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'Watching' The Rays Was A Breeze

Photo Illustration by JULIE BUSCH

Tampa Tribune reporter Joe Henderson and his son Patrick, 17, sit on what could be home plate at the proposed Rays waterfront stadium on a late spring evening to see what the conditions would be like.

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 10, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - Tropicana Field is a goofy place in so many ways to watch a baseball game, but it has something Fenway Park will never have.

Air conditioning.

Forget the Sam's Club ambiance. Forget the catwalks. Surround yourself with enough cool air and any ball joint can seem like Wrigley Field.

But then, Rays owner Stu Sternberg hatched his idea to build an open-air stadium in downtown St. Pete.

Open air?

No air conditioning - just air?

Hot, hot air?

No roof? Just a retractable fabric covering that looks like a sail and functions as an umbrella, designed to be rolled up and stowed while games are played under the cover of stars and a blanket of humidity.

Apparently Sternberg really means to do this.

So last week while the Rays were 1,200 miles away in Boston, your intrepid columnist executed an utterly brilliant plot to "watch" that game at Al Lang Field, the place where they want to put that new yard. The idea was to experience the bugs, sweat and sunstroke that I was sure would be part of the ballpark experience. Besides, with the park basically deserted, it would seem like a normal night at the Rays.

I coerced my Rays-loving 17-year-old son, Patrick, to join me for a warm parental bonding moment, and off we went.

We had the makings of a typical night along the waterfront. The temperature at game time was 87 degrees, with rumblings from the late-afternoon thunder-boppers that fire up around here. I was prepared to feel like a lobster basted in butter. I was prepared to sweat through two shirts. I was prepared for stormy weather.

I was prepared for just about anything except, well ... the gentle, cooling breeze that drifted across Al Lang. About half the field was covered in shade, but the half exposed to the sun really wasn't that bad.

I looked at Patrick after the Rays took a 1-0 lead up at Boston.

"How you doing?"

"OK," he shrugged, which for him is the oratorical equivalent of the Gettysburg Address.

I was too. Could this actually be happening?

It Might Work

We locked on this date about a month ago, determined to go and let the hail stones fall where they would. I've lived here long enough to know how it is this time of year, but if the weather was lousy I could still make fun of St. Pete.

We all need a hobby.

"Did you check the parking garages?"

Michael Kalt was speaking. For lack of a loftier sounding title, we'll call him the Rays' point man for the new stadium. He was there to make sure he had an explanation in case beads of sweat started dripping down my nose.

I had checked the parking garages. They were empty, as were the streets of downtown when Patrick and I arrived around 6:45 p.m.

"Those garages are empty every night."

Parking has been a hot button since the Rays first announced this plan in November. There is no room downtown for a lot large enough to handle the expected 11,000 cars for a crowd of 30,000 people.

Never fear, the Rays say.

"There are enough existing spaces," Kalt said.

There are enough spaces on a night when the crowd consists of a columnist hack and his willing child-of-few-words. After we figure out a way to simulate 30,000 people there on a game night, we can say for sure there are enough parking spaces.

I haven't figured out a way to simulate a thunderstorm, either. Obviously we left a few questions unanswered.

Meanwhile back at the game ...

See You In July

The Rays trailed 2-1 as Patrick and I wandered from spot to spot around the park. The sun was beginning to dip toward the horizon and more shadows covered the field. The breeze held up and it wasn't humid.

You comfortable, Patrick?

"Sure."

About the time I filed this column Monday, though, it was raining sideways outside our climate-controlled environment here at the newsgathering Mother Ship. Lightning was flashing, thunder was thundering. Not sure how much protection a canvas sail would be in something like that.

We may never have to find out, though. The ballpark has to pass a referendum in November and polls show the proposal is trailing badly. Even if it passes, people from Hillsborough County have to decide on the whole thing of driving to downtown St. Pete. That's a debate for another column.

On this one night, though, when the weather was fairly typical of summer evening, I came expecting to be charbroiled only to find it wasn't like that at all. The sun was dropping below the horizon when we decided to, cough, beat the traffic.

"Check the garages on your way out, will you?" Kalt said.

They were still empty. And the breeze was still blowing.

A beautiful night for baseball. Who knew?

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