History of baseball in the Tampa Bay area

This article summarizes the history of both amateur and professional baseball played in the Tampa Bay area.

Spring training

In 1913, the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians moved their respective spring training sites to Florida, marking the unofficial inception of the Grapefruit League; the Cubs set up their new facility in Tampa.

St. Petersburg

Since the St. Louis Browns moved their spring training site to St. Petersburg in 1914, the city has hosted more spring training games than any other.[1]

Team Year(s) Stadium Practice Field[2]
St. Louis Browns 1914 Sunshine Park N/A
Philadelphia Phillies 1915–1918 Sunshine Park N/A
Boston Braves 1922–1937 Waterfront Park N/A
New York Yankees 1925–1942, 1946–1947
1947–1950*, 1952–1961		 Waterfront Park
Al Lang Field		 Huggins-Stengel Field
St. Louis Cardinals 1938–1942, 1946–1947
1947–1997		 Waterfront Park
Al Lang Field		 Busch Field (1965–1987)
Naimoli Field (1988–1997)
New York Giants 1951* Al Lang Field Huggins-Stengel Field
New York Mets 1962–1987 Al Lang Field Huggins-Stengel Field (1962–1967)
Naimoli Field (1968–1987)
Baltimore Orioles 1992–1995 Al Lang Field Huggins-Stengel Field
Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays 1998–2008 Al Lang Field Naimoli Field
Tampa Bay Rays 2023 Tropicana Field Huggins-Stengel Field,[3] ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex[4]

*Note: In 1951, the New York Giants, whose spring training facilities were in Phoenix, Arizona, swapped locations with the New York Yankees at the request of Yankees' co-owner Del Webb.[5] The teams returned to their typical training sites in 1952.

Tampa

Tampa has hosted spring training for seven teams: the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators, and the New York Yankees, who currently call Tampa their spring training home.

Team Year(s) Facility
Chicago Cubs 1913–1916 Plant Field
Boston Red Sox 1919 Plant Field
Washington Senators 1920–1929 Plant Field
Detroit Tigers 1930 Plant Field
Cincinnati Reds 1931–1942, 1946–1987 Plant Field
Al Lopez Field (1955–1987)
Chicago White Sox 1954–1959 Al Lopez Field
New York Yankees 1996–present George M. Steinbrenner Field

Clearwater

Team Year(s) Facility
Brooklyn Robins (Dodgers) 1923–1932 Brooklyn Field
Cleveland Indians 1942 Clearwater Athletic Field
Philadelphia Phillies 1947–present Jack Russell Memorial Stadium (1955–2003)
BayCare Ballpark (2004–present)

Dunedin

Dunedin has been the only spring training home to the Toronto Blue Jays since the franchise's inception.

Team Year(s) Facility
Toronto Blue Jays 1977–present TD Ballpark

Tarpon Springs

Team Year(s) Facility
St. Louis Browns 1925–1927

Plant City

Team Year(s) Facility
Cincinnati Reds 1988–1997 Plant City Stadium

Minor leagues

Past

The Tampa Bay area has a long association with minor league baseball. The first modern example was the 1919 Tampa Smokers, a charter member of the original Class D Florida State League (FSL). The expansion St. Petersburg Saints joined the FSL in 1920. After the Smokers folded in 1954, the Tampa Tarpons played in the FSL from 1957 until 1989.

Tampa, St. Petersburg, and other nearby communities also fielded teams in a variety of defunct minor leagues, including the Florida International League, the Florida State Negro League, and the short-lived Florida West Coast League.

Present

The Tampa Bay area is currently home to five teams in the Low-A Florida State League: the Tampa Tarpons, Clearwater Threshers, Dunedin Blue Jays, Bradenton Marauders, and Lakeland Flying Tigers. Several major league organizations also field squads in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League and the Florida Instructional League.

The corporate offices of Minor League Baseball have been located in St. Petersburg since 1973.[6]

Other professional leagues

The Tampa Rockets were a short-lived team in the late 1940s and early 1950s that played in the Florida State Negro League, one of the many Negro Leagues that existed at the time.


St. Petersburg was the home of the St. Petersburg Pelicans in the short-lived Senior Professional Baseball Association in 1989–1990. The league featured former major league players who were age 35 or older. The Pelicans won the only league championship.

College baseball

Several notable ballplayers have come from the college and university baseball programs in the Tampa Bay Area. Players and managers have reached the Major Leagues[7] from the University of South Florida, University of Tampa, St. Petersburg College and Eckerd College. Other schools in the area with baseball programs include Pasco-Hernando State College, Saint Leo University, and Hillsborough Community College.

The South Florida Bulls have made 14 NCAA Division I Tournament appearances, winning their region once in 2021.[8]

The University of Tampa Spartans baseball program has won eight Division II national championships: 1992, 1993, 1998, 2006, 2007, 2013, 2015, and 2019.[9]

Amateur baseball

Organized amateur baseball in Tampa is thought to have begun in Ybor City and West Tampa, two neighborhoods founded in the late 1800s by immigrants from Cuba, Spain, and Italy. The neighborhoods were home to many social clubs, many of which sponsored highly competitive teams that inspired much local support.

Little League Baseball teams from the Tampa Bay Area area have made regular trips to the Little League World Series, finishing runners-up in the 1948, 1975, 1980 & 1981 Little League World Series tournaments.[10] Tampa Bay area teams have won the state Little League tournament in 1967, 1969–1975, 1977, 1980–1981, 1988–1991, 1994, 2006, 2008, 2011, and 2012.[11] In addition, local teams have won Junior League championships in 1982, 1985, 2004, and 2011.[12]

Little League Baseball's headquarters for the Southern Region was located in Gulfport until 2009.

Notable baseball players from the Tampa Bay area

Al López, the first area native to play and manage in the major leagues and the first to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame, came out of the leagues of Ybor City in the early 20th century. Since then, local baseball programs have produced many current and former major league players and managers including Lou Piniella, Fred McGriff, Gary Sheffield, Tino Martinez, Luis Gonzalez, Dwight Gooden, Howard Johnson, Tony La Russa, Chone Figgins, Wade Boggs and Steve Garvey.

Tampa Baseball Museum

The Tampa Baseball Museum, operated by the Ybor City Museum Society, is located in López's former childhood home. The house was moved to its present location across the street from the Ybor City State Museum.

References

  1. ^ Team, Paradise News (May 30, 2024). "Our Home Run Hometown: The History of Baseball in St Petersburg". Paradise News Magazine. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
  2. ^ Topkin, Marc (February 10, 2008). "St. Petersburg Landmarks". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved August 20, 2009.
  3. ^ Ceballo, Ivy (March 2, 2023). "Photos: Rays back at Trop in spring game against Twins".
  4. ^ Barry, Adam. ""What to know about Rays Spring Training"". mlb.com.
  5. ^ "Cactus League Hall of Fame: Del Webb". cactusleague.com. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
  6. ^ "MiLB headquarters relocating".
  7. ^ "The Beginning of Something Bigger". USF Athletics. July 15, 2025. Retrieved October 11, 2025.
  8. ^ "The Beginning of Something Bigger". USF Athletics. July 15, 2025. Retrieved October 11, 2025.
  9. ^ "National Championships | TampaSpartans.com". Archived from the original on January 7, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  10. ^ Little League Champions – sportingnews.com Archived November 20, 2000, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ "Southeastern Region State Little League® Champions".
  12. ^ "Past Divisional Champs - Junior League Baseball". Archived from the original on January 7, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2014.

Further reading

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