Opened: 1998
Capacity: 36,973
What the authors say: ”[I]t is admirable the Rays identify their home as Tropicana Field and not Tropicana Dome, and that in some regards the facility succeeds in achieving a ballpark atmosphere, despite its artificial grass, roof, and rings of spiraling catwalks.”
Learned from the book:
• Tropicana Field used the blueprints for Brooklyn’s Ebbets field for the Trop’s rotunda entrance.
• After each Rays win, the outside of the ballpark is bathed in orange light.
• The Trop’s domed roof is tilted to cut down on the interior space, thus lessening air-conditioning costs. The design also makes for a more hurricane-resistant structure. Because of the tilt the ceiling height ranges from 225 feet to as little as 85 feet in center field.
• Two theories for why the Rays don’t draw better than they do is the existence of many Northeast transplants who are more loyal to their old teams, and the fact that Tropicana Field is in St. Petersburg rather than the more populous neighboring city of Tampa.
• Tropicana Field has ground rules governing what happens when batted balls hit catwalks and is the only ballpark with a 10,000-gallon fish petting tank stocked with cownose rays.
•The Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame, which used to be in Hernando, Fla., where Williams lived in retirement, is now part of the Trop.
