It could have been at a class reunion. Maybe a homecoming football game. A friend's wedding in the chapel would have been nice, too.
Any way but this way.
But former Blue Devils Ryan Jackson and Quinton McCracken don't have much of a choice. So when the former teammates finally reunited in Durham, it was at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, playing AAA baseball.
Pretty much the last place they wanted to be.
Each player took a different path to get to the Durham Bulls' 5-1 home-opening win Wednesday night. McCracken left Duke in 1992, Jackson in '94. Both spent their time in the minors but saw those all-night bus trips rewarded with calls to the major leagues.
So after spending time in the bigs, finally realizing their life-long dreams, you can understand why Wednesday's reunion was more than a little bitter sweet.
Jackson has appeared in 143 major league games with both the Marlins and Mariners. Last year he batted .235 with Seattle, but was cut in the offseason before signing with Tampa Bay in January.
McCracken has seen even more success, and his appearance in Durham was more than a little surprising. He was the Devil Rays' MVP in 1998, batting .292 with 19 stolen bases. Last year, he played the first 40 games before tearing the ACL in his right knee. He missed the rest of the season and then suffered a major blow this April 10 when he was demoted to AAA ball.
"I wasn't real excited," Jackson said of the moment he learned McCracken would be joining him. "That's such a unique situation-a guy with that kind of salary, that kind of experience in the big leagues to be in AAA. So I'm looking forward to seeing him go."
But while Jackson and McCracken would certainly prefer to be meeting up in a major league ballpark, the two are enjoying their time together in the city they each called home for four years. They kept in touch with each other when road trips brought them together, but in Durham, they're teammates once again.
Just like it used to be.
"Our team was pretty tight back then," Jackson said. "We always had our little get-togethers and everything."
Jackson, the national collegiate player of the year in 1994, had not been back to Durham since 1995. Perhaps there is something in the air here, because the starting first baseman who was batting 1-for-12 in the Bulls' first four games had two hits and two RBIs Wednesday night, including a booming home run that landed in the last row of seats in right field.
"He's back in Duke country," Durham manager Bill Evers proclaimed afterwards. "It's just what the doctor ordered. He's comfortable around here and it's great to see him come back alive."
Jackson finds himself right at home in the city of medicine, and two weeks ago he reunited with Duke coach Bill Hillier, who served as Jackson's pitching coach back in the early 1990s. He's had some time to tour the old stomping ground, and says in the five years he's been gone, very little has changed.
"I was over [at historic Jack Coombs Field] and they actually brought the fences in a little bit," he said. "I was happy to see that for some of the hitters over there. A lot hasn't changed really. I was kind of surprised, I was expecting a few changes. I come from Sarasota, Florida, and I go back every year, and there's a bunch of changes.
"I really haven't seen too much change other than the large building that's out in right field now out at Jack Coombs Field. What is that building, anyway?"
The Sanford Institute of Public Policy is foreign to Jackson, just like knee problems were foreign to McCracken until that fateful day last spring. And while the center fielder works out his knee, he seeks his former teammate's advice.
"We've talked quite a bit about the knee situation, since I blew out my knee in '96," Jackson said. "He's asking me when it's going to feel totally 100 percent.... I told him, 'Hey, it's going to be awhile.' It was about a year and a half before I was completely healed. It's one of the things he's going to have to deal with this year, but I suspect he's going to come back pretty strong."
What does the future hold for Duke's duo?
Right now, it's tough to tell. The Bulls boast an incredibly deep team, and there will be plenty of competition to get that coveted call back to the big leagues. There's a chance that one of them, or even both, will spend their entire season at the DBAP.
"It's pretty stacked right now and it's getting real crowded with all the moves they're making," Jackson said. "It's actually kind of a tense situation, because guys are really having to fight for time in AAA, even guys who are accustomed to playing in the big leagues."
And in the end, that return trip is the ultimate goal for both Jackson and McCracken. For while the Durham reunion may be fun, you can bet both of them can't wait for it to end.
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