Board OKs New Baseball Stadium

Board OKs New Baseball Stadium

BY DAVID KAPLAN

Rice News Staff

Jan. 14, 1998

In recent years, Rice baseball teams led by Head Coach Wayne Graham have featured some remarkable talent, including Jose Cruz Jr., Lance Berkman, Matt Anderson and Damon Thames.

Beginning next year, there will be all the more reason for great athletes to play for Graham at Rice. The Rice Board of Governors has approved a state-of-the-art baseball stadium for the nationally ranked baseball team.

Construction will begin after the ’99 baseball season and be completed in time for the 2000 season. The $6.4 million facility will be funded by private sources. The name of the new facility has not been disclosed.

The stadium will be built on the site of Cameron Field and seat 3,427 spectators in the main grandstand area. Temporary bleachers will bring the total capacity to 5,667, enabling the Owls to host NCAA regional tournaments and other major events.

“This stadium will help us sustain the program at the highest level,” says Graham, who notes that more than 50 percent of the teams that reach the College World Series have hosted regionals.

Says Rice President Malcolm Gillis, “This is truly a major, major step, not only for baseball but for Rice athletics and Rice University.”

Designed by Jackson & Ryan Architects of Houston, the stadium will have an old-fashioned look and feature a partial roof over a grandstand, home and visiting team locker rooms, training rooms, a new scoreboard and message board, tournament and media workrooms, and an oak-lined walkway to the main public parking areas.

“Bikini Hill”–the grassy area beyond the Cameron Field outfield, a space populated during games by Rice students, alumni, kids and dogs–will remain.

During his seven years of coaching at Rice, Graham has turned the Owls into a national powerhouse. Currently, Rice is fourth nationally in the Collegiate Baseball preseason rankings. The ’97 team, which advanced to the College World Series, was also picked fourth by Collegiate Baseball.

Graham says he has no plans of retiring but notes that when he does, he’ll “look forward to having a nice seat out there” in the new stadium.

Architectural renderings of the new ballpark can be found on the Owls’ athletics Web site at www.RiceOwls.com.