Opening Ceremonies 2005 

Opening Ceremonies 2005 

(St. Petersburg, Fl) Tampa Bay Devil Ray's No. 43 Jeff Niemann walks to the mound to throw out the first pitch for the 2005 season..

(St. Petersburg, Fl) Devil Ray's Jeff Niemann pitches to Fossil Park's Collin Shumake...officialy opening the 2005 baseball season at Fossil Park Youth Baseball.

Opening Ceremonies 2005

Opening Ceremonies 2005

(St. Petersbusrg, Fl)  Jeff Niemann meets Collin Shumake and Master of Ceremonies Bill Henry and will autograph the official first pitch..

(St. Petersburg, Fl) Jeff Niemann towering over young Collin Shumake during opening ceremonies at Fossil Park.

Opening Ceremonies 2005

Opening Ceremonies 2005

(St. Petersburg, Fl) Mayor Rick Baker, council Member Bill Foster, and Jeff Niemann chat for a few moments after the opening pitch.

(St. Petersburg, Fl) A warm congratulations and welcome to Devil Ray's Jeff Niemann from St. Petersburg's Mayor Rick Baker.

Opening Ceremonies 2005

Opening Ceremonies 2005

(St. Petersburg, Fl) A crowd of fans gather around Jeff Niemann as he leaves the park to resume his duties at the Ray's Complex.

(St. Petersburg, Fl) Fossil Park's newly constructed field ready for opening day ceremonies and play for the 2005 baseball season.  Constructed through a joint venture between the City of St. Petersburg, FL and Fossil Park Youth Baseball, Inc.

Opening Ceremonies 2005

Opening Ceremonies 2005

(St. Petersburg, Fl) Fossil Park's newly constructed field has its first homerun hit.  The Freshman Red Sox's D.J. Combs gets the honor of hitting the first ball out and over left-center field fence on opening day.  (Shown above with the HR Ball and Coach Brian VanNostrand).

(St. Petersburg, Fl) Mike Lovejoy (Shown above crossing home plate) was the first run scored on Fossil Park's newly dedicated field.  Lovejoy scored the first run in the game opener vs. the Bulls on Opening Day 2005...but it was D.J. Combs in the second game that got the big HR.