Another morning game, another Education Day in the Minor Leagues. Kids from local elementary schools piled into Legends Field, a 10,000 seat stadium that hosted its first game a little over ten years ago. The stadium is also the home of the New York Yankees during Spring Training, and to no surprise they sell out every spring training game. Thanks to Julie for giving us a prime spot for our table and giving us a Yankees autograph of Lou Pinella to raffle off. I think if it weren’t for all the kids and the team scouts with their radar guns and notepads attending, there would have been about 100 or so people watching the game. We have been in Florida for so long (over a week), that all of the team scouts have become used to seeing our faces at the different parks. A couple of them noted that we were the hardest working duo in baseball, and then gave us a few small donations in hopes that they wouldn’t have to see us selling raffle tickets again for quite some time.

After the Tampa Yankees game, we headed down the road to St. Petersburg to see the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Tropicana Field. Thanks to Cheri for giving us great seats to the game! Tropicana Field consistently ranks at the bottom of lists rating the various MLB ballparks. BaseballParks.com ranks it as the worst ballpark opened since 1990. However, if you can get past the fact that it’s a dome building in a subtropical climate and FieldTurf is used on the playing surface, Tropicana Park is a great place to see a game.

Chris and I took a little break from the on-field action to check out all of the stuff throughout the stadium. We first hit up “Call of the Game”, where you can act as a broadcaster as you watch one of the many pre-recorded plays from past Devil Ray games. We did manage to get a DVD of our performance, but we have to figure out how to rip the dvd and post it up here. Next we stopped by the Topps make your own baseball card—for $3 you can get your picture on a Topps card and take it home with you. Further along down the concourse they have a Baseball Quiz Show, in which contestants answer baseball trivia questions in hopes of winning Devil Rays giveaways. I’m sad to report Chris and I were smoked by a eight-year old named Max, who seemed to know every piece of random baseball trivia. He had a very quick buzzer hand as well. Afterwards, Chris and I found a small open room that was filled with video games and TVs—and spotted the greatest baseball game ever, RBI Baseball for Nintendo. I won two quick games as the New York Mets, who had a killer 1986 lineup of Lenny Dykstra, Mookie Wilson, Gary Carter, Daryl Strawberry, and Keith Hernandez! Chris and his Boston Red Sox never stood a chance, even with Roger Clemens. Check out http://www.rbibaseball.com for a trip down memory lane.

The stadium also has a newly opened Ted Williams museum, full of great pictures and baseball memorabilia—highly recommended. And of course, what would a Devil Rays game be if you couldn’t pet actual rays in a tank? Behind the left field wall sits a large tank where fans can stop by and see rays swimming around. There is a actually a LOT of things to do at Tropicana Field, even if most of them don’t involve you actually watching the game.