Columnist Dean Juipe: Henderson may take the 51s

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, July 9, 2003 | 10:22 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

The Henderson 51s.

I don't want to say it takes awhile to grow on you -- after all, anything that takes awhile to grow on you usually isn't all that much fun -- but, in time, we could probably get accustomed to the change.

We might even have to.

It's a scenario that isn't the least bit farfetched, and one that could become a reality by the end of the decade.

You can see the first potential building blocks already falling into place.

No fewer than three factors are at play here, and should they meld in the right combination the Las Vegas 51s might very well be uprooted and transported less than 20 miles to the east. The synergy of such a move is already detectable.

First and foremost is the dissatisfaction of the executives of the Las Vegas 51s and their parent Los Angeles Dodgers with Cashman Field, the 9,334-seat stadium near downtown that opened in 1983. The park's pretty outward appearance aside, front-office personnel with both the 51s and Dodgers have aligned in a campaign designed to not-so-subtly force the City of Las Vegas (via the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority) to improve the stadium's amenities.

Extra batting cages, extra pitching mounds, extra weight-training facilities, extra locker-room space ... extra, extra, extra, read all about it: Dodgers threaten to pull plug on 51s.

The teams' wish list comes with a sizable price tag, and/or an addendum of note: the expressed desire to have a completely new stadium and not just a renovated Cashman. And that runs smack into factor No. 2, Mayor Oscar Goodman.

He may approve of some Cashman upgrades but he's not going to support the notion of a new stadium for a team that usually draws no better than 4,000 fans and is unlikely to do much better at the gate even with a new park anywhere near downtown.

Which brings us to factor No. 3, the willingness of the City of Henderson to get involved.

Just a few years ago Henderson was being touted not only as a potential site for a lower-level pro baseball team but as a desirable spring-training site, and a mammoth complex that would house up to six major-league teams was bandied about. For its part, Henderson appeared willing and able to assist in a project that seemed a bit fanciful while being one that was not entirely out of the question.

It had a hint of realism to it.

The spring-training plan collapsed when it became apparent that it may take the full six teams to make the complex worthwhile (from a travel standpoint) and that finding six teams that were simultaneously eager and able to get out of their existing spring-training deals might be an impossible quest.

But the land where that complex was to have been built still sits relatively vacant, as do a number of bordering parcels near 215 and Gibson -- any one of which could accommodate the 51s.

Whether the suburban community would support a team hasn't been determined or, as yet, studied. But the concept has its supporters, some of whom find it worthwhile for Henderson in terms of name recognition alone.

The Henderson 51s? Maybe it won't take any getting used to at all.