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Things are happening in Downtown Clearwater

The Rays' Hummer

There’s a lot more to major league baseball than what goes on on the field.

Take the Tampa Bay Rays, for example.  The Rays are a young team, having been formed just 11 years ago. They made it to the World Series last year, but not before nine seasons of last-place baseball. The product on the field simple wasn’t enough to draw fans to the park, so the Rays spent lots of time and money developing community-based efforts that would, hopefully, spark interest in the team.

I saw an example of that effort not long ago in downtown Clearwater.

There is a regular monthly event in downtown Clearwater called Fourth Friday. On the fourth Friday of every month, late in the day, vendors start setting up on Cleveland Street, which has been roped off for just that purpose. People turn out to walk along Cleveland street, buy food and other items from vendors, and just generally enjoy Clearwater’s much-improved downtown.

On the day I was there, the Tampa Bay Rays had their special Hummer there, along with a stage set up to host the Ray’s pre-game and post-game radio shows on WDAE, the Sports Animal. The Rays were actually playing the Florida Marlins in Miami that night, but the live radio programs that opened and closed the game would be coming live from downtown Clearwater.

As workers set up the stage, young Rays employees were busy handing out white Rays t-shirts and other team goodies.

The Rays are always looking for more fans. And Clearwater is always looking for more people to come downtown and enjoy what is offered there.

Tags: baseball, Clearwater, downtown

Like sports? Pinellas County has plenty

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Chicago White Sox

Last evening we journeyed down to St. Petersburg (that’s south Pinellas County as opposed to my home turf in North Pinellas County) to take in a Tampa Bay Rays game at Tropicana Field. The trip included a flat tire and an hour-and-a-half at a St. Pete Tire Kingdowm store, but that’s another story.

A lot of people don’t like Tropicana Field because it’s a domed stadium with astroturf and it’s, well, ugly. But I like it just fine. The access off I-275 is easy and there’s plenty of parking (believe it or not, we found an on-street spot right on Central Avenue, a stone’s throw from the ballpark). There’s plenty of lot parking around the field that costs around $10.

The access into and out of the Trop is easy. Once inside, ushers and other workers are always nodding and smiling at you. Best of all, it is always 72 degrees inside, and it never rains. In west-central Florida it’s usually in the mid-90s at game time during the summer, and rain is pretty common in the late afternoon and early evening, so that dome over the stadium comes in handy, even if true baseball fans long for green grass and blue skies.

The Rays management floated an idea for a new outdoor stadium on the water on downtown St. Pete last year. But with no parking (fans would have had to use existing downtown parking garages and then walk several blocks to the stadium) and not very good access for traffic, the reaction was lukewarm at best.

Anyway… this part of Florida is a great place for sports fans. We have the Rays in St. Pete (remember, they went to the World Series last year) and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who play in Raymond James Stadium across the bay in Tampa and who always put a good team on the field. One doesn’t think immediately about hockey and Tampa Bay at the same time, but we have an NHL team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, who play in a beautiful facility over in Tampa. We don’t have NBA basketball,  but you can still satisfy that urge if you don’t mind driving an hour and a half over to Orlando.

If you are a college football fan, Florida is heaven. The University of South Florida (in Tampa) has a great team, and you already know about the University of Florida and Florida State.

Want more? Spring training and Grapefruit League baseball, right here in North Pinellas County; great college baseball, too.

I took the picture at the top of this post from a box behind home plate. We had a great time, even though the Rays lost to the White Sox, and even in spite of the flat tire.

Tags: baseball, pinellas county, real estate, sports

Get ready for baseball!

If you go back just a half-dozen or so blog entries, you’ll see a picture of me at a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. If you live in Tampa Bay, you’ve got to love football and the Bucs — there’s just no getting around it. This is definitely a football town, and Florida is a football state, for that matter.

But the truth is, I’m more of a baseball person. If you grow up in New England as I did, the Red Sox are almost a religion. If it’s summer, you’re following the Red Sox; if it’s winter, you’re talking about them.

But since we’ve been in Florida, we’ve done something of a baseball about-face, and now we follow the Devil Rays. And in just a couple of days (Friday to be exact), the season kicks off with picthers and catchers reporting for the beginning of Spring Training.

We’re excited. Not because the Devil Rays are likely to turn into winners (they have finished last in their division in every one of their nine years of existence), but because they are an exciting young team that is fun to watch.

The Rays are really just a bunch of kids — very few veterans and a whole bunch of young rookies. But they are loads of fun to watch and root for, and Tropicana Field is a comfortable and easy-to-get-to place to watch a baseball game. No, it isn’t Fenway Park — it’s sort of an ugly domed stadium with artificial grass. But the parking is pretty easy and the park is always 70 degrees, no matter what the weather is outside. And it never, ever rains.

(A few years ago I sold a condo to one of the young Rays minor leaguers. That was a real thrill!)

The Rays’ first workout is this Saturday at the Raymond A. Namoli Baseball Complex in St. Pete, starting at 9:30 a.m. The entire team is supposed to be on hand by Feb. 21.

This workout period is a good deal if you love baseball. Admission and parking are both free, and refreshments and souvenirs are available. The actual exhibition season starts March 2 with a game against the Yankees in Tampa, but you have to pay to attend those games.

Amyway, maybe we’ll see you at Tropicana Field this summer. It’s another great benefit to living here in Tampa Bay.

Tags: baseball, pinellas county, rays