Mets Open Citi
Field with a Loss For
a night, Queens was the hot spot in town and New York glowed
orange and blue. The
Mets, not the
Yankees, opened their gleaming new ballpark first, and
Citi Field was primped and primed for the occasion, as if it
were preparing for a date. Monday was Citi Field’s night to
shine, and the Mets, after two rehearsals and a week on the
road, were eager to show it off. Reality soon intruded, however,
and the Mets bumbled their way to a 6-5 loss to San Diego, the
game turning for the second straight day on an outfield mishap.
1923 Ticket
Prices for Exhibition Games The
Bronx Bombers may be spending big bucks on free agents this
winter, but some ticket prices for the inaugural games in their
new stadium will resemble dead-ball era rates. Certain seats for
the exhibition games on April 3 and 4 against the
Chicago Cubs will cost the same as they did back on April
18, 1923 - when the original stadium opened its doors, the
Yankees announced Tuesday.
•
Ballparks of Baseball:
Yankee Stadium
Nationals Ready
to Bid Farewell to RFK It
hosted Livan Hernandez's fastball for strike one against
Arizona's Craig Counsell, the moment -- 7:06 p.m., April 14,
2005 -- when baseball returned to
Washington. This afternoon, in the cramped clubhouse behind
the third base dugout, the Nationals will gather for the final
baseball homestand in the 46-year history of
RFK Stadium. In the heart of summer, this area emits an
unholy stench that stadium workers must knock back by pouring
gallons of bleach down drains. Just one reason the thinking
among the players is, in general, Good riddance, RFK.
A
crew of hardhats is the new "murderers row." Drills whirring,
they unbolt four seats at a time and toss them onto pallets,
which are then carried by forklift onto what was once the
hallowed field of the original Yankee Stadium. Four thousand
seats are being ripped from the stands each day at the Stadium.
Just a few tufts of grass are all that survived the harvesting
of the outfield, which is now a desert. The corridors, offices
and locker rooms have been stripped bare. In the bottom of this
sad and final inning, the once-glorious ballpark is a cadaver.
The
For
a night, Queens was the hot spot in town and New York glowed
orange and blue. The
American
stadium design has been stuck in a nostalgic funk, with sports
franchises recycling the same old images year after year. Still,
if you have to go with a retro look, New York City could have
done worse than the new Yankee Stadium and
A
mini-stir was caused in these parts when Newsday reported Feb.
25 about the 600 or so seats in the new Yankee Stadium bleachers
whose views of the playing field will be partially obstructed by
a sports bar and restaurant. Did some Yankee Stadium architect
misread his or her protractor when the $1.5-billion ballpark was
being designed? Are the Yankees alone in offering some of their
fans less than the whole picture from their seats? No and no,
according to a Newsday review of Major League Baseball's
existing and future stadiums.
Confirming
and making official what's been reported for several days, the
A's announced that they're no longer interested in pursuing the
construction of a new ballpark in Fremont, Calif. "After much
consideration, today we informed Mayor [Bob] Wasserman and City
Council members that the Oakland Athletics will cease efforts to
relocate our franchise to the city of Fremont," A's owner and
managing partner Lew Wolff said in a statement. 
At
the Dallas Cowboys stadium that will open for the next NFL
season, what catches your eye -- no, what makes your jaw drop --
might be the 60-yard-long video screen that hangs from
the translucent, movable roof. At the New York Mets
ballpark that will open April 13, it might be the soaring
open-air rotunda that honors Jackie Robinson. Yet for sports
fans caught in the grip of an increasingly ugly recession, the
most stunning feature of the newest generation of sports venues
might be the price tag.
The
very last fan has left the House That Ruth Built. Team historian
Tony Morante Sunday led the final public tour of Yankee Stadium
before the historic ballpark is closed for good. "This was not
one I was looking forward to," said Morante, 65, after leading
40 fans around the legendary grounds. The visitors were the last
of some 140,000 people to take the tour this year alone.
Days
after taking office in 2002, Mayor
In
a place where the glass always seems half empty, finally it has
been raised in a Champagne toast to a champion instead of
smashed in the heartbreak of drowned sorrows. As the Phillies
clinched the World Series on Wednesday night, Philadelphia won
its first major professional sports championship in 25 years. No
city with teams in the four major professional sports had waited
so long. 
It's
really happening,
Minute
Maid Park made it through Hurricane Ike without any structural
damage, and now it's just a matter of waiting to see if the
Astros will host games this weekend. Astros president of
business operations Pam Gardner said the club is still examining
the ballpark, but by all accounts, it's playable. "The building
did what it was designed to do," Gardner said. "We're still
assessing the damage, but there's nothing substantial at this
point that we've been able to identify.
Kauffman
Stadium has been a construction zone this entire season as crews
continue to work on the renovations. Whatever effects fans have
felt so far will be increased significantly for the teams final
19 home games. For example, your favorite seat might not exist
anymore. And for some games, you might not be able to get one.
Some seats on all levels will either be removed or blocked,
taking capacity from about 39,000 to about 27,000. 
The
playing of the All-Star Game, one of the last major events at
Yankee Stadium, spurred a rush of memories and emotions for some
fans who attended on. No other place can equal the aura. John Farris of Mamaroneck, N.Y., recalled that legendary
Joe DiMaggio's final game in pinstripes, in 1951, marked his
first trip to Yankee Stadium with his father. Danny Berke of
Brooklyn, fondly remembered Bobby Murcer's rookie season.
The
Tampa Bay Rays announced this afternoon that they will abandon
their ambitious plans to build a $450 million stadium on the
downtown waterfront by 2012. Rays President Matt Silverman said
at a news conference that the team will no longer seek a
November referendum on the open-air, 34,000-seat ballpark the
team proposed at the site of Progress Energy Park, home of Al
Lang Field. Several St. Petersburg and Pinellas County leaders
had complained that the city and county were being rushed to
commit millions of public dollars for the controversial project.
The
Angels and the city of Anaheim have been selected to host the
2010 All-Star Game, Commissioner Bud Selig announced. It will be
the fourth time the game will be played in the Los Angeles area
since the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958,
and the first time it's to be played in Southern California
since San Diego hosted in 1992. The 2010 game is scheduled to be
played on July 13. The Angels, who expanded into the American
League in 1961, have hosted the game twice, in 1967 and 1989.
In order
to ensure the continued vitality of Dodger Stadium, the Los
Angeles Dodgers today announced a multi-faceted stadium
improvement plan that will bring the most modern amenities to
Dodger fans while preserving the tradition of the historic
venue, first opened in 1962. The improvements, anticipated to be
completed by Opening Day of the 2012 season, are designed to
protect Dodger Stadium's place as the home of Los Angeles
baseball for the next 50 years.
No
grass was ever greener than the Kentucky blue that spread out
across the field at dazzling new Nationals Park last night. No
popcorn ever smelled so delicious. No beer ever tasted so
refreshing, no hot dog so juicy. The senses were overloaded and
overwhelmed on an Opening Night unlike any ever witnessed in
these parts -- in a $611 million, taxpayer-built palace in a
formerly blighted part of the District, in front of a national
television audience.
The
wreckers will arrive at Shea Stadium soon after the
The
Dodgers used a five-man infield against the Boston Red Sox. Too
bad they weren't allowed to put a player or two in the Los
Angeles Coliseum stands. Kevin Cash and Kevin Youkilis hit cheap
homers off Esteban Loaiza to account for five runs in the first
three innings, and the Red Sox beat the Dodgers 7-4 Saturday
night before an announced crowd of 115,300 -- largest ever to
watch a baseball game. This exhibition game was part of the
Dodgers' 50th anniversary celebration of their move west from
Brooklyn in 1958.
On
April 16, 2007, the Virginia Tech community suffered the worst
school shooting in the history of the United States as 32
members of the Hokie family lost their lives. An outpouring of
support from around the world flooded Virginia Tech, including
from the New York Yankees. On March 18, 2008, the Yankees
traveled from Florida to play in an exhibition game against the
Virginia Tech Hokies baseball team at English Field to honor the
victims. 
On
a bright, sunny day, Dodgers chairman Frank McCourt took a tour
of of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as preparations had
begun for a March 29 exhibition game between the Dodgers and Red
Sox at the 85-year-old venue, the first baseball game to be
played there since the Dodgers left the Coliseum for Dodger
Stadium after the 1961 season. McCourt first addressed members
of the media on Wednesday about the game, which will likely
break the single-game attendance figure of 93,103.
The
Florida Marlins finally have an agreement for the baseball-only
ballpark they have coveted for nearly a decade. Still, their
long fight for a new home is far from over. After lengthy and
often-contentious debate, Miami-Dade County commissioners --
some doing so grudgingly -- voted 9-3 Thursday night to approve
a basic plan for a $515 million, retractable-roof stadium that
would open in time for the 2011 season. The 37,000-seat facility
would be at the site of the Orange Bowl, which is to be
demolished in the coming months, and this is the closest the
Marlins have been to fulfilling their stadium quest.
Its
less than two months now until the Royals open their home
schedule at Kauffman Stadium. Less than two months until the New
York Yankees arrive for their only 2008 visit. Less than two
months and, really, the place is a mess. The $250 million
renovation project is in full swing, from the steel girders
outlining the new crown scoreboard in center field to the
cavernous ditch picture a drained medieval moat where once
the stadiums main entrance existed.
Say
farewell to "The Jake" and hello to ... "The Prog," perhaps?
Though the edifice is intact and the distinctive elements
remain, Jacobs Field -- in appellation alone -- is no more. The
ballpark on the corner of Carnegie and Ontario streets that has
been home to the Tribe since 1994 shall now be known as
Progressive Field, by virtue of a 16-year naming rights pact the
Indians have made with Progressive Insurance.
The
Cubs will add 70 box seats along the third-base line at Wrigley
Field, and install new advertising signage inside the ballpark
in 2008. The city of Chicago gave the team permission to make
the changes on Thursday. The moves were done despite Wrigley
Field's landmark status. Peter Scales of the city's Department
of Planning and Development said the changes were approved
because "landmark buildings aren't frozen in time, need to be
maintained and can be improved while respecting their history."
Tampa Bay Rays
principal owner Stuart Sternberg announced the Rays' plans for a
new 34,000 seat, retractable-roof, open-air ballpark on the St.
Petersburg waterfront at the site of historic Al Lang Field.
"Our vision is to build a breath-taking and contemporary
waterfront ballpark," said Sternberg. "It will be an iconic
landmark for the entire Tampa Bay region and showcase all that
is great about Major League Baseball in the State of Florida."
When
the Dodgers moved out of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and
into Dodger Stadium in 1962 it was believed that the Coliseum --
constructed in the the 1920s for football and track and field --
would never again host another baseball game. Forty-six years
later, the Dodgers will return to the Coliseum one more time to
play an exhibition game with the world champion Boston Red Sox
as part of the organization's 50th anniversary celebration of
its move to Los Angeles.
As
another World Series goes on without the Cubs, the long-awaited
plan to level the playing surface at Wrigley Field finally has
begun. And though Geraldo Rivera never found anything when he
dug his way into Al Capone's vault at the old Lexington Hotel,
Roger Bossard already has hit pay dirt while digging up Wrigley.
Bossard, the White Sox's head groundskeeper who is overseeing
the project, said one of the bulldozer drivers tearing up the
infield grass Thursday was forced to come to a complete stop
between home plate and first base.
The
Dodgers could hit Moon Shots for a day next spring. As they
celebrate their 50th season in Los Angeles, the Dodgers are
exploring the possibility of staging one game at the Coliseum
next year. The Dodgers shared the stadium with USC, UCLA and the
Rams for four years, after they moved from Brooklyn in 1958 and
before Dodger Stadium opened in 1962."We're in the process of
seeing if we can pull this off," Dodgers spokeswoman Camille
Johnston said
On
a clear day near the top of Nationals Park, on the banks of the
Anacostia River, one may not be able to see forever, but one can
certainly see the glistening, white dome of the U.S. Capitol
Building only a few miles away to the north. That will certainly
be the signature television shot repeatedly broadcast world-wide
after the ballpark opens next season, and for years to come. And
so, for all naysayers who doubted in 2005 that the Nationals
would move into their new 41,000-seat ballpark by 2008, it's
time to put all those notions to rest.
It
hosted Livan Hernandez's fastball for strike one against
Arizona's Craig Counsell, the moment -- 7:06 p.m., April 14,
2005 -- when baseball returned to
Frank
McCourt, owner and chairman of the Los Angeles Dodgers,
announced Tuesday afternoon the next phase of the multiyear
renovation of Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers, who have already
renovated seating and parking at Dodger Stadium, unveiled a
multimillion-dollar construction project that will expand the
Field Level concourse to include nearly double the number of
concession stands and restrooms, two new all-inclusive clubs for
the baseline seat ticketholders and a new energy-efficient and
environmentally friendly cooling system.
On
a steamy day a year ago this week -- the anniversary of Babe
Ruth's passing -- a chorus line of Yankees brass and politicians
posed with bat-handled shovels to turn the symbolic soil in
Macombs Dam Park for the proposed $800-million successor to the
stadium known as The House That Ruth Built. A few weeks earlier,
about six miles south in a Shea Stadium parking lot, the initial
construction work on a $700-million ballpark designed to evoke
memories of Ebbets Field already had begun, with far less
fanfare.
More
than half of the 30 major league teams have new-generation
ballparks, starting with Oriole Park at Camden Yards, which
opened in '92 and hosted the All-Star Game a year later. Only
three of 15 have neither hosted the Midsummer Classic nor yet
been chosen to stage one in the near future. Petco Park is one
of the three. The Padres' downtown yard debuted in 2004, same as
one of the other three that has yet to host an All-Star Game,
Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
San
Francisco becomes the center of the baseball universe today as
the build-up officially begins for Tuesday night's Major League
Baseball All-Star Game at AT&T Park. They expect 200,000 to
250,000 people -- half from more than 50 miles away -- to attend
All-Star events and spend $60 million to $65 million. Before
All-Star Week is over, there will be a home-run hitting contest,
a parade, galas, celebrity-packed cruises on the bay and a
five-day "FanFest" at Moscone Center.