Dan Hajducky
Anthony Olivieri
Anthony Olivieri
ESPN Workers Author
Anthony Olivieri is a workers author for ESPN. He has a level in communications with a focus in journalism from Marist School. He is been with ESPN since 2012.
Because the Tampa Bay Rays await a choice by county officers on proposed financing for a brand new ballpark, items of Tropicana Subject’s roof, which was shredded by Hurricane Milton, have ended up in an unlikely place: eBay.
The morning after the lethal Oct. 9 storm, three kin of a longtime Rays fan and season-ticket holder canoed round their block, roughly a mile from Tropicana Subject, trying to assist folks or pets escape the water that was too excessive for emergency automobiles.
Whereas paddling underneath an I-275 overpass, they observed a big piece of what seemed to be white material, about 6 toes by 3 toes. The world was affected by the particles, so that they loaded one piece into their canoe and delivered it to Rays fan Neil MacDonald, a New Yorker who for years has visited household in Florida and now lives 20 minutes north of Tampa.
“I was in auto components, so I do know what fiberglass is,” mentioned MacDonald. “It is a fiberglass membrane, it is waterproof. When you look actual shut, you’ll be able to see the black spots, mould that grows on the north facet.”
For MacDonald, it might be just one factor: a chunk of the Tropicana Subject roof, the stadium the place he had attended 25 to 30 video games a 12 months because the franchise’s inception in 1998.
By November, MacDonald had put a chunk on eBay. It offered for $45 on Nov. 10. He put extra up. He offered at the least seven items of the roof for about $367. He was one of some sellers on eBay to listing items of the roof after the storm.
The hyperlink between followers and items of their favourite groups’ houses is longstanding. Whether or not it is a pocket stuffed with grime or weather-worn seats, supporters really feel a connection between innocuous bodily gadgets and the experiences they conjure. However on this case, the broken roof represented the fallout from a storm that induced an estimated $85 billion in injury and killed at the least 24 folks.
It seems that eBay has a coverage prohibiting the sale of things that try and revenue from or are insensitive towards victims of pure disasters or different human tragedies. “Items of the Tropicana Subject roof, or different components of the stadium that had been scavenged within the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, are prohibited on eBay and shall be blocked or eliminated,” an eBay spokesperson advised ESPN.
MLB had no touch upon something associated to the sale of items of the roof.
As of Wednesday, a evaluation of things confirmed that greater than three dozen swatches, together with MacDonald’s, have offered since Oct. 10 for as little as $15 and as excessive as $150. Not less than two items offered as just lately as Tuesday — the gadgets described as “2×2 Tropicana Subject Tarp” for $30 apiece. As a result of the successful bids had been cheap, not one of the heaps boasted eBay’s authenticity assure, which suggests they’d be despatched to a third-party authenticator for verification earlier than reaching consumers. The assure threshold for buying and selling playing cards, for instance, begins at $250 for playing cards offered on the platform.
MacDonald mentioned nobody ever questioned whether or not the items of the roof had been genuine. Requested by ESPN in regards to the listings, MacDonald mentioned he would not plan to promote any extra.
“I’ve determined to pay it ahead,” he mentioned. As a substitute, he’ll give small slices to relations, packaged along with buying and selling playing cards that includes Tropicana Subject. He mentioned proceeds already pocketed from the gross sales will go to charity, together with the Florida Catastrophe Fund and Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches.
Rachel Hettman, 25, of New Jersey, mentioned she purchased certainly one of MacDonald’s items for her boyfriend’s brother, Kyle Dowbnia, 29. All of them trip collectively in Florida typically, noting that it would not really feel like they’ve arrived till they see The Trop roof.
“I really like having area of interest issues from across the league,” Dowbnia mentioned. “I went to one of many final video games on the [previous] Yankee Stadium and ripped off items of padding from down the correct discipline line. Nonetheless have [them]. We even have a chunk of AstroTurf from Tropicana Subject. How many individuals have a chunk of the Tropicana Subject roof?”
In keeping with the Rays’ media information, Tropicana Subject, which opened in 1990, featured a cable-supported roof made with “six acres of translucent, Teflon-coated fiberglass” supported by 180 miles of cables. The roof was constructed to resist winds of as much as 115 mph; Milton made landfall with sustained 120 mph winds.
Editor’s Picks
2 Associated
MacDonald mentioned he would not see the tattered roof as solely a casualty of the storm. It is a image of the staff he loves — and of the push and pull that has threatened to maneuver it out of city.
“I’ve obtained 4 generations of my household [who are Rays fans],” he mentioned. “You attempt to make a fan base and you then pull that away.”
The Metropolis of St. Petersburg, Florida’s Pinellas County and the staff have mentioned a brand new stadium for many years. The Rays even tried to separate dwelling video games between St. Petersburg and Montreal to extend income; that was stymied by MLB. Then, in July, a deal for a $1.3 billion stadium, and a $6.5 billion undertaking meant to revitalize a predominantly Black neighborhood that was leveled to construct Tropicana Subject virtually 40 years in the past, was signed.
Due to the hurricane injury to the ballpark, the Rays will play dwelling video games at Steinbrenner Subject, the New York Yankees’ spring coaching dwelling in Tampa, in 2025. The Rays pays their division rival to lease it — some experiences have mentioned as much as $15 million, although the Rays declined to substantiate that quantity. A metropolis report assessing the injury mentioned Tropicana Subject “is structurally sound,” however it is going to price as a lot as $55 million to restore the stadium.
On Nov. 19, a vote by the county to approve the bonds for the stadium was delayed till Dec. 17. The Rays, in a letter co-signed by staff executives on the identical day, wrote that they had been “saddened and shocked” however would work to “protect the longer term” of the staff in its metropolis. On Dec. 5, the St. Petersburg Metropolis Council permitted bonds to fund the encircling neighborhood.
Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Occasions reported, following MLB commissioner Rob Manfred’s assembly with county officers the day earlier than, Rays co-president Matt Silverman mentioned there’s optimism within the entrance workplace that the Pinellas County Fee will vote to approve financing for a brand new stadium on the Dec. 17 assembly.
Tropicana Subject has been famous as certainly one of baseball’s worst and least-attended stadiums. The Rays have not ranked greater than twenty seventh in attendance since 2010 and, within the entirety of the franchise’s existence, boast one 12 months within the prime 20 — their inaugural season.
Every week earlier than Thanksgiving, MacDonald drove his grandson to high school, passing via the neighborhood close to Tropicana Subject.
“The stadium seemed apocalyptic,” he mentioned. When he handed it, MacDonald mentioned he did not take into consideration county commissions or bond allocations. He thought of all of the journeys inside — the excited walks over from an hooked up sports activities bar and the tank of dwell rays his grandson cherished to pet. The reminiscences are what mattered.
Within the basement of his dwelling, MacDonald has a framed Rays jersey on his wall. It isn’t of former Tampa Bay nice David Value and even Evan Longoria; it is longtime third base coach Tom Foley. He was the coach who gave MacDonald and his household peanuts and bubble gum between innings.
One latest afternoon, whereas mowing his garden, MacDonald had an concept for an additional flag outdoors his dwelling. He took a two-decade-old Louisville Slugger, signed by an assortment of Rays at spring coaching through the years, and duct-taped a chunk of The Trop roof to it. He simply could not assist himself.
“If the Rays are enjoying on Mars,” MacDonald mentioned, “we’ll Mars.”
