Blueprint for Success? Try Coors Field

If Mayor Rudolph Giuliani wants his tenure to be remembered for more than just bad hair, a vulgar TV appearance on Letterman and a funny, camera-hogging son, he should get on a plane immediately and come here.

Here being Coors Field.

The new, $215.5-million home of the Colorado Rockies is exactly what New York needs.

In fact, it couldn’t happen soon enough.

Those of you who get to see the new park on TV Wednesday night when the New York Mets open the season against the Rockies, examine it closely -- the design, the seating and the homey feel. Then close your eyes, say a prayer and imagine a fabulous ballpark like it in New York.

Impossible? Hardly.

All it would take is for Rudy to take a serious interest in getting a new stadium built. That, along with a county bond issue, is how then-Denver Mayor Federico Pena got the job done. Giuliani couldn’t be reached Tuesday. But if Hizzoner isn’t able to accomplish anything else during his term, a new stadium would set him apart from the three previous mayors of Gotham. New York’s resistance to a new stadium already lost us our football teams.

A new baseball stadium would be a wonderful gift for the fans in the biggest -- and best -- baseball town in America. As gorgeous stadiums pop up all over the country, New Yorkers have been shut out.

If New Yorkers had a chance to view Coors Field in person, they’d demand it be in any mayor’s campaign promises. So far, many of the people who have come to Coors Field absolutely love it. And with good reason. Its old-style, compact design reminds you of baseball played in yesteryear. Kind of like when the Big Apple was home to the Dodgers, Giants and Yankees.

“This is a great baseball park,” said Milwaukee Brewers catcher Joe Oliver before Monday’s exhibition game. “A park like this does so much for the city, the players and the fans.

“This is a model for everyone. Who wouldn’t want to come to a place like this?”

The Mets and probably their ownership, Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday, will get a firsthand look at the National League’s newest stadium Wednesday night. It’s hard to imagine that most of the players won’t salivate over it. This is definitely a bib-required work of art. Along with its simple charm, it’s the only major-league park with two full-size, indoor batting cages.

The Yankees, who played a few exhibition games at Coors, were impressed.

Had Giuliani, a lifelong Yankees fan, been in town Sunday and Monday with 28 other mayors for the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors, he could have gotten an up-close and personal view. Being the baseball fan he is, it would have been nearly impossible for him not to fall in love with Coors Field.

There are virtually no bad seats in the 50,249-seat stadium. You can’t say that about the upper decks at Yankee or Shea. There are 52 wonderful luxury skyboxes, six party suites. There is plenty of room to stretch out your feet. The best seats in the house are in the left field bleachers. The stands are so low out there, you feel like you’re playing leftfield, too.

Imagine such a showplace in Manhattan. The electricity that the Garden brings to the city would double with a new ballpark in the thick of things. There’s been some buzzing over the last few years of building a stadium on 10th Avenue near the Jacobs Javits Center. But nothing has ever come of it.

Enter budget problems. But Rudy shouldn’t let the financial woes of the city get in the way of a project like this. There’s never a good time to build a stadium with taxpayers’ money. Plus, there always seems to be budget restraints no matter who the mayor is.

For sure, though, money wouldn’t be the only problem. Bigger questions: Who would play in the new stadium and which park would be knocked down?

There would be some fans, of course, who would throw themselves in front of an army of bulldozers before they would let one brick be touched on Yankee Stadium, one of the world’s most famous sports facilities. Given the history and tradition of what Art Rust Jr. likes to call the big ball orchard in the South Bronx, most couldn’t imagine baseball without The House That Ruth Built.

That, even though, George Steinbrenner has threatened to move the Yankees to Jersey for years now.

Shea Stadium?

That’s a no-brainer. Granted, it’s not the worst stadium in the majors, but it’s hardly a showplace or fixture in American sports history. Bill Buckner’s infamous error aside, legend-like stories about Shea are few and far between. The nondescript stadium in Flushing is more known for the noise of the planes taking off from LaGuardia.

And aside from the facelift Yankee Stadium got in the mid-’70s, New York hasn’t had a new arena or stadium built since 1964 when Shea was erected in the shadow of the World’s Fair.

The time has come for New York to get into the ‘90s. In the past four years, we’ve seen wonderful stadiums go up in Baltimore, Cleveland, Arlington, Texas and now Denver. You can’t tell me that if these cities can make a commitment for a new stadium, New York can’t.

With so many major companies headquartered in New York, it’s hard to imagine that one wouldn’t pay royally to have its name plastered on a brand-new park in the media capital of the world.

There has been talk about a retractable domed stadium in Flushing, a la SkyDome in Toronto. But a Camden Yards, Jacobs Field or Coors Field would be better.

Granted, new isn’t always better. The Ballpark in Arlington proves that. But if a new stadium for New York means having a Coors Field, it should be a reality, not a pipe dream. Listening, Rudy?