Tampa has had a long history of minor league baseball, beginning in 1919, when the original Tampa Smokers began play as charter members of the Florida State League. The Smokers moved to the Florida International League before both the league and the team folded in 1954, temporarily leaving Tampa without a professional baseball team. The city built Al Lopez Field in 1954, and the Tampa Tarpons became the ballpark's first tenant when they began play there in 1955 as a new member of the Class D Florida State League.[1]
The Tarpons were an independent minor league team until 1957, when they became an affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. In 1961, they began a long affiliation with the Cincinnati Reds. They won three league championships, in 1957, 1959 and 1961.[2] In 1964 minor league baseball was realigned, and the Florida State League became a Class A league (now Class A-Advanced).
During the 1980s talk spread of a major league team coming to the Tampa Bay Area, which would threaten the viability of the Tarpons and other minor league teams in the region.[3] Prior to the 1988 season the Reds moved their spring training from Tampa to Plant City, Florida, and moved their Class A franchise to Greensboro, North Carolina (the Greensboro Hornets). The Chicago White Sox subsequently moved their Class A affiliation to Tampa for the 1988 season, amid rumors that the major league White Sox would be moving to the area soon thereafter. That season the club, renamed the Tampa White Sox, drew 55,900 fans, seventh in the 14-team FSL, and went 35–35 in the first half before they won the western division second-half title at 36–24. They fell in the second round of the playoffs to the St. Lucie Mets 2 games to 0. The club was managed by Marv Foley and had one FSL All-Star, pitcher Jerry Kutzler. Foley won FSL Manager of the Year honors.[4]
After the 1988 season, owner Mitchell Mick sold his franchise to the Chicago White Sox, who relocated the club to Sarasota, Florida as the Sarasota White Sox.[5] The franchise exchanged major league affiliates and nicknames several times before 2010, when they became an affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates and were moved and renamed the Bradenton Marauders.
Meanwhile, Tampa was without professional baseball until the Tampa Yankees re-joined the Florida State League in 1994. After the 2017 season, that team rebranded itself as the Tarpons.[6]
Another notable Tarpon was Randy Poffo, whose brief minor league baseball career ended in 1974 after batting .232 as a 21-year-old outfielder.[8] Poffo would later have much more success as a professional wrestler after adopting the stage name Randy "The Macho Man" Savage.
In 2006 the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, embarked on a rebranding effort that would include a name change; they considered adopting the Tampa Bay Tarpons name in honor of the minor league team before making the less radical step of shortening their nickname to simply the Rays in 2008.[9][10] The (Devil)-Rays have worn Tampa Tarpons uniforms for several "Turn Back the Clock" games:
On July 17, 1999, the Devil Rays wore 1960 Tarpons uniforms against the New York Mets, who wore uniforms reminiscent of those worn by their 1969 championship team.[11]
On June 24, 2006, the Devil Rays wore 1975 Tarpon uniforms against the Atlanta Braves, who wore their 1975 road uniforms. Coincidentally, two Rays coaches, third-base coach Tom Foley and hitting coach Steve Henderson, had both played for the Tarpons in the mid-1970s.[12]
