DURHAM -- Annie Savoy was wrong. Crash Davis came back to Durham this week.

On Friday night, Kevin Costner, star of one of Hollywood's best sports movies ever --Bull Durham -- returned to Durham for the first time in more than 20 years. Not as "Crash Davis," erstwhile catcher and philosopher-in-residence for the big-screen version of the Durham Bulls. But with his rock band Modern West, which is in the middle of a 12-city tour this summer.

"I had to do the math myself," Costner said during a pre-concert news conference and VIP gathering at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. "I didn't realize it was 20 years."

The tour will take Costner and his band to Daytona International Speedway today, where they will perform before the Coke Zero 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

For this night, Crash/Costner was back in Durham, part of the Bulls' season-long celebration of the movie's 20-year anniversary. As part of the festivities, the Bulls retired the No. 8 uniform Costner wore in the movie.

The movie was filmed in the old Durham Athletic Park, where the Bulls scratched out a minor league existence in the Class A Carolina League in the 1970s and 1980s. Today they've moved downtown to gleaming and spacious Durham Bulls Athletic Park, where they're Triple-A tenants of the International League.

"Man, this is a nice place," Costner said, looking around at the 10,000-seat stadium.

Costner formed his band two years ago in an attempt to reconnect with his musical roots.

"I was involved in music before I got into acting," he said, noting that two of his bandmates were members of his original band. He said it's a way to connect with an audience in a way that actors on a screen can't.

"We intend to play live, loud and long," he promised.

He was true to his word, working through a rain-shortened 60-minute set of rockabilly-sounding original material for an appreciative crowd of some 7,000.

One of the songs, "NASCAR Dreams," Costner noted, would be part of the sound track to his upcoming movie "Swing Vote," which also includes an appearance by former NASCAR champion driver Richard Petty.

"I don't know anything about cars that go in a circle," Costner joked.

He does know movies

Costner has come a long way in 20 years. Since Bull Durham, he's starred in a number of highly acclaimed, and some not so acclaimed, movies. "Dances With Wolves" won seven Oscars, including two for Costner as Best Actor. "Field of Dreams," "JFK," "Tin Cup" and "Thirteen Days," among others, also rank among his best work.

OK, so "Waterworld" and "The Postman" ended up weak infield grounders by comparison. Even a .300 hitter makes an out seven of every 10 at-bats.

Costner admits he's not afraid to take chances professionally.

"Bull Durham is an adult film," he said. "Not every movie is made for everyone.

"But we hoped it would be a movie that you take off the shelf 10 years later and play it for your [grown] children."

Costner isn't the first "Bull Durham" luminary to return to Durham this anniversary year. Writer/director Ron Shelton and producer Thom Mount, the latter a Durham native, were honored at the Durham Annual Tribute Luncheon in April. Costner praised Shelton for being the genius behind "Bull Durham."

"I have gotten so much credit for 'Bull Durham,' " Costner said. "But Ron Shelton, who wrote it, was the heart of the movie."

Costner has made a number of sports movies over the years. In "American Flyers" (1985) he was a bicycle racer. "Bull Durham" would be the first installment of his baseball trilogy, followed by "Field of Dreams" (1989) and "For Love of the Game" (1999). In "Silverado" (1985) he was a cowboy. In "Tin Cup" (1996) he was a pro golfer.

He said he never set out to make a sports movie or a baseball movie. "Bull Durham" was special, he said, because of the way it used baseball to explore relationships.

"I got to be part of an All-American movie," Costner said.

And on the Fourth of July, that's an appropriate celebration.