It’s Stadia Mania: New York Is Now a Minor League Town

With not one but two minor league baseball stadiums under construction, the city may soon be trading in its Big Apple monicker for a new title: the City of Swing.

By this time next year, the Yankees and Mets each will have a short-season, class-A farm team playing in new, taxpayer-funded stadiums.

That will make New York the only major league city with two minor league teams, and Jim Ferguson, a spokesman for Minor League Baseball, says it’s easy to understand why.

“Most major league teams don’t want someone to come in and operate a minor league park on their turf,” he said, unless they own the minor league club. And indeed, Mets owner Fred Wilpon and Hal Steinbrenner, the son of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, have financial stakes in the new teams.

Though unique for one city, the two new ballparks are part of major building boom in the minors. Since 1985, 91 minor league parks have been built, and seven opened this year alone. Those figures don’t include stadiums built for Independent League teams.

At the groundbreaking for the 6,500-seat Staten Island stadium, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani talked about returning to New York’s baseball glory days when the Brooklyn Dodgers played at Ebbets Field and the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds--before both moved to the West Coast.

Giuliani pushed through the budget $29 million for the Staten Island Yankees’ stadium and $30 million for a Mets’ minor league stadium in Brooklyn--raising eyebrows about why the city was spending so much money essentially on behalf of the Mets and Yanks.

Including adjacent beautification and redevelopment projects, the combined price for the stadiums has been pushed to nearly $175 million.

Add Giuliani’s desire to build new or improved stadiums for the big league Mets, Yankees and the NFL’s Jets--at a cost to the city some say could run into billions--and non-sports fans begin to shake their heads in amazement.

“It’s ridiculous . . . I’d rather see the money spent on the construction of new schools, anything but this,” said Councilwoman Ronnie Eldridge, who voted against both projects.

“First, I don’t approve of using public money for the kinds of projects that seem to exist only to benefit the major league teams, and second, I don’t buy the argument that these seasonal facilities will bring any economic relief to the communities involved,” Eldridge said.

Fellow Democratic Councilman Herb Berman disagrees and says the ballparks will bring new life to two areas long ignored by city planners.

“Have you seen Coney Island lately?” asked Berman, who grew up in the downtrodden amusement area in its better days. “There are vast empty spaces of land, the amusement center is a couple of short blocks. It’s almost all gone. The Cyclone (roller coaster) is a relic and the stores across from the aquarium are nothing but ugly little shanty stalls. It’s a disgrace.”

Besides, Berman doesn’t see why the city shouldn’t spend some of its $3.2 billion budget surplus to add economic value to the community and provide recreation.

“You can always make the argument that the money should be used for housing or other purposes,” Berman said. “But the fact is the city does not only exist to provide housing and social services to people.”

The St. George area of Staten Island will get $54 million worth of tree-lined, well-lighted walkways, fancy garbage cans and parking lots that can be used by the 61,000 daily commuters on the Staten Island ferry.

The Coney Island site will get $31 million in boardwalk improvements and $30 million for amateur sports programs.

The city also spent $2 million to clean up an illegal hazardous waste site next to the Staten Island stadium. The ferry terminal, which is walking distance from the stadium, is getting an $85 million facelift, and the city is helping to build a new $20 million National Lighthouse Museum.

The steel ribs of the stadium, with a clear view of the Statue of Liberty, are already up. Work on the Coney Island site has not begun.

The stadium, built by the firm that constructed the San Francisco Giants’ Pacific Bell Park, will likely be a hit with residents, who have fully embraced the team in the year it has been on the island.

The Staten Island Advance, a daily covering the island’s 400,000 residents, calls the minor league team “Our Yanks.” Games at a temporary site have been drawing an average 3,000 fans.

“There’s a real home town feel. You run into people you know all the time. The kids can roam around because it’s not too big and best of all--it’s cheap,” said Lynn Maseo, who recently dropped $200 at a single Yankee Stadium outing for her family of four.

At the Staten Island games, the most expensive seats cost $10, hot dogs are $1.75 and soda is $2--compared with $30 for a single loge seat in the House that Ruth built.

The owners have promised they “won’t go major league” on ticket prices once the stadium opens. It will include a $2 million high-tech audio and video system with special signs that allow advertising to be sold by the half-inning. It also will have luxury suites, a food court, an arcade and picnic area.

The price tag for the two stadiums is on the high-end compared to other new ball parks, said minor league spokesman Ferguson, especially for a club that plays only 38 home games.

But, he added, “a high percentage of those stadiums are not in major cities like New York. They’re in Louisville, Columbus and Syracuse . . . and they wouldn’t be building stadiums of the same magnitude.”

Though attendance at minor league games nationwide is at an all time high--drawing some 35 million fans in 1999--Ferguson said it remains to be seen if New York can draw enough fans to support four baseball teams.

“I think it certainly will be interesting to see how and where the support comes from,” Ferguson said. “Minor league baseball is local in nature . . . drawing 98% of its fans from within a relatively short distance.”

Josh Getzler, who with his father, Stan, owns the major part of the Staten Island Yankees, hopes to tap tourists and cash-rich Wall Street executives.

“I would be surprised if we weren’t well over 6,000 a game next year,” Getzler said. “But the trick is in three, four years when the bloom is off the rose to remain as popular as we were in 2001--and I think we will be.”

The Mets’ soon-to-be minor league franchise--now the Kings playing in the borough of Queens--has not had the success of the Yankee farm team. Since opening day in June, the team has averaged a little under 1,000 fans a game--the worst attendance in the New York-Penn League.

One reason could be that the Kings are now a Toronto Blue Jays farm team, not a Mets affiliate. Another is that residents know the team will move to Brooklyn once the new stadium is built.

Berman believes Brooklyn, with its 2 1/2 million residents, is waiting for the team with open arms.

“Will they thrive? You betcha,” Berman said. “Could I be wrong? Maybe, but I think not. I believe there is a demand for inexpensive spectator sports.”

Besides, he added, “It’s time to bring baseball back to Brooklyn.”