By Cliff Peale
and John Byczkowski
The Cincinnati Enquirer

As 42,000 fans poured into downtown for the first game at the Great American Ball Park Friday night, Reds owner Carl Lindner said he knows many of those fans complain that he cares more about money than about winning.

"Believe me, winning has been my top priority my whole life, so why would I change?" Lindner said in an interview, just hours before the $280 million ballpark opened in an exhibition game against the Cleveland Indians.

"I wouldn't be in this for the money."

But proof to Reds fans comes in the player payroll, and Lindner said he "probably would do it," if presented by Reds management with a mid-summer trade that could catapult the club into the National League playoffs - even if it increases this year's $62 million payroll.

Reds fans couldn't wait to see baseball in the team's new home Friday. They came early, in red "Griffey" T-shirts and white "Casey jerseys," filling Crosley Terrace an hour before the gates opened.

The lines were long everywhere - at the turnstiles, at the stands selling souvenir programs, at Pete's Pizza and the High 5 Grille. In front of the mosaic of the Big Red Machine, people took turns posing for snapshots with the likenesses of Tony Perez and Joe Morgan.

Fans said they love the ballpark, and fully expect to see a winner on the field. Why? "Pride," said Wyndell Ellis of Carthage, standing on the concourse behind home plate with his wife and daughter.

"We really love it, we really do," he said. "This is what they should have done a long time ago."

Paul Brown of Springboro said he grew up watching games at Riverfront Stadium. "As much as I liked it, it's nothing like this," he said. "It's awesome."

He agreed that he expected the Reds to play better in the new ballpark. "They're gonna win. They can't help but to win," he said.

Optimism, but no blank checks

Lindner says he, too, wants a winner on the field. But that doesn't mean that he has suddenly given Reds chief operating officer John Allen a blank check.

However, the Reds owner seemed more optimistic about the state of the franchise than he has since signing outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. three years ago to a nine-year, $116.5 million contract. He's also bullish about the team's fortunes in 2003.

"We've got the players, if they're healthy, to win," the 83-year-old Lindner said from his sunny conference room overlooking Third and Vine streets.

"When you think that Junior and Barry (Larkin) were out almost half the time the last two years, they're two outstanding players. ... When there's 30 teams, you're not gonna knock them off every year."

The focus of Lindner's optimism is the sparkling riverfront ballpark, only a couple of blocks southeast of the owner's office. He said the Reds are on a better financial footing than they have been in several years, and should make money after losing more than $10 million over the past two years.

Healing a troubled city

Lindner said the ballpark can provide a good feeling for a community with strained race relations and with the war with Iraq on most people's minds. Lindner bought thousands of tickets for the exhibition games Friday and today against the Cleveland Indians and donated them to local students, police and fire departments.

"I'm trying to use this to meld the city together," he said. "I mean, to pay the people back that helped vote for the thing. I would like to help give something back."

The best thing about the ballpark, he said, is that the least expensive seats still are good ones.

"Those seats are top-drawer," he said. "There isn't a bad seat in the park. A lot of hard work has gone into making it appealing, and anybody can enjoy the different parts of it."

As fans create their own Opening Day memories, the Norwood native Lindner said he had fond memories of Reds games in Crosley Field.

"I do have a lot of good memories," he said. "But I didn't attend a lot, because I was working my tail off."

E-mail cpeale@enquirer.com