BobK

Back when I was living in south Florida, the Marlins were struggling to build a new ballpark, or talk somebody into building one for them. They eventually ended up striking a deal to build a typical modern stadium with an ugly retractable roof on the unspectacular site of the Orange Bowl. But one of the earlier proposals involved building at the little-used Bicentennial Park. The waterfront location would have been the perfect way to showcase Miami… when you saw a game on TV, you’d know where it was being played.

Florida teams suffer attendance problems because of the frequent evening thunderstorms throughout the summer, and a covered stadium is pretty much a necessity. But it’s warm enough that there’s no real need to be “indoors” as such…. just some rain (or sun) protection. My idea was to fashion some sort of giant beach umbrella that could be opened to provide cover when needed, although I could never quite imagine how it might be engineered to work without, y’know, a big pole planted behind second base. The ground rules would have been a nightmare. But I figured that if some sort of eye-catching “soft” cover could be devised, and were combined with an urban waterfront location, it would make for a very telegenic and exciting ballpark. Palm trees beyond the outfield, and maybe a moat full of ‘gators instead of a warning track. Of course, it was just a fanciful vision of mine, one not likely to ever be implemented.

Turns out my vision will come to pass, but in St Petersburg instead of Miami. I missed the original announcement, but the Tampa Bay Rays’ new ballpark is a near-perfect realization of my concept, minus the ‘gators. Instead of the beach umbrella, they’re going to have a clever retractable roof that resembles a sail. Brilliant. It’s open at the sides, has a waterfront location, and should be a fantastic setting in which to watch baseball.

I suppose I should have blogged about my idea several years ago, so I could file a frivolous suit against the Rays and maybe settle for some free tickets. But it’s just not practical to write up every wacky idea that emanates from my brain. In any case, the Rays’ new ballpark is a great design, and provides some much-needed assurance that I’m not entirely crazy.