Tampa Bay Devil Rays

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. They are in the Eastern Division of the American League.

Before the Devil Rays

The Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg area made many attempts to acquire a baseball team before receiving the Devil Rays in the 1998 expansion. The main obstacles were city infighting and the lack of a stadium. That changed with the building of the state-of-the-art Suncoast Dome in 1986. The dome was built without any notification of receiving a team (Major League Baseball recommended highly against it), and was solely meant to attract an existing team. Soon, teams started to look in to moving to the area, the first being the Chicago White Sox, who but for a last minute action by the Illinois Legislature were heading to St. Petersburg. The Seattle Mariners also looked at the area.

Related Topics:
Suncoast Dome - Chicago White Sox - Seattle Mariners

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The 1993 expansion, the first in more than a decade, brought out interest from the area. Too much, it turned out. St. Petersburg fielded a group, expecting to be a lock until a competing group from Tampa also showed up. Not helping matters was a bid by Wayne Huizenga for a team in Miami. Not wanting two Florida teams, and faced with a strong bid from Denver, the league bypassed the Bay Area and took Huizenga's bid. Adding salt to the wound, Huizenga named the Miami team the Florida Marlins.

Related Topics:
Wayne Huizenga - Denver - Florida Marlins

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Another shot at baseball came when the San Francisco Giants were for sale, and a group wanted to move them to St. Petersburg. A press conference was announced, uniforms were drawn up, and tickets were about to be printed. However, at the last minute, the team was sold to a local San Francisco group. Many were bitter, especially at Huizenga, who voted against the move. A local boycott on Blockbuster Video stores lasted for years. Angry at MLB about the Giants, group leader Vince Naimoli threatened a lawsuit. In fear, baseball decided to have another expansion, this time admitting Naimoli's group and a group from Arizona.

Related Topics:
San Francisco Giants - Blockbuster Video - Vince Naimoli - Arizona

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So, the Dome was finally occupied. But, to stay current, it needed more than $70 million US from the city in renovations. The Dome that had built 3 other teams' new stadiums was now out of date. And, in a biting irony, the team that was supposed to put St. Petersburg on the map was named...Tampa Bay. Many never forgave the team.

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