Baseball Byways: Dinosaurs and More Along Interstate 4

Before the Coronavirus put major and minor league baseball on hold (at best), Melvin planned to return to Florida on his own this weekend to see the Dunedin Blue Jays and Florida Fire Frogs at, respectively, their renovated and new stadiums.

When Melvin told me about his planned jaunt, I thought that might be a timely occasion for me to revisit my 2013 solo trip to the Sunshine State. The fact that he ultimately stayed home seemed insufficient reason for me to abandon the concept. After all, everyone else is broadcasting games of yesteryear.

Happy they were; April 17-21, 2013

It was a compact trip; seven games in five days and four nights. It was also a very enjoyable itinerary, which made me hesitant to write about it at the time. Questioning if there was anything in Florida worth seeing, Melvin opted out. How awkward, then, to report that those five days were pretty awesome.

Florida is and has long been home to tourist attractions. I visited several in 2013, both contemporary and historical, and I thought I could situate my report into that larger frame. The attractions that are gone (i.e.: Splendid China), the ones that were never built (for example: Hurricane World) and of course, the 800-pound primate that is Walt Disney World—I was going to get it all in there!

Jungleland was gone but the (reputed) second largest man-made alligator remained. When Melvin and I visited in 2016, even that was gone.

"A one-day, non-child (age 10+) ticket to a single Disney park was $88," I wrote at the time, "with a $57 'Park Hopper' surcharge if I wanted to visit (say) both Epcot and the Magic Kingdom." "The admission charges, multi-day packages and geographic isolation of Disney World certainly keep visitors on the property," I continued. "The most profitable destinations generate high in-park revenues, be it from souvenirs or food and drink, which lesser attractions are not able to capitalize on."

All true, but how ponderous, at least for a part-time blog. With an overly ambitious thesis and discomfort over publicly telling Melvin that he should have been there, my write-up remained a draft. This time around, let's make the title more than a pithy rhyme.

Dinosaurs

Bongoland and Dinosaur World were highly anticipated destinations so I was amused when I chanced upon a happy Brontosaurus first thing on the second day (top). Bongoland (1948-1952) featured the ruins of a mid-nineteenth century sugar mill, a reproduction Indian village, "prehistoric monsters" and a baboon in a cage. Something for everyone! What remains today is the mill and the concrete dinosaurs.

Triceratops, Bongoland

The Dinosaur World in Plant City is the oldest of three owned by Christer Svensson, who also carves the life-size models out of polystyrene foam and finishes them with fiberglass, putty and paint. Dinosaur skin did not survive into the Holocene epoch, although some feathers have, and paleontologists don't know what color non-avian dinosaurs were.

Many of Svensson's are brightly colored. The models are dispersed among lush plantings. I unquestionably spent more time at Dinosaur World than Melvin would have wanted and let me emphasize that point graphically.

Huayangosaurus, Dinosaur World

Saltasaurus

Parasaurolophus

Tsintausaurus

restroom, Dinosaur World

I saw my final dinosaur at a used car dealership on the last day of the trip. As I was taking pictures, a man came out of the office and announced that there was a ten dollar charge for photographs. I made clear that I was paying nothing and the salesman laughed, telling me I would be surprised by how many people handed over a sawbuck simply because he asked.

at his or her feet, a 14-year old BMW convertible coupe, available for $5980

In 2016, Melvin and I stopped at a then-derelict mini-golf course in Pensacola. Despite some differences in their outward appearance, I recognized the dealership dinosaur's twin.

dusk only added to the sense of decrepitude in Pensacola

Historic Ballparks

Another reoccurring feature of the 2013 tour was stadiums no longer used for major or minor league baseball, two of which were 90 years old.

Henley Field, Lakeland

Henley Field is a handsome Spanish Revival stadium that opened in 1923 as Athletic Park. It hosted Florida State and Florida International league teams and spring training squads off-and-on until 1965, when the Detroit Tigers moved a mile-an-a-half north to Joker Marchant Stadium.

The facility was owned then by the City of Lakeland Parks and Recreation Department and well-kept. It is unclear from either a parks department map or a Henley Field page on the website of the Florida Southern College athletic program if the school purchased the facility has it hoped.

1000 of the Tinker Field seats came from Griffith Stadium when the latter was renovated in 1963

The Cincinnati Reds, Brooklyn Dodgers and Washington Senators-slash-Minnesota Twins held their spring training camps at Tinker Field from 1923 to 1999. Minor league baseball was also played at Tinker Field, in a variety of leagues and with an even wider range of names. When the stadium best known as the Citrus Bowl was built next door in 1935, the right field bleachers were torn down to accommodate the larger structure. Eighty years later, Orlando leveled everything.

memorial to Hall of Fame baseball player, manager and team owner, Clark Griffith; Tinker Field, Orlando

Al Lang Stadium is currently home to a Division II professional soccer team, the Tampa Bay Rowdies. It hosted spring training for the Yankees, Cardinals, Giants, Mets, Orioles and Rays from 1947 to 2008, as well as Florida State and Florida International league teams. For over a decade, the site has been considered a possible future home of the Tampa Bay Rays, a prospect discussed more fervently after the Rays purchased the Rowdies.

Al Lang Stadium, St. Petersburg

As a footnote, Al Lang Stadium was also the home ground for the St. Petersburg Pelicans, winners of the only full season of the Senior Professional Baseball Association and the team in first place when the league folded on December 26, 1990. The Orlando Juice played its home games at Tinker Field in 1989, when the league had eight teams in two divisions, all in Florida.

And More!

I also saw a lot of architecture, planning and engineering but the categorical format falters when it gets down to the features that lack commonality. Let's convert to a chronological outline.

Wednesday

flew to Tampa International Airport
Whimzeyland

whimzical window

Clearwater Threshers 2, Daytona Cubs 13

Javy Báez, who the following year would play 52 games at Clark and Addison, went three-for-six including a homer and scored twice in the rout. Dustin Geiger also scored two and drove in four in his three-for-five outing. Lunch was a cheese steak from Delco's Original Steaks & Hoagies. You can also get Yuengling because when you travel that far, you want everything to be just like home, only warmer.

Sixty miles to the east and three hours later, it was the Lakeland Flying Tigers 0, Brevard County Manatees 3, after three innings. That was pretty much it, an anti-climatic ending to the first day.

the architecture of Joker Marchant Stadium recalls its predecessor, Henley Field

Thursday

continental breakfast at the motel
Happy Days School (by chance)
Florida Southern College, home of the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings on one site

lower level walkway, Administration Building, Florida Southern College

Henley Field
the planned community of Celebration, Florida
Eli's Orange World, the world's largest orange(-colored, domed, citrus-product gift shop)
Paradise Inn, which is what I pictured when The Florida Project was released four years later

armament in paradise; weekly rates, pool

the aforementioned second largest alligator, outside of the Gator Motel
Beefy King for a roast beef sandwich and "beefy spuds," tater tots fried in beef fat
Daytona Cubs 7, Tampa Yankees 13

The day before, it was the Cubs who plated 13; on Thursday, it was their opponent. The three-through-seven hitters went 11 for 23 (.478) with five walks, two doubles, a pair of triples and a home run by future Yankee catcher Gary Sánchez. At the helm was Luis Sojo, the former Yankee infielder, in his seventh and final year at Tampa.

Friday

Peach Valley Café, a local chain, for breakfast; it seemed only right to finish the meal with peach cobbler
Bongoland
Tinker Field
Dinosaur World

I understand how the game-time temperature was 72 degrees inside The Trop but how was it possible for the wind to be -1 mph? Is that MLB box score code for "domed stadium?"

Tampa Bay Rays 8, Oakland Athletics 3

The middle of the batting order—Ben Zobrist, MVP candidate Evan Longoria, Shelley Duncan in his final year and Sean Rodriguez—beat up on the A's, batting a collective .400 and scoring six runs, including a Longo' long ball in the fourth.

St. Pete Shuffle, St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club (est. 1924)

generally members-only, the club is open to all on Fridays, 7:00-10:00 pm, weather permitting

Saturday

empanadas for breakfast at the Saturday Morning Market
Al Lang Stadium
Swain Apartments—named for prominent African-American dentist and owner Robert James Swain Jr.—where many Black Cardinal and Yankee players lived in the late-50s until the franchises integrated their spring training housing

Swain Apartments, 1511 22nd Street S., St. Petersburg

Ted Peter's Famous Smoked Fish for lunch
Sunshine Skyway (south)

accessible from the Skyway (rear), remnants of the previous bridge now serve as a fishing pier

the Circus Museum and Venetian Gothic Ca’ d’Zan mansion (Dwight James Baum, 1924) at the multi-featured John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art

circus costume on a swivel-hip mannequin

bayfront facade, Ca' d'Zan

other Sarasota architecture

the Art Deco/Art Moderne Sarasota Municipal Auditorium (Thomas Reed Martin and Clarence A. Martin, 1938)
Sarasota City Hall (Jack West, 1966)
one-story office building, 25 South Osprey Avenue (Victor Lundy, 1957)

Shake Pit for supper and some Debra Jane Seltzer (the person, not a brand of carbonated water, who is still going strong by the way!)

Shake Pit, Bradenton

Bradenton Marauders 4, Palm Beach Cardinals 3

There was light rain, off-and-on. A woman with two kids mistakenly thought I was trying to pick her up. A Cardinals coach got thrown out of the game. Errors hurt both teams but the home team rallied in the final two innings for just their fourth win of the season (4-12).

Sunday

Jim's Small Batch Bakery for breakfast
bikini clad Uniroyal Girl

"far more rare than the Muffler Men"

Sunshine Skyway (north)

the early-morning traffic was light

dealership dinosaur
Dunedin Blue Jays 9, Daytona Cubs 1

Pitching and offense; every Blue Jay got a hit, several had two, and Aaron Sanchez—who would pitch 33 innings for the parent club in 2015—held the Cubbies to two singles.

Tampa Yankees 3, Brevard County Manatees 8