Archives: June 4-10, 2005
Is D.C. private financing finally dead?
Posted June 10, 2005
Natwar Gandhi, the District’s chief financial officer, once again rejected a proposal for private ballpark financing from D.C. Baseball Stadium Associates. The DCBSA bid, involving equity investments and depreciation tax credits, was deemed by Gandhi to be more expensive than the existing, ratified plan to use city bonds. The whole goal of private financing was to allow the District of Columbia to cut down on the amount it would borrow to build a new ballpark for the Washington Nationals, but every bid called for some sort of public subsidy that would make a total ballpark package more expensive than if the District went ahead and issued its own bonds. In addition, Gandhi rejected the DCNSA bid as being legally questionable; and one that could delay further a project on an uncertain course to be ready by its intended 2008 opening.
Marlins shortfall still unresolved
Posted June 10, 2005
When you make a threat, you really need to carry it out if you want people to take you seriously. That’s why it was silly for MLB President Bob DuPuy to threaten Florida with some unspecified action if funding for a new Florida Marlins ballpark wasn’t finalized by June 9. It’s now June 10 and nothing is different: very little has been accomplished in closing a $45 million gap, and if anything things are a little worse now that Miami-Dade officials say they’re not contributing one penny more to the project. That means the Marlins or the state must come up with the money, and the state already passed this year.
Xanadu ahead of schedule, despite snags
Posted June 10, 2005
Planning for the Xanadu entertainment complex is running ahead of schedule, but negotiations for a new minor-league ballpark have hit the wall despite extensive discussions yesterday. The expansion Bergen Cliff Hawks (independent; Atlantic League) may be grounded at least until the 2007 season. Although a 6,500-seat ballpark has been touted as one of the family-friendly aspects of the Xanadu plan, the developers have yet to figure out how to incorporate the building of the park into an ambitious overall construction schedule. Xanadu is scheduled to open late in 2007.
Nationals make inroads on Orioles’ turf
Posted June 10, 2005
It’s a great time to be a baseball fan in the greater D.C./Baltimore area, as both the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles lead their respective divisions. The issue of which team to support is of paramount interest to residents of suburban Baltimore, as that area in Maryland contains many fans split between the two clubs. Realistically, it doesn’t really matter which team some yahoo on a barstool cheers for (and if the Nats were in last there would be much less of a debate); what matters is how fans vote with their pocketbooks. So far they’re voting for both teams.
Twins-Hennepin/Don’t block the new ballpark
Posted June 10, 2005
The good liberals at the Star Tribune’s editorial page come down against a proposal by Rep. Phil Krinkie and Sen. John Marty to tax the profits of the Twins to pay for a new Minnesota ballpark by calling it what it is: a rather disingenuous attempt to derail the entire project. Krinkie and Marty are both marginal figures within the Minnesota Legislature, and from what we heard their proposal will have a hard time getting a hearing, much less having a real shot at passage. You can read their rationale in this op-ed piece; their crocodile tears shed over the plight of the Hennepin County taxpayers would be more persuasive if either one of them actually represented a singe Hennepin County taxpayer.
Classy Fenway is even better than before
Posted June 10, 2005
With the Boston Red Sox visiting the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field today, there were bound to be some comparisons between Wrigley Field and Fenway Park in the press. Here’s one from the Boston Herald’s Tony Massarotti, who is correct when he says Fenway Park is one of the classiest venues in the majors. He’s wrong to slam the Cubs, however; despite the general arrogance of the front office and the middling record on the field, the team has done a very good job preserving Wrigley Field while adapting to the today’s economic realities.
Local boosters return to cheer Ohio Valley
Posted June 10, 2005
The Ohio Valley Redcoats (independent; Frontier League) technically is not a traveling team, but it might as well be, as the team plays in three different venues and has shifted some "home" games to other Frontier League sites. The Redcoats are back for a series in Parkersburg — the home of the original Frontier League Redcoats — and fans are hoping there’s enough support to lure the team back for an entire season. The team had low attendance for games the last two nights, so it’s not looking good.
A surefire recipe for a home run
Posted June 10, 2005
Frank Fitzpatrick looks back on his days selling Coca-Cola at Connie Mack Stadium, watching his beloved Philadelphia Phillies and Dick Allen in action. The SABR fact-checkers would undoubtedly dispute this, but Fitzpatrick says every time he sat down for a break at the ballpark Allen would launch a home runs in the stands.
Minor pleasures
Posted June 10, 2005
The Wall Street Journal looks at minor-league baseball and declares it interesting, while managing to visit most of the ballparks we’ve features over the last year. (What a coincidence.) Worth a look anyway, although if you’ve read our site regularly you know what he’ll say about ballparks in Memphis, Kane County and Dayton.
84-year-old has been a Pilots fan since ’69
Posted June 10, 2005
Bobbi Taylor has been an Anchorage Glacier Pilots (college wood bat; Alaska Baseball League) fan since 1969, and she’s a mainstay in Mulcahy Stadium’s Home Brew Alley. She also helped built "The Horn," a homemade noisemaker made mostly of wood, a few rusty wires and a car battery. It perches on a fence next the Pilots’ clubhouse. Pilots general manager Lefty Van Brunt said the contraption creates a home-field advantage. Whether there’s a foul ball, home run or error in the infield, The Horn has a noise for it. It sounds like there was quite the party for the ABL’s opening night.
New league set to start
Posted June 10, 2005
Speaking of summer baseball leagues: the college wood-bat Hawaii Collegiate Baseball League begins its first season tomorrow with a doubleheader at Aloha Stadium. The league is part of the nonprofit Hawaii Youth Sports Foundation and was started by Al Kam, the assistant baseball coach at Kamehameha Schools. The four teams — Waikiki Surfers, Oahu Paddlers, Hawaii Aliis and Kamuela Paniolos — will play a 43-game schedule that runs through July 23, including a two-day championship series the final two days.
Finalists for Nats ownership due soon
Posted June 9, 2005
MLB wants to have a final set of potential owners for the Washington Nationals within the next two weeks, as staffers go through the seven bids for the team and a stake in a cable network, MASM. Bidders for the team say MLB is already doing some diligence and might even have a final decision made by the All-Star Game, although September 1 is a much more likely date. As Bud Selig hates to have multiple messages out at the same time, you can get there won’t be any discussions of ownership changes during the playoffs and World Series.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post looks at the issue of a ballpark displacing gay-themed businesses in the Anacostia neighborhood. This will probably be an issue as a beginning to construction draws near: some local bar owners say they’ll go to court to block a ballpark.
Roof or no? The debate rages in Minnesota
Posted June 9, 2005
Does a proposed new ballpark for the Minnesota Twins need a roof? Currently the plans for the ballpark do not allow for a roof, and the Minnesota Twins say they have no desire for a roof, which will raise the cost of the project by at least $100 million. But many in Minnesota dread the prospect of true outdoor baseball in April and October, leading them to call for a new roof. Yesterday Twins management reiterated their desire for a pure open-air ballpark, and HOK’s Earl Santee (the lead architect on the project) says he’s not considered whether a roof is suitable now or whether it can be added in the future. (This is somewhat misleading: the Twinsville folks have indeed looked at a roof and the possibility of buying air rights from an adjoining rail line as a place to slide a roof.) Meanwhile, Rep. Loren Solberg (DFL-Grand Rapids) plans on offering state funding for a new roof using tax-increment financing. This will be controversial on many levels: the Twins are not formally asking for a roof (though they certainly wouldn’t turn down a state-funded one), it would require state financing of the ballpark (which is certainly not a popular notion right now at the State Capitol) and it uses TIF financing, which is always a problem for many legislators.
In New Jersey, losing patience over promised ballpark
Posted June 9, 2005
Developers of the Xanadu complex in New Jersey’s Meadowlands area have quietly dropped plans for a new minor-league ballpark, but the acting governor and other officials are putting on the heat to bring it back. Administration officials plan to meet today with the Xanadu developers, the Mills Corporation of Virginia and Mack-Cali Realty Corporation, to demand a schedule for work on the ballpark. The developers insist that the plan for a ballpark has not been shelved but will be ready for the 2007 season. That comes as news to the ownership of the Bergen Cliff Hawks (independent; Atlantic League), who see the developers focused on pleasing the NFL’s New York Giants by including additional parking for Giants Stadium instead of building a ballpark.