Archive for the 'The Trop' Category

Jan 26

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss Spring Invites, CC As Fielder, And Owing The State Some Money

Carl Crawford, Hak-Ju Lee, The Trop, Tim Beckham Cork Gaines No Comments »

The Rays have extended Spring Training invitations (has a player ever declined a spring training “invitation”?) to shortstops Tim Beckham and Hak-Ju Lee, catchers Nevin Ashley and Craig Albernaz, and pitchers Ricky Orta, Ryan Reid, Bryan Augenstein and Marquis Fleming.

We’re glad the Rays are more patient than we are. Because if it were up to us, Beckham would be the opening day shortstop for the Rays. He can’t be worse offensively than what the Rays had in 2011. Just give him a shot to sink or swim.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

  • Prince Fielder has been worth about as much as Carl Crawford, and both have aging concerns. And yet Fielder is the one with the $214 million contract. [BI Sports]
  • Some in Pinellas County are pushing for a light rail system as a way to boost attendance at Rays games. [TBO.com]
  • The Rays may be forced to return $33 million to the state because they haven’t been housing the homeless at Tropicana Field on nights in which the stadium is not being used. This is just a guess, but it sounds like backlash against the dubious means used by the Marlins to get the city and county to finance their new playground. Also, it is not clear that the Rays would actually owe anything as the Trop is operated by the city and county. Wouldn’t it be their responsibility? [The Miami Herald]
  • And all of a sudden, the Bucs are the only team with a head coaching vacancy. [Joe Bucs Fan]
Nov 16

Like The Rays, The Trop’s Architect Would Like To Pretend The Trop Doesn’t Exist

The Trop Cork Gaines 9 Comments »

Not sure if we have ever mentioned this before, by my dad is a retired architect. For many years he worked for HOK, the same firm that designs most of the sports stadiums in this country.

Well, this morning we were digging around on the HOK (now known as Populous) website looking for something else when we stumbled upon their list of baseball projects.

Interestingly, 20 current and future stadiums are listed. But by our count, HOK/Populous is responsible for 21 big league ballparks. The one missing? Tropicana Field of course! They list over 60 minor league ballparks, but not The Trop. Must not be too proud of that one. Like that one job we all leave off of our resumés.

 

Sep 28

Concessions At Trop Getting Better, Still Not Great

The Trop, The Trop is bringing sexy back Cork Gaines 6 Comments »

Last year, ESPN conducted a review of every major sporting venue’s concession stands and Tropicana Field did not receive a favorable rating. In fact, all 47 of the concessions inspected received at least one critical violation.

This year, things are better, but the report is still a bit gruesome…

Centerplate, the concessions vendor for Tropicana Field, has reduced its average number of critical violations by more than two-thirds, to 1.1 per outlet.  But 57 percent of outlets still were cited for things like “mold and flies,” “slime in the ice machine,” and workers handling meat without gloves.

Ok. flies happen. Not great, but whatever. Mold? It doesn’t say where the mold was found. So let’s just assume it was on the floor or on the backside of a machine. Right? Good. But “slime in the ice machine.” What the hell? C’mon people. Slime? What does that even mean (Ed. note: see comments)? And “handling meat without gloves”? We know a lot of these workers are volunteers, but aren’t gloves just common sense?

Disgusting. Just disgusting.

Sep 23

The Continued Struggle for the Soul of the Florida Sports Fan

Attendance, Fans do silly things, Feed your mind, Minor League Affiliates, New York Yankees, Season Ticket Sales, Statistical projection, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tampa Bay Rays, Tampa vs St Pete, The Trop, Things that make us giddy, Things that shine a little less, TV Ratings, We are mad as hell, We need more Cowbell, Your thoughts please Jordi Scrubbings 12 Comments »

Jordi Scrubbings is back with his take on Rays attendance…

Last year, I wrote an article for this site entitled “The Battle for the Passion of the Florida Sports Fan”. In that article, I explored how the Rays were at the short end of a fight to get attention in a rapidly expanding Florida sports scene.

This year I have continued to track attendance and viewing trends. I have saved almost every post I can find from this site, other Rays sites, Bucs sites, Florida Minor League Baseball sites, and anywhere else that talks about the comings and goings of Florida sports fans.

Before I begin to dissect the year in attendance trends, I first want to share an interesting tidbit I recently discovered.

Did you know that in 2010 the Rays drew 95% of the combined attendance total of the Bulls, Gators, Hurricanes, and Seminoles last year?

Attendance of every 2010 home game of Florida State University, University of Florida, University of Miami, University of Central Florida, and the University of South Florida at their respective stadiums was 2,087,026. This number excludes only UF’s bowl game in Tampa and the UF vs. Georgia game in Jacksonville, as they were not true “home” games.

According to Baseball-Reference, the 2010 Rays drew 1,864,999 people to Tropicana Field in 2010. And another 112,854 during the playoffs. That’s 1,977,853 people and a 95% correlation. Which means almost the same amount of people that went to Rays games last year went to see a game at one of the five major college football programs in Florida.

There is no doubt Florida is still a college football state.

A lot of people would point to the above statistic and say it should be Exhibit A why the Rays should move from Florida – they can’t possibly compete in the Florida sports culture landscape. Baseball will regarded as a novelty especially as the University of South Florida grows in popularity and prominence and Florida State gets back on track, loses to Oklahoma withstanding.

I, of course, disagree.

Last year I argued that there was an oversaturation of Read the rest of this entry »

Sep 15

Tropicana Field Is One Of Baseball’s Oldest Ballparks

The Trop Cork Gaines 7 Comments »

Of the 30 ballparks in baseball, only seven are older than Tropicana Field. Of those, three are baseball icons (Dodger Stadium, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field), and two have gone through major renovations in last 15 years (Angel Stadium, Kaufmann Stadium). So if we are being honest, only the Oakland A’s and Toronto Blue Jays have non-iconic ballparks that are older than Tropicana Field. Here is a look at how The Trop ranks among big league ballparks. [BUSINESS INSIDER]

Aug 10

The Guilt of Not Going

11 Questions, Attendance, Cheap is as cheap does, Cutting the Fat, Exagerated headline, Fans do silly things, Jordi Scrubbings, Kool Aid, Meta-laziness, My Baseball Bias, No Excuses Tour, Options, The Trop, Things that shine a little less, Too early to open a beer?, Tweetup, We need more Cowbell, Where we're going, Your thoughts please Jordi Scrubbings 15 Comments »

Our correspondent Jordi Scrubbings is back with another take on all things Rays….

I’ll admit, when reported attendance numbers are below 15,000 at Tropicana Field, I feel kinda guilty. I feel guilty because I think I could make a difference. It’s the same guilt I feel during an election when there is a candidate I support but I don’t bother to get out and vote. And then that candidate doesn’t win. Was it because of me? Or was it because of hundreds of other people like me who figured someone else would carry the burden of voting?

Although the worst a candidate can do is raise my taxes, approve or disapprove of transportation measures, cancel programs, stifle the economy, or generally cause the social fabric of the world around me to fall apart, for some reason I am more concerned about an empty seat at Tropicana Field that my tuckus could have sat in.

I wonder if I am the only one. Am I the only person who thinks if the team moves it would be partially my fault for not supporting them to the utmost of my ability?

I am a huge baseball fan. The fact that I am writing here is evidence enough that I am a huge Rays fan. So why aren’t I at every game contributing my +1 to the attendance total?

First and foremost, I am a partial season ticket holder. I go to Read the rest of this entry »

Aug 08

VIDEO: Rays Fans Fight Over Ball In A Trash Can

Fans do silly things, The Trop Cork Gaines 2 Comments »

If you missed Saturday night’s game, you missed funny sad scene in which two grown men nearly came to blows over a foul ball in a trash can. And no, we are not using “trash can” as a metaphor for The Trop. But if that is what you take from this story, we won’t stop you…



Jul 25

Waiting for Perfect

Attendance, Fans do silly things, Jordi Scrubbings, State of the Franchise, The Trop, Things that make me want to club a stuffed baby seal, Things that shine a little less, Too early to open a beer?, Your thoughts please Jordi Scrubbings 16 Comments »

The latest from our senior afrologist Jordi Scrubbings…

They don’t play baseball on the beach. And for good reason. It is incredibly tough to run on the beach. And ground balls don’t roll very well in the sand.

But beaches in Florida are quite popular. Outside of the prolific House of the Mouse, I’d guess beaches are the number one tourist destination in Florida. People come from all over the world to the beaches of Florida, and specifically to our local beaches such as Clearwater Beach, St. Pete Beach, and Siesta Key.

Beaches are interesting places. They have to be well-kept, lest you have litter on your landscape. They predominantly have to be kid-friendly, as you don’t want creepers and hoodlums ruining the experience. And beaches need good press, as local areas want to see their beaches listed at the top of any possible category, from most beautiful to best sand to most beautiful bodies. Being a top beach brings a sense of pride, good reputation, and most importantly, it brings visitors and money.

But beaches have an Achilles heel. No matterhow well-kept, no matter how popular, and no matter how great the sunset, hardly any one goes to the beach when it rains.

Baseball in Tampa Bay and Florida in general reminds me a lot of the beach.

For whatever reason, Floridians only Read the rest of this entry »

Jul 19

Rays Can’t Score At Home? Blame The Weather

The Trop Cork Gaines 24 Comments »

The Rays offense has been anemic at home this season. Through 46 home games the Rays are hitting .228 and scoring just 3.4 runs per game. In 48 road games, things look much better scoring 5.4 runs per game with a team batting average of .258.

So what’s going? Most importantly, Tropicana Field is a pitcher’s park. In fact it is a pretty extreme pitcher’s park. According to ESPN.com, only AT&T Park in San Francisco is tougher when it comes to surrendering runs.

In a story for ESPN.com Bradley Woodrum argues that The Trop is a pitcher’s park because of the vast foul territory in the outfield. And certainly that is part of the issue. The Trop is one of the only ballparks that still has the bullpens on the field of play.

However, in the story for ESPN.com, Woodrum only looks at data since 2008. And that is only a part of the picture.

The Trop has not always been a pitcher’s park. And yet, the bullpens have always been on the field.

Here is a complete look at The Trop’s Park Factor since opening in 1998. You can read more about Park Factors here, but what is important is that 100 is average. Above 100 is a hitter’s park. Below 100 is a pitcher’s park. And 90 is an extreme pitcher’s park.

As we can see, for most of its history, The Trop was an average park, or even a hitter’s park. It was only in the last two years that it became an extreme pitcher’s park.

So what’s going on? The weather.
Read the rest of this entry »

Mar 28

Rays To host “Happy Hour” This Season At The Trop

The Trop, Things that make us giddy Cork Gaines No Comments »

Worried about the future of the Rays? Fear not, the Rays have a shiny object to distract you. And it is a good one.

The Rays announced today that they will host a “Budweiser Happy Hour” this season at the Trop, starting two hours prior to the game. And if that is not enough to get you excited, maybe $3 beers will be…

The Budweiser Happy Hour will take place two hours before the start of each Rays home game and will include entertainment, live music and $3 Budweiser and Bud Light drink specials in Center Field Street.  Fans should enter at the Gate 1 Rotunda.

The Brewhouse and new Everglades BBQ Smokehouse restaurant will be open throughout the Budweiser Happy Hour featuring daily specials.  Fans can be a part of the Rays pre- and postgame radio shows with Rich Herrera broadcasting live from the Everglades BBQ Smokehouse.  The team store will also be open during that time [Ed. note: for you uninhibited shopping pleasure].

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