Major League Baseball to award expansion franchises to Tampa St Petersburg.

If you believe it, you can make it happen.

But Rick Dodge is one of the smartest people on the planet.

The most powerful assistant city manager in the history of the United States.

Dodge still maintains the Tampa Bay winds up.

Rick was an amazing man.

He was the fella who was in charge of trying to bring this team here.

But what if baseball goes another way?

Would not let that dream die.

I don't think I'd be sitting here talking to you about Major League Baseball in St Petersburg without Rick Dodge's considerable effort.

So the Tampa Bay Giants are still alive for now.

Look at it this way.

When I first got the job, I would get newspapers and I would see the name Rick Dodge and I would see assistant city manager.

And I'm thinking, okay, what is an assistant city manager being so involved in these baseball talks?

And then the first time I met him, I realized, oh, that's why Rick was a tremendous guy in economic development, business development for Pinellas County.

He was set to go anywhere in any place to argue, to get a baseball team in St Petersburg.

That became, I think, his obsession, his drive, his motivation, in addition to his job.

At beautiful new Comiskey Park that's high in the right field.

I fell in love with Rick Dodge probably the day I met him.

My first impression of him was, Here's a little guy who has so much energy and so much enthusiasm you couldn't help but like him.

You grew up in Philadelphia and he actually became a special ed teacher for a while, which tells me he's got to have patience.

And patience was absolutely huge in getting this quest going.

It was important to Rick that whatever was done was done for the good of the people making it better economically, more jobs, tourism.

That's where his heart was.

He had great support from the community, a great support from the government, which made his work possible.

And Rick was really good at communicating.

He was really good at showing what Pinellas St Petersburg had to offer.

We have a love affair with baseball that began in 1914 with the Saint Louis Cardinals, and that love affair continues.

We have an excellent fan base.

We have a great corporate community.

Rick learned how the game was played, made friends among the owners.

He was following up every nook and cranny of every franchise, every city that expressed interest here.

He did all of the legwork.

Nobody else did anything to pull together the statistics that we could show to Major League Baseball or to make them feel that we could produce a viable place for Major League Baseball.

The $110 million Florida Suncoast Dome is the result of perseverance and planning that began in the early 1970s.

It's a dream, all right.

Very big and very expensive.

A magnet for concerts, conventions, downtown development.

And keep your fingers crossed, folks.

A baseball team.

I think the area of St Petersburg certainly deserves a major league ballclub.

You know, they took the step to go out and put a stadium here before they had a ballclub showing the interest.

They've sold tickets, they've got an outstanding TV market.

That's high and the right field.

Sammy goes back.

The White Sox had a real interest in looking here as a possible new home, so the city needed someone to really be that point person to make that happen.

And this has got Rick Dodger written all over it.

Shortly after the approval to build the dome, he was off to meet Jerry Reinsdorf and to sell St. Pete as as a potential relocation spot.

We all kind of laughed.

Yeah.

Okay.

Right.

Chicago White Sox are gonna move to St. Pete, uh huh You know, there had been stories in newspapers about the White Sox needing a new ballpark and having trouble getting it.

And Rick contacted me out of the blue.

The Sox tired of aging Comiskey Park, were looking for a new place to play.

They were set to come to the Sun Coast Dome.

Even though there had been some previous flirtations with the Tampa Bay area and other teams and deals they thought might come through, that this one seemed the most real.

Very soon, White Sox baseball might be this dome in St Petersburg, Florida.

They were going to make the move.

Baseball had approved the move and in essence had approved the stadium.

We came to an understanding, though, that St Petersburg would would make a serious effort to get us.

That would probably enable us to get the stadium in Illinois because, you know, all of a sudden there was competition.

I told Rick, I said, you know, we're probably just going to end up using you.

You're going to be the you're going to be the lever that enables us to get a stadium in Illinois.

Illinois lawmakers almost let the Sox move south.

Forget the White Sox.

Vote No.

But after some legislative arm twisting by Governor Jim Thompson, Chicago kept the White Sox St Petersburg settled for respect.

St Petersburg is a great city, great fan support.

We're going to have a heck of a stadium put up number one on the list for expansion.

Beautiful new Comiskey Park The fact hat they had such leverage.

If you're a major league owner and you wanted a new stadium, all you had to do was put out there that you spoke with Rick Dodge.

We're not talking about a facility that can be built.

We're talking about a facility that is built and ready to play in.

The game of the expansion baseball is a serious game of hardball.

Logistically, what would it take to get the Mariners and the Florida Suncoast Dome ready?

Even Seattle officials believe if the business community can't make this work, it'll be a lost cause.

The giant deal has been sent to extra innings.

The owners discuss the pros and cons of keeping the team in San Francisco or moving them to the Florida Suncoast Dome.

What were your first impressions?

Just tremendous.

I mean, it's hard to believe that there's not a team here.

In some ways, we're sort of surprised it's taken this long to develop.

Dodgers spent more than a decade planning this dome, looking for a team and believing one will come.

After 13 years, St Petersburg is still waiting for baseball expansion and the fulfillment of a dream.

Rick, he did feel it.

He felt the ups, he felt the downs, There was the euphoria and then the crash because the process was a very long process, years and years and years before it actually happened.

We're all having a great time, right?

Okay.

Well, let's bring the major leagues to Tampa Bay.

I always thought of Rick as being that that dog who grabbed your pant leg and wouldn't let go.

And I think that's what baseball saw in him, too.

He time after time would not let that dream die.

We lose the White Sox, but we're not out of the picture.

We lose the Giants, but we're not out of the picture.

We lose the Mariners, but we're still in the picture.

We lose at Nationals League expansion race, but we're still in the picture.

I point to Rick Dodge for a lot of that because of the foundation that he played.

As he and Mr. Reinsdorf talked later, it's like, we will get you a team.

We'll get you a team.

You've worked way too hard on this.

High fly ball into right field.

When the American League decided to expand that, Jerry Reinsdorf had made it very clear to Rick Dodge this one's for you.

This one's for you.

After all this effort.

After all this time.

After all of this?

Yeah, I remember saying that.

That this is for you because there was nobody more important.

And getting baseball in the Tampa Bay area and St Petersburg in particular, the Rick Dodge.

Major League Baseball is voted 28 to nothing to award expansion franchises to Tampa St Petersburg.

Look at the crush of the crowd.

You can see the excitement in their eyes.

This is a dramatic day in Tampa Bay, a day decades in the making.

I think the fans, the people of St Pete have waited a long time for this.

You know, they deserve a major league team and we're real excited to play some good baseball as well.

The birth of a franchise with the battles that had gone through to get this team, I think certainly made it a very momentous occasion.

The heaviest part of anything is holding other people's dreams in your pocket and being responsible for them, even in a little way.

You got so tantalizingly close so many times you wondered if you're going to get back there or not.

But if there's anything that I'd say about our area, it's been relentless and business like, and that paid off today.

He's the one who actually made it happen.

I don't think he nearly gets nearly enough credit for a baseball team coming to this town.

They should put up a statue sitting outside that stadium.

That's that's how important he was.

He would absolutely hate having the spotlight on him.

And I say that.

And yet it's well-deserved.

Rick Dodge stood for everything that was good.

He was just a good guy.

You know, he was fun to be with.

He knew the role that he played and he was very proud of it.

Love of my life.

He was proud of the team and who they were and what they did.

He was watching his baby.