University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Hollywood and Bulldog Baseball Collided 35 Years Ago
06.08.2023 | Baseball, General
The baseball movie Bull Durham will turn 35 years old this summer. Many critics consider it the best baseball movie ever made and some even say it's the best sports movie ever produced.
Did you know UNC Asheville had a small hand in making this classic?Â
In the fall of 1987, Bull Durham was in the process of being made when first-time director Ron Shelton called the UNC Asheville Athletic Department needing some help in making a movie.
Shelton had gotten permission to use McCormick Field for a few days but he needed ballplayers for the scenes they wanted to shoot. The future Oscar nominee wanted to use local talent from Western Carolina University and UNC Asheville to be in his movie.
Shelton offered both schools $1,000 per day to have the ballplayers from both teams come to McCormick Field and play a game at the start of the film with Kevin Costner scheduled to play for the Bulldogs. Shelton asked for a team photo (he never sent it back) of UNC Asheville to gauge the uniforms and would it work for the film.
Everything was about to work out and the teams were scheduled to take a break from their fall practice to head to McCormick Field for a few days. But then the NCAA stepped in to stop the project. It was revealed that the teams could not be in the movie and no way could they get any money for being involved with the film. Suddenly no players from either school with eligibility could be in the film.
Both schools apologized to Shelton but there was little UNC Asheville and Western Carolina could do. The NCAA would come down hard on both schools if they had participated and there was no real way to hide the players in the movie.
Shelton had to make new plans and UNC Asheville came to the rescue again. Bulldog head baseball coach Ken Bagwell and his coaches could help in the film. Bagwell and assistant coach Lance Day would be okay to be in the movie because they weren't playing anymore.Â
Do you remember Crash Davis's home run at McCormick Field in the movie that set the record for most homers by a player in the minors? It's toward the end of the movie but is one of the most iconic scenes.Â
Well believe it or not Kevin Costner did not hit a home run. Ken Bagwell did. With some Hollywood magic, Bagwell went out to left field with his bat and hit some balls over the wall. They filmed Costner swinging the bat at home plate and then went out to left field and let Coach Bagwell finish the home run. It looks real in the movie.
Like any movie, there are a lot of scenes that never make it to the big screen. Shelton filmed several other scenes away from McCormick Field that sadly hit the cutting room floor. One was of the team bus going into the iconic Mountaineer Inn hotel on Tunnel Road. Lance Day recalled that they were there for hours filming the scene.
Day also recalled that megastar Costner was nice to work with as was the entire crew.Â
So one of the best sports movies of all-time got a little help from UNC Asheville. And Ron Shelton if you read this, please send back that 1987 UNC Asheville team photo. You've had it long enough!!!
