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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.
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The
most imposing figure at Shea Stadium on Tuesday afternoon wasn't
even in the ballpark but, rather, adjacent to it. Few buildings
of any sort dwarf the 45-year-old home of the Mets, but looming
large as the Mets began their 2008 home schedule was Citi Field,
a reminder of the future, if such an oxymoronic phenomenon can
exist. The vast area beyond Shea Stadium's outfield walls and
scoreboards, an area without recognized boundaries, seemed less
vast because of Citi Field.
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.
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.
Player
salaries aren't the only expenditures on hold for the Cubs as
Tribune Co. prepares to sell the team. A $1 million project to
install a new infield and drainage system at Wrigley Field, one
of the park's biggest needs, could be sacrificed for another
season. The project had been approved last year, with White Sox
groundskeeper Roger Bossard hired to design and implement the
work.
Old
Tiger Stadium has moved one step closer to its final date with
the wrecking ball. A plan approved by city economic development
officials on calls for the famous but moldering ballpark at
Michigan and Trumbull to be razed by September 2008, with most
of the historic baseball diamond preserved. Seats and other
stadium memorabilia will be sold off. The plan gives a nonprofit
group called The Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy until late July
to find a feasible approach to preserve part of the stadium.
The
Royals announced further plans for the renovations to Kauffman
Stadium at a press conference on Monday morning. The $250
million dollar project is scheduled to start this October and be
completed by Opening Day 2010. The new park with feature a high definition scoreboard, 39,000
seats, fountain view terraces, widened concourses on all three
levels and an outfield concourse that will allow fans to walk
around the stadium 360 degrees.
The
design of the new Minnesota Twins-Hennepin County ballpark -- a
cosmopolitan expression of Minnesota's natural beauty -- was
officially presented to the Hennepin County Board. "What a
tremendous, long-awaited day this is for the Minnesota Twins and
baseball fans across the Upper Midwest," said Jerry Bell,
president of Twins Sports Inc. "Minnesota's new ballpark will be
an inviting landmark and an intimate venue providing for a
superior baseball experience for future generations of Twins
fans."