Baseball's Return to Al Lang Field Hits a Home Run With Fans

ST. PETERSBURG - It was a Chamber of Commerce day at the ballpark Sunday. The green grass glistened in the sparkling sun, with temperatures in the high 70s and clouds hard to come by.

For many residents, it's the reason to live in St. Petersburg, while much of the northern hemisphere is still digging out of snow.

If St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster's ploy to get more people to downtown St. Petersburg by luring them with baseball at the otherwise vacant waterfront park Al Lang Field seemed more fantasy than realistic, fear not. It works.

On an otherwise lazy, picturesque Sunday -- with training games beginning at other major league spring homes this weekend -- St. Petersburg hosted baseball, too, albeit a game featuring amateur teams: Team Canada and a local traveling team, Beach State, in the St. Petersburg International Baseball series.

The Kiernan family of Tampa may be just the target audience Foster was thinking about with the laid-back appeal of the International Baseball series. Michelle Kiernan, along with her two teenage daughters and toddler son, were basking in the sun, enjoying their favorite sport.

"We were at The Pier [Saturday] just enjoying the weather and we saw a sign on the trolley about" the St. Petersburg International Baseball series, Michelle Kiernan said.

Being a fan of the Rays and already bitten by the baseball bug with spring training games, Kiernan decided to bring her children to Al Lang Field Sunday. With single ticket prices starting at $6, it's quite a deal.

"It's outside!" Kiernan said of the game. 

Brittany, 17, and Kacey, 15, are both baseball fans, too, but confessed they were just as interested in watching the college-age guys play as they were watching the game.

"Oh, yeah, it's nice outside," Brittany said. "I like baseball a lot. I'm a big Phillies fan and I like going to Rays games a lot too."

Michael Foster and Andrew Marra were only too happy to be at the game. The two are members of Team Canada and the harsh grip of Old Man Winter still has a firm hold on their homeland.

The two were a number of players sitting in the stands behind the plate charting pitches and soaking in the sun's rays. Though it may have been a bit toasty and sunscreen was in order, they were not complaining.

"Oh, this is great," said Foster, a native of Toronto. "We get to get out of school and get into playing baseball again.  Better than working out indoors and putting on a uniform again."

"It's snowing back home and here, it's nice to put the cleats on and get a little dirty," said Marra, who calls Windsor home. "I get people mad back at home. I'm texting them all the time telling them about the weather. 'Hey, I'm here playing baseball getting a tan.' "

The way the Kiernan family spoke, they may just bring friends from Tampa for future games at Al Lang, espeically on days with glorious weather, like it was Sunday.

"The cost, the weather, it's easy to get to ... oh, yeah, we'll be back," Michelle Kiernan said.