The “Black Monster” is getting taller.

With the "Black Monster" in the background, Reds COO John Allen talks with baseball VP Jimmy Lee Solomon. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        The new center-field wall at Cinergy Field needs to be 8 to 10 feet higher than the 30 feet originally planned — but no home run line will be added — a crew from Major League Baseball determined Tuesday after visiting the Reds' reconfigured stadium.

        The upper 16 feet of the 30-foot wall is painted black to give the batters a dark background to clearly see pitches, but MLB officials felt making the wall 38-40 feet would work better.

        The “Green Monster,” Boston's fabled wall, is 37 feet tall.

        Because the wall is already so high the Reds thought MLB might want a home run line painted on it. Any ball hit above that line would be a homer. But MLB decided against that.

        Reds players have said they need to see the wall and get a feel for what the wind will do in the reconfigured Cinergy before they'll know what impact the wall will have on their games.

        Because the center-field seating was removed and the fence is now 11 feet closer to home plate (393 feet) to make room for the building of Great American Ball Park, the Reds needed a taller center-field wall and had to put a “batter's eye” atop it; there was no longer the green-seat facade on which to hang the batter's eye.

        The batter's eye portion of the center-field wall is 79 feet wide.

        MLB also mandated a see-through panel in the right-center-field wall so umpires can see pitchers warming up in the new bullpens. That is important because once an umpire relays the manager's signal summoning a reliever, warm-up tosses must cease.

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