Monday, April 03, 2000
Opening Day by the numbers
Since baseball is a game of stats, here are a few to chew on
The Cincinnati Enquirer
If you've been counting the days till baseball season starts, you've reached 0. If you've got this thing about counting, and you're bored with the game, try running your own inventory on baseball food, baseball bathrooms, baseball prices, and, if you must, baseball. Here's a start, based on Opening Day action.
Seats at Cinergy Field: 52,392
Gates: 17
Restrooms: 37
Toilets: 524
Gang showers: 4
Smoking areas: 2 (concourses only)
Doctors on duty: 3
Nurses and paramedics: 7
Ambulances: 2
Temperature at game time: 98` (singing the National Anthem)
Ticket prices: $6-$22
Parking spaces: About 5,000
Governors on the field: 1 (Bob Taft, throwing first pitch)
St. Bernards on the field: 0
Field floodlights: 1,728
Sound speakers: 592
Astroturf surface: 123,000 square feet
Stadium perimeter: 2,200 feet
Outer diameter: 694 feet
Outfield wall height: 8 feet
Junior's number: 30
Planes buzzing counter-clockwise with advertising banners: as many as 5
FAA-required distance of planes from Carew Tower, Chiquita Center: 2,000 feet
Sold-out games for 2000: 1 (today's)
Opening Day win-loss record: 57-58 (lost last 2)
Opening Day news reporters, photographers, technicians: 350
Opening Days with Marty and Joe: 27 counting today's game
Souvenir choices: 250
Anticipated Opening Day shoppers at the Dugout, Westin Hotel: 500
Anticipated Opening Day sales: 400 hats; 200 T-shirts
First National League Reds Opening Day: 4-25-1876
Riverfront Stadium groundbreaking: 2-1-1968
First Riverfront game: 6-30-1970
First-game attendance: 51,050
Construction cost: $36 million
Opening Days called off: 2 (1994, due to a strike; and 1996, after umpire John McSherry collapsed and died)
Sources: Cincinnati Reds, Cincinnati Sportservice Inc., Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Riverfront Choice Tickets, Enquirer archives.
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