Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy Field is definitely going out with a bang. And that's even before it might be imploded sometime around Christmas.

        The beginning of the end starts Monday, which is the 32nd and final Opening Day at Cinergy.

        Everybody in attendance will receive a first-ever Opening Day giveaway. It's a commemorative pin (stadium/skyline/bridge scene with date, 1970-2002, and wishbone-C insignia) that is a replica of the patch the players are wearing on their uniforms this year. The pin is attached to a laminated “It's History” card.

        This season, there will be promotions galore. Four giveaways (first 10,000 fans each night) will feature the popular Bobblehead Dolls and span each decade of the stadium — Johnny Bench (1970s), Eric Davis (1980s), Chris Sabo (1990s) and Adam Dunn (2000s).

        The Reds aren't asking fans to dress a certain way during their 1970s-related promotions, but it will be disappointing if at least some fans don't wear wider-than-Mehring-Way bell-bottoms, taller-than-the-Carew-Tower platform shoes and brighter-than-the-Suspension-Bridge big-collar shirts.

        There will be a “Faces of Riverfront” poster giveaway in May, and a Village People (“Y-M-C-A”) concert in June.

        There will be a variety of events throughout the season that have an auld lang syne quality to them: the removing of the numbers that count down the final 81 games at Cinergy, and some notables throwing out ceremonial first pitches and/or singing the National Anthem. The Roger Bacon band has been invited to perform on July 1 (it's as close to the June 30 anniversary of Opening Night in 1970 as the Reds could get; they're in St. Louis June 30).

        The real extravaganza, however, occurs on the final homestand of the season, a Friday-Saturday-Sunday (Sept. 20-22) series against Philadelphia.

        Sept. 20: A Rozzi fireworks show, the most expensive and elaborate one the Reds have ever produced. For the first time at the stadium, there will be music choreographed to accompany it.

        Sept. 21: A paperweight-type replica of Riverfront Stadium will be given to everybody in attendance.

        Sept. 22: A commemorative ticket holder and lanyard (necklace-type string) to everybody in attendance. Past players and club officials, and some dignitaries, will be recognized. After the game, home plate may be carried over to Great American Ball Park. Some of the Reds' longtime front-office employees and players will likely be involved.

        Tickets for those three games go on sale May 18. (Tickets for each of those games carries a $3 surcharge, as does Opening Day.) The final-game tickets figure to go in a flash. There are probably only about 15,000 to be had, once season-ticket holders, corporate sponsors and players and their families are accommodated.

        One of the more attractive keepsakes of the final year is the season-ticket booklet, with each game's ticket bearing a photo of a notable Reds player or of a memorable moment. Rest assured there are no pictures of the 101-loss Reds of 1982.

        Cinergy's field is grass now, not the Astroturf it was when Pete Rose played there and helped make the place famous: colliding with catcher Ray Fosse to win the 1970 All-Star game, making his 3,000th hit in the spring of 1978, hitting in 44 straight games in the summer of 1978, hitting a triple with signature head-first slide on the emotional night of his return as a Red in 1984, and the big knock — 4,192 — in 1985.

        But it doesn't matter what the field is made of now. Mr. Rose wouldn't be allowed back on it even if it were made of Swiss cheese.

        “There's been no change in MLB's position since the Big Red Machine Reunion two seasons ago when we made the request (to have Rose back),” said Reds chief operating officer John Allen.

        “My line now is the same as it was then: "We didn't suspend him, and we can't unsuspend him.' We're one of 30 franchises and we have a set of rules and regulations to follow.”

        There will be no exceptions made by MLB officials as they made for themselves in 1999, when Mr. Rose was allowed to take the field at the All-Star game in Atlanta because he was elected by the fans to baseball's All-Century Team, even though he'd been banned from baseball in 1989 for his gambling associations.

        “People have suggested things like, "Go out and collect a dollar from every fan and just pay the fine,'” Mr. Allen said. “It's a much more complex situation than a fine. We deal with the central fund (and) revenue-sharing. The commissioner's office controls those things. There are all sorts of assessments and penalties for knowingly violating (a rule).

        “It's very clear: "Thou shalt not do this.' (Mr. Rose) is not treated like any other ballplayer. It doesn't matter if it's Cincinnati, Milwaukee or Texas. ... But it's really only a problem here and in Philadelphia.”

        Can't the Reds ask again?

        “We already have asked,” Mr. Allen said. “We've had the conversation. We've been told the same rules apply as applied two years ago. (We were told) "Nothing's changed to change our position.'”

SPECIAL 'GOODBYE, CINERGY' SECTION Fans relive memories on the riverfront Reds' ticket sales down 10 percent from last season Reds promotions include giveaways, but no Rose Naehring's Way Larkin's career at a crossroads Power in short supply for Reds reserves Walker to check swing, aggression Reds Q&A with John Fay Orioles 3, Reds 2 Reds notebook Baseball notebook

Bengals Q&A with Mark Curnutte
SULLIVAN: Michael Jordan
Dream season continues as IU tops Sooners
Terps survive late Jayhawk charge
Women: Huskies gun for perfect season, greatest-team tag
Marshall fans, coach want to use pieces of plane as charm
D'Amico rides Turfway winner
Ducks fall into 10th playoff spot
Enquirer Page Two power rankings
Water, water everywhere - titles, too
Back from suspension, Martin draws attention
Coyotes win; Roy ejected
Coming up this week
Winton Woods to make home for its legends

• Return to Reds front page...