Tropicana Field, or "The Trop" is a domed stadium with an astroturf playing surface. The infield is better than most domed stadiums, such as Rogers Center and the old Metrodome, in that dirt makes up the entire skin of the infield, not just small patches around the bases, mount, and plate. The bullpens are in foul territory down the foul lines and the outfield dimensions are pretty non-descript. The only item of note is that there are four catwalks around the circumference of the dome. Occasionally a ball hits off one of there catwalks.
The atmosphere at Tropicana Field is different than pretty much every other ballpark I have visited. The following items are things "The Trop" has in common with a carnival:
- vibrant colors; the concourse of "The Trop" was bright blue, yellow, and lime green.
- marque lights; flashing marque lights showcased a few restaurants, some merchandise stands, and ...
- arcade games; there is an arcade in Tropicana Field and I saw a kid holding a large stuffed Mickey Mouse that looked like something you could win at a carnival.
- a wide variety of food; this was a good asset of the ballpark. I had a cuban sandwich but I saw people with hotdogs, popcorn, ice cream, beer, wine, Papa John's Pizza, barbeque, and a bloomin' onion.
- a petting zoo; this is actually pretty cool: here is a sting ray touch tank just beyond the centerfield wall. Using two fingers, you were allowed to stroke the rays along there wings.
- ringing noises; the rays fans would shake their cowbells for key pitches in the game such as 3-2 pitches with two outs and runners on base.
- big furry mascots; the rays have two mascots that a big, furry, and don't really resemble anything other than Mr. McGibblets from the sitcom, The League.
- a DJ; Friday night is the Centerfield Shuffle with DJ Fresh Night. Throughout the game they would show DJ Fresh on the (typical MLB) scoreboard surrounded by the Rays dance team. Sometimes they would show a cat dressed up in a Rays jersey and backward hat playing on a toy spin table. After the game, fans were invited to enter the field and exit through the centerfield gate. It was neat to be on an MLB field.
- people stuck in the 90s; in addition to several people with lots of tattoos and piercings and guys who had inflated biceps, there were two 90s-style music video type clips on the big screen. Most of the music videos at some point either featured DJ Fresh's cat or Dick Vitale's voice. This best comparison to the music videos I can think of are the spoof science videos from the end of Bill Nye The Science Guy.
The one historic baseball feature of Tropicana Field was the Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame. Even though the Rays are a newer team, their AL championship team and David Price's Cy Young Award highlighted the Rays specific exhibits. There were additional exhibits for game's best pitchers, best hitters, best Jewish players, and a whole room of memorabilia from Ted Williams. This was like a mini-Cooperstown.
Rays starter Chris Archer was in complete control through 6.2 innings surrendering only two hits to Brandon Belt (one a solo homer). This game had the makings of a pitchers duel as the score was 1-1 with Archer and Giants starter Madison Baumgarner routinely making hitters look foolish. Then the Giants strung together 5 straight hits including a triple by Belt and a homer run by Brandon Crawford to give the Giants a 4-1 lead. The Rays made a little noise in the bottom of the ninth with a Jose Lobaton triple but ultimately fell 4-1.
My take-away from Tropicana Field was that it is a baseball themed carnival with an MLB game in the middle. Some of the aspects of "The Trop" such as the sting ray touch tank and the cowbells are cool ideas and alone would make the ballpark stand out among others in baseball. However there are so many different gimmicks, it is a little overbearing and distracts from the play on the field.
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