Joe Henderson
A few days ago, I joined my family in the party deck at Tropicana Field for a game against the Cincinnati Reds. My eldest son gave me a Reds jersey, so I wore it to pay homage to the team I grew up with.
That day, my younger son, son, daughter-in-law and grandson outdid me as they wore Tampa Bay Rays jerseys. And yeah, that’s when I understood what Tuesday’s vote by the Pinellas County Commission was all about.
Commissioners gave the final approval to the plan to build the Rays a new stadium. Well, there’s one more step, but that seems to be a formality. It’s good for them. And despite the cost — can you say bbbbilllion — there is the larger question of what kind of community we want to be.
It’s about the future.
Yes, it costs a lot of money that could be better spent on other needs. I understand. Baseball is a multibillion-dollar enterprise, and the Rays aren’t hurting for money.
But I’ve always felt these things were up to the community, and I’ll always believe most voters in Pinellas County believed it was worth it to keep the Rays.
I believe the elected officials knew that and decided accordingly.
Yes, a Major League Baseball franchise shouldn’t be holding out a tin cup asking for taxpayers to drop dollars in the can, but they get away with that and other communities don’t seem to mind.
Having the Rays gave St. Pete something that wouldn’t have seemed possible before the much-mocked decision to build Tropicana Field without a tenant. I was among the mockers, based on the premise that a stadium was better located in the center of the market, namely Tampa.
But St. Pete today is not the same city that in 1986 voted to build the Trop without a team. The Trop has taken its chair of jokes (many delivered by me), but it proved that Tampa Bay — and St. Petersburg — is a proper for a Major League Baseball franchise.
So, yes, I wore a Reds jersey Sunday because that was the team of my youth, and memories never die.
We lost.
My two sons, grandson and granddaughter wore Rays jerseys, and appropriately so. The Rays are their team, and this is the team they grew up with. It’s their future.
The Rays have already made their memories and will make more.
They won. We all did.
Good deal.
