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What is now Florida Power Park, home of Al Lang Field, originally began in 1916 with hopes of luring a major league spring training team. St. Pete was barely a dot on a map at that time, and Al Lang Field has since been home to major league spring training as well as various minor league teams serving many major league parent clubs including the Phillies, Indians, Yankees, Dodgers, Cardinals and Devil Rays:
St. Petersburg Saints, Class D Florida State League, 1920
St. Petersburg Saints, Class C Florida State League, 1921-23
St. Petersburg Saints, Class D Florida State League, 1924-28
St. Petersburg Saints, Class C Florida International League, 1947-48
St. Petersburg Saints, Class B Florida International League, 1949-54
St. Petersburg Saints, Class D Florida State League, 1955-62
St. Petersburg Saints, Class A Florida State League, 1963-65
St. Petersburg Cardinals, Class A Florida State League, 1966-96
St. Petersburg Devil Rays, Class A Florida State League, 1997-2000
Also: St. Petersburg Pelicans, Senior Professional Baseball Association, 1989-90
Until the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays brought regular-season major league baseball to St. Petersburg, it might be considered that the Cardinals enjoyed a heyday at Al Lang Field during the 31 seasons they were here. For many years the minor league team wore identical St. Louis uniforms as the parent club with the only exception being the ball cap logo involving the letter "P" (St. Petersburg) instead of "L" (St. Louis). Al Lang Field is just a few blocks away from Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who now conduct spring training at Al Lang Field.
All of my original photos on this page are approximately one-quarter size. Netscape users can right-click and view-image to see the full-size images.
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