"Rainouts" hard to come by for real minor leaguers

In "Bull Durham," it was easy to get a rainout. But in real life, it's not so simple.

Posted 12:43 a.m. Jul 3, 2008 — Updated 12:46 a.m. Jul 3, 2008

Ken Medlin

DURHAM, N.C. — Note: This is the 20th anniversary of the movie "Bull Durham," and WRAL is looking back to one of the most famous sports movies ever this week. Kevin Costner, the star of the movie, is playing a concert with his band the night of July 4 at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Tickets are available at durhambulls.com or at the stadium.

It's one of the most famous scenes in one of the most famous baseball movies ever made

When a long road trip gets too long, Crash Davis and company set off the sprinklers for an artificial rainout in "Bull Durham.”

But does this not-so natural disaster actually work? One thing's for certain… many a player has tried.

"We were supposed to have an off day Monday and Coach said we were going to practice at 1," former Durham Bull Josh Labanderia said. “We snuck out that Sunday night at 1:30-2 in the morning. The tarp happened to be on the field and we turned the sprinklers on. We left them on for a good hour. We ran around and laughed and laughed only to find out the next day we still had practice."

Fernando Perez, a Bulls outfielder, had a similar story.

"We tried to get a rain delay by setting the sprinklers off, and it didn't work because it was so hot in the middle of the San Joaquin Valley - the middle of the desert - that the field dried. We played right on time and the field was perfectly dry."

Bulls outfielder Jon Weber got a rainout – but at a price.

"We were having a big party for my buddy after the game and he said we could use a rainout. It was raining that evening and we pulled the tarp off the field. But little did we know, there was a camera in dead center field looking at the field.

The players who were caught had to pay for the field - and the water they used.

Finding a rainout worked in “Bull Durham.”

But in real life?

Not so much.

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