Minute Maid Park in downtown Houston. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        HOUSTON - No new ballpark in America reminds fans of Cincinnati's late, great Crosley Field as much as Minute Maid Park.

        It's all because of the “terrace,” the 25-yard-wide, 5-foot-high incline that begins 26 feet from the 436-foot-distant center-field wall and reaches back to 1912, the year Redland Field opened in the West End. The terrace was no contrivance at Crosley, which was located on the site of a former brickyard. The terrace was the way to get down to the brickyard off York Street.

        The inclination of Cincinnatians is to disdain Houston's terrace when they first hear about it - a cheap ripoff of Crosley, they figure, and besides, if anybody was to copy it, Cincinnati should have - but then it's love at first sight.

        Why?

        Because it's a great feature, something different by somebody who dared, and that's what baseball needs.

        In this way, it is much like “the gap” in the upper deck above third base in Great American Ball Park, the Reds' new stadium, scheduled to open in 2003. The gap splits the upper deck into two different sections, making the one along the left-field line lower and closer to the field. The two different sections will be connected by a bridge, on which about 300 fans can stand and watch the game.

        “We visited all the ballparks and took in all their ideas, but yes, we do think we've succeeded in not being like everybody else,” said John Allen, the Reds' chief operating officer. “We think the fans are really going to be involved. We think it's going to be really intimate. That's all part of the reason of how (the gap) came about.”

        In fact, it is this gap that tips the scales in favor of Great American in a comparison with Minute Maid Park. New ballparks, even the very good ones such as Minute Maid, are beginning to get a cookie-cutter feel, with many of the creature comforts starting to resemble one another.

        Tal Smith, the Astros' director of baseball operations who worked for the Reds in the late 1950s, said he had the terrace designed at Minute Maid because he wanted to make the ballpark distinctive. Strictly a residual benefit was that it paid homage to Crosley, which is near to Smith's heart.

        “It has created a lot of conversation, and that's good,” Smith said.

        The terrace is a delight for fans - especially for fans who remember Crosley Field - but in most cases, visiting players don't like it because of the threat of injury. (Sound familiar? Visiting players at Crosley felt identically, and they also had the added threat of embarrassment because the deep incline ran the entire length of left field, plus more shallowly in center and right, all at a very reachable distance in a small ballpark.)

        But the Astros players are OK with it, just as the Reds players were at Crosley Field.

        “One of the distinguishing features of baseball as opposed to football, where every field is the same, is that every field is different, with different dimensions, shapes and nuances,” one of the Astros' players said. “It's a strength of the game, and it's why fans love ballparks so much. That's why I'm OK with the hill in center.”

        Who said that?

        A man who should know.

        A man who has to contend with it.

        A man who is Houston's Most Valuable Player.

        Outfielder Lance Berkman.

        “Any time you have an element to a baseball field that introduces the threat of serious injury, I don't think you can ever be an advocate of that,” he said. “But this is so far away, it rarely comes into play. And if it does come into play, it's on a line drive that you can't get to anyway.”

Reds radio team of Joe Nuxhall, left, and Marty Brennaman pose in the radio booth above then-Enron Field before the Reds game with the Houston Astros Wednesday, July 19, 2000. (Brett Coomer/AP photo) | ZOOM |

        But Berkman had one of the great highlight catches there. It aired over and over on ESPN. It was an over-the-shoulder grab that ended up with him sitting on his posterior and laughing about it.

        “It's the first time in the 2 years of this ballpark that I've seen an opportunity for a running catch going up that hill,” Berkman said. “That's how far away it is. The ball just doesn't get hit that far to that part of the ballpark.”

        He said he couldn't imagine having to deal with a reachable incline in a small park like Crosley, but that familiarity probably bred acceptance and ultimately, advantage, which is the way Frank Robinson viewed Crosley.

        “I don't mind it,” Berkman said.

        So, yes, Minute Maid Park rates the advantage over Great American Ball Park on the distinctiveness of the playing field. Minute Maid, which also has a flagpole in fair territory (on the incline just left of the 436-foot mark), rates an 8.5 on a 10 scale in “playing-field uniqueness.” Until we see Great American and the effect of its sharply angled wall in left field and the curved-in wall in right field, and the different caroms those create, judgment can't be exact. But from the diagrams and the discussions, we rate Great American 6.5 in this category.

        Here are some other categories for comparison:

        Intimacy

        Minute Maid is good, especially for a moveable-roof stadium. It avoids the airport-hangar feel of Milwaukee's, and, to a lesser extent, Arizona's. But there's more foul territory here than there will be in Cincinnati, and the outfield seats are nowhere near as good. The fans in left field at Great American will be just above the 8-foot-high wall. The fans in left at Minute Maid are 25 feet above the fence. Minute Maid, 6.5; Great American, 8.5.

        Standing-room spots

        Hands down to Great American on this one, with the bridge, a porch off the Machine Shop in left field and the features in right-center (riverboat smokestacks, paddle wheel and misters for the fans to cool off on hot days). There are no extra-special SRO spots in Minute Maid, although there are some OK ones. Minute Maid, 6.5; Great American 8.5.

        Home run feature

        Minute Maid's is the train on the stretch of track that extends high above the left-field wall. It is excellent eye candy - especially when it toots its whistle and moves along the track. At GABP, we'd have preferred some fountains to the smokestacks and paddlewheel, but at least there's a water theme. Minute Maid, 7.0; Great American, 7.5.

        Food

        Minute Maid - The Juice Box rates an 8.0, because of the chili 'n nachos, the build-your-own burrito and the Shiner Bock Beer. All are excellent tasting. We'd have to give the food a 9.0, but it loses a point for value. All these items are expensive, especially the big beers ($7 and $9) and big burrito ($8).

        Great American - One has to actually eat the stuff in a ballpark before passing judgment. But the food at GABP will be better than Cinergy if only because of the ability to fresh-grill on site. The Reds have always done a good job with their sausages - brats, metts and footlongs with sauerkraut - and that will only get better with fresh-grilling. Great American must find a way to have a unique Crosley Field mustard. Skyline Chili and Montgomery Inn are winners. 8.0, which should go up once we smell the peppers and onions sizzling.

        Public art

        Again, hands down to Great American, with a big bas relief, “The Spirit of Baseball,” on the administration building; four Crosley Terrace statues at the main entrance; and two mosaic-type murals (1869 Red Stockings and Big Red Machine) once fans have entered the park. There is no public art to speak of at Minute Maid, although the rotunda area of the former train station is gorgeous. Minute Maid, 5.0; Great American 8.0.

        John Byczkowski contributed to this report.

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