Tropicana Field--St. Petersburg, Florida

Current home of the Tampa Bay Rays

Last World Championship - None
Last Playoff Appearance - 2008 (AL East Champs)

Opened--1990 (1998 for Baseball)

May 13, 1998-- Kansas City Royals 4, Tampa Bay Devil Rays 0


Tropicana Field, or The "Trop" as it's known to the locals
is the home of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Built in the late 80's, the park had no
tennants. The park was built to try to lure the Chicago White Sox
to Florida, but the Sox got new Comiskey and stayed put.
Tampa was also a consideration for expansion in the early 90's, but Miami
got a franchise instead. So in 1993, The Suncoast Dome, as it was called then
became home to the newest NHL franchise, the Tampa Bay Lighting.


The closer you get to Tropicana Field, the nicer it looked,
but getting closer was a nightmare.
If and when you found a lot that wasn't pre-paid,
you had quite a walk to the stadium.
It's amazing how much darker domes are inside.
With the modern retractable domes,
Tropicana Field looks like it's been around
as long as the Astrodome.
But it only opened in 1990.

The one thing I liked about Tropicana Field was the full dirt infield.
At least that made it look less like astroturf.
At the top of this shot is a catwalk, which is in play.
The Royals were robbed of a homerun when a ball hit it
and fell back down onto the field for a double.

Stadium Rating : C

2000 update : Tropicana Field changed the playing surface to the new Field Turf,
for a more natural look.

2008 update : The Devil Rays dropped Devil from their name at the beginning of the 2008 season.

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