By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
He was the first fan in the ballpark when the Cashman Field gates opened in downtown Las Vegas at 6 p.m. Thursday.
And Jimmy Burris, a 27-year-old Henderson baseball fan who has watched Triple A baseball at Cashman since he was three, embraced the moment as the 51s hosted the El Paso Chihuahuas. They play five games from Thursday night to Monday. Attendance was 7,292.
Burris was first on line at 5:15 p.m. and he will go down in Cashman Field history as the first fan to come through the gates of the last 51s home-opener at Cashman as the Pacific Coast League franchise moves from downtown to the new $150 million suburban ballpark in Downtown Summerlin next to the Vegas Golden Knights’ training center in 2019.
“It will be a different experience to not drive and come to Cashman,” Burris said. “I’m going to miss the oldness of this ballpark. It’s like an old major league ballpark.”
Next year, Burris and lots of other Triple A fans in metro Las Vegas will head to a new baseball home — a 10,000-seat venue officially named, “Las Vegas Ballpark.” The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) gave team owner Howard Hughes Corp. $80 million for the “Las Vegas” naming rights deal.
Don’t be surprised if Howard Hughes Corp. rebrands its Triple A property and leaves the 51s legacy behind in downtown Las Vegas.
And Howard Hughes’ team — whatever it will be called in 2019 — won’t have to rely so much on Thursday Dollar Beer Nights to lure fans because the new amenities of a $150 million ball yard should provide impressive draws missing at Cashman. Fans will have more party zones, splash in a pool and enjoy food in 22 suites, while players will have batting cages inside the ballpark and the mascot will even have his own locker area.
Even Finn the 51s bat dog is looking forward to the new ball yard in Summerlin.
“We’ll send Finn swimming in the pool while the players play the game,” joked Finn’s owner, Fred Hassen.
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Centerplate concessions worker Shannen Jefferson, who was pouring beer into tonight’s 10-ounce cups, was excited to move into the new ballpark.
But she does have memories of watching her first minor league ball game in Cashman as a kid.
“Tonight is nothing sad. Just memories,” Jefferson said as fans started forming the beer line.
It’s the 36th year of Triple A baseball at Cashman. And 51s President Don Logan can spend the better part of a ball game regaling you with stories about the ballfield that team owners through the years have been trying to replace.
Logan said he was sentimental about Cashman’s final home-opener “for about two seconds.”
Logan, the longtime baseball man, predicted there won’t be any shortage of MLB team suitors interested in having their Triple A affiliate at the new Las Vegas Ballpark. The New York Mets are ending their partnership with the 51s after this 2018 season and a new big league parent club won’t be known until September at the earliest.
“The new ballpark changes the dynamic,” Logan said.
51s GM Chuck Johnson marked Cashman’s last home-opener by breaking out his white shoes with the red baseball stitching on the shoes. He bought the pair online in a closeout sale and dons the white shoes only a few times a year.
The next time the white shoes will come out is when the winter baseball meetings are held in Las Vegas, Johnson said.
Will Thursday Dollar Beer Nights move to the new ballpark?
Centerplate beer worker Renee Johnson hopes the dollar beers go with the ball club to Summerlin.
“It’s a tradition,” she said. “The locals will know Thursdays are Dollar Beer Nights.”
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