The Richmond Metropolitan Authority will deal with a pair of short-term baseball issues and after that, perhaps be involved with a long-term ballpark plan, RMA General Manager Mike Berry said yesterday. The RMA, which owns and operates The Diamond on behalf of the city and Henrico and Chesterfield counties, is working with the Eastern League to secure one of its 12 Class AA franchises for next season.

A move by the Class AA Connecticut Defenders to Richmond under their current president/managing partner appears to be the most likely scenario for baseball at The Diamond next spring, sources involved with the situation say. Connecticut’s Lou DiBella earlier this month requested from Minor League Baseball permission to explore the Richmond market for the purpose of potentially relocating his franchise here. With members of his potential management team, DiBella visited Richmond this week and met with community leaders.

The continued lack of a ballpark plan “complicates” the Eastern League’s process of identifying a Class AA franchise and ownership group for Richmond, Eastern League President Joe McEacharn acknowledged yesterday, but he added “it’s a challenge that we are committed to meeting.“ McEacharn said he remains optimistic that one of the Eastern League’s dozen franchises will be based at The Diamond next season whether or not the Shockoe Center proposal and its $60 million ballpark gain city approval.

Transformation is the shared theme of two ballpark plans for Richmond. In October, Highwoods Properties proposed Shockoe Center, a development that includes a $60 million ballpark that would transform Shockoe Bottom. A minimum of two years would be required to build that stadium, if the proposal gains city approval. Then, last week, Opening Day Partners presented a $28 million transformation of The Diamond on the Boulevard, a facility that opened in 1985. Just about everything but the field and part of the lower bowl would be demolished and removed, with a modern ballpark constructed on the stadium footprint, according to Maryland-based ODP. The transformed Diamond, says ODP, could be ready for baseball next season if construction begins Aug. 1.

Transformation is the shared theme of two ballpark plans for Richmond. In October, Highwoods Properties proposed Shockoe Center, a development that includes a $60 million ballpark that would transform Shockoe Bottom. A minimum of two years would be required to build that stadium, if the proposal gains city approval. Then, last week, Opening Day Partners presented a $28 million transformation of The Diamond on the Boulevard, a facility that opened in 1985. Just about everything but the field and part of the lower bowl would be demolished and removed, with a modern ballpark constructed on the stadium footprint, according to Maryland-based ODP. The transformed Diamond, says ODP, could be ready for baseball next season if construction begins Aug. 1.

Location: The ballpark would be framed by East Broad Street, North 18th Street, East Franklin Street and Ambler Street.
  Cost: $318 million for the entire project, which involves a $60 million ballpark.
  Ballpark capacity: 8,500.
  Features: Party decks, picnic area, grass berms, walkway around field, 24 suites, playground, computer-gaming area, high-definition scoreboard, Wi-Fi, capability of use for community-oriented events.

Along with its plan to essentially rebuild The Diamond, Opening Day Partners would like Richmond leaders to consider putting an independent-league franchise in the made-over facility. Minor League Baseball franchises are affiliated with Major League Baseball organizations. Independent leagues, such as the Atlantic League, are not. Opening Day Partners, which this week released its proposal for a $28 million transformation of The Diamond, owns three of the eight Atlantic League franchises with local partners, and operates a fourth. “The Atlantic League would love to make a presentation and show Richmond how much we want to be there,“ said Peter Kirk, chairman of ODP. He added that the Atlantic League will make an expansion team available to Richmond for next season.

An item initially appearing on Wednesday’s TimesDispatch.com reported that officials had rushed to investigate a woman’s dead body found on Kensington Avenue. The first 15 or 16 postings from readers made snarky comments about whether the paper was right or wrong to identify the neighborhood as “West End.“ A woman lay dead, and her fellow citizens responded with mindless chatter.

The chairman of the Richmond Metropolitan Authority’s board of directors and the RMA’s general manager said yesterday that they find a $28 million transformation plan for The Diamond intriguing and worthy of evaluation. James L. Jenkins, the chairman, and Mike Berry, the GM, added that they also find the Opening Day Partners proposal somewhat familiar. The RMA, which owns and operates The Diamond, and the Atlanta Braves seemed set in 2004 to proceed with a major facility renovation that Berry now sees as comparable in some respects to the $28 million plan ODP released yesterday.

Opening Day Partners today will release a $28 million plan for a “transformation” of The Diamond. ODP, based in Annapolis, Md., last spring delivered a $40 million proposal to the city for a new ballpark.

Eastern League President Joe McEacharn said yesterday that local majority ownership of Richmond’s next professional baseball franchise at this time appears unlikely. But modifications may be part of the plan. “It’s not inconceivable that we get our decisions made, we get up and running, and then there are changes to that,“ McEacharn said. “Like the Constitution, a living, breathing document.“

Those involved in plans to bring a professional baseball franchise to Virginia’s capital recognize the Richmond area as a quality minor-league market. Is it? “I’ve had conversations with the executives of Minor League Baseball as well as the [Class AA] Eastern League, all of whom suggest that Richmond is a very desirable location for professional baseball, and that a team would be successful here,“ said Mike Berry, general manager of the Richmond Metropolitan Authority, which owns and operates The Diamond.

Others: Colorado Springs Sky Sox (AAA), PCL, 4,392; b-Tucson Sidewinders (AAA), PCL 3,552; Connecticut Defenders (AA), EL 3,014
SOURCE: Ballparkdigest.com
a-moved to Gwinnett County, Ga., this season; b-moved to Reno, Nev., this season
  Key: PCL (Pacific Coast League), IL (International League), EL (Eastern League), TL (Texas League), SL (Southern League), MWL (Midwest League), NYPL (New York-Penn League), SAL (South Atlantic League), NWL (Northwest League), CarL (Carolina League)

*-since the IL expanded from 10 franchises to 14 for 1998
  P revious average home attendance at The Diamond

The owner of the Eastern League’s Connecticut Defenders has requested permission from Minor League Baseball to explore the Richmond market for the purpose of potentially relocating his franchise.