Hal Steinbrenner's Major Influence on Tampa Bay Rays

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00:00He says Major League Baseball and the fans and the Tampa Bay Rays, they should thank

00:05their bottom dollar that, yes, Hal Steinbrenner ponied up to allow the Rays to come into his

00:12home, Steinbrenner Field, and spend the season.

00:15Yeah.

00:16The Yankees, you know, and I think I've said this publicly, but I'm going to say it now.

00:21You know, the industry owes Hal Steinbrenner a real debt of gratitude.

00:28I mean, he put literally tens of millions of dollars into improving Steinbrenner Field,

00:33and the first people who are really going to get to use it for any period of time is

00:37the Tampa Bay Rays.

00:39And that support for the industry, that collegiality, is a really important thing, and, you know,

00:46Hal deserves a ton of credit for the approach that he took.

00:50Please.

00:51Well, I'll say this much.

00:52He was going to do it anyway.

00:53They're going to put a big dent into that ballpark.

00:56I mean, they're going to be playing all their games there, and I think it's going to take

00:59a toll on Legends Field.

01:02But yeah, it is.

01:03Look, you obviously have the Rays playing 81 games there this year, but I mean, to act

01:10like Hal did it out of the goodness of his heart, Hal was going to re-renovate the place

01:14anyway.

01:15He was going to dump a bunch of money into Steinbrenner Field and upgrade it, so calm

01:20down.

01:21The next one we always love, Sacra Tomato, which is where the A's are going to be.

01:26Here's Rob telling you how great the atmosphere is going to be in a little minor league ballpark

01:31at Sacra Tomato.

01:32I think that the level of excitement in the community is really palpable.

01:38I think their desire to have Major League Baseball in the short term and in the long

01:43term is really impressive.

01:45I think the owners of the Rivercats and the owners of the A's have worked very hard together

01:54to make sure that for our players, it is as close to a Major League experience as it can

02:00possibly be.

02:02There's a lot of investment that was done in facilities that you just would not have

02:05done otherwise.

02:06And you know, the ballpark is charming.

02:10I do think that fans are going to have an opportunity to see Major League Baseball all

02:17season long in a really intimate environment, and I'm hopeful that the whole year is going

02:23to be a positive for us.

02:25Charming.

02:26Whatever.

02:27Yeah, it's going to be real charming.

02:29It's got to be better than the 2,000 fans they drew at the Ashtray.

02:35I mean, honestly, when they're going to have 10,000 in Sacra Tomato and they got 2,000

02:41in Oakland.

02:42I mean, it was so embarrassing, the Ashtray, for the last 10 years.

02:47It's been going on for 10, 15 years.

02:49Nobody goes.

02:50They were making playoffs and nobody went.

02:54And I don't want to hear it about, you know, they're banging the drums and all this other

02:57nonsense.

02:58Nobody went.

02:59And it was ugly.

03:00So this little ballpark, I think he's right, because I think they're going to sell out

03:04in Sacra Tomato every night.

03:0710,000 is nothing there when they're craving baseball, and they love baseball there, and

03:12they want it there.

03:13So I think they're going to go.

03:15I think people in Sacra Meno are going to go to the games.

03:18I really do.

03:20Now, Rob also said that he has no problems with the amount of money that the Dodgers

03:26are spending, but he does say he understands the frustrations of the fans of the smaller

03:33market teams.

03:34He's not going to do anything about it, but he understands their frustrations watching

03:38the Dodgers spend hand over fist while the other teams do not.

03:42Well, it is what it is, and it's not changing, and it never will.

03:46So if you get really good pitchers and you get two or three really good hitters eventually

03:55in the draft, like the Pirates have done, they spend no money, they're going to screw

04:01up schemes and lose him, too.

04:03They've lost everyone else.

04:04Garrett Cole, they've lost everyone.

04:05So while they have him, you know, go out and beat him, OK?

04:10So if you're such a badass, if you're such an incredible pitcher that nobody can hit,

04:15then go beat him.

04:16You know, beat him.

04:17That's, you know, we've seen the Royals do it.

04:20I mean, if Kansas City can win the World Series, anyone can.

04:25And people say that's absurd to say that.

04:28But well, then what was that?

04:30They had no business winning the World Series, but they did.

04:34Small market, small budget teams can do it if they get enough badass young talent and

04:39they go out and execute and win and they go out and beat these teams.

04:43They can do it.

04:44I'm telling you, it's not impossible.

04:46It's happened.

04:47It's happened before.

04:49It can happen again.

04:51Obviously, they spend tons of money in Los Angeles and New York.

04:54I mean, what are you, stupid?

04:59No doubt.

05:00And the last thing you did mention was that the Cubs are working.

05:03They're working with the Cubs to get the All-Star game in 2027 back to Wrigley Field.

05:09They're going to give it to them.

05:10Wrigley Field is an institution in sports.

05:14And despite the fact that they've ruined it, they still have to have All-Star games at

05:20Wrigley Field.

05:21As long as Wrigley Field and Fenway Park are around, there's going to be All-Star games

05:27held there.

05:28People want to go to Fenway and Wrigley.

05:31It's like bucket list stuff.

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