“The Umpire’s New Clothes,” penned by STYLE Weekly’s Scott Bass, is an in-depth look at some of the cogs and wheels of the controversial development deal that would put a baseball stadium in Shockoe Bottom.

Bass also gives us some sense of the men pushing the deal, men who seem to believe with religious zeal they can see through the looming fog of economic uncertainty onto the future.

Determined men with a tough job on their hands — selling a charming build-it-and-they-will-come dream in a time of brutal hard-edge realities. Chief among them is Bryan Bostic, the honcho of the would-be baseball franchise ownership group.

“If you extract the ballpark out of the Boulevard, it comes to life,” Bostic tells the crowd, largely made up of North Side residents who support keeping baseball where it is. Just look at what happened at other forward-thinking cities such as Memphis, Bostic says. “Two billion, two billion, billion, two billion, two billion in private investment,” he says, fumbling with the mic.

The idea has been around for a while, and it’s nearly identical to the first plan floated four years ago by another group of developers, which also included Bostic. They proposed building a new ballpark for the Richmond Braves in a $330 million retail, office and condo development in Shockoe Bottom.

Click here to read Bass’ excellent analysis.