“Bull Durham” creator Ron Shelton reflects with Naomi Silver on their careers with the Rochester Red Wings and the future of Minor League Baseball

The May 23, 2026, edition of the Larry Lucchino Writers Series at Polar Park welcomed director and screenwriter Ron Shelton to a DCU Club packed with baseball devotees. Shelton told stories and fielded questions about his writing and directing of “Bull Durham,” and his 2022 book “The Church of Baseball,” which chronicles Shelton’s creative process in creating the 1988 movie.

Before his storied directing career, Shelton’s story began on the ballfield as a member of the Baltimore Orioles farm system. Shelton climbed his way up the minor league ladder, from the rookie league Bluefield Orioles in 1967 to the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings in 1970 and 1971. The Red Wings finished with the best record in the International League in 1971 and went on to win the Governors’ Cup later that year.

While in Bluefield, Manager Joe Altobelli called Shelton into his office. Altobelli asked Shelton, who played at shortstop, whether he would like to play second base. This position move was because the Orioles signed their number one draft pick to be their “shortstop of the future,” according to Shelton. That player was Bobby Grich. Shelton would also compete with Jimmy Morrell for the spot at second base.

“Joe says, ‘Let me put it to you like this, son: Do you want to play second base or do you want Jimmy Morrell to play second base?’” Shelton recalled. “I said, ‘Skip. I love second base. That's how I became a second baseman.”

While the competition was present on the playing field, Shelton and Grich have been lifelong friends, and the pair played together in 1971 for Rochester, which would turn out to be Shelton’s last season on the roster.

While playing ball, however, it did not occur to Shelton that he could make a movie such as “Bull Durham” about the realities and experiences of playing Minor League Baseball.

“Absolutely not,” Shelton said. “I was trying to hit the slider and move up.”

There was a 17-year gap between Shelton’s baseball career ending in 1971 and “Bull Durham” coming out in 1988. While Shelton describes that time as a struggle, recalling being on food stamps recently after leaving the game, he found writing as an outlet.

“Finding I could write became liberating, but it took a while to get there,” Shelton said. “You don’t just learn to write overnight. I had a gift, but I didn't develop it until I started doing screenplays.”

“Bull Durham” romanticized Minor League Baseball, from the famed “Candlesticks” mound visit to viewers hearing what is going through Crash’s (Kevin Costner’s) mind in the batter’s box.

“From a storytelling point, it tells us, it shows us, without having to make a speech, what's going on, why [Crash is] sort of messed up,” Shelton said. “And it’s universal, it doesn't have to be sports.”

Shelton revealed he has another baseball movie in him. “Our Lady of the Ballpark,” a script written by Shelton and John Norville, would follow a pitcher for the New York Yankees who seeks to relive his Yankees career by playing in the Mexican and Colombian Baseball Leagues.

“That’s a script that we like a lot. It’s got a lot of ‘Bull Durham’ tone in it,” Shelton said. “It’s funny, and sexy, and irreverent.”

A good story, according to Shelton, is reduced to its essential elements with appropriate background and context.

“Screenwriting is a lot of engineering that needs to be learned. There’s a reason some movies work better than others,” Shelton said. “The beef in the story has to move the story forward, bringing the reader along with them.”

Shelton’s presence at Polar Park was made possible by Rochester Red Wings President, CEO & COO Naomi Silver, who, alongside her son Morrie Silver, the Red Wings’ Chief Innovation Officer, enjoyed the Polar Park atmosphere and Shelton’s candor in person on Saturday.

Naomi’s late father, Morrie, saved community baseball in Rochester after organizing a stock drive to purchase the team in 1957, and he became the largest shareholder among the 8,222 who came together for the purchase. Morrie oversaw the team until he passed away in 1974.

Naomi’s start with the Red Wings was in 1988 as an intern. She began overseeing the team store in 1989 and held roles in the accounting and concessions departments. Naomi also maintained the relationship between the Red Wings and their then-parent club, the Baltimore Orioles. Silver became Vice President of the team’s Board of Directors from 1989 to 1999, and President of the Board from 2000 to 2010. Naomi was named to her current role as President, CEO & COO in 2010, where she oversees all aspects of the Red Wings’ operation.

“I think that everyone has their own story within the world of baseball. Most fans have a memory of going to a game when they were a child, and they went with their parents or their grandparents, or they went with their friends,” Silver said. “Those kinds of memories, that's part of your own history, your own story. There’s nothing more romantic than the game of baseball.”

Nothing, according to Silver, is more important than how a team interacts with and relates to its community.

“It’s everything,” Silver said. “We count on our communities supporting us, and in order to get full buy-in from your community, you have to go out there, support your community, and uplift your community. We expect our fans to come out and our businesses to support us, so we'd better be out there showing that we care.”

In 2020, Major League Baseball reorganized Minor League Baseball and eliminated 40 minor league teams, bringing the total down from 160 to 120. Silver believes that Minor League Baseball, at least at the higher levels, is healthy, and that major league teams are always going to need their minor league systems. From Silver’s perspective, it still remains to be seen whether Major League Baseball has an interest in further eliminating lower-level minor league teams.

“I certainly hope not, because I think that's really where baseball fans of the future come from, all the cities that we’re involved in across the country,” Silver said.

The story of Minor League Baseball continues to be written in cities from Worcester to Rochester and beyond. In any story, Shelton emphasizes the need for forward movement.

“A lot of people think they have a story, and they don't. They have an anecdote,” Shelton said. “Now, what happens? Why does it happen? What's the next thing that forms a conflict that makes the next thing happen? And, when it's done well, you don't even realize those things are unfolding.”