Rays seem ready to dump Devil

[CubsFanBudMan]

There is at least one thing other parks took from Comiskey II. It was the first park to have a concourse connect all the way around the lower deck. Most of the new parks have that now.

That's one of the first things I noticed about New Comiskey... that you were able to walk around the whole park and not miss any action. Great views even when you're up buying food.

[BallWonk]

Ballwonk -

I thought you were referring to the renovations are a failure, not the original construction. I was merely saying that the renovations were an overwhelming success. They didn't make it Camden Yards, but they did make it a much, much better place to watch a game. Obviously, there were a lot of problems with the original structure. But they Sox were just victims of bad timing. If the classical parks didn't come around in the next decade, New Comiskey would have been a marvel for several years. It was state of the art at the time, but it soon went out of style.

There is at least one thing other parks took from Comiskey II. It was the first park to have a concourse connect all the way around the lower deck. Most of the new parks have that now.

In saying that I think New Comiskey is a ballpark-design failure, I really don't mean to say it's a terrible ballpark. It's just not a very good ballpark, which makes it about the same as or a bit better than most parks built between 1960 and 1990.

About the concourse thing, could you clarify what you mean? Plenty of parks built before New Comiskey have continuous concourses around the lower bowl, some of which are significantly open to viewing the field. The Metrodome, for example, has a continuous lower-level concourse. As does RFK, and the infield section of RFK's continuous concourse has an open view of the field (the outfield portion of the concourse continues despite there being no lower-level seating there, so it's concrete walls instead of field views). Are you talking specifically about a lower-level concourse that's open to field views all the way around? I'm anxious to give New Comiskey some credit for modern ballpark innovations, so I'm curious about exactly what you mean on the concourse thing!

As to the Trop, how about painting the roof light blue and putting in some skylights for the new name?

[leopard88]

As to the Trop, how about painting the roof light blue and putting in some skylights for the new name?

One good idea, one probably not so good. A paint job would look nice. On the other hand, skylights may lead to fielders having problems picking up the ball, depending on their placement relative to the game time sun. As I'm sure you recall, the Astrodome roof was originally clear glass, but it had to be painted over because fielders were losing balls against that background. The same thing could happen with skylights at the Trop even if they are interspersed around the roof.

[Survival79]

FWIW Part II...

Navy, Columbia Blue, And A Little Gold

At this moment the only person I can think of thats more of a loser idiot than you is the person that "allegedly" would ultimately decide to make the Rays new on field hats Blue and Gold and not Blue and Columbia Blue. That one I find even beyond the losers that make up the front office of the Rays organization. But..... if they did.... It will just be easier to say "I told you so" when they don't sell and need to be changed again. The gold is a minor minor minor minor part of this only as an accent. I would find a blue and gold hat hard to believe.

The jersey lettering in a Sandals Resort kind of fairy light on your feet lettering... in navy blue, columbia blue, and a gold accent.... that I believe coz thats indeed what it is.

[BBM]

The MLB is now severely lacking in green teams. Come on White Sox, wear those Irish caps all year!

[Gothamite]

In saying that I think New Comiskey is a ballpark-design failure, I really don't mean to say it's a terrible ballpark. It's just not a very good ballpark, which makes it about the same as or a bit better than most parks built between 1960 and 1990.

Agreed. I think we're a little hard on it just because it was the last ballpark constructed under the old style, which made it very dated very quickly.

Even at its worst, New Comiskey was no Metrodome, no Tropicana Field (just to wrench this back on-topic).

[Thunderstruk]

I tell you what the cell is beautiful now. When it opened up it truly was a white, sterile elephant but if you goto a game there and watch a game there it truly is a great experience with the open concourse and outfield area to roam around in.

[KJTALBOT]

Losing a team that uses green as a primary color stinks. I will wait until I see the actual results before I criticize the new Rays identity. There is too much navy already. I'm not optimistic. I guess it depends how much light blue they use.

As far as new comisky goes, I was expecting the worst, and therefore was pleasantly surprised. The lower level was fine. I could not sit at the top of the upper deck however. They can't do anything to fix that.

[Milo Meningocele]

The MLB is now severely lacking in green teams. Come on White Sox, wear those Irish caps all year!

I think we should focus on getting them to actually wear white socks, instead.

[Gothamite]

I will wait until I see the actual results before I criticize the new Rays identity. There is too much navy already. I'm not optimistic. I guess it depends how much light blue they use.

I'm with you on that.

If they primarily feature light blue, as the Marlins did in their early days, I'll probably love it.

If they primarily feature navy, as the Marlins now wear almost exclusively black, I'll probably hate it.

[TruColor]

If they primarily feature light blue, as the Marlins did in their early days, I'll probably love it.

If they primarily feature navy, as the Marlins now wear almost exclusively black, I'll probably hate it.

(you'll hate it!)

[Gothamite]

Yeah, I'm kind of afraid that will be the case.

I just wanted to go on record before they unveil it.

[Survival79]

If they primarily feature light blue, as the Marlins did in their early days, I'll probably love it.

If they primarily feature navy, as the Marlins now wear almost exclusively black, I'll probably hate it.

(you'll hate it!)

I wouldn't mind a navy cap as long as it doesn't have a light blue or yellow bill. Basically, I'm hoping for an all navy cap to be somewhere in the new scheme. I'm thinking that a navy cap with a light blue interlocking TB and yellow outline could work. Then again, I might not be able to stomach a navy cap if they've screwed up the cap logo.

[DDR]

I tell you what the cell is beautiful now. When it opened up it truly was a white, sterile elephant but if you goto a game there and watch a game there it truly is a great experience with the open concourse and outfield area to roam around in.

I really like the Cell. There are problems, yes, but overall, it's a fun experience. I think it's one of the few times when putting a "band-aid on" worked. They did some renovations, and it really made a great difference. One thing that I think US Cellular doesn't get enough love for is their excellent tailgating. I haven't been to another park (granted, there's quite a few I've never been to) that has the tailgating that the Cell does. It's not part of the park aesthetics, but it definitely adds to the experience.

[powersurge]

If they primarily feature light blue, as the Marlins did in their early days, I'll probably love it.

If they primarily feature navy, as the Marlins now wear almost exclusively black, I'll probably hate it.

(you'll hate it!)

Oh crap.

Are you serious?

Another Navy Blue mess to add to the already cluttered navy blue baseball uniform family. You would think that they would jump on the light blue and gold bandwagon (aka Denver Nuggets) instead of the navy blue bandwagon (aka everyone else) since its so cluttered and differentiate themselves from the pack....but alas they won't. I know this is a little premature considering there are no concrete details of the actual uniforms...but seeing as its Wednesday and I'm naturally pretty pesimistic in the middle of the week, I'm going to say that the cup is half empty.

[DDR]

The MLB is now severely lacking in green teams. Come on White Sox, wear those Irish caps all year!

I think we should focus on getting them to actually wear white socks, instead.

Yeah, that's bothersome. But the black looks good. Perhaps white socks with Black stirrups? Would that appease the masses?

[BBM]

The MLB is now severely lacking in green teams. Come on White Sox, wear those Irish caps all year!

I think we should focus on getting them to actually wear white socks, instead.

Yeah, that's bothersome. But the black looks good. Perhaps white socks with Black stirrups? Would that appease the masses?

I'm sure, if they had someone that actually wore stirrups, the socks underneath would be white.

[Artmanc3po]

Who knows. I can see good and bad coming from the new Rays set. I don't really like the name Tampa Bay Rays, but I like navy, sky blue and yellow together. Yeah, it's the new color-set-o-the-week, but we'll see. Even though I like the current TB set, I've always thought the cap had too much on it. I hope it will have less,as I've always favored city (or location) initials on caps, for most teams, and having the TB plus the devil ray was too much for me.

I'm hopeful, especially that they'll have a little bit more of a classic baseball look. I've always thought they've looked too modern, while in MLB a more traditional look often works best, IMHO.

[Mat]

Devil Rays just sound better than rays.

What people are getting offended? Tell them to get lives, I dont think New Jersey bitches about being called the devils.

Its so stupid.

this reminds me when people said the bluejays were going to make it just "jays"

which would sound stupid

sure you refer to the team in short as "jays" or in this case "rays" but if you look at the official name and read "toronto jays" or "tampa bay rays" it just sounds dumb

[simpsontide]

Hopefully the cap will be all navy with a light blue TB outlined in gold. I , too, am hoping for no light blue or gold bill unless it's an alt cap to be worn rarely.