By Maggie Downs
The Cincinnati Enquirer

With fans lined up for the first time at the Great American Ball Park, the Cincinnati Reds sold more than 100,000 single-game tickets there and through other venues Saturday, a one-day franchise record.

Karl Bolinger of Florence, first in line at the ballpark today, discusses seat location with Reds ticket seller Nick Brown. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

Jonathan Troyer of the Reds Pepsi Rally Pack offers free coffee and hot chocolate to ticket buyer Walter Potrafke of Linwood. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

Cameron Warman, 8 months old, gets an eyeful of Reds mascot Gapper as he and his family wait in line for tickets. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

They also eased some fans' bruised feelings over last weekend's sale of Opening Day tickets, which were available only online and by phone.

"The way the Reds distributed the tickets today is the way it should be done every time they go on sale," said Justin Lemonds, of Clarksville, Ind. "Go to the stadium and camp out. Then it becomes a matter of who wants the tickets worse. Fair and square."

Single-game tickets went on sale at 9 a.m. Saturday. By then, Tim Schwartz, 24, of Mount Washington, had already been in line more than 40 hours at the Reds Dugout Shop in the downtown Westin Hotel.

"The past few years, camping out has become almost as important to me as going to the game," said Schwartz, who got in line late Thursday afternoon. "It's all part of the ritual."

The hottest seats Saturday were for the June 3-5 series against the New York Yankees and the March 28-29 exhibitions against the Cleveland Indians. The Reds said that fewer than 2,000 tickets remained for the Yankees series, with the June 5 game sold out, while fewer than 11,000 tickets remained for the Indians exhibitions.

"We're very pleased with the early sales," Reds chief operating officer John Allen said. "It is encouraging that our fans made today the largest single-game ticket sales day in franchise history."

The tickets were sold at more than 50 retail outlets, over more than 100 phone lines and 1,000 Internet connections. Some 50,000 tickets were sold online, and although there were some grumbles, others said online sales things went smoothly.

TALE OF THE TICKETS

• How they sold: Some 50,000 tickets sold online, 24,000 by telephone, and some 27,000 were bought in person. • What's left: Except for the March 31 Opening Day game with Pittsburgh and the June 5 game with the New York Yankees, tickets for 79 other regular-season Reds games - and the March 28-29 exhibition games with the Cleveland Indians - are available. • To buy: www.cincinnatireds.com; (513) 381-REDS or toll free at (877) 647-REDS. Also, Great American Ball Park ticket windows (Monday through Friday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.), the Reds Dugout Shop in the Westin Hotel (10 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays) and Tickets.com outlets.   Source: The Reds

Chris Charbonneau, 36, of Maineville, was impressed with how easily he got tickets online Saturday, after trying - and failing - for more than an hour last weekend.

The Bronx native said he ordered 22 tickets to see the Yankees - all within five minutes.

Steve Buchholz of West Chester, who said he spent 45 minutes last weekend trying fruitlessly for Opening Day tickets, said it took about 25 minutes online Saturday to buy tickets for the first Indians exhibition and two other games.

"By 9:25, I was all done and very happy with the process," he said. "I went to a couple of the final games at Crosley Field, two games the first season at Riverfront, the last event ever at Riverfront, and will be at the first event ever at Great American!"

Other diehard fans weren't taking any chances.

First in line at the new stadium was Karl Bolinger, 29, of Florence, who made himself at home in a tent on the sidewalk at 1 a.m. Friday.

"I tried calling and doing the Internet thing for Opening Day," he said. "That didn't work for me, so here I am."

Bolinger, a former Boy Scout, came prepared - complete with tent, sleeping bag, blankets, food, water and Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty over Liberalism by Sean Hannity.

About 300 others were in line at the stadium for first dibs on tickets.

Last weekend, that wasn't an option. The 14,000 tickets available for the 135th Opening Day were gone in about an hour last Saturday. . Many fans were left seeing red.

That was still fresh in the memory of some of those who waited for hours Saturday.

"I think a lot of people just wanted to have the actual tickets in their hands," said Dan Jenkins, 34, of Mariemont.

"We have control of our destiny here," said Guy Simes, 55, of Cleves.

To take away some of the winter chill while waiting, Reds employees distributed free doughnuts, coffee and hot chocolate to the crowd.

"That was nice to know they care about their fans," said Mark Estes, 34, of Hamilton. "If it was a Bengals-sponsored event, we might be paying for the coffee."

Some ticket buyers didn't wait in the cold at all.

"Being in line at the Westin has its advantages," said Schwartz, following his 41-hour stint in line. "There's a restaurant-bar next door. A coffee shop. Heat."

But he also noted public restrooms there were not open overnight for, ahem, business. So one family rented a hotel room, which was dubbed the "$100 Bathroom."

"Everyone in line took turns using it," Schwartz said.

The Reds are looking for an improvement over last year's attendance of nearly 1.9 million - a below-average year. The new 42,000-seat ballpark raises hopes of breaking the team's all-time attendance record of 2,629,708 in 1976.

Last year, the Reds sold 17,500 tickets on the first day of single-game sales for games after Opening Day.

Dan Sewell contributed to this story. E-mail mdowns@enquirer.com