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© St. Petersburg Times, published April 29, 2001
Regarding Gary Shelton's recent column about the Devil Rays' woes (Raysball, April 10), there are many areas that the team falls short in comparison with other professional franchises.
I am a season-ticket holder from Day 1 and have never been called by anyone in the ticket department about upgrading, adding or even renewing my seats.
While concession prices are comparable with other pro franchises, they are still high. Many teams allow fans to bring their own food into the stadiums. But the Rays continue to search fans' handbags and coats lest someone dare bring in a bottle of water.
Other teams do a great job of bringing in and recognizing groups on the message board. The Rays must not feel groups are important because even when they have groups, they keep it a secret to the rest of the fans.
The Rays never announce the attendance unless it is above 30,000. Most teams announce the good crowds with the bad.
These are little things individually, but they add up collectively to give an impression of aloofness that the public can perceive and use as reasons to reject the team.
-- Larry Halstead, Seminole
Concerning Mike Veeck's quotes (Solutions for Rays not easy, April 26), he needs to keep his "sour grapes" to himself. He couldn't keep his job with the Rays, so he is with the Marlins throwing stones. He thinks if the Rays were in Tampa, they would draw 2.5-million. How does he account for the reversal of attendance when the Lightning and Storm moved to Tampa? Both teams set attendance records while they were in St. Petersburg.
-- Mitch Kanaan, St. Petersburg
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