Glory Days I n the spring of 1998 two new teams played their first season in the big leagues The Arizona Diamondbacks became part of the National League NL and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays joined the American League AL Tampa Bay is a large body of water on the west coast of Florida Two of the cities nearby are Tampa and St Petersburg The Devil Rays played their games in a domed stadium in St Petersburg They shortened their name to Rays in 2008 The Rays started with players chosen from other teams in a special draft Over the next few years they added more veterans Some such as Fred McGriff and Wade Boggs had grown up in this part of Florida 6
LEFT Tampa players are introduced to the crowd on Opening Day in 1998 RIGHT Carl Crawford heads for first base They wanted to finish their careers where they started The Rays also signed Rolando Arrojo and Jose Canseco Their roots were in Cuba a country with many connections to Florida Arrojo became the first Tampa Bay player to be picked for the All-Star Game At the same time the Rays were busy training young players in the minor leagues Julio Lugo Aubrey Huff Toby Hall Randy Winn Rocco Baldelli and Carl Crawford all played their way into the Tampa Bay lineup In 2004 the team began to show signs of improvement The Rays won 12 games in a row during the season and finished in fourth place in the AL East 7
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After the 2004 season the decision to go with young players became even easier Tampa Bay soon needed a manager who could build a winner from the pieces the team was assembling In 2006 the Rays hired Joe Maddon to lead the club Over the next two seasons Maddon learned a lot about his players He saw great talent and a fierce desire to win The Rays had a good pitching staff that included James Shields Matt Garza Andy Sonnanstine Scott Kazmir and Edwin Jackson The team’s top hitters were Crawford B J Upton Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria Nobody worked harder than Longoria or was a better player in the clutch He helped lead the way as Tampa Bay showed signs of becoming a championship contender In 2008 the Rays enjoyed their first winning season They went from last place in the AL East the year before all the way to the World Series No one had expected Tampa Bay to win the pennant Even so LEFT Evan Longoria is a star who is not afraid to play hard and get his uniform dirty ABOVE Joe Maddon shouts encouragement to his team 9
