Columnist Ron Kantowski: Logan thinks a 51s park could be big

Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2004 | 9:58 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

This year's Diamondbacks and Royals are proof that it is possible to play Triple-A baseball in a major league ballpark. But the big question for proponents of putting a major league baseball team in Las Vegas while increasing their comfort level at 51s games until that day arrives is whether the opposite is true.

Is it possible to play major league baseball in what was once a Triple-A ballpark?

The record book says no. Don Logan says yes.

"The reason it hasn't happened is because nobody has ever had to do it that way," the longtime 51s president said about the likelihood that a new ballpark for the Pacific Coast League team could be brought up to major league standards for the day Las Vegas is ready to host a big league club.

That day, based on the credibility of a bid to move the forlorn Montreal Expos to Las Vegas, may be here sooner than you and I -- and even Don Logan -- think.

As much as he would like to see Las Vegas land a major league franchise, Logan does not want it to be at the expense of a new ballpark for the 51s. Momentum for a new Triple-A stadium was building until groups representing Las Vegas made a pitch for the Expos, casting plans for the Triple-A stadium onto the back burner.

With the Expos now committed to Washington, D.C., Logan said it's time to resuscitate the Triple-A ballpark proposal. He said with proper planning, there's no reason a new stadium for the 51s couldn't be upgraded to major league standards.

"That's been the plan all along," he said.

Logan said the reason a Triple-A facility has never been converted to the major league standard is because of land restrictions. He said most minor league parks are built on 12-14 acres where roughly 25 acres are required for a major league stadium and its infrastructure.

"The key thing is the land," Logan said. "The reason none (of the Triple-A parks) have been expanded is because they didn't have enough land. We're dealing with a different footprint of land here."

Logan, en route to San Diego for winter baseball meetings, said room to grow wouldn't be a problem on the undeveloped 180-acre of real estate at Russell Road and Stephanie behind the Galleria mall in Henderson on which the 51s would like to build a new home.

The key, he said, is leaving the surrounding area around the Triple-A stadium vacant until the day it's needed for a major league tenant.

Logan said that Petco Park in San Diego is the ideal blueprint.

"Three years ago, when we had these same meetings at this same time, all they had was the lower bowl (of seats)," he said. "It looked like a Triple-A stadium."

But, as he alluded, you should see it now.

Among the e-mails I received on my column about the great Pele was one from Jerry Kissel, the former public relations director for the old Las Vegas Quicksilvers of the North American Soccer League.

Kissel teased me about not asking Pele about his one and only Las Vegas appearance as a player.

"I believe the Cosmos (Pele's team) lost 1-0 on a goal by Victor Arbelaez. Caesars Palace helped us promote the game and it was the largest attendance we had all year," Kissel wrote.

Arbelaez lasted a lot longer in Las Vegas than the Quicksilvers. He's the longtime soccer coach at Bishop Gorman High.

After posting his second consecutive top-10 finish, Las Vegas' Brendan Gaughan blasted the NASCAR media Sunday, saying it was too focused on the 10 drivers who are battling in the newly instituted chase for the championship over the final 10 races while virtually ignoring the other 33 drivers and teams.

But if Gaughan had the foresight to Tivo the race from Kansas, he'll discover that the NBC broadcast team isn't part of the conspiracy he alleges. The on-air trio of Bill Weber, Wally Dallenbach Jr., and Benny Parsons were especially kind to Gaughan, talking him up on several occasions, and the only preferential treatment NBC gave to the 10 championship eligible drivers was putting their names in a yellow box on the scrolling race order.

In fact, you could argue that NBC went out of its way not to highlight the chase for the championship drivers, which is contrary to the whole idea of having one.

It's good to see that success didn't spoil Robin Ventura, who was hailed as one of major league baseball's nice guys upon announcing his retirement Monday.

I remember chatting with Ventura back in the late 1980s at Barnson Field when he was playing for Oklahoma State against UNLV. He was already big then, having put together a DiMaggio-esque 58-game hitting streak. But what I most recall is that he had a habit of rubbing the crew cut of the Cowboys' towheaded bat boy before every at-bat.

I don't know if it was for good luck or just a superstition. But you should have seen the tyke's eyes twinkle every time Ventura asked him to doff his cap.

Bob Colarossi, president of the U.S. Gymanstics Foundation, is calling for a boycott of Ambercrombie & Fitch until the clothing retailer stops selling a T-shirt depecting a gymnast at the still rings with the message that "L is for loser."

"No individual, regardless of race, gender, age, intelligence or athletic ability, can or should be deemed a loser," Colarossi wrote in a letter to Michael Jeffries, CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch.

It's unfortunate that Colarossi didn't show the same concern about letting the NBC cameras into the U.S. women's Olympic team selection meeting and allowing them to focus on the losers -- er, nonwinners -- many of whom were moved to tears when their names weren't called.

Around the horn

Is there anybody who still thinks Pat Hill is the right man for UNLV football job after Fresno State was beaten by Louisiana Tech and UTEP the past two weeks? ... During a sideline report at the BYU game, UNLV athletic director Mike Hamrick said that Bruce Snyder, a proven winner at the Division I level and John Robinson's right-hand man at UNLV, was auditioning for the vacancy that will occur when Robinson steps down at the end of the season. But I didn't think Hamrick sounded all that sincere about it. ... Robinson said he planned to send a letter to Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson about the poor officiating in Friday's game at Provo but he could have saved the postage by knocking on Marc Ratner's door. Ratner, the head of the Nevada State Athletic Commission who moonlights as a MWC official, was on the crew at Provo but was not involved in any of the key calls that went against UNLV. ... I hate to be so skeptical, but I have a feeling Phil Mickelson might have made his tee time Saturday had he been closer to the top of the Michelin Championship leaderboard rather than just north of the cut line. Mickelson, citing food poisoning, withdrew after Friday's round, leaving the local PGA stop without a true weekend drawing card.