The Long Pier

One of the great old piers here in West Central Florida is the Redington Long Pier in St Pete. At one time, many years ago there were eight piers in the Redington Beach area. The Long Pier is the only one that remains today. It was constructed in 1962 by Charles Redington.

The pier has had it's ups and downs over the years. In 1985 a runaway barge plowed into it taking 300 feet  of the pier with it. It was repaired and lengthened.

By the late 90's it had fallen into disrepair and was damaged by tropical storms. The pier was bought by a family determined to save it and after over 2 million dollars of improvements it is a beautiful sight today

If it swims you can catch it off the Long Pier. The pier extends over 1000 feet into the Gulf of Mexico and fisherman catch everything off it including kingfish, tarpon and sharks

Tarpon fishing off the end

I had the pleasure of hanging out with the boys on the pier one day during tarpon season. The man to my right, Captain Eddy is one of the very best

The Redington Long Pier...go see it someday

The Boys of Spring

In Florida the middle of February through the month of March means baseball is back. Big League baseball comes to Florida for spring training. Teams have been coming to Florida since the late 1800's to train in the warm weather. The Philadelphia Phillies were the first team to train in Florida when they came to Jacksonville in 1889. In Tampa spring training began in 1913 when the Chicago Cubs came to town. 

 

35 Florida cities have hosted teams in the Grapefruit League over the years with Tampa and St Pete having hosted teams the most at 87 years.

During those years all of the greats of the game have played on spring training fields in Florida

Mickey Mantle in St Pete

Yogi under the same tree at Huggins Stengle Field 

They don't come any greater than this...Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig under the palm trees in St Pete

Tampa has hosted several teams over the years including the Cincinnati Reds during the Big Red Machine years. Nowadays the New York Yankees call Tampa home in the spring playing at beautiful George Steinbrenner Field

The practice fields outside Steinbrenner Field

There's even a monument park out front to honor the Yankee greats

The atmosphere in the spring is casual and laid back. More fan friendly as players are more willing to interact with the fans in the intimate stadiums. Steinbrenner Field is the largest stadium holding 11,000 but most stadiums hold 7,000 or less

The Blue Jays stadium in Dunedin is one of the smallest and is a great place to watch a game as you are right on top of the field

Brighthouse Field in Clearwater home of the Philadelphia Phillies

  

Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland home of the Detroit Tigers

One of the oldest...beautiful McKechnie Field in Bradenton home of the Pittsburgh Pirates

Where do the Atlanta Braves go in the spring ? They go to Disney World !!  Disney Sports Complex

Last but certainly not least..Port Charlotte...home of OUR Tampa Bay Rays

Florida...beaches..beautiful weather...and baseball

Tampa Joins the Big Leagues

A city without professional sports is the Tampa I grew up in during the 60's and early 70's. Most of us were Miami Dolphin fans. In baseball we listened to the Atlanta Braves on the radio. In basketball my best friend Steve was a huge Boston Celtics fan so I followed them too. Nothing in our town...

In 1966 construction began on Tampa Stadium...Al Lopez Field where the Cincinnati Reds trained is in the background. The NFL encouraged the city to build a stadium and pursue a franchise. In the meantime the University of Tampa would play home games in the stadium

In November 1967 Tampa Stadium hosted it's first event. The University of Tampa played the Tennessee Volunteers. Tennessee won the game 38-0 and the stadium received high praise

Beginning in 1968 and into the early 70's Tampa hosted several NFL pre season games. The photo above is from a game between the Lions and the Jets

I remember going to the Dolphins and Patriots game. Note the Patriots were not always called the New England Patriots. This game in 1969 was unique...it was an AFL game before the merger

Then in 1976 Tampa changed forever...we had made the big time

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were our team. It's fun being a sports fan. It takes on a new level when you have a team in your town...your home town team
The Bucs endured much futility in the early days but we loved them just the same

Soon things began to change and the Buccaneer franchise became good...real good and in 2002..The very best

Super Bowl Champs !! 

Tampa became a big league city that has now hosted four Super Bowls...the first was Super Bowl XVIII between the Raiders and Redskins. Super Bowls in 1991, 2001, and 2009 were also played in Tampa

The Bucs now play in beautiful Raymond James Stadium. Tampa now has three pro teams with the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Tampa Bay Rays now also home teams. 1976 seems a long time ago now...

Florida Cruising

If you want to go on a cruise...come to Florida.With the longest coastline in the lower 48 at over 1,350 miles Florida offers multiple choices for cruisers.  There are 5 ports in Florida that cruise ships sail from, more than any other state. Four are shown on this map and the port of Jacksonville also has limited cruise ships operating from it. 

The port of Miami is the largest cruise ship port in the world. Over 4 million people cruised from this port last year. All major cruise lines sail out of Miami.

Just up the road in Fort Lauderdale is Port Everglades

A little farther north is Port Canaveral. When you sail out of Canaveral you can see the launch towers at the Cape.

 Of course I am very biased towards the port below...the Port of Tampa

The Florida Aquarium right outside the door

Ride the streetcar to downtown Tampa or Ybor City.

Sailing out of Tampa is absolutely beautiful

Under the Skyway Bridge and out to sea...thanks to my daughter Andrea for the idea !!