Back in the ballpark


Baseball is often romanticized as a rural game and, indeed, some of its most memorable characters played their first ballgames on pastures with cows looking on.Johnny bench came from hoss spit, okla., and Pudge Fisk, a tobacco bulge already in his cheek, from Bellows Falls, Vt.Country slaughter was no city boy.Nor were catfish hunter or mudcat grant.Rural minnesota, for its part, has a colorful history of"Town ball"Dating back to territorial days.But the major league setting has been decidedly urban.Classic ballparks like ebbets field in brooklyn and shibe park in philadelphia were set into the ordinary grid of city streets, surrounded by the day to day bustle of city life.After a game at the polo grounds, willie mays is said to have regularly walked the streets of harlem, stopping at bradhurst and 154th to play stickball with neighborhood kids and buy them popsicles.

Beginning in the 1950s, baseball took a detour to the suburbs.Dodger stadium and candlestick park were built apart from the main sections of los angeles and san francisco.Metropolitan stadium in bloomington was another example of the suburban style.Its massive parking lot was excellent for tailgating, a rough approximation of the back yard barbecue that characterized midcentury suburban life.

But then city baseball came back.Nearly all of the 21 parks built since the early 1990s have returned to the urban setting.More than other professional sports, baseball sees itself as part of the daily fabric and rhythm of american life.Its daily schedule, meandering pace and timeless nature makes baseball a good mixer with other pursuits that cities offer.To attend a game in the suburbs is a singular mission.Going to a game downtown invites multiple possibilities.

Fans in boston and washington can take in historic sites.In baltimore and san francisco, they can stroll along scenic waterfronts.In chicago, fans are seen shopping on michigan avenue before hopping the el to wrigley field and postgame"Discussions"Jam the neighborhood pubs.The point is that city baseball is not contained within the ballpark but becomes part of community life.

Target field as a neighbor

Target field is drawing rave reviews as a ballpark, and rightly so.But its greater potential lies in the snug way it fits into the city.Its arms quite literally reach out to embrace its surroundings.As a piece of architecture, it's less a monument than a neighbor.If transit lines are added to the adjacent hiawatha/northstar hub, and if the real estate market revives, the minnesota twins' stylish new home could find itself surrounded by a thriving new neighborhood within a decade or so.

It has happened elsewhere.Real estate booms accompanied new urban style ballparks in denver, san francisco and san diego.Seedy old warehouse districts were, in each of those cases, transformed into block after block of new condos, shops, parks and restaurants.

But there's no guarantee.Almost nothing has happened around new ballparks in houston, st.At least not yet.The stalled economy is partly to blame, although there may be a sharper explanation:New downtown ballparks rarely ignite large scale neighborhood development unless the neighborhood already has a momentum of its own.Whatever momentum minneapolis' north loop/warehouse district had during the ballpark's planning stages was crushed by the financial meltdown of 2008.No one knows when building will resume or how the new market will behave.

A good bet is that concerns about economic efficiency, climate change and energy independence, along with a demographic shift toward smaller, childless households, will strengthen the demand for urban living in the years ahead.If downtown minneapolis draws just 5 percent of the expected growth in the twin cities metro area over the next decade, its population could exceed 60, 000 more than enough to solidify a new baseball neighborhood that looks and feels remarkably like the neighborhoods of baseball's golden age.

Back ralph lauren bambini tees to the future

If these"New urban"Trends bring back some hint of old black and white movies with men in fedoras, fans arriving at the game on streetcars, kids hawking newspapers and shoeshines on the sidewalks just outside the park, well, baseball doesn't object.The game's strength lies in its ability to transcend modern problems.Fans hate the excessive contracts that players demand and receive.They resent the celebrity behavior of some big stars.They are repelled by the performance enhancement drug scandals that continue to cast a dark cloud.

Yet, there remains a deep affection that lifts the game above its shortcomings.The city ballpark with its urban architecture is a big part of the enduring ralph lauren uomo tuta baseball mythology.There is nothing transcendent about a professional hockey or basketball arena.Only lambeau field in green bay has achieved anything approaching affection among nfl stadiums.

That connection cannot be made, however, unless fans rediscover what bess, an architecture professor at notre dame, calls"Urbanistic habits of thought. "That's fancy language for relearning the joys of urban life that decades of suburban life conditioned us to forget.Twins fans have never experienced urban baseball ralph lauren italia at home.The surroundings of the old met invited only one thing:Drive home as quickly as possible.And the metrodome never delivered on its promise of a fan friendly neighborhood.Target field's success will be measured by what eventually happens on the blocks that surround it.His new book,"Target field:The minnesota twins' new home" (Mvp books), will be out in August.

How denver and ralph lauren bambini outlet san diego built successful ballpark districts

The remarkable turnaround of denver's lower downtown was already underway when coors field opened in 1994, although baseball greatly accelerated the revival and expanded its reach.Much of the credit goes to one woman, dana crawford, who began buying and restoring historic buildings as a way to preserve the city's cowboy heritage.At the same time, denver's aggressive business community set an explicit goal of growing the downtown's residential population.

San diego's success was more a product of government policy.In exchange for levying taxes to build a ballpark, the city required the padres' then owner, john moores, to redevelop 24 blighted blocks.As a result, 17 buildings, most of them condo towers, arose near the ballpark within four years of its opening in 2003.Urban living on training wheels, said mike ciampa, a developer who lives in the once seedy east village district.

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