Editor’s note: 2025 marks the 40th Anniversary of the 1985 World Series Cardinals team and the 43rd Anniversary of the ’82 team. Rob Rains covered those teams and he marks his 45th year as a Baseball Writer this year, so we thought we would take a walk down memory lane and take the detour to St. Petersburg where the Cardinals trained before they moved to Jupiter.
For a nostalgic baseball trip to St. Petersburg, the first stop had to be Al Lang Field. It has changed from the grassy baseball stadium to a bright green soccer field, but the structure still looks the same. Al Lang was where the team played their home games and held practices.
There was a hotel across the street, which at one time was the Bayfront Concourse. We drove past it and it is now a Hilton.
The 1980s was a much simpler time in baseball, evidenced by the fact that Al Lang was not part of a complex of multiple fields, batting cages and the other facilities that dominate the spring training complexes today.
The minor leaguers trained at a separate facility across town. There was a lot less media coverage as well, as on some days there were only two writers covering the team – Rick Hummel from the Post-Dispatch and Rob Rains from the Globe-Democrat, and the team’s broadcasters.
I still believe Al Lang offered one of the best views in Spring Training. If you sat down the first base line, you could look past third base and left field and gaze onto Tampa Bay. From our vantage point, the photo, right shows the palm trees just beyond where the outfield wall was. The bay is beyond them.
There also used to be a small, private airport behind center field and small planes would often take off or land during the games. Because of that they had a lot of the flying advertisements with the message coming off the back of the planes circling the field.
One of the most entertaining parts of games was listening to the singing hot dog vendor and if anyone remembers his name let me know. He had a great voice and the fans loved watching him sing almost as much as they loved the games.
Al Lang Field is downtown and and not far from it is the St. Petersburg Pier. The Pier also looks completely different. The area has grown so much and would be considered a hot spot. It’s changed so much with the construction of high-rise condos and lots of bars and restaurants nearby.
Some of our old favorite restaurants are still here and some are gone. Pepin was a nice restaurant downtown that is not there today. We were happy to see that our favorite, The Hurricane on Passe-a-Grille Beach, is still there. That’s it in the photo, left and they have done a lot of work to it including painting it green. Back then the big thing was the grouper sandwich at the Hurricane. Hoping it would be as good, we ordered it and were not disappointed.
The Hurricane was located in a little beachy area called Passe-a-Grille. Back then it was mostly locals who lived there but now the beach was packed and there were new condos everywhere. St. Pete has definitely grown, but it’s tasteful and beautiful.
Another favorite restaurant of the time was El Cap.
El Cap was the “hangout” for the players for a time when the Cardinals were training in St. Pete.
We met our old friends, former pitchers John Stuper and Dave LaPoint, there along with former assistant clubhouse manager Frank Coppenbarger. We found out there were a couple of small hotels on the street where the young players stayed so it was in walking distance to the restaurant.
Once the players started making more money they would get condos. We stayed at the Isla Del Sol development and chose the same condo complex on this trip. Our room backed up to a golf course and we half expected to see Andy Van Slyke, Tommy Herr, or Ricky Horton coming off the course.
Whether it was Tyrone Square Mall, Publix Grocery Store or Larry’s Ice Cream Parlor we would not have been surprised to see Ozzie Smith, Danny Cox or Terry Pendleton. In fact we were just laughing with Cox about running into him at K-Mart once in St. Pete.
Stuper has recently moved to the St. Pete area with his wife Pam. They were both coaches at Yale, he for the baseball team and she for the field hockey team. Stuper is doing a podcast about pitching and giving pitching lessons.
LaPoint and his wife Denise had been living in Florida for a while but they are moving back to his hometown of Glens Falls, New York. He said that while he loves it in Florida in the winter, the summers are hot so they plan to summer in New York and travel to Florida in the winter.
Coppenbarger and his wife have also settled in the St. Pete area and he is also doing a podcast after retiring from his job with the Phillies.
It was great that those guys took time to come out and share memories. Those were some fun times.
Dave LaPoint, Rob Rains, Frank Coppenenbarger, John Stuper at El Cap Restaurant
The Cardinals are better off as far as Spring Training goes in Jupiter because their training facilities were spread out in St. Petersburg.
The biggest reason why they left St. Petersburg was they were spread out all over the city because where the stadium was, there was no room for the extra practice fields. They had the minor league complex at one location, another practice facility where the big league team worked out until the games started and they moved to Al Lang.
The Mets had a practice facility called Huggins-Stengel Field so they often played “B” games against the Mets at that field before the Mets moved to Port St. Lucie.
We went in search of Huggins-Stengel Field and I could not find it, but when we put it in the GPS it took us to a field which looked similar yet different. I remembered there was no fence in right field but just a row of hedges in front of large trees. The complex now has outfield fences.
There was a restaurant called The Wine Cellar at which Cardinals owner (at the time) Gussie Busch would hold a big party. It was in Reddington Beach and after 38 years in business they closed in 2013– but great memories at The Wine Cellar.
The annual party was with the civic leaders and team sponsors, a group called the St. Petersburg “Bat Boys.” He would invite the front office, coaches and Whitey Herzog. Hummel and I (and our wives) were fortunate to be on the guest list every year. Carole and Jack Buck were there as was Mike Shannon and his wife, Judy.
As we head to Jupiter to the Roger Dean Chevrolet Complex where everything has been planned and the complex is perfect for the Cardinals, it was fun to reminisce about the days in St. Petersburg and how things once were.
As with all memories, it seems like it was a simpler time. But then again, baseball is baseball. No matter what they do to the game, it’s basically a simple game; and there is always news of some sort to report on.
Just as the Cardinals fans of 2025 waited and wondered if Nolan Arenado would be traded, we remembered a time in 1988, camping out on the steps of the CNN Center in Atlanta– a much smaller building than it is now– waiting to see if Bruce Sutter was going to leave the Cardinals and sign with the Braves as a free agent.
We have a lot of fun memories and most of those memories include our family and friends– many of whom are our baseball friends. It’s always nice to go back and think of those times.
Now it’s on to Jupiter and what lies ahead for 2025.
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Spring Training 2025: Roger Dean Stadium, Jupiter, Florida
