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Costner Helps Unveil Rays Of Change

By Bob Hansen / WFLA

Actor Kevin Costner takes a swing during batting practice at Florida Energy Field.

By KEVIN WALKER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 7, 2007

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ST. PETERSBURG - When you're Kevin Costner, you get a lot of people asking you to show up at events. But a recent request from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays immediately grabbed the actor's attention.

"You get a lot of silly requests, but this one I took pretty seriously," Costner said today during an appearance at Florida Energy Park. The request, which he accepted, involves his band, Modern West, playing at an event in downtown St. Petersburg Thursday night in which the the team will unveil new uniforms.

"The owners here are serious about changing things," Costner said. "Change is not the worst thing in the world."

That was especially true for the Devil Rays. They were the worst team in baseball this year, and they have never finished with a winning record in 10 seasons.

Wearing jeans and boots and sporting a soul patch, Costner, 52, took batting practice Wednesday afternoon. The star of three well-known baseball movies — "Bull Durham," "Field of Dreams" and "For Love of the Game" — used an aluminum bat and took some balls into the outfield, from both sides of the plate.

Later, speaking to reporters in the dugout, Costner was asked which of his baseball movies he liked best. He responded that his favorite character to play was Billy Chapel in "For Love of the Game." He admitted most fans pick either "Bull Durham" or "Field of Dreams" as their favorite. "But it's not like the two groups hate each other," he said. "It's a less filling, tastes great kind of thing."

Costner had already seen the uniforms. Asked if he thought they were any good, Costner said, "Baseball uniforms are not meant to be fashion statements." But later he also said he wished he could have one.

"I wanted to be one [a baseball player]. I was not good enough to be one."

Thursday night's show begins at 6:30 p.m. in Straub Park. Admission is free.

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