By John Fay, Kevin Kelly and Bill Koch
Cincinnati Enquirer

Vice Mayor Alicia Reece wants to bring the 2006 All-Star Game to Cincinnati. Reece announced Monday during a rally on Fountain Square that the city plans to arrange a meeting to organize the effort.

The plan is to capitalize on Great American Ball Park.

John Allen, the Reds' chief operating officer who did not know Reece was going to make her announcement, did some preliminary inquiries about getting the game after St. Louis failed to get public funding to build a new stadium. St. Louis was promised the '06 game if it built a new stadium.

Allen said Cincinnati doesn't have enough convention space to accommodate the game.

"The event has changed so much," Allen said. "You have the Fan Fest. That requires 500,000 square feet of convention space. Even if they renovate, we'd only have 300,000 square feet.

"I haven't heard of that being waived."

REMEMBERING CINERGY: Several hours before the Reds officially opened Great American Ball Park, pitcher Danny Graves was remembering Cinergy Field.

Yes, the old stadium was outdated and needed to go, Graves said, but it wasn't all bad.

"There were other places that were a lot worse than ours," Graves said. "It wasn't terrible. It was a nice park to play at. But it was old. It was time to get a new one.

"I'll remember everything about it. That's where I started my career. I made a name for myself at Cinergy Field. I'll never forget it."

Like his teammates from the past two years, Graves watched the new park rise from beyond the outfield fences at Cinergy Field. But he didn't want to follow its construction too closely.

"I just finished building a house and I was there every day while it was going up, so once you get in, nothing seems new," Graves said. "This is different. You finally get in when it's finished and you walk in and you're in awe."

TAKING IT TO THE LIMIT: Reds Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench has high hopes for the Reds in Great American Ball Park, but his hopes extend far beyond wins and losses.

"Selfishly I want it to work for our ball club," Bench said. "I want it to work for our downtown. We are in desperate need to resurrect the downtown and the economy of this city."

Bench is doing his part. He has four season tickets in the second row behind the Reds' dugout. In fact, he has had season tickets since the days of the Big Red Machine in the 1970s when he first purchased them to have available for friends and family when the Reds made the playoffs.

His one regret?

"I'm still wishing this was the first stadium and not the second," Bench said, "that they could have taken everything to the upper limit that they tried to do with the football stadium.

"I just think there's so much history in this town with baseball and how proud we are of our baseball."

CONSIDERATE OPPONENT: As the Pirates were waiting for the Reds to finish taking batting practice, first baseman Kevin Young handed a cup of coffee to one of the grounds crew members rather than toss it on the new grass.

"Could somebody take this?" Young asked. "I don't want to throw it on the ground on Opening Day."

NATIONAL PRIDE: Opening Day had a distinctly patriotic feel.

Every fan was given a miniature American flag. Former President Bush threw out the first pitch. And the game was broadcast to Africa and the Middle East on the American Forces Network.

"It really puts what we're doing in perspective," Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon said. "Hopefully by performing we can bring some joy to some of the troops over there and keep a sense of normalcy about what's happening here in the States. Sports, and baseball in particular, certainly has the ability to reach out and heal."

Reds center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. said he has three cousins serving overseas and has been getting updates on their conditions from relatives.

"Hopefully today is a chance for everybody to sit there and watch TV, see some highlights, whether they're good or bad," Griffey said. "Hopefully we can bring some smiles to some faces."