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ARCHIVE: AL Lang Remains The Same
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Published: July 29, 1988
Updated: 02/10/2008 03:08 pm
St. Petersburg - Perhaps now with the latest edition of Franchise 1988, St. Petersburg will wind up with a major league team for its major league dome and the Texas Rangers will come to town.
The effort by a group of Tampa businessmen, according to the popular press, is not designed to bring a team to this side of the bridge. It is far too early for that, because the Tampa task force, headed by Frank Morsani, has several options and Tampa ownership of a St. Petersburg based franchise is just one of them.
This time, though, no one is talking about remodeling Al Lang stadium to house the team on a temporary basis until the Florida SUncoast Dome is completed. Apparently that isn't an immediate option because St. Petersburg won't make any commitments for the use of the dome until after October 15th, the date the Illinios Sports Facilities Authority must acquire the title to 80% of the homes and businesses on what would become a new home for the CHicago White Sox. If that deadline isn't met, the White Sox could still pack the moving vans for St. Petersburg.
Either way, Al Lang Stadium probably won't be hauled in for another facelift, which is fine, because it has had all the contractors, planners, engineers, construction workers and politicians it can handle.
Music Remains The Same
The stadium doesn't need anyone tinkering with the concession stands, rest rooms, scoreboard, centerfield wall or any of those major changes designed to increase the seating capacity to 20,000. It went through that a month ago. Now the music sounds the same.
Least of all it doesn't need any more controversy.
Even in the boom days of the city, the ballpark on the waterfront was the frequent scene of a political circus.
As early as the mid-1930's, studies indicated what was then Waterfront Park, the spring stomping ground for Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, needed to be modernized. The grandstand had to be enlarged and the facility updated to meet the demands of the day.
The threat of a move - not unlike that of the White Sox - spurred politicians into action.
Yet this was mere talk about moving the ballpark from one area of town to another fast growing Woodlawn area some three miles away, which in the 1930's and early 40's was a good distance away.
Someone figured a new grandstand could be built on the existing park for around $35,000. If a move to Woodlawn was deemed the answer, it would take $55,725.
One city councilman weighed both figures and concluded the $55,725 was "out of reason."
Not everyone was happy. An editorial of that era in St. Petersburg's morning paper questioned, "Ballpark an asset or a nuisance?"
Still, no one was in a hurry to get anything done and nothing was accomplished until 1945 when the city council agreed to spend $139,000 to build a grandstand - almost three times what it would have cost to build a facility at Woodlawn not that many years before.
A Fitting Name
And when the ballpark was dedicated in 1947 it came with a new name, Al Lang Field. In one of its wisest moves, city fathers decided to name the park after the man responsible for spring training baseball in St. Petersburg and perhaps the state. Al Lang convinced major league brass, Florida was the place to prepare a team for a summer of ball, and he was so convincing, he was credited with bringing 13 of the first 16 teams to the state.
He led the Philadelphia Phillies to St. Petersburg in 1914 and after that the St. Louis Browns, Boston Braves, New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals.
Lang was celebrating his 75th birthday when he was told the new field would carry his name.
The days of controversy weren' over, though, and 25 years later, when both the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals played their spring games here, it was determined the park wasn't suitable any more. Many of the grandstand seats had obstructed views.
The debates of the 1930's and early 1940's were rehashed and it all sounded the same. Even the position of the dominant newspaper in town didn't change. One morning columnist was told not to push for a new stadium because land on the waterfront was too valuable for a frill such as a ballpark.
While the merits of the stadium were weighed, the price climbed. In 1974 it was estimated a new park could be built for $1.7 million. A year later, the figure jumped to $2.7 million, and by the time it was approved in 1976, the cost had been driven up to $3.5 million.
Al Lang Stadium was dedicated was dedicated in 1977, 30 years to the day after the dedication game that opened Al Lang Field.
When major league baseball finally checks in for good, Al Lang Stadium will remain the spring home for a team other than the St. Peterburg-based franchise.
This article was originally published in the Tampa Tribune-Times, July 29th 1988
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