Church among players who say baseball would fit in Las Vegas

Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005 | 8:52 a.m.

SAN DIEGO -- If not for some 11th-inning political scrambling in the nation's capital, this could have been Las Vegas' Major League Baseball team battling for a wild-card spot in the playoffs.

Manager Frank Robinson might have been rewarded with a suite during the season at his beloved Bellagio, had he played his cards right.

Livan Hernandez would have looked scintillating, mowing down hitters while wearing a black-and-red "Aces" jersey.

And slugger Vinny Castilla, a native of Oxaca, Mexico, may have been a hero in Monterrey, Mexico, a serious option as a temporary home for the Aces -- or whatever the team would have been called -- until a slick glass-and-steel stadium would be ready in Vegas sometime during the 2007 season.

But when MLB commissioner Bud Selig awarded the Expos franchise Washington, D.C., last fall, all of southern Nevada's hopes for a major sports team evaporated.

"I think it would have been pretty cool," said former UNR pitcher and outfielder Ryan Church, a Washington Nationals rookie. "Honestly, I think it would work. With all the tourists going in and out of that city, day in and day out? The place never sleeps.

"It would have been just an extra thing for that city, making it even bigger."

Church, 26, spent most of last season at Triple-A Edmonton, which played in a Pacific Coast League that included the Las Vegas 51s, the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

So he was in the unique position of having played Division I baseball in the Silver State, having played pro ball in Nevada and hoping his parent club would be transferred to Las Vegas.

Church played in 30 games for the Montreal Expos at the end of the 2004 season.

"We were hearing about our prospects of going to Las Vegas or (temporarily) Mexico," he said. "It was like, you know, let's just hold off. I didn't want to get my hopes up. Nobody knew what the heck was going on."

Just to know the Expos were finally headed to a new home was enough relief, but Church said the reception the team has received in D.C. has been overwhelming.

"We couldn't be any happier," Church said. "Last year, we'd have 5,000 people a night to maybe a couple hundred. Now, we have a packed house every night. It's been real special."

The Expos averaged less than 9,400 for 80 home games at Olympic Stadium in 2004, according to reported figures. This year, the Nationals are averaging almost 34,000 a game at RFK Stadium.

A new stadium is being built for them, and a new owner, from a group of eight, will be selected soon by MLB executives. The 29 other MLB owners have operated the club since 2002.

"It's been hard being ruled by MLB," Church said. "Finally, we'll be getting an owner, so we'll have the restraints off."

And Vegas, with its expanding population base and increasingly impressive tourism figures, keeps waiting.

"I know that Expos thing fell through," San Diego Padres outfielder Brian Giles said. "From what I hear, though, there's talk of maybe Florida (landing in Las Vegas), if they can't get something approved with a new stadium down there."

Which would benefit the Padres, according to Giles, with their travel schedule.

"You look at Vegas and what it brings, all the golfing and everything you can do there in the offseason," Giles said, "and I'm sure a lot of guys would want a team to be placed in Vegas."