Reds’ Top Ticket Price in New Ballpark: $175

When the Cincinnati Reds move into their new ballpark in 2003, tickets for the best field-level seats will cost $175--a game.

Construction of Great American Ball Park is barely under way, and the Reds will continue to play in Cinergy Field for two more seasons.

But forward-thinking fans already are scooping up the premium tickets, which cost $14,175 for a full season.

Of the 300 “Diamond” seats behind home plate, only 45 are unsold.

“We’re selling a few premium seats so we can keep other prices lower,” Jennifer Gardner, director of new stadium development for Reds Select Premium Seating, said Thursday. “By season-ticket time, people will be paying just like they do now.”

The most expensive seats this season in Cinergy Field cost $21.

Seats in the top six rows of the upper deck sold for only $5.

A fan willing to sit in that section could bring along 34 friends for the price of one Diamond seat at the new stadium.

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Pittsburgh hitting coach Lloyd McClendon will interview today in Phoenix for the Pirates’ managerial job.

Previously, the Pirates interviewed former Arizona Diamondback manager Buck Showalter, St. Louis Cardinal hitting coach Mike Easler, Pirate coaches Trent Jewett and Tommy Sandt and Oakland Athletic bench coach Ken Macha.

McClendon also will interview next week with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Former Phillie manager Terry Francona will interview Friday with the Diamondbacks. However, he said he hasn’t been contacted by the Pirates, even though Pirate catcher Jason Kendall strongly recommended him to Bonifay.

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Dom DiMaggio, a former outfielder with the Boston Red Sox and younger brother of Joe DiMaggio, was in fair condition at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital after quadruple bypass surgery.

DiMaggio, 83, is expected to remain hospitalized for at least a week.