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Tampa has lots of connections to this year's World Series

AP and staff file photos

Through restaurants, mansions, stars and scandals, Tampa has numerous links to this year's World Series.

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By MICHAEL SASSO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 27, 2009

TAMPA - Sure, the Tampa Bay Rays missed out on the World Series this year, but with all local connections to the Yankees and Phillies, we at least can feel like we're in on the action.

Can't we?

With the series launching tonight , consider the ties that bind the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies to the Bay area. The biggest connections, of course, are in spring training: the Yankees train at Legends Field in Tampa, while the Phillies crack bats at Bright House Field in Clearwater. Both teams also operate minor league clubs in each city.

Less obvious, though, are the significant number of ballplayers who make their homes in the Bay area, Alex Rodriguez's local business interests and – according to one local restaurateur – how Phillies slugger Ryan Howard likes his omelets.

Seizing on the local connections, Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard and Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio are preparing for a local throw-down. If the Phillies win the series, Iorio and her staff will attend a Phillies spring training game in Clearwater and feed Hibbard's staff Cuban sandwiches and deviled crabs.

If the Yankees win, Hibbard and his staff will visit Legends Field bearing grouper sandwiches and conch fritters.

Here are just a few factoids about Bay area connections that might help you feel a little closer to tonight's action at Yankee Stadium:

Local residents. Tampa's most prominent Yankee no doubt is team owner George Steinbrenner, who also is known as one of its biggest philanthropists. Steinbrenner and his wife, Joan, own a home near Palma Ceia Golf and Country Club, according to county land records.

Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter has gotten some unwanted attention lately for building a mega-mansion on Davis Islands measuring more than 30,000 square feet. Jeter irked some neighbors by planning a 6-foot privacy fence around it, but he eventually got the OK to build it.

Other Yankees who live in the area are reliever ace Mariano Rivera and catcher Jorge Posada, each of who live in Lutz's tony Avila subdivision. Local Phillies who live in the area include pitchers Ryan Madson and Brett Myers, who have homes near each other in the Grand Cypress on Lake Tarpon subdivision near Palm Harbor, land records show.

Alex Rodriguez's real estate. In 2005, the Yankees superstar slugger and some investment partners bought two apartment complexes in Tampa, Lakeside Villas, at 4920 N. MacDill Ave., and Pinetree Apartments, at 7706 W. Idlewild Ave., according to Tribune archives. Their company was called Newport Property Ventures.

By December 2007, Rodriguez's company had grown to include at least six apartment complexes in the Bay area, several of which shared the Newport name, according to an article from the New York Times. The Times article was less than glowing, quoting several residents complaining that Rodriguez's company was quick to evict delinquent tenants and slow to clean stained carpets or fix broken windows.

Favored restaurants. Lenny's Restaurant, an independent restaurant near the Phillies' spring training field, has cultivated a fan base among Philadelphians and Phillies fanatics. Kevin Schauer, the restaurant's general manager, boasts that Phillies players are regulars.

"I know what Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley eat," Schauer said of the Phillies stars.

Howard's favorite: an egg white BLT omelet, made with egg whites, bacon, spinach and tomato, he said.

Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at (813) 259-7865.

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