Williams: Richmond area could have built the Braves a ballpark
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New home of the Braves
Mike Williams says Gwinnett, Ga., didn't steal our baseball team, indecision by Richmond officials gave it away.You mean we couldn't have done this in Short Pump or Midlothian?
That question came to mind when I read Sunday's story on the Gwinnett Braves' new stadium in Lawrenceville, Ga.
From what I've seen of Dean Hoffmeyer's photos and video on The Times-Dispatch's Web site, Gwinnett Stadium looks like a pleasant place to watch a a ballgame. The cheap "seats" on an outfield berm and an encircling ballpark concourse are the most distinctive features at a park whose exterior breaks no architectural ground. Times-Dispatch reporter Will Jones -- who caught the last game at The Diamond and the first at Gwinnett -- says there doesn't appear to be a bad seat in the house.
It's a design that, ironically, was originally sketched with Richmond in mind.
G-Braves manager Dave Brun dage called Gwinnett the best ballpark he'd seen in the minors. A spectator described it as "gorgeous." We heard similar praise when The Diamond opened in 1985. It morphed from the swan of minor-league baseball to an ugly duckling of a ballpark.
Gwinnett County's love affair with its ballpark may be more enduring. But frankly, what was built in Georgia was hardly beyond our reach.
Yes, balls were dropped and errors committed in the saga that transformed the R-Braves to the G-Braves. But I'm still trying to figure out how this frustrating quest for a downtown ballpark ended in a wooded setting of suburban Georgia.
During a 2004 interview with The Times-Dispatch, Mike Plant, the Atlanta Braves' executive vice president for business operations, was asked about the Braves' stance on a downtown stadium in Richmond. He replied:
"We are still, for a number of reasons, very interested in pursuing a potential opportunity to build a stadium downtown . . .
"There are a bunch of variables and important pieces, components to that decision, but we want to pursue it to the fullest opportunity, that opportunity downtown."
That didn't exactly work out, but let's consider the lost possibilities. Fans could have enjoyed glorious sight lines from a berm along the James River, or even from a floodwall that might have been incorporated into the design.
It seems in hindsight that the Braves may well have settled for a spot near state Route 288 in fast-developing Henrico or Chesterfield counties, if we could have gotten our act together.
Gwinnett Stadium -- less than 34 miles from the home of the Atlanta Braves -- is literally much closer to each player's field of dreams. They can more frequently rub shoulders with current big-leaguers and A-Braves lifers.
The Braves, it would appear, made the right decision, but at no small price to Gwinnett. The nine-month stadium project ran a whopping $19 million over its projected cost of $45 million.
The Diamond was built in 7½ months, between the 1984 and 1985 seasons, at a cost of $8 million -- a remarkable display of can-do spirit.
Today, we're without the Braves because of dithering, lethargy and the region's chronic fragmentation. Unless we learn from the Braves experience, more defeats lie ahead.
Contact Michael Paul Williams at (804) 649-6815 or
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Reader Reactions
This “debate” over a new stadium for a minor league team continues to amaze me. How old is The Diamond…23 or 24 years? How old was Yankee Stadium when it was replaced…or Fenway Park…you get the idea. The two questions in my mind are; 1)if the Diamond is in disrepair, why not fix it and fix it properly at a significantly lower cost than a new stadium and 2)who in their right mind thinks that a stadium downtown with poor ingress and egress would attract more fans than the pathetically low attndance at The Diamond which is easliy accessable? Actually, there is one more question…why should the metro area bear the cost of building a minor league stadium for a team that could easily walk away after a relatively short period of time with no skin in the “game”? Hello, City of Richmond…are you completely bonkers?
The munciplaities of the RMA had all agreed to put up the money to refurb the Diamond, which was satisfactory to the Braves, when Richmond City Manager Jamieson came up with the great idea to put the ball park downtown. This new idea was tremendously more costly than the original plan everyone had agreed on. Needless to say the other municipalities had not agreed to this new plan, and I’m not sure they had even heard about it, and had not agreed to this especially the extra money necessary. After that the City kicked this ideda around until the Braves got tired of waiting. Just another example of the excellent management provided by the city.
Well, Michael, I didn’t see you, the Sportsbackers, or anyone else opening up their wallets to the tune of $64 million, and I really don’t think that the taxpayers of the metropolitan area have that kind of money, especially given the other, more pressing needs of the community. What you call a defeat is actually a victory for a more appropriate use of our resources, but if these “defeats” mean better schools, safer streets and similarly prudent uses for taxpayer dollars, I say, “let’s have more of them.“
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