Would this happen?

John Wheeler talks about his dream of a baseball field in downtown Grand Rapids

Call it John Wheeler's field of dreams. He says that's all it is.

The Rockford Construction chief executive floated the idea of a downtown ballpark Thursday, suggesting that two downtown parking lots near Van Andel Arena could sport a new home for the West Michigan Whitecaps.

Wheeler said he hasn't talked with Whitecaps CEO and Managing Partner Lew Chamberlin about the concept.

That would seem to be an important thing to do.

In an interview with the Press, Chamberlin said the idea took him by surprise, but he would be willing to talk about it.

"It's an interesting idea, but whether it is feasible financially or otherwise, that remains to be seen depending on exactly what everyone has in mind," he said.

Wheeler's pitch was part of a speech about what's next for downtown at the University of Michigan/Urban Land Institute Forum on Thursday morning.

It came one day after Grand Action co-Chairman Dick DeVos said he dismissed the idea of a downtown ballpark more than 15 years ago because "they're really good for one thing: baseball."

Yep, no concerts, or races, or football games, or well, you get the idea.

Quick look ahead in the article...

Whitecaps owners would have to ask why they'd want to mess with a good thing.

The Detroit Tigers-affiliated team consistently has been among the top draws in the Single A level Midwest League. Last year the Whitecaps drew an average 5,569 per game and were No. 3 in terms of total attendance in the league with 367,532 people attending games.

"Up to this point, our view is we would be (in Comstock Park) for the foreseeable future and that's why we've made the investments and made changes and improvements along the way," Chamberlin said.

In fact, the team is on the verge of announcing some "fairly significant, but not sexy" offseason upgrades at Fifth Third, he said.

Could that Pepsi Stadium Club/Miller Lite House be moved?