Additional information
by Rick Vaughn (Author)
Author Rick Vaughn uncovers the stories that keep Tampa's passion for the National Pastime burning. Since 1913, Tampa has provided the background for some of the Major League Baseball's most iconic spring moments led, of course, by the longest home run of Babe Ruth's career. Tampa was the scene of the Grapefruit League's first no-hitter and the only spring time All-star Game. It was the first gathering place of the Big Red Machine and the Core Four. Well over 125 Hall of Famers honed their craft among the city's three major league ballparks: Plant Field, Al Lopez Field and Steinbrenner Field. All of it resulted from a diverse city's love of the game that began with baseball-crazed cigar factory workers before the turn of the 20th century.
Author Biography
Rick Vaughn served for more than thirty years in the sports communications field with MLB's Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays and the NFL's Washington Redskins. Afterward, Rick was the director of the Respect 90 Foundation, the charitable organization created by baseball's three-time Manager of the Year Joe Maddon. A 1979 graduate of George Mason University, Rick became a first-time author in 2022 with 100 Years of Baseball on St. Petersburg's Waterfront: How the Game Shaped a City, published by Arcadia Press. Rick and his wife, Sue, have two daughters, two grandsons and three rescue pups.
