Devil Rays History

The Devil Rays after having been encouraged by their partners in expansion NL West victory impulsively acquired big sluggers Greg Vaughn, and Vinny Castillia from the National League to make their team competitive. The trade gave the Devil Rays some hope as McGriff, Canseco, Vaughn, and Castillia each hit 30 homers in a season. But the trade proved to a major flop since Castillia hit 6 HRs, and .219 at bat. Jose Canseco also injured. Greg Vaughn managed to hit 28 HRs in 127 games. The Devil Rays ended the season in last place again with a 69-92 record. In 2001, the Rays started the season with a miserable performance. As a result Manager Larry Rothschild was fired to be replaced by Hal McRae. The team also suffered apathy of their admirers. To improve their performance, the team decided added some new prospects and released Vinny Castillia and McGriff. The trade turned out to be positive for the team as the Rays played relatively better. However, the loss was also apparent. The team finished the season in last place for the fourth consecutive year.

Moreover, the tams failure was fueled because of the Arizona Diamondbacks Fall Classic victory in just their 4th season. In 2002, the Devils ineffectiveness continued. With one more losing season, the Devil Rays became the first team in more then 20 years to lose 100 games in consecutive season. Toby Hall and Jason Tyner were sent down to the Minors. The following season the team in order to improve their management traded their only All-Star Randy Winn to the Seattle Mariners for Manager Lou Piniella. Under Lou Piniella, Carl Crawford hit a spectacular 3-run walk off homer, which gave the Devil Rays a 6-4 win over the Boston Red Sox. He won the AL stolen base crown with 55 and rookie OF Rocco Baldelli finished the season at third place Rookie of the Year voting. However, these were the only highlights of the season. The Devil Rays finished the season with a record of 63-99. In 2004, the Devil Rays for the first time in their history finished with a 71-91 record, 3 games ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays, which is their best record to date.

They finished in fourth place in the AL East. Outfielder Carl Crawford won the American League stolen base title for the second year in a row, Tampa Bay before having been awarded the Devil Rays, the city was a preferred choice of the teams that threatened to move from their respective cities in pursuit of a new ballpark or the renovations of their old ballpark. But once they got what they wanted, Tampa Bay would left without any Major League team. As a result Tampa Bay built a ballpark to lure a team. They changed the state-of-the-art Suncoast Dome into a MLB ballpark. The 1991 expansion passed, but the city didn’t receive any team. In 1993, Vincent J. Naimoli agreed to purchase the Giants and decided to relocate the team in Tampa. However MLB refused the move. At this Vince Naimoli threatened a lawsuit against the MLB. Feared by the court proceeding, MLB again decided to expand its domain. Moreover in the middle of a dreadful player's strike in 1995, MLB finally awarded a team to Tampa Bay, and Phoenix to begin play in 1998.

Chuck LaMar was hired as the team’s first general manager in 1995. National League’s Atlanta Braves, LaMar became the team’s assistant general manager. The Rays played professional baseball in 1998 before a sold out crowd at Tropicana Field. Under the direction of former Florida Marlins pitching Coach Larry Rothschild, the Rays won 63 games. The team finished last in its division. The legendary ballplayers who joined the team were Wade Boggs, Fred McGriff, Wilson Alvarez, and Roberto Hernandez. Before the start of 1999 regular season games, the Rays drafted star player José Canseco. Jose Canseco hit his 400th career HR against one of his former teams the Blue Jays, and Wade Boggs marked his career’s high point by becoming the first player ever to hit a Home Run for his 3,000th career base hit. However, despite of these career milestones, the Devils Rays ended the season last place finish. The logo of the team has the words “TAMPA BAY” placed over a green colored devil ray. The mascot of the team is Raymond. The Devil Rays play their home games in Tropicana Field, a domed stadium located in St. Petersburg, Florida