By Curtis Krueger, Katherine Snow Smith and Ivan Penn, Times Staff Writers
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Charlie Tash mans his tailgating station Wednesday morning in the parking lot at Tropicana Field before Game 1 against the Texas Rangers.
ST. PETERSBURG — Tropicana Field's parking lot began smelling like a BBQ joint rather early Wednesday morning, with dozens of people grilling hours before the 1:37 p.m. game.
Charlie Tash, a 33-year-old personal trainer from Brandon and Mike McClelland, 29, of Seminole were among the tailgate chefs. They were part of a group of 10 who met each other by following the Rays on Twitter.
Tash was grilling bacon burgers and chicken. Breakfast?
"Yes," said McClelland.
With cooler weather and sunny skies made for a general happy mood outside of the stadium.
Shortly after 11 a.m., doors opened at Gate 1 and a couple hundred people began streaming through the rotunda.
No shortage of tickets
The corner of 13th Street S and Central Avenue is a hotbed of ticket-selling activity, with lots of folks asking for $50 to $85 per ticket. Most are selling for $20 to $50.
In order to legally sell tickets, sellers are supposed to be on private property and have a written letter from the owner of that property. But with so many tickets for sale and so much hoopla outside Tropicana, few are adhering to the rules.
Yes, it's a school day, but ...
Charlene Siders, a 33-year-old customer service manager from Tampa, wanted to do something nice for her son Jacob, 9. The boy recently suffered a concussion in an accident, she said, but he's fine now.
She pulled him out of his 4th grade classes so they could see their first ever postseason game. It doesn't hurt that Siders is a huge fan herself.
"It's a mom thing," she said. "I love it."
Texas visitors pack the Vinoy
The Rangers team and associates are staying in 120 rooms at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort in St. Petersburg. The hotel was prepared for a last minute booking by the opposing team that would play the Rays in the playoffs and has been holding back rooms for these dates since August. But it still had to ask a handful of guests to move to other hotels. The Vinoy paid for their rooms to compensate for the inconvenience.
Opposing teams always stay at the Vinoy during the regular season.
"Teams normally travel with 70 to 80 rooms for players, trainers and the press core," said Chris Adkins, Vinoy director of sales and marketing. "When they make the playoffs they seem to bring more people from head offices or sometimes family and friends. It's a little more special."
Hopeful fans of other teams in the playoffs have already booked about 100 rooms for the dates of the World Series.
"We don't really dig through to see where the bookings are coming from," Adkins said. "As we get closer and if the Rays actually make it then we start to pull those reservations and reconfirm them. I imagine if I pulled (the reservation records) there would be a lot of Phillies fans."