The not-so-friendly confines

By Brian Hilderbrand

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 | 2 a.m.

It made for a nice photo op: Derek Stevens, the head of the Las Vegas 51s’ new ownership group, decked out in suit and tie and helping frazzled ticket sellers get customers into Cashman Field on opening night by manning an auxiliary ticket booth with team President Don Logan.

The incident, however, was not concocted by the 51s’ capable media relations director, Jim Gemma. Logan and Stevens desperately were needed to help sell tickets when the lines snaking from the ticket windows numbered well into the hundreds nearly an hour after the first pitch.

For years, Logan has been telling anyone who will listen that the local Triple-A baseball team is in need of a new stadium. Nothing could have better illustrated his point than the scene that played out in the spare ticket booth that night.

“We have four ticket windows, but we really only have three to sell tickets out of because we need one for will call,” Logan explained. “The new stadiums have 10 or 12 windows, so if you have a night like we had (opening) night, you can open up more windows, and instead of having to wait an hour to get into the game, fans can get in in 15 minutes.”

Cashman Field, which opened in 1983, is the third-oldest stadium in Triple-A baseball. When Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio, opens next spring, Cashman will be No. 2. And there is talk in Tacoma, Wash., that 49-year-old Cheney Stadium may need to be replaced because of seismic concerns.

A shortage of ticket windows is only one item on a long list of Cashman Field’s inadequacies.

Most stadiums built in the past decade not only deliver impressive fan amenities but address players’ needs with adequate locker and training facilities and indoor batting cages.

Terry Tiffee, a 51s infielder who has been to the major leagues with the Minnesota Twins and played last year in one of Triple-A baseball’s nicer stadiums, in Norfolk, Va., said 51s and visiting players are at a disadvantage because Cashman Field lacks many of the amenities of newer ballparks. But he’s not so sure Triple-A stadiums should be as luxurious as those in the major leagues.

“That’s part of being in minor-league baseball — you’ve got to deal with what you’ve got until you get back to the big leagues, where the amenities are just unbelievable,” he said. “You can’t have it too nice down here or you won’t want to strive to get back to the big leagues.”

In Mayor Oscar Goodman’s zeal to lure a major league franchise to Las Vegas, talks of a new stadium for the 51s have been pushed to the back burner. Actually, Hizzoner seems to have shoved the issue completely off the stove.

But that won’t stop Logan and the Stevens Baseball Group from trying to get a diamond of their own like one of the gems listed here.