulls Ballpark |
The Durham Bulls Athletic Park will become home to USA Baseball in 2003. |
The Durham Bulls Athletic Park is about to become home to yet another sports organization. On Saturday, June 15, 2002, USA Baseball announced plans to move its headquarters from Tuscon, Arizona, to downtown Durham. The move will take place in early 2003 and will make the Bulls’ park home of the US Olympic Baseball Team.
“The governing body of an Olympic sport, and a significant Olympic sport, is headquartered here in Durham and based here in the Triangle, I think that’s important,” said Bulls General Manager George Habel.
The move will be a boon to Durham’s neighbors as well, a uniting force similar to the Carolina Hurricanes, One Team, One Dream, celebrating the Triangle rather than its individual entities.
Cary will build four new baseball fields at Thomas Brooks Park off Highway 55. The Bulls will make modifications for more locker rooms at their park. USA Baseball will bring international games to the Triangle in both Cary and Durham.
USA Baseball selects and trains the U.S. Olympic baseball team and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The organization also selects the USA Baseball Junior National Team and the USA Baseball Youth National Team.
The USA Baseball Olympic Team won the Gold Medal at the Olympic Games in 2000 in Sydney, Australia. Durham Bulls at the time, infielder Brent Abernathy and catcher Pat Borders, competed on that team.