Tropicana Field

I was able to attend my first two games at Tropicana Field this season. It’s the last of the domed stadiums. This was built in the late 80’s in hopes of attracting a major league team. Tampa was used by the White Sox, Giants, and Mariners to leverage their respective cities into building new ballparks. If you keep the date in mind the design makes more sense. The Rays began play in 1998. Comparable stadiums for the late 90’s were Bank One/Chase Field and Safeco Field, both of which feature retractable roofs. [Turner Field also opened around this time, but that was just a conversion of the stadium built for the Olympics.] Tropicana Field, originally the Sun Coast dome, opened in early 1990. Comparable parks at that time included Dolphins Stadium, Sky Dome/Rogers Centre, and the new Comiskey. The first two, along with Tropicana, were multi-use stadiums. The point of all this is that the Trop’ is nice…for a late 80’s multi-purpose dome. Having a dome in Tampa is not the worst idea. The Sky Dome was the only real retractable roof stadium of that era and it cost 4 times as much. The weather is also a concern. Aside from the heat and humidity, Tampa is called the lightning capital of the world during the summer months. 

The stadium is predictably dull from the outside reminiscent of the Kingdome and Metrodome. There is a ‘main entrance’ which oddly leads into the area behind center field. The atrium has a scale painting of the field on the floor. Some of the features try to remind people of the outdoors. There is a faux exterior wall both in the playing area and in some of the vending areas. There are also parts of the vending areas that are painted to look like city [eg walls painted to look like red brick, cloudy sky, and a subway stop.] The most unique feature is the tank of rays which are native to the area. You can visit the tank through the 6th inning where you can buy fish and feed it to the rays. I tried to get up there but the lines were huge. The park holds the Ted Williams Hitters Hall of Fame. This is a very cool display giving tribute to some of the great hitters of all time. There is a small museum piece off the vending area which serves as the entrance to the bigger museum [about 10,000 sqft] upstairs. It too is open through the 6th inning and worth looking through.

Aside from not being able to see the field from the vending areas, some of the food was pretty good. The hot dog was bland and came on a stale bun, but the real treat was the ‘hot pressed Cuban’ which is a turkey, ham, salami, and cheese sandwich. It comes on a roll which, true to its’ name, is put into one of those hot sandwich presses before being served.  I highly recommend the Cuban.

The fans seem a bit tepid about the team. The two games I saw were on a Friday and Saturday night immediately following a series with the Yankees where the Rays took 2 of 3 and first place in the division. That being said, attendance was 23,000 Friday and 32,000 Saturday. The fans who showed up were very loyal to the Rays. Lots of jerseys, t-shirts, and hats. Plus they cheered at the right times. The Saturday game was immediately followed by an Adam Lambert concert. I’m no expert in current pop culture so I have no idea how much Adam may have boosted ticket sales for that game, but on the shuttle back to a parking lot I heard someone say, “I’ve never seen so many emo girls at a baseball game before. I thought Slipknot was playing against the Rays.” Later in this entertaining tirade he admitted to being kicked out of the game that evening for ‘enthusiastically supporting the team.’ It’s good to keep things in context here. Every city and state has a personality. In Florida, men tuck their t-shirts into their jeans or shorts, women wear leopard print everything, and mullets are still in style.

The games I got to attend were both excellent. The Angels were in town for the weekend including Bobby Abreu and Hideki Matsui, two great players whose best years are behind them. Friday was a back and forth battle. Dan Haren and Wade Davis both delivered quality starts. The Angels got a solo shot from Brandon Wood in the top of the ninth which won the game. Saturday was an equally good pitching performance from Joel Pinero and David Price. The Angels had the lead going into the bottom of the 9th when pinch hitter Willy Aybar tied the game to send it to extras. In the bottom of the 10th, Friday’s hero Brandon Wood became the goat when his throwing error allowed the winning run to score.
 

Two final thoughts on the ballpark. First, Anaheim has the Rally Monkey, which I still think is pretty funny. The Rays version is a DJ cat wearing a Rays jersey, backwards hat, and the big necklace at the turntable. The arms of the cat you see are not really the cats arms, but they are made to look like they’re clapping, running the turntable, or up in the air going side to side. The Rally Monkey is the original, but the cat was funny too.

Lastly, the Tropicana logo in right field is the straw stuck into the orange which is supposed to give the impression that Tropicana brand juice is so fresh, it’s just like drinking straight from the orange. When the home team hits a home run, the straw lights up in sequence culminating in juice spurting out the end of the straw. The whole thing orange/straw thing looks rather phallic. Rather than being inspired to grab some OJ after a home run, I feel like I need to wash my hands and not touch anything in the stadium.