Tropicana Field

From SoSH

Contents 1 Stadium History 2 Possible replacement 3 Trivia 4 Field Dimensions 5 Wall Height 6 Ground Rules 7 External Links

Stadium History

Tampa Bay, for years a popular area for Major League Baseball spring training games, finally got its own team beginning in 1998. It wasn't easy, however. In fact, the city of St. Petersburg went so far as to build a domed stadium, against the advice of MLB, to lure a major league team. It looked like the White Sox would occupy the new stadium until the people of Chicago voted to build them a new ballpark in 1989. A group of Tampa Bay investors called a press conference in 1992 announcing that the Giants were moving to Tampa Bay, but loopholes in the agreement allowed a local consortium to rescue the team from leaving San Francisco. Several other teams expressed interest in relocating to St. Petersburg, but to no avail. At last, on March 9,1995, MLB granted Tampa Bay a franchise.

Completed in 1990 as the Florida Suncoast Dome, it became the Thunderdome while the Tampa Bay Lightning NHL team were tenants. It was renamed Tropicana Field on October 4, 1996 per an agreement with Tropicana Dole Beverages. When Pepsi purchased Tropicana, they elected not to change the stadium's name.

Tropicana Field originally used AstroTurf, and became the first artificially-turfed ballpark to have a full dirt infield since the 1970s. Since the stadium is baseball-only, there was no need to have a turf infield with sliding pits around the bases, as the "innovation" was intended to expedite conversion between baseball and football in multi-use facilities. The stadium became the first professional facility to use the new FieldTurf artificial turf in 2001, and upgraded to FieldTurf Duo in 2007.

Since the stadium's roof is slanted toward the outfield (a choice made to reduce air conditioning costs), the catwalks hanging from the roof often interfere with play. The higher two of the four catwalks (Rings A and B) are in play. The lower two catwalks (Rings C and D) are out of play, with hits off those catwalks between the foul poles resulting in home runs.

The Devil Rays have not had much success at Tropicana Field, either on the field or at the box office.

Possible replacement

MLB has made it known to the team that they must be out of their current facility by 2010.

In November 2007, the team announced plans to sell Tropicana Field to redevelopers and build a new ballpark at the site of their original spring training facility, Al Lang Field (Progress Energy Park), along the shore of Tampa Bay. Sternberg will pay $150 million, and the rest of the $450 million total price will be paid for through the sale of the Tropicana Field area, and tax revenue from the redeveloped property. Although not finalized, as development along the Tampa Bay shore must be approved by St. Petersburg voters even though there is no related tax increase, the team hopes to open the new facility for the 2012 season.

The park would be open-air, with a retractible fabric cover as a rainshield (much akin to the concept for Olympic Stadium in Montreal), and would be oriented so home runs to right field could land in Tampa Bay. At the press conference to announce the new park, held at Al Lang Field, Carlos Pena demonstrated this by taking batting practice at the position where home plate would be on the new facility (left-center field in the current park) and hitting several balls into the bay.

Trivia

• Retired numbers: Wade Boggs (#12).
• Features one of the world's largest cable-supported domed roofs (225 feet high over second base to 85 feet at the centerfield wall).
• Former names: Florida Suncoast Dome, Thunderdome
• The first use of instant replay was used on September 3, 2008 on a home run by Alex Rodriguez and appeared to be ruled incorectly as the crew chief ruled the field call of a home run to stand.

Field Dimensions

Left Field	Left Center	Center Field	Right Center	Right Field
315'	370'	407'	370'	322'

Wall Height

Left Field	Center Field	Right Field
9.5’	9.5’	9.5’

Ground Rules

In addition to adhering to the Universal Ground Rules, Tropicana Field employs the following ground rules:

BULLPEN AREA

• Ball lodging on, under or in the bullpen seating area: Out of Play.

• Ball enters the bullpen seating area and rebounds out of the seating area: In Play.

CATWALKS, LIGHTS AND SUSPENDED OBJECTS

• Batted ball strikes catwalk, light or suspended object over fair territory:
  • Batted ball that strikes either of the lower two catwalks, lights or suspended objects in fair territory: Home Run.
  • Batted ball that is not judged a home run and remains on a catwalk, light or suspended object: Two Bases.
  • Batted ball that is not judged a home run and strikes a catwalk, light or suspended object in fair territory shall be judged fair or foul in relation to where it strikes the ground or is touched by a fielder. If caught by fielder, batter is out and runners advance at own risk.

• Batted ball strikes catwalk, light or suspended object over foul territory: DEAD BALL

External Links

• Update