The contrasts between the push for a new baseball park for downtown St. Paul and a Vikings stadium couldn’t be greater.
Those contrasts were revealed again today when the push for state bonding money by St. Paul for a downtown ballpark began again at the state Capitol.
City and amateur baseball officials appeared before the House Jobs and Economic Development Finance Committee to sell the idea that the state should come up with $27 million in bonding to help finance a $50 million to $54 million ballpark in Lowertown.
That ballpark would become home to the St. Paul Saints professional team, as well as the site of hundreds of amateur baseball events.
St. Paul, the Saints and supporters of the project have been down this path before, of course.
This was the city’s top bonding priority a year ago. The project made it to the final rounds of bonding negotiations before being cut by Republican leadership that rejected virtually all projects that were seen as “regional” in concept.
But, as in baseball, there’s always tomorrow. Tomorrow is here, and the ballpark proponents are optimistic that this time the bonding request will survive the process.
If today’s hearing was any indication, there’s reason for the optimism.
Unlike Vikings’ stadium talks, which tend to draw winces of horror from legislators, the ballpark received mostly warm embraces — and a whole lot of baseball analogies from members of the House committee.
No one was more receptive than Rep. Larry Howes, R-Walker, who heads the House bonding committee. Howes shared memories of his own playing days with St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and other ballpark supporters.
Howes noted that he kept playing baseball until he was in his 40s. One day, he was in centerfield, waiting for a fly ball to settle in his glove when he suddenly discovered he saw two baseballs coming toward him. He decided it was time to stop playing the game he loved. But he’s never stopped enjoying watching others play the game.
“It’s not just government’s job to support the things that are necessary,” Howes said at the hearing. “Government also has a role in doing things that also make life more pleasant for people.”
Howes talked about how this bonding request is so much different from the Vikings’ push for a new stadium.
“I understand the reluctance to give money to billionaire owners and millionaire players,” Howes said, noting that this project is very different.
There were few hard questions for Coleman, at least at this hearing. Coleman said the project, which last year would have cost about $50 million, probably would be about $54 million now.
The Saints, who would be ballpark occupant for about 50 games a year, would pay $10 million. The state, under the plan, would come up with $27 million. The city and St. Paul business community, which is solidly behind the project, would come up with the rest.
At least some of that city money would come by selling the industrial land that now is home to Midway Stadium, the current home of the Saints and a number of amateur events. That land, Coleman said, could fetch about $3 million.
Coleman listed a number of economic benefits a Lowertown ballpark would yield:
• Upward of 400,000 people a year would come to the 7,000-seat structure.
• The vitality would make the city’s downtown more viable as a destination for businesses that city leaders are constantly attempting to attract.
• Given the fact that the ballpark would be located on a “brownfield” area, the property could not easily be converted to other uses.
But mostly, this was about kids and a kids’ game.
Among those testifying was Billy Peterson, who has played and coached amateur baseball in St. Paul for most of his 70-plus years.
Peterson coached two Hall of Famers, Paul Molitor and David Winfield, and sent teams onto the field against former Twins hero Jack Morris. The key to beating the youthful Morris, Peterson said, was to put the bat on the shoulder and wait for walks.
“He was pretty wild then,” said Peterson.
Peterson talked of how amateur baseball games typically last seven innings.
"I’m in the seventh inning of my life,” he said, adding that he has hopes of still coaching kids in the new ballpark.
He said that he wasn’t at the hearing to talk about the past or about Molitor, Winfield or Morris.
“I’m here on behalf of the names you don’t know, the thousands of kids who will play in the ballpark,’’ he said.
There was a little more baseball chat. Rep. Tim Mahoney, DFL-St. Paul, hoped the new ballpark would have a special pen for the Saints’mascot, a pig. And the committee unanimously passed on the bonding request to the next step in a long process.
Everything about the hearing was different from the muscle that surrounds the Vikings’ stadium.
The contrast, Coleman said, is helpful.
“It’s such a stark contrast,’’ the mayor said. “Two-thirds of the events in this park,would be for amateurs. These are totally different projects."