Big Red Machine's Home Gone

A chunk of baseball history disappeared yesterday as Cinergy field in Cincinnati was demolished:

Thirty-two years of Cincinnati history crumbled like a sand castle in 37 seconds Sunday morning, as a ring of detonations brought down Cinergy Field and two generations of sports memories.

Cinergy filed was the site of a lot of baseball history:

Riverfront Stadium, built for $44 million, opened in 1970 with Hank Aaron hitting a home run in the first game. In the All-Star game that summer, Rose gave the National League the win by bowling over Ray Fosse at home plate. That fall, the stadium hosted the World Series in which the Reds lost to the Baltimore Orioles. The Reds went on to win three World Series, including consecutive titles in 1975-76 with Rose, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench leading the Big Red Machine. In 1985, Rose passed Ty Cobb's record at the stadium to become baseball's career hits leader.

Heck, it was even home to the Bengals when they were winning (they reached the Super Bowl twice if you can believe it).

That's all over now:

Hamilton County, which owns the stadium, is paying the company $6 million to clear the rubble, a floodwall and the parking garage by Aug. 31. The site will become the western concourse of the Cincinnati Reds' new home, the $280 million Great American Ball Park, and will include the Reds' Hall of Fame, set to open in 2004.