Ballpark

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.

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

The San Francisco Giants are looking to privatization as the solution to building a stadium. A measure on yesterday's presidential primary ballot sought key zoning changes to help make way for construction of a privately funded ballpark in the city's China Basin neighborhood. While the vote is important in the Bay area, where voters repeatedly have rejected plans to build a stadium with tax money despite threats that the Giants would leave, it also could become a battle cry for opponents to publicly funded stadiums in cities across the country, including Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

  We were there: 4:52 p.m. (pre-game). Wait: None. Order: Crispy pickle chippers and a 10-ounce N.Y. strip steak platter. Cost: $25.98. Phindings: The Ol' Phoodmonger was in the mood for something more substantial than concession-stand fare, so it was off to the CBP outpost of the popular local pub chain. We arrived ridiculously early because we know the lines can get long in a ridiculously short time. Which is ridiculous, because what we found certainly wasn't worth any kind of wait.

The Phillies' hopes for a downtown ballpark received a bit of a boost yesterday when the Philadelphia Convention and Visitor Bureau threw its support behind the project. While the convention bureau did not specifically endorse the team's choice of Broad and Spring Garden Streets, it concluded that a downtown location for the ballpark was by far the best bet for the city and the hotel and restaurant industry in terms of job creation and business opportunities. The bureau's board of directors passed a resolution supporting a downtown location for the park.

READING - A lot of things have changed in the decade since Carlos Ruiz last played a game here. The 62-year-old ballpark is still the oldest in the Double A Eastern League, but instead of the Phillies, the team is now named the Fightin Phils and has a boxing ostrich as a mascot - as well as two real ones - Ruth and Judy. But if Ruiz were going to have his two-game tuneup at any place in the Phillies' system, Reading would be the place. It was 2004 in Reading when the then-25-year-old catcher from Panama first caught the eye of the organization as a serious major league prospect.

WITH A RUNNER on base and two outs in the seventh inning, a large portion of the 45,092 people at Citizens Bank Park rose from their seats and let out a hearty applause. Since the news had just broke in Boston that one of the Boston Marathon bombers had been caught, one observer did a quick sweep of the ballpark with his eyes to see whether it had been announced on a video screen at the ballpark. But, no, this wasn't about the manhunt that had almost all of America glued to its televisions from the early morning until after sunset.

It's corny. I'll be the first to concede it. It plays into a story line that has been passed from generation to generation for more than 100 years. But you know what? There is something that just makes baseball a little bit different. No sport, not the all-powerful National Football League, not the National Basketball Association or the National Hockey League, has the unique vibe that is given off when the start of Major League Baseball is just around the corner. The explanation for this doesn't always come easy - sometimes you get a blank stare.

We have surveyed what's new and exclusive to the Citizens Bank Park Majestic Clubhouse Store this season. And we can assure you of this: The "Hug-A-Phanatic" plush ($29.99) will be the runaway hit in the Daddy I Need That category. It's big. It's plush. It's the Phanatic. And beyond that, it's interactive. A child puts her hands into the Phanatic's own fuzzy green paws, and whenever she claps he claps. Genius. Our own SportsWeek mascot Jessica Berkery (left in photo), got the hang of it in, oh, a second and was last seen leaving the Daily News premises with the Hug-A-Phanatic glued to her person.

The Phillies' top minor-league affiliate announced Tuesday it is set to debut a "urinal gaming system" at its ballpark in Allentown next week. The Lehigh Valley IronPigs tapped a British company to install the system in men's restrooms at Coca-Cola Park. A display is mounted above each urinal. When a fan approaches, the urinal switches into gaming mode. Aiming left or right controls play on the screen. Upon completion (an average of over 50 seconds), users get a score and code to enter.

Stanley M. Cole, 89, a principal in the firm of EwingCole and chief architect of Citizens Bank Park, died Tuesday, March 12, of complications from pneumonia at Paoli Hospital. Joseph T. Kelly, chairman and chief executive of EwingCole, remembered Mr. Cole as "a great leader and a good person. We are all indebted to Stan for the opportunities he helped provide for us. He will be sorely missed. " Mr. Cole began his career in 1948 after graduating from Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor's degree in architecture and engineering.

At 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, the annual scramble begins for seats to individual Phillies games at Citizen Bank Park. For weeks, the only options have ranged from Three Game Packs to full season ticket plans. Opening Day (4:05 p.m. April 5 against Kansas City) will be the only date off-limits tomorrow, available just through a Six Game Pack and an online drawing. Tickets will be sold online through www.phillies.com/tickets , by calling 215-463-1000, or at the ticket windows on the west side of the ballpark.

WASHINGTON - Gio Gonzalez, who seven seasons ago was an undeveloped kid who pitched for the Phillies' double-A Reading affiliate, is now a composed man about to throw the first postseason pitch for a Washington baseball team since the Senators' Jack Russell in the 1933 World Series. With Stephen Strasburg locked away in the Nationals' arm-protection program, Gonzalez is scheduled to start Game 1 of Washington's division series Sunday after earning Cy Young Award consideration with a 21-8 record and 2.89 ERA during the regular season.

GOOGLE THE nation's name and this is what you get: "Uganda Little League" lands just ahead of "Uganda Genocide," a contrast that immediately reminds you that this story of 11 well-traveled Little Leaguers is too big to get your head around, and too beautiful too. But let's give it a shot anyway. Lugazi, the Ugandan Little League team that won enough games and handed in enough forms this summer to make it to Williamsport, was at Citizens Bank Park Tuesday night, the guests of Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins.

A typical crowd at Citizens Bank Park is so saturated with team merchandise that it sometimes looks as if a red-and-white flavored scene has been staged for a Phillies commercial. The ballpark's parking lots, where Phillies flags flutter like the banners of a great army, are filled with cars bearing team decals, license-plate frames, antenna pennants. Thousands of fans who emerge from those vehicles are wearing team jerseys or T-shirts, and many are additionally equipped with club-related products from their tops (the familiar red hats or the newest sensations, Phanatic dangle caps)