Katz has suggested that the board of trustees reconsider what has traditionally been unthinkable _ selling advertising space on the outfield fence in the village’s baseball landmark, Doubleday Field.

In the past, any time advertising and Doubleday Field are mentioned in the same sentence, it has been made abundantly clear that it would never happen _ that the sanctity of the field would never be violated by garish signs hawking goods and services.

And that attitude was exemplified last week by Stuart Taugher, the senior board member and a former chairman of the Doubleday Field committee.

``It’s a sacred field and we’ve never allowed that,’’ he said. ``I think it would drive me crazy to see that. It seems strange these new people in town don’t realize the sacredness of the field.’’

But when Katz, the current chairman of the Doubleday Field committee, brought it up at the February board of trustees meeting there was a different tone that may signal a change in attitude as officials have sought new sources of revenue to pay for the costs associated with tourism.

Mayor Carol Waller said she is aware of the long-standing tradition of no advertising on the field, but said she is not against investigating the possibility further. Her primary concern is that any advertising must be family appropriate.

Katz declined to speculate how much money might be raised, but said he believes it is a significant opportunity. It is, after all, Doubleday Field and that has a cache to it that many companies may find appealing, he said.

Some of the money would be set aside for maintenance and future capital projects at the field and the remainder could be applied to other projects in the village like the street rebuilding program.

The impact on the field and village would be minimal _ the field would look the same from outside the stadium. The advertising itself would have to be approved by the planning board and perhaps designed in manner that was period appropriate for the field. [an error occurred while processing this directive]