After successfully opening a minor league stadium this year in his hometown of Aberdeen, former Oriole Cal Ripken Jr. is marketing his ballpark-building expertise to other cities.

Ripken Management & Design is the name of a company that Ripken has formed to help municipalities and private groups secure teams and build ballparks for them.

A subsidiary of Ripken Baseball of Lutherville, which owns the Aberdeen IronBirds and leases Ripken Stadium, the new company will offer management and design services to groups that want to build ballparks or upgrade existing facilities.

It has formed strategic alliances with several other companies that will work together on Ripken's projects, including the architectural firm of Heinlein Schrock Stearns of Kansas City, Mo. The ballparks they create will be known as "Ripken Signature Baseball Stadiums," in the same way that certain golf courses are known by the professional golfers who designed them.

"While going through the process of building our baseball complex in Aberdeen and the IronBirds inaugural season, we realized that there was a great deal of interest and a high demand for teams and facilities in all parts of the country," Ripken said. "We believe that through our strategic partners ... we will be able to assist those interested parties in achieving their goals."

Richard Wetzel, director of business development for Heinlein Schrock Stearns, said he doesn't know of any other case in which a former baseball player is helping design and build "signature" ballparks.

What Ripken Management & Design can offer that others can't, he said, is an "all-inclusive package" of services for groups that want to bring professional baseball to a community, or keep a team in town, but don't know how to proceed. Services range from conducting a feasibility analysis for a given market to designing a ballpark to selecting the right turf for the field.

"There's definitely been a precedent for it in office development" and golf courses, Wetzel said. "But as far as we know, no one has packaged all of these services into one entity that can take care of everything" for construction of a baseball park.

Design and construction of sports facilities has been a growth industry for more than a decade, as major league teams replace outdated stadiums and arenas with new ones. Now more and more minor league teams and colleges are developing plans to upgrade or replace outmoded facilities, and these are the sorts of clients Ripken aims to serve.

The company has already been in discussions with several municipalities, including Daytona Beach, Fla. The city of Daytona Beach is planning to refurbish historic Jackie Robinson Stadium.

While major league teams typically have sufficient resources to design and manage their own facilities, Wetzel said, smaller organizations often need help with everything from market studies to management plans.

What makes it interesting for a ballpark designer, he said, is that each team is different. "Each one has its own market, its own needs."

Heinlein Schrock Stearns is one of two design firms that worked on the $18-million Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, which was sold out all season. Tetra Tech Inc. of Christiana, Del., was the architect of record, and Heinlein designed features such as the ornate videoboard.

Heinlein Schrock Stearns is also the designer of a baseball academy for youngsters, now under construction next to Ripken Stadium. It will contain mini-versions of six major league ballparks, including Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, Ebbets Field and Yankee Stadium.

One ballpark, called Cal Sr.'s Yard, will be reminiscent of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, where the late Cal Ripken Sr. managed the Orioles.

The design firm was formed in 1995 by two former principals of HOK Sport Facilities Group, the architect of Oriole Park. While at HOK, partner Brad Schrock served as the lead architect for Coors Field in Denver.

Wetzel said Heinlein Schrock Stearns will work with Ripken on certain projects but will continue to work on its own for other clients and will remain based in Kansas City.

Besides architectural design, the scope of services offered by Ripken Management & Design includes:

Development of a comprehensive sales and marketing plan for a team. The front office staff of the Aberdeen IronBirds will be tapped for these services.

Economic impact and feasibility studies through Turnkey Sports, a Maryland company. Len Perna, president of Turnkey Sports, has worked with the Detroit Tigers, Dallas Stars, Memphis Grizzlies and Houston Rockets during their efforts to secure new facilities.

Field design, construction and maintenance through Sportsturf Services of Columbia. Murray Cook, the president, is Major League Baseball's field consultant and serves on the board of the National Sports Turf Managers Association. Cook has worked on many high- profile projects including the Sydney Summer Olympics; the spring training home of the St. Louis Cardinals and Montreal Expos in Jupiter, Fla.; and the Houston Astros' new ballpark in Texas.