MLB Facility Notes: Panel Met With Selig To Discuss A's Ballpark

In San Jose, Mark Purdy reported the "Blue Ribbon Panel" appointed by MLB Commissioner Bud Selig to analyze the A's ballpark situation "met for two hours with Selig at his office in Milwaukee" one day last month. Panel members "discussed information they had gathered from East Bay figures and A's executives over the past three months about why things had gone so sour in Oakland and Fremont" and "offered analysis about whether any other possibilities existed for an A's ballpark in Alameda or Contra Costa counties." Selig has been "digesting the information and contemplating his next step," but he has "not yet asked the panel members to speak with anyone in San Jose." Selig also has "not set a time frame for when he would like the Blue Ribbonites to file a written report on their findings" ( SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 7/5 ). FREE TO ROAM : In N.Y., Bruce Golding notes a settlement reached yesterday in N.Y. federal court means Yankees fans are "now at liberty to go to the bathroom during the playing of 'God Bless America' during the seventh-inning stretch." The Yankees, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and Bradford Campeau-Laurion, who was "thrown out of Yankee Stadium last year" after going to a bathroom during the playing of the song, signed off on the deal. Campeau-Laurion will also "get $10,001 in a separate deal reached with the city because he got the boot from two uniformed cops." The city also "agreed to pay $12,000 for legal fees racked up by the NYCLU" ( N.Y. POST, 7/7 ). STARTING THE DEBATE : The SPORTING NEWS ranked Fenway Park as the No. 1 MLB ballpark, and the SPORTING NEWS' Albert Breer writes the park "scores on lore and fans the flames of passion for the national pastime." Breer: "Credit the Red Sox's owners for standing firm -- for now -- on two fronts: first, for not caving in to the financial pressures to build a faux replica of ballparks past and, second, for maximizing the potential of one of our country's true sports monuments." Below lists the top five and bottom five ballparks ( SPORTING NEWS, 7/6 issue ). PAINT JOB : In Miami, Carl Hiaasen wrote under the header, "Please Don't Paint Stadium Seats Orange." The Marlins at their new 37,000-seat ballpark "can't afford the humiliation of deserted bleachers," which is "why it is essential to paint the seats in a way that spares everybody from embarrassment." The ballpark is $634M "worth of wild delusions." The "question isn't if the fans will go back to ignoring the Marlins after the ballpark is built," but rather the "question is how soon." Hiaasen: "With a dismal prospect of 20,000 empty seats per game, they must be painted so deceivingly that nobody will notice" ( MIAMI HERALD, 7/6 ).