Edged in Blue

Back in the late 90’s, a debate raged about where to put the Reds after the Bengals left Riverfront Stadium.  Three ideas were kicked around:  Sell Riverfront to Reds owner Marge Schott, build a stadium along Central Parkway in a section of Over-the-Rhine called Broadway Commons, or chop off the eastern edge of Riverfront to put a stadium in the space between it and what’s now called US Bank Arena.

Amazingly, Cincinnati and Hamilton County went with the third option, much to the complaints of OTR businesses in the Main Street Corridor.  Nonetheless, the idea, originally called “The Wedge,” worked.  The result?

Great American Ballpark.

Like most modern ballparks, Great American Ballpark was designed to be a more intimate setting for baseball, following along the lines of Baltimore’s Camden Yards, Cleveland’s Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field), and Atlanta’s Turner Field.  Throughout the nineties, Major League Baseball moved away from the big, Olympic-inspired ovals such as Riverfront.  But GABP was more than that.  The lines of the ballpark follow both of its predecessors.  The west side of the park is boxy and steeper like the old Crosley Field, where the Reds played until the 1970’s.  The east side is sleeker, more modern, echoing the lines of Riverfront Stadium, one of those “ovals” designed to house football and baseball.

In the foreground, you see the foundation of what will one day be The Banks, a neighborhood of shops and condos that will exploit the Riverfront and give people a place to go after seeing the Reds, Bengals, and Freedom Center.  Yes, Cincinnati built three major attractions on the riverfront without giving visitors any place to go besides Northern Kentucky.

The park opened in 2003, and then-Reds owner Carl Lindner had his American Financial Group buy the naming rights to the new stadium, giving it a very baseball name:  Great American Ballpark, after AFG’s two primary subsidiaries. The park was a boon to slugger Ken Griffey, Jr., who, when not injured, could be counted on to send balls sailing into the short right and left field stands.

There is a replica of steamboat stacks on the southeast corner of the stadium that whistles whenever a Reds homerun is hit, though fireworks are still the preferred method of celebrating homers.  The bleachers, something impossible in Riverfront, were a welcome addition to the park when it opened.  Honestly, having opted for nosebleed seats my first home opener in the park, I can say there isn’t a bad seat in the place.

As for those other two options?  Well, Marge took a tour of the old Riverfront and found out what those of us who parked there already knew.  The old stadium was rotting from underneath.  It wasn’t bad when the Bengals left, but fixing it and bringing it up to speed would probably have cost as much as building a new park.  As for Broadway Commons, the group pushing that location made a valiant effort, but the Reds and the county spoke.  The “wedge” was the best option for them.  But fear not.  As casino gambling looms on Ohio’s horizon, the Broadway Commons site is rumored to be the location for Cincinnati’s first casino.

Meanwhile, Great American Ballpark was delivered on time, under budget, and with a spectacular New Year’s send-off for the House That Pete Rose Built when the Reds moved out of Riverfront, more than can be said for Paul Brown Stadium.

But if you want to know what makes Reds games special, even when they struggle, as they have for the last 15 years, it’s not Pete Rose or the Nasty Boys or Riverfront or GABP.  It’s listening to Marty Brenneman and his crew – son Thom Brenneman and ex-Red Jeff “The Cowboy” Brantley – calling the games.  And the man who made that broadcast what it is today, the one who carried the load until Marty’s arrival in Cincy 35 years ago, former Reds’ pitcher and color commentator, Joe Nuxhall.  Joe’s got his own player statue in front of the stadium on Crosley Terrace.

More My Town Mondays posts on the new MTM blog.