Rays Grounds Crew Had Its Hands Full Moving Back Into Tropicana Field
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- Sports Money Rays Grounds Crew Had Its Hands Full Moving Back Into Tropicana Field By Tom Layberger,
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- Another strange feeling for Moeller was the need for sunglasses inside what Hurricane Milton rendered an open-air Tropicana Field thanks to the storm’s devastation.
Sports Money Rays Grounds Crew Had Its Hands Full Moving Back Into Tropicana Field By Tom Layberger,
Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about college football and sports in the Tampa Bay region.Follow Author May 25, 2026, 10:30pm EDTST. PETERSBURG, FL - Repairs underway at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg on January 28, 2026. (Davida Franklin/Tampa Bay Rays)The scene was surreal as Dan Moeller watched the claw of a machine grab large pieces of turf that were dumped into a container and hauled away after only one season of ground balls, diving fielders and sliding baserunners.
“It was a very weird feeling because it was brand new turf that year,” said Moeller, who has been employed by the Rays since 1997, one year before the club’s maiden season, and has been in charge of the grounds crew since 2001. “There was this big piece of equipment that ripped up the turf, shook it to get some of the backfill out, and dropped it into a container to be hauled away.”