Nashville gets new ballpark; Cashman Field just gets older

Some people wearing business attire and hardhats (and winter coats) put shovels in the ground the other day in Nashville, Tenn. This is a telltale sign the Nashville Sounds are getting a new triple-A ballpark.

The people who operate the Las Vegas 51s want you to know that.

The New Nashville Ballpark — which hasn’t yet been named after some huge corporate entity — will replace the Old Nashville Ballpark. The Old Nashville Ballpark also was called Herschel Greer Stadium. It was named for Herschel Lynn Greer, a prominent Nashville businessman and the first president of the Nashville Vols minor league baseball club. (Not a huge corporate entity.)

Herschel Greer Stadium opened in 1978.

The people who operate the Las Vegas 51s want you know that, too.

Beacuse when the New Nashville Ballpark opens next year, it will make Cashman Field, which opened in 1983, the second-oldest ballpark in the Pacific Coast League.

You could make the argument that Cashman Field is the oldest-standing ballpark in the PCL, because although Cheney Stadium, home of the Tacoma Rainiers, opened in 1960, it recently underwent a $30 facelift, which is more than Bruce Jenner paid for his.

And I think the people who operate the Las Vegas 51s want you to know that, too. (The part about Cheney Stadium getting a facelift. Not the part about Bruce Jenner.)

If I had to guess, they probably would want you to know the New Nashville Ballpark is being built with public money.

Last May, the 51s went public with plans for a new $88 million ballpark that would be built adjacent to the Red Rock hotel-casino in Summerlin. The new owners of the 51s would like to build the New Summerlin Ballpark with public money.

This is why you haven’t heard much about The New Summerlin Ballpark since it was announced in May.

Unlike in Nashville, people wearing business attire and hardhats (and coats) have yet to put shovels in the ground. Not even close.

Because when it comes to public money and ballparks and stadiums, people around here who pay taxes are like people in New York when you mention A-Rod. They don’t want to hear it.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski.