Thursday, May 20, 1999Fans stress tradition for Reds park
Architect takes homey wants to heart
BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati EnquirerWhen architect Mike Hand talks with representatives of Hamilton County and the Cincinnati Reds about how the team's new ballpark should be designed, he keeps a six-page report close at hand.
That report lists what about 5,000 fans want to see in the new home for baseball's oldest team. Fans offered comments on cards distributed during the Reds' first three home games this season and at a public forum held before Opening Day.
“I take a peek at the list on a regular basis,” said Mr. Hand, vice president with HOK Sport, the Kansas City firm designing the new ballpark. “It's easy-to-take fan input. It becomes meaningful when you use it.”
In classic Cincinnati fashion, fans want wider, comfier and cheaper seats, and concessions to accommodate their cravings for Skyline chili, Montgomery Inn barbecue and Graeter's ice cream.
The new ballpark is to be built just west of the Firstar Center for an estimated $297 million. It's scheduled to open in 2003.
Ninety-three percent of the fans want a grass field instead of artificial turf in the new ballpark, and 57 percent said they would use picnic-area seating if it were available.
Other comments were baseball-specific. Fans wanted a terraced playing field, similar to Crosley Field, the Reds' home before the team's riverfront stadium was built in 1970. They also requested minimal foul territory, a “home run porch” in right or left field, a fence players can leap above to save a home run, and ivy on the outfield wall.
“Some of the neatest ideas that I've heard surrounding the new Reds ballpark have come from everyday folks,” said County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus.
He liked the idea of a steamboat on the outfield wall with a calliope that would sound for each home run and the call for shorter beer lines.
Nearly every card said the ballpark should include a Reds Hall of Fame or museum. And fans want comfort. Frequent comments included requests for cup holders on every seat, cushioned seats, more leg room and wider aisles.
Fans had specific restroom requests, too: more restrooms, especially for women, hot water in the restrooms, a public-address system in the restrooms (or even TVs) and diaper-changing tables.
They want seats with good views, and they don't want to have to buy seat licenses, as Bengals fans did for the new football stadium.
Reds fans also want lots of history in the new ballpark: an old-time, manual scoreboard; statues of players; champion ship banners; gates and seating sections named for Reds greats instead of numbers; and public access to the team's World Series trophies.
And they want the new ballpark named for Reds history or the riverfront instead of selling naming rights.
The Reds got a similar demand for tradition from their own survey of season ticket holders, said Michael Schuster, a downtown architect serving as the team's representative in the design process.
“You do the history of the Reds, you've got 100-some-odd years of memories,” Mr. Schuster said. “Those kinds of things are really important to our fans.”
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