Redbirds to get new home by '99

Class AAA team to play in $34.2-million park

Associated Press

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LOUISVILLE -- The twisted metal of a scrapyard that has been the city's door mat for generations was officially rolled up by the mayor yesterday and replaced with plans for a $34.2 million baseball stadium.

The stadium, featuring 12,000 seats, 31 skyboxes and a grassy hillside for picnics and play, is expected to open in spring 1999 and would overlook the city's new Waterfront Park along the Ohio River.

For 70 games a year, the Louisville Redbirds -- the Triple-A farm team of the St. Louis Cardinals -- would take the field that's already been named Louisville Slugger Field.

"No ballpark in the country could have a more historically appropriate name," Mayor Jerry Abramson told a crowd gathered at the ballpark's future site, nine blocks east of the Louisville Slugger bat factory and museum. "In my judgment, we've hit a grand slam home run."

The ballpark still needs approval from the city's board of aldermen, but after meetings early yesterday with Abramson, the group appeared ready to throw in its support.

Meanwhile, the mayor and Kansas City sports facility architects HNTB are enthusiastic about the prospects.

The ballpark's entry would be the 1839-vintage Brinly-Hardy warehouse. Huge archways will usher visitors into the cathedral-ceiling hall lit by rows of glass and a large rose window at the peak that would be the jewel of any church.

Abramson envisions vendors filling the space, hawking Redbirds ballcaps, pennants and hotdogs. Beyond them, the field would open up into what is now the yard of Louisville Scrap Materials Inc.

Both Louisville Scrap and Brinly-Hardy have signed preliminary agreements to sell their land to the city for a total of $6.5 million.

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