November 18, 2008 [LINK / comment]
Tropicana Field update
Since the Tampa Bay Rays won the American League pennant for the first time, it is fitting that their stadium should get more recognition, humble though it may be. Accordingly, I've revised -- yet again -- the Tropicana Field diagram, including a version that shows the roof and catwalks. The seating areas around the right and left field corners are much improved, showing the tight curvature, and a few other details are refined. Just in time for basketball season (!), I also made a new basketball version in the configuration used at the 1999 NCAA Final Four Championship; it's presumably similar to the arrangement for Tampa Bay Lightning hockey games from 1992 to 1996. What's more, there is now a football version in anticipation of the first-ever "St. Petersburg Bowl" to be played there next month.
But wait, there's more! I also added to that page four very good photos of Tropicana Field -- three interior and one exterior -- that were sent in to me by John Minor. I'm much obliged.
And on the subject of a possible new home for the Rays, team owner Stuart Sternberg has suggested that the Rays might not stay in St. Petersburg if the state and local governments don't cough up enough money to build a new stadium. See tampabay.com; hat tip to Mike Zurawski, who doubts that any other city is going to pay for a new major league baseball stadium for years to come. I agree: under the current harsh economic climate, the Rays are going to have to make do or close up shop. Hard times! I am still working on a suggested "roof-less" alternative design, in case the Rays can't get public funding for a brand-new stadium and resort to refurbishing what they've already got.
While searching for images of the outfield area, I came across a interesting batch of photos of the aquarium / water tank where the Cow-Nosed Rays frolic just to the right of center field. See Tampa Bay Aquarium.
Odds 'n ends
Thanks to John Crozier for pointing out (via a blog comment) an error on my Citi Field diagram. Stay tuned...
I am posting this item under the Latin America blog category, but it will be of interest to Orioles fans and others: Baseball Diplomacy in Nicaragua.