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Finally, Tropicana Field Can Be Known For Baseball

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Published: October 22, 2008

Updated: 10/22/2008 12:33 am

The late, great Yankee Stadium saw 26 World Series victories. Boston's Fenway Park saw its Red Sox win championships twice this decade after nearly 90 years of drought.

Fans swarming to Tropicana Field tonight for the World Series may recall their own stadium's high points. Let's see, there was the Greater Suncoast Garage Sale and Flea Market in 1991. And don't forget the New Kids on the Block concert the year before.

The lopsided circus tent sorely lacks the grand tradition of a Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park. In the first few years of its existence, the biggest draw of all was a rally of the reverent - 48,568 Promise Keepers vowed to stay faithful to their wives and the Bible.

St. Petersburg built the ballpark, at first named the Florida Suncoast Dome, to woo the Chicago White Sox. Tampa had the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and St. Pete wanted its own big leaguer. But the Sox ended the courtship before the stadium was even finished, and it opened teamless on March 3, 1990.

In 1992, it was the San Francisco Giants' turn to flirt and flee. The next year, St. Pete became a finalist for an expansion. But lost again.

The city scrambled for bookings in what threatened to become a white elephant.

"We did just about everything except for baseball in those early years," said Robert Rose, the former assistant general manager who is now director of the Tampa Convention Center.

There were sprint car, motorcycle, monster truck and mud-bog racing. There were karate, weightlifting and ping-pong matches. And lots of concerts: Billy Joel, Jimmy Buffett, Guns 'N Roses and, a big hit, New Kids on the Block.

The Suncoast Garage Sale and Flea Market, an annual event, drew about 30,000 bargain hunters.

But it was the Davis Cup Tennis Finals in 1990, the NCAA men's basketball tournament in 1994, and the National Hockey League playoffs in 1996, that finally began earning the stadium some respect.

The Tampa Bay Storm signed on in 1991 and won three of its five Arena Football League Championships while housed there.

In 1993, the Tampa Bay Lightning arrived and brought with it a mighty new name, the ThunderDome. But alas, the Lightning would bolt back to Tampa after just three years.

Finally, on March 31, 1998, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays began life, or a semblance of it. They lost their first game, against the Detroit Tigers, at home (newly renamed for that giant among juices, Tropicana). And they continued the tradition for the next 10 long years, making fans long for an inspiring garage sale.

Garden shows, boat shows and RV shows still crowd the place in the off-season. But the Trop is - suddenly - known for exciting baseball.

Reporter Philip Morgan can be reached at (813) 259-7609.

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