Ballpark

Nobody else could sell pistachios. Others tried. Just Pistachio Girl. She parted the seas, the standing-room-only crowds at Citizens Bank Park on Sunday night, and bounced down the aisles, a cult figure. Art Ehlo, 58, a season-ticket holder down the third-base line, gave her a fist bump. "I've got pictures of her in my phone with me," he said. Debbie Brown, an usher in Section 136, took a photo. "She's fascinating," Brown said. "She's part of this ballpark. There's a whole page for her on Facebook, 'Fans of The CBP Pistachio Girl.' " More than 500 people "like" it. Pistachio Girl has no idea who started it. In Section 116, a desperate voice rang out, "I love you, Pistachio Girl!"

In a couple hundred years, when historians study the decline and fall of the once-great nation known as the United States, they will pinpoint April 1989 as the beginning of the end. No, it won't be because of a nuclear disaster, the rise of Japan's economic strength, the free flow of drugs and guns, the flood of illegal immigrants, the communist menace, the greenhouse effect, or even Dan Quayle's IQ. They will find that the fall began with...

The day after the old Schmidt's brewery site at 2nd Street and Girard Avenue was rejected as a stadium site by a mayoral transition subcommittee, City Council President Anna Verna said the location ought to be considered. "I think it should be looked at," Verna said in response to reporters' questions yesterday. "Listening to people from that community, they're literally begging for it. " There's just one problem. They're not all begging for it. Terry Youngblood, director of the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association, said yesterday she had placed a call to Verna to set the record straight.

Circle this date. It's the day when Mayor Street teaches us the difference between being accessible and being accountable. This is the day when he steps in it, the day when consensus-building gives way to edict-issuing. Today, the buck comes to a screeching halt. Because this is the day when the mayor officially ends his Center City trolley tour, thanks everyone involved in this important stadium decision, then politely disregards what most of them wanted. Mostly, they wanted him to take his stadium and put it elsewhere.

The Texas Rangers unveiled their new home, The Ballpark in Arlington, to rave reviews. But they'll have to wait for their first victory. Texas's new $189 million home mixes a blend of old-fashioned design and modern luxuries, and two of the stadium's most distinct aspects - a short rightfield and tight foul lines - came into play immediately as the Milwaukee Brewers posted a 4-3 victory yesterday. "Coming in here is just an exhilarating feeling," Texas closer Tom Henke said.

It's surprising that Jesse Jackson has become so easily satisfied. Months ago, Jackson was outraged that major-league baseball had so few blacks in top management positions. And he warned that if things didn't improve soon, there would be a boycott of baseball games on July 4, traditionally one of the biggest attendance days of the season. Now, with July 4 almost here, Jackson says he isn't going to hold a boycott after all. "There will not be a boycott on July 4," he said, "because the process is well under way. " Say, what?

Richie Sexson felt as if he had just won a championship after his tiebreaking home run made the Milwaukee Brewers winners in their Miller Park debut. "It's something I'll carry with me forever. It's going to be one of the high points of my career," said Sexson, whose solo shot in the eighth inning gave Milwaukee a 5-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds last night. Sexson's home run off Dennys Reyes (0-2) traveled 435 feet and sent Bernie Brewer twisting down his swank toboggan-like yellow slide that replaced his outmoded one that was torn down with the rest of County Stadium.

No matter how much fans might have wanted it to happen, the new Phillies ballpark never was going to be Richie Ashburn Field. In this day and age, naming rights are worth millions. But yesterday, the ball club announced that it had come up with a high-profile way to honor the memory of one of the most popular figures in the team's history. When the ballpark opens in April, the large entertainment and eating zone beyond the outfield fence will be known as Ashburn Alley. The broad, 625-foot-long promenade - where the longest of center-field home runs will land - will feature a statue of the late outfielder-turned-broadcaster running the bases.

Mark Alan Hughes' Op-ed column (Feb. 16) was well-balanced, and thus incongruous with the biggest public-private project in Philadelphia's history. For years, Philadelphia allegedly debated the site of our biggest public-private investment in city history - the new Phillies ballpark. Last spring, the mayor publicly alleged he was interested in "finding" a site like Baltimore's Camden Yards, while expressing a commitment to confronting urban blight. Civic advocates proposed the only site directly analogous - the old Schmidt's Brewery at 2nd Street and Girard Avenue in Northern Liberties, adjacent to our waterfront.

I OPENED my door this morning to retrieve my Daily News, anxious to see the front-page story. I was sure it would be about the senseless beating death of David Sale at Citizens Bank Park. Instead, I saw a picture of one of the Sexy Singles for 2009. What happened to news on the front page? By the way, I bring the Daily News into work every day so other people can enjoy it. Two of my co-workers made the same comment about the front page. Sexy Single trumps murder? Elaina Corrato, Philadelphia

CURTIS GRANDERSON hit three home runs in the first four innings and matched a career high with five hits, leading the New York Yankees to a 7-6 victory over the visiting Minnesota Twins on Thursday night. Granderson homered in each of his first three at-bats, driving in four runs, and helped Phil Hughes overcome a four-run first to secure his first victory of the season. With a chance to tie the major league record of four homers in a game, Granderson lined a clean single in the sixth and beat out an infield hit in the eighth.

Bud Selig spoke up Thursday, reminding everyone that he is still somehow, someway the commissioner of baseball (yeah, we tried to forget, too). On Thursday, Selig told the world (or at least the gathering of Associated Press Sports Editors in New York) that the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays must have new ballparks. There's no argument against the Rays' getting new digs - they play in a warehouse in St. Petersburg (so, maybe two changes are needed?) As for the Bay Area dispute between the A's, who would like to build a ballpark in San Jose, and the San Francisco Giants, who won't give up their territorial rights there, the commish provided no timetable for a decision.

THE SELLOUT CROWD in the Miami Marlins' new ballpark cheered the introduction of their starters, who were accompanied by women dressed as Latin showgirls. There was another roar for Muhammad Ali, who delivered the first pitch. Then Kyle Lohse and the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals went to work, and the place grew quiet. Lohse held Miami hitless until the seventh inning and pitched into the eighth to help the Cardinals win the first game in Marlins Park, 4-1, Wednesday night.

MIAMI - The Florida Marlins played mostly with a distinct home-field disadvantage during their 19 seasons inside a made-for-football stadium that changed names six times. And still they managed to win as many World Series as the Phillies have claimed in 129 years. Ozzie Guillen, a coach when the Marlins won it all in 2003 and now the manager of the new-look and newly named Miami Marlins, was quick to defend the accomplishments of the franchise last week as the buzz about the team's new home - Marlins Park - intensified.

NEW YORK - Come Jan. 2, when the Flyers and Rangers play the Winter Classic at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies' home ballpark will be transformed into an homage to outdoor hockey. The NHL's signature regular-season event will appear seamlessly integrated into a facility specifically erected to provide an optimal baseball-viewing experience. The bulk of the preparation responsibilities fall on the shoulders of Don Renzulli, the NHL's senior vice president of events. In April, he started overseeing biweekly logistical planning meetings with about 50 people in the largest conference room on the 14th floor in the NHL's New York offices.

THE BOSTON Red Sox think their lyric little bandbox deserves a great big birthday party. The ballclub will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park's first game next season with a yearlong celebration that will be heavy on history and filled with special events to usher the oldest ballpark in major league history into its second century. "We are going to be the first to do that and, pardon me, but we are going to do it in a major, big-time way," Red Sox president and chief executive officer Larry Lucchino said yesterday.

From the first minute of Esperanza Spalding's appearance Friday at the Merriam Theater, when the beautifully fro'd 26-year-old calmly sat down and had a bit of red wine before picking out a fluid introduction to "Little Fly" on her bass, the level of her musicianship was firmly apparent. Her ensemble, Chamber Music Society, featured a string trio (Sara Caswell, violin; Jody Redhage, cello; and Lois Martin, viola) that impressed in the complexity of the voices that worked inside the music throughout the 90-minute performance.

Paul Breen Sr. was at Veterans Stadium with his dad for "Black Friday," a heartbreaker of a 1977 playoff game that killed the season of a Phillies team billed as the best of its era. "People thought we had that game won," said Breen, 54, of Northeast Philadelphia. "Leaving that ballpark, I remember the silence. People were crying. " Exactly 34 years later, it felt eerily similar at Citizens Bank Park, where Breen worked alongside his son Paul Jr. as ushers in Section 309. They watched glumly as the Phillies lost Game 5 of the National League Division Series and their hopes for a World Series.

Paul Breen Sr. was at Veterans Stadium with his father for "Black Friday," a heartbreaker of a 1977 playoff game that killed the season of a Phillies team billed as the best of its era. "People thought we had that game won," said Breen, 54, of Northeast Philadelphia. "Leaving that ballpark, I remember the silence. People were crying. " Exactly 34 years later, it felt eerily similar at Citizens Bank Park, where Breen and his son Paul Jr. worked as ushers in Section 309. They watched glumly as the Phillies lost Game 5 of a National League division series and their hopes of a World Series.

Nobody else could sell pistachios. Others tried. Just Pistachio Girl. She parted the seas, the standing-room-only crowds at Citizens Bank Park on Sunday night, and bounced down the aisles, a cult figure. Art Ehlo, 58, a season-ticket holder down the third-base line, gave her a fist bump. "I've got pictures of her in my phone with me," he said. Debbie Brown, an usher in Section 136, took a photo. "She's fascinating," Brown said. "She's part of this ballpark. There's a whole page for her on Facebook, 'Fans of The CBP Pistachio Girl.' " More than 500 people "like" it. Pistachio Girl has no idea who started it. In Section 116, a desperate voice rang out, "I love you, Pistachio Girl!"