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Tampa Bay Devil Rays
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The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg,
Florida. The Devil Rays are currently in the East Division of the American League.
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays play their home games at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg,
Florida. The Devil Rays main rivalries are the New York Yankees and the Boston Red
Sox. Tickets to the big rival games are a hot commodity and fans sit on the edge
of their seats just waiting for a fly ball or a strike three call-out.
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays franchise was awarded to Tampa Bay in 1995 as an expansion
franchise. With its rich baseball tradition and growing population, the Tampa Bay
area made many unsuccessful attempts to acquire a major league baseball team in
the 1980s and 1990s. The Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, Chicago White Sox,
Texas Rangers, and Seattle Mariners all considered moving to either Tampa Bay or
St. Petersburg before deciding to remain in their current locations. After final
approval for the expansion team, the Tampa Bay organization spent the next few years
assembling the front office as well as the future team. Former Atlanta Braves front
office guru, Chuck Lamar, was hired as the first general manager and Larry Rothschild
was named the Devil Rays first manager. There were 35 players added to the active
roster in the Expansion Draft of 1997. Those players included Tony Saunders, Bobby
Abreu, Wade Boggs, Fred McGriff & Wilson Alverez. Their original plan was to try
to field a competitive team and not accept a losing team while building their franchise
with young talent.
The Devil Rays played their first game on March 31, 1998 against the Detroit Tigers
at Tropicana Field. The announced crowd of 45,369 saw the Tampa Bay Devil Rays lose
11-6 on a day when Wade Boggs hit the franchises first home run and Wilson Alverez
threw the first pitch. Things did not get any better for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays
that season. They finished in last place in the American League East from that year
until the 2003 season.
In 1999 and 2000, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays attempted to field a contender by paying
huge contracts to "over the hill" players that never panned out. The Devil Rays
acquired Vinny Castillo, Jose Canseco and Greg Vaughn. The franchise dubbed the
line up as the "Hit Show". Unfortunately, the "Hit Show" turned out to be more of
a comedy and none of the acquired players hit their stride. The only bright spot
on the entire 1999 season was Wade Boggs collecting his 3000th hit on August 7,
1999. Boggs retired after that season and then he became the only Tampa Bay Devil
Rays player to have his number retired.
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays, in an attempt to change the countries perception of their
franchise, changed their team colors and uniforms as well as acquired highly-touted
outfielder Ben Grieve from Oakland prior to the 2001 season. Neither of the moves
helped and Larry Rothschild was fired as manager and replaced by Hal McRae on April
18, 2001. By the end of the 2001 season and another last place showing in their
division caused the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to completely shift gears and slash payroll
and attempt to build with young talent. The 2002 season saw the emergence of Aubrey
Huff, Toby Hall, Randy Winn and Carl Crawford. Unfortunately, the coming out party
for these young players could not prevent the Devil Rays from having their worst
season ever.
Prior to the 2003 season, the Tampa bay Devil Rays hired Lou Pinella as the manager
and moved Hal McRae to a front office post. The team had mildly improved success
in 2003 and finished 70-91 in 2004. That was the best record and team history and
the first time that the Devil Rays finished out of the cellar in the American League
East. The season was highlighted by the continued development of Aubrey Huff, Carl
Crawford and Rocco Baldelli into some of the top young players in baseball.
The 2005 and 2006 seasons were nothing more than a continuation of previous years.
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays won 67 games in 2005 and 61 games in 2006. Both years were
considered disappointments due to the core of young players that had been developed
by the team. Unfortunately, Rocco Baldelli missed the entire 2005 season due to
injuries. That didn't stop the Tampa Bay Devil Rays from ranking 3rd in the American
League in team batting average. On the other hand, the Devil Rays pitching staff
compiled the second worst ERA in the American League. Lou Pinella became frustrated
by the Devil Rays direction and reached a settlement after the 2005 season to leave
his job as the Devil Rays manager. Due to a strong finish in 2005 and the young
talent on the team, the 2006 season home opener was attended by 40,199 screaming
fans. That was the highest turnout since the 1998 Inaugural Season Home Opener.
The fans were forced to live through another losing season despite the early optimism.
The team admitted that they weren't going to contend and they purged many of their
veteran players before the trading deadline. The only positives from the 2006 season
were that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays finished with their first home field winning
record and attendance was up 20%.
Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida is known as a loud stadium and offers
a great home field advantage when it is full. Fans are anxious for the Devil Rays
front office to help its young players develop into a solid core of excellent players.
Fans will be lined up to see the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Tropicana Field and the
best tickets often go fast. It's a stadium where other teams dread to play and the
Devil Rays love to call home. Buy your favorite games early!
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