TAMPA – Fielding isn’t any simple activity at Tropicana Field. Just ask Harrison Bader.
The Yankees centerfielder had an issue with the domed stadium’s off-white ceiling, which has 4 catwalks, on Saturday when the Rays’ Josh Lowe lofted a pitch within the third inning. The contact resulted in an RBI double after Bader misplaced monitor of the ball and overran its touchdown spot.
“It would have been a really, really good catch,” Bader, considered one of baseball’s greatest defenders, mentioned after the Yankees’ 3-0 loss. “On the way down, I just lost it.”
Bader went on to say that The Trop is, “Not my favorite. You know, turf is a little sticky. Roof is a little tough.”
Jake Bauers, who started his profession in Tampa Bay, added, “It’s way harder to see the ball in the outfield,” in addition to on the plate.
“Keep your eye on the ball at all times,” he warned the Daily News. “As soon as the ball goes up in the air, if you take your eye off it, you’re not gonna find it again. It’s gone.”
It’s issues like that and distinctive floor guidelines that make The Trop, which opened to the general public in 1990, considered one of baseball’s least interesting stadium’s for visiting gamers. And with a largely grey inside that resembles a conference middle, it doesn’t have the very best repute amongst baseball followers.
But I’m right here to let you know that The Trop guidelines – for those who don’t must play there. I perceive that it is a controversial opinion.
I went into my first-ever journey to the ballpark with an open thoughts when the Yankees performed there in May. Much to my shock, The Trop made an enthralling first impression, one which held up after a second go to this previous weekend.
Some baseball followers might have heard that Tropicana is a superb place for reporters to work, and that’s true. The view from the press field is likely one of the greatest within the majors, attending to the clubhouse and area is extraordinarily simple, and the media eating is among the many higher that I’ve tried.
Granted, nobody studying this cares about any of that. But these should not the one causes I’m a proponent of the venue.
As a first-year beat author, I’ve been making it some extent to provide myself excursions of all the brand new stadiums I go to. And let me let you know, The Trop has loads to supply followers of all ages.
In addition to low cost ticket costs – the Rays don’t draw many spectators – there are tons of attention-grabbing concession and beer selections, a celebration deck, an arcade, a pitching and hitting simulator, and a youngsters exercise part. And for those who’re an animal nerd like me, the ten,000-gallon stingray contact tank in right-centerfield has little competitors in relation to the very best one-of-a-kind stadium facilities (I received’t have an opportunity to take a look at the pool at Arizona’s Chase Field till subsequent season).
The Trop additionally, for essentially the most half, has sturdy in-game leisure, together with rock-heavy playlists, interactive jumbotron segments and an on-field safety guard whose dancing places Yankee Stadium’s Y.M.C.A. performances to disgrace.
And on the uncommon event that it’s really packed, the place does get loud.
While not a function of the stadium itself, Tropicana Field repeatedly affords cool experiences for youthful followers, comparable to probabilities to run the bases and arranged, pre-game autograph signings. It’s genuinely one of many family-friendliest ballparks I’ve been to to this point.
And certain, The Trop is a dump – nobody is denying that – but it surely’s a dump with extra persona than many more moderen, company constructions.
The stadium is aware of what it’s, leaning into its repute by maximizing its quirkiness. For instance, there’s a three-person Hall of Fame that’s primarily behind a storage door, an ideal design for a ballpark with the aesthetic of a warehouse. There’s additionally a big statue of a generic, legless baseball participant popping out of a concourse wall. It’s completely random, and it’s superior.
And I haven’t even gotten to the very best half, one thing even gamers recognize: Tropicana is local weather managed.
“You come in and you know it’s gonna be the same every day,” Bauers mentioned. “It’s never 90 degrees. It’s never 60 degrees. It’s 73 with a white roof every day.”
Now, there are days when some would recognize somewhat sunshine within the Sunshine State, and that’s not an choice at The Trop. But in August, gamers are completely satisfied to be indoors.
“Florida is definitely a tough environment,” Kyle Higashioka, who has to put on catcher’s gear, instructed the News. “I played a few years in the Florida State League. It’s a tough environment to play outdoors and even at night. So it is nice to have climate control.”
Higashioka additionally enjoys The Trop’s visiting clubhouse and help employees. Alas, he mentioned that the park is his least favourite place to play.
“But I don’t really hate playing here,” he added.
In addition to catching pop-ups beneath the catwalks, Higashioka shared a standard grievance about The Trop.
“It feels like a casino,” he mentioned. “You simply by no means know what time it’s outdoors and there’s no home windows. You don’t have any sense of what’s occurring outdoors and it’s sort of simply bizarre.
Higashioka is correct about that. The Trop’s lack of a view to the skin world is by far its worst high quality. Whether you’re enjoying, rooting or reporting, it’s simple to lose monitor of time and the climate one might run into upon leaving.
If the Rays ever get a do-over – their pursuit of a brand new stadium has been a years-long debacle – they’ll need to embrace extra home windows and fewer catwalks. A little bit colour wouldn’t kill them, both.
But, in a single author’s humble opinion, they’ll additionally need to incorporate a bunch of the options and experiences that make Tropicana Field the sort of dump to which extra of MLB ought to aspire.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com