Project Durham Bulls #9: Bob Boone

1969 Raleigh-Durham Phillies 

Background- 

Back in the day, the late 1960s, there was a Minor League team in Raleigh and a Minor League team in Durham.  The team in Raleigh was in some financial difficulty, so someone came up with the great idea of having the Durham Bulls split their time between Durham and Raleigh.  The idea actually started out in 1968 when the New York Mets renamed their Carolina League team the Raleigh-Durham Mets.  A year later the franchise changed affiliations, changed team names, but kept up the half-Raleigh and half-Durham schedule.  

The Durham games were played in the Durham Athletic Park which is now home to the North Carolina Central University's baseball team.....

also where the Bull Durham movie was filmed.  The Raleigh games were played at Devereux Meadows which is now just a concrete wall with fixtures hanging out of it and a parking lot for the city of Raleigh.  

The long time Major League catcher Bob Boone appeared on the 1969 Raleigh-Durham Phillies.  The team ended up finishing second in their half of the Carolina League, but had some outstanding players on the roster including Boone and Greg Luzinksi.  Boone lasted 80 games in the Tar Heel State and posted a .300/.341/.400 slash line with 5 home runs, 13 doubles, and 46 RBIs.  He was promoted to Double A Reading in the Eastern League and was with the Phillies by the end of the 1972 season.  Boone would go on to enjoy a 19 year career in Major League Baseball with the Phillies, Angels, and Royals.  

Card- 

There have been way too many Archives products lately.  I had no real intentions of buying any more of them until I ran across these photo looking cards for cheap.  I was already buying one of them, but I like to save on shipping, so I got two of them instead.  Really, at this point I am walking around with a list of players who were on the Durham Bulls and trying to track down an autograph of as many as possible.  The older members of the team are challenging, but their cards are still out there waiting to be found.  Boone is the first non-Rays/Devil Rays member of the Bulls to be included in this project.