APBnews.com Study: Two-Thirds of U.S. Baseball Parks Surrounded by High-Crime-Risk Neighborhoods.

Sports Editors/Baseball Writers & Columnists

NEW YORK--(BW SportsWire)--March 30, 2000

Turner Field Ranked Most Dangerous; The Ballpark in

Arlington Found Safest

At the start of the 2000 baseball season, "safe at home" takes on a different meaning with a study showing that two-thirds of the 28 U.S. ballparks are surrounded by neighborhoods at high risk for serious crime.

The study, conducted by APBnews.com (http://www.APBnews.com), the leading news organization devoted exclusively to issues of crime, justice and safety, indicates that fans should pay attention on and off the field to ensure they return home safe as well as entertained.

The study (http://www.apbnews.com/media/celebnews/baseball/index.html), which utilized the computerized modeling of CAP Index Inc., the nation's leading authority on crime-risk assessment, ranked the communities surrounding the 28 U.S. ballparks in relation to high risk for violent crime (murder, rape and robbery). The area surrounding The Atlanta Braves' Turner Field is ranked as the nation's most dangerous, and Comiskey Park, home of the Chicago White Sox, is runner-up. The area around New York City's Yankee Stadium came in as the third most-dangerous. The Ballpark in Arlington, the Texas Rangers' 6-year-old stadium built in the rural outskirts of Dallas, has the safest surrounding community of U.S. baseball venues.

"Springtime baseball and Opening Day are supposed to be fun," says Mark Sauter, chief operating officer of APB Online Inc., which operates of APBnews.com. "But I suspect many fans define baseball safety as watching out for foul balls and spilled drinks. However, you have the right to know that the areas surrounding many baseball stadiums can be dangerous. Preparation is key for a safe trip to the game and back home."

Using proprietary statistics developed by CAP Index, census tracts are gauged according to the estimated risk of crime for the coming year through a sophisticated computer model that compares socioeconomic data to past reports of actual crime. Tracts are then given numerical ratings, 1 for the lowest crime risk, 10 for the highest. Nineteen of the 28 U.S. baseball venues were surrounded by neighborhoods (in radiuses up to six miles) that ranked 9 or 10 on this scale.

The APBnews.com report includes a story on ways to increase your chances of safety going to and from the baseball game, as well as a graphic tool - Stadium Neighborhood CrimeCheck (SM) - that identifies of the risk around all U.S. baseball stadiums. The main story in the package includes comments from police and stadium officials describing steps they take to keep fans safe, as well as a reference to last year's murderous attack on a family of four walking to a Chicago White Sox game.

Color-coded online maps show the risk of violent crime in the areas surrounding the ballparks. The maps can help sports fans decide the safest routes for driving and parking, while a sidebar provides additional tips.

The crime check is part of APBnews.com's multiday package, "The Rough Side of the Diamond," that examines the criminal side of baseball. Stories and features include:

-- "In Lost Confession, 'Shoeless' Joe Admits Fix -- 'Promised Me $20,000 and Paid Me Five,' Said Black Sox Star." Posted in the story is the long-missing transcript of grand jury testimony in which Mr. Jackson confessed to his role in intentionally losing the 1919 World Series.

-- "G-Files" on Mickey Mantle and other baseball starts. The G-Files are a regular APBnews.com feature reporting on government files -- especially FBI records acquired through Freedom of Information Act requests.

-- Video streaming of baseball highlights - past and present. Included in this feature is the recent demolition of the Seattle Kingdome.

-- Archives of baseball players' run-ins with the criminal justice system.

About CAP Index Inc.

CAP Index (www.CAPIndex.com) is the only source of precise, site specific, up-to-date, and objective crime risk forecasts for the entire United States and Canada. Its databases, studies and custom maps are resources for business executives who make critical security, site-selection, and risk management decisions. CAP Index data and services are used by federal government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, and 18 of the top 25 Fortune 100 companies.

About APBnews.com

Founded in 1998, APBnews.com is the principal operating division of APB Online Inc., a privately held communications company based in New York. APBnews.com is the first news-centered network of programs exclusively devoted to every audience for crime, justice and safety issues -- an eight-channel/26-program Web site covering the most intensively followed genre in media. APBnews.com features a New York newsroom staffed by more than 50 veteran newspaper and television journalists, including a Pulitzer Prize winner, as well as more than 150 freelancers under contract nationwide and an advisory board comprising well-known criminal-justice and media professionals. Among its professional awards are the first Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award for Web Reporting and the first Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi Award for Excellence in Online Journalism Deadline Reporting. Brill's Content recently named APBnews.com one of the best news sites on the Internet. APBnews.com is dedicated to the public's right to know, providing accurate, expert, contextual, fair and responsible coverage of crime, justice and safety.