{"id":666501,"date":"2026-04-06T14:49:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/666501\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T14:49:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:49:21","slug":"ironworkers-viral-views-how-tropicana-fields-roof-was-rebuilt-after-hurricane-milton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/666501\/","title":{"rendered":"Ironworker\u2019s viral views: How Tropicana Field\u2019s roof was rebuilt after Hurricane Milton"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – When Hurricane Milton shredded the roof of Tropicana Field in 2024<\/a>, it left a gaping hole in the St. Petersburg<\/a> skyline.<\/p>\n

Rebuilding it required a specialized team from across the country\u2014and for ironworker Christopher Torres, it meant a view of the Bay Area that few will ever have the opportunity to experience.<\/p>\n

Torres, a member of Ironworkers Local 48, traveled from Oklahoma City to help restore the iconic home of the Tampa Bay Rays.<\/p>\n

But when he first stepped onto the job site, he realized this wasn’t a standard construction project.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Crews put finishing touches on Tropicana Field ahead of the Rays’ home opener<\/a><\/p>\n

“I showed up and I was like, ‘What the hell are we doing here?'” Torres laughed. “It\u2019s a tarp. I\u2019ve never done anything that big.”<\/p>\n

\"\" ‘The Ground Blurs Out’ <\/p>\n

The restoration of the Trop’s roof was a massive, manual undertaking.<\/p>\n

Unlike traditional ironwork that relies on heavy machinery and power tools, this job required finesse and physical strength.<\/p>\n

Torres and his crew spent months nearly 250 feet above the field, using little more than gloves and ratchet straps to pull, stretch, and secure the massive new fabric.<\/p>\n

Working at those heights requires a specific kind of mental fortitude.<\/p>\n

“Once you’re up that high, you just focus on what you’re doing,” Torres said. “The ground kind of blurs out.”<\/p>\n

A Viral View <\/p>\n

While the work was grueling, the perspective was unmatched.<\/p>\n

Dig deeper:<\/p>\n

Torres began posting videos of his “office” to Instagram, offering Rays fans a bird’s-eye view of the stadium and the surrounding city.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The response from the community was immediate\u2014and overwhelming.<\/p>\n

“We get a point of view that a lot of people don’t get to see,” Torres said. “I got a lot of messages from the people in St. Petersburg and Tampa… they were inviting us all out to have drinks at the bar for free, go kayaking for free.”<\/p>\n

Some fans even offered to send the crew money via cash apps, which Torres politely declined. “We make a good living,” he said. “But we\u2019re proud of our work and we love doing it.”<\/p>\n

Sunsets and Second Homes <\/p>\n

Beyond the local hospitality, it was the Florida scenery that left a lasting impression on the Oklahoman.<\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

“It was the sunsets and the sunrises, man. Especially in the morning,” Torres recalled. “You\u2019ve got the ocean and the sun… you have a perfect view up there. I could\u2019ve taken a date up there!”<\/p>\n

As Tropicana Field officially reopens under its restored roof, Torres has returned home, but he says a piece of him remains in St. Pete. He understands why the locals were so invested in seeing the dome made whole again.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s a pride thing,” he said. “It\u2019s your state, it\u2019s your city. I\u2019d be happy, too.”<\/p>\n

The Source: This article was written with an interview with Christopher Torres and previous FOX 13 News reports. \u00a0<\/p>\n

St. Petersburg<\/a>Tampa Bay Rays<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – When Hurricane Milton shredded the roof of Tropicana Field in 2024, it left a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2377],"tags":[5,610,4,169,15094,297,611,5796,2550,68,2551,2549,609],"class_list":{"0":"post-666501","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-rays","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-pinellas","13":"tag-rays","14":"tag-rays-baseball","15":"tag-st-petersburg","16":"tag-tampa-bay","17":"tag-tampa-bay-rays","18":"tag-tampabay","19":"tag-tampabayrays","20":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116358321772811827","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}