Baseball player, Harford County lose bid to attract USA Baseball

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Jun 25, 2002 by Patrick Grzanka

Baltimore Orioles great Cal Ripken Jr. and Harford County, home to Ripken's new baseball facility, have struck out in their bid to lure USA Baseball, the national organization that selects and trains the United States Olympic baseball team, to Aberdeen.

Rather than relocate to Ripken's hometown, USA Baseball is moving its headquarters from Tucson, Ariz., to Cary, N.C.

"It was a great offer in terms of the facility," Paul Seiler, executive director of USA Baseball, said of Aberdeen's pitch. But overall, Cary and Durham, N.C., provided a better package.

One significant factor is Cary's close association with the Durham Bulls and the minor league team's office space, stadium, nearby playing fields and advertising commitments, Seiler said.

The selection process began last year when USA Baseball put out a request for proposals. The selection committee visited Aberdeen's Ripken Stadium complex and the site of the future Ripken Baseball Academy during its construction last April.

USA Baseball's profile soared during the most recent summer Olympic games in Sydney, Australia, when the United States unexpectedly won the gold medal. The relocation likely would have brought further attention and resources to the Ripken complex.

Nevertheless, Ripken remains optimistic about his initiative, which focuses on baseball instruction for young people as well as minor- league competition.

"We're gonna go back to the board and redesign our academy and try to tweak that," Ripken told The Daily Record. "It was a great exercise to go through because it made me look at our academy maybe to include some bigger guys' fields as well as smaller guys' fields, so that I can teach the full level of kids."

Ripken Stadium opened to a sellout crowd last week as the Aberdeen IronBirds began a three-game home series against the Williamsport Crosscutters. The IronBirds lost their opening game, but that was only a minor disappointment to the city of Aberdeen, which has been the "superstar player" in the whole process, Ripken said.

The loss of USA Baseball seems to have stung more. At a City Council meeting on June 10, officials clung to the chance that Aberdeen would be selected. A sign on Route 22 boasted: "Future Home of USA Baseball...Hopefully." It was taken down by Sunday evening.

Ripken himself views the disappointment as only a minor setback and prefers to focus on future endeavors in Aberdeen, specifically breaking ground on Cal Sr.'s Field, a miniature version of Camden Yards which will be the first of many parks in the academy for young players. Construction is tentatively slated to begin later this summer, according to Steve Spadafino, the public relations director for Ripken Stadium.

While the U.S. Olympic baseball team is not making Harford County its new home, it will experience Ripken Stadium's new diamond firsthand on Friday night when it takes on the Japanese national team.

"We are going to explore different designs and we'll explore a different relationship with USA Baseball that might or might not come to be, but I enjoyed dealing with them and I enjoyed the prospect of actually having a series or two at our ballpark. I look forward to seeing how the game will turn out with USA and Japan," Ripken said.