Tampa Tarpons


The Tampa Tarpons are a Minor League Baseball team based in Tampa, Florida. They are members of the Florida State League and are the Class A-Advanced affiliate of the New York Yankees Major League Baseball team. Home games are played at George M. Steinbrenner Field, which is also the spring training home of the New York Yankees and incorporates design elements from old Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
The team was established in 1994 as the Tampa Yankees and played for 24 seasons under that name. Before the 2018 season, the team was rebranded as the "Tampa Tarpons", reviving a name that had been used by an earlier FSL franchise for over 30 years. Since their inception, the club has won five league championships, in 1994, 2001, 2004, 2009, and 2010.

History

has a long history of amateur and organized baseball, with the first spring training held in the city in 1913 and the Tampa Smokers founded as charter members of the Florida State League in 1919. However, when the original Tampa Tarpons of the FSL were sold and relocated in 1988 and Al Lopez Field was demolished soon thereafter, Tampa was left without a professional baseball team or venue. In 1994, the New York Yankees established a new Class A-Advanced FSL team and placed them in Tampa. as the Tampa Yankees. The team was rebranded as the Tarpons before the 2018 season, reviving the name of Tampa's longest-lasting minor league ballclub.
Notable major league players to once play for the Tampa Yankees / Tarpons include Derek Jeter, Rubén Rivera, Mariano Rivera, David Robertson, Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes, Ramiro Mendoza, Tim Raines, Eric Milton, and Luis Sojo.

Playing field

As part of a deal with the city of Tampa, the Tampa Sports Authority agreed to finance and built a new baseball park for the New York Yankees to use during spring training and the Tampa Yankees to use during the summer. The Tampa Yankees played their first two seasons at Red McEwen Field on the campus of the University of South Florida while their permanent home was under construction. In 1996, they moved to Legends Field, where the playing field had the same dimensions as the major league Yankee's then-home of Yankee Stadium and included some design elements of the ballpark in the Bronx. In 2008, Legends Field was renamed George M. Steinbrenner Field in honor of ailing long-time Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who lived in Tampa.
Steinbrenner Field seats 10,000 fans, and sits across Dale Mabry Highway from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' home of Raymond James Stadium. A pedestrian bridge allows for baseball attendees to easily use the football stadium's much larger parking lot.

Playoffs

Notable alumni

Hall of Fame alumni
Notable alumni