July 31- Tampa Bay Devil Rays

I had a lot of illusions going into the 2012 Major League Baseball season, especially considering how naïve I was thinking that my MLB Fan Cave experience was going to be all gumdrops and puppy dogs. While there were certainly a lot of moments of positivity from my experience, it was certainly met with a lot of heartbreak. I’ve focused a few of my prior New Era Cap posts on the darker sides of my experience and I assure you that this is not going to be another one, but there is one moment in particular that I need to get off of my chest, man up and admit to as it plays heavily with the story.

Flashback

It was March 29^th, the second game of Opening Day Series in Tokyo, Japan between the Seattle Mariners and my Oakland Athletics. The first game of the series didn’t exactly go as I wanted I it to, but things were certainly starting to look optimistic. In the bottom of the seventh inning the Athletics were down 0-1, but the bats were finally coming to life as Yoenis Cespedes clubbed a two-run shot to give the Athletics a 2-1 lead which was then followed by a solo home run by Josh Reddick immediately after. With a solid lead I was feeling a bit more at ease about things, well… until Jonny Gomes came up for his fourth at-bat in the bottom of the eighth inning. Jonny had struck out twice and flew out in his third at-bat, so I wasn’t really expecting much from him. In fact, I even turned around and said, “Here comes another strikeout to Tyler Hissey, the man who runs all the social media content for the Fan Cave. We talked for a quick moment about this as he was a bigger fan of the deal the Athletics had made to bring him in than I was. Of course, I was basing a lot of my knowledge about him off of his time with the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals. Just as I said, “Yah, just not sure he was a good pick-up,” Jonny crushed the deepest home run of the series into left-centerfield. As stoked as I was to take the trip down the Home Run Slide for the third time in the early hours of the morning, I couldn’t help by look back at Tyler with a facial expression saying, “Yup! I screwed up on that one.” I’ll never forgive myself for that moment of ignorance. I’ve never been the kind of guy to look at a person’s negative qualities on the ball field as opposed to focusing on the things I know they’re more than capable of. Thus, the theme of the 2012 season; rather, the theme of my baseball fandom was established right then and there.

Jonny was born and raised in Petaluma, California, about an hour outside of San Francisco. His parents divorced when he was a toddler. His father was around, but not engaged. His mother raised him and his older brother Joey, who I wrote about on January 16th, on a home health-care worker’s salary. Times were so tough that he and Joey used to scavenge camp sites to retrieve beer and soda cans to recycle them for any cash they could. When it came to baseball, their mother was the biggest supporter, giving them the choice of basic needs like electricity or new baseball cleats. In almost every case the boys chose baseball. After all, candles work just as well, and when you have something to help keep you motivated in succeeding at life, that will always trump. Most of the Gomes’ lives were spent moving from house to house, sometimes staying with friends or their mother’s patients when they were evicted for not being able to pay rent, something Jonny never forgot.

He attended Casa Grande High School in Petaluma and quickly became one of the standouts on the team, right behind his best friend 16-year-old Adam Westcott. On May 23^rd, 1997 Westcott and Jonny, as sophomores, were playing for the Sonoma County League Championship. With the score tied in the top of fifth inning with the bases loaded (Jonny on third) and two outs, Westcott came to the plate. As Jonny described in an interview for ESPN’s E:60, “Adam’s up. Best player, best hitter, the game is on the line, what’s going to happen? It was like a movie, all you have to do is press play.” With the swing of the bat Westcott lobbed a single into shallow left-centerfield which allowed Gomes and the runner on second to score. The championship was theirs.

The next night the two boys went out with a few female friends joyriding. Both of them wanted the back passenger seat and ultimately decided to leave it on a coin flip to see who would be riding on the window, and who would be stuck in the middle. Westcott won the toss. That night on a usually deserted stretch of road know as “the roller coaster,” the teens almost hit head on with a car coming in the opposite direction, in an attempt not to hit one another the driver swerved and lost control of the car on a gravel bed on the side of the road. Due to their speed the car juked ferociously into a telephone pole. Most of the passengers walked away with a few scrapes and bruises, Westcott took the full force of the impact. He died two days later. To honor his friend Jonny got his first tattoo, Westcott’s initials (APW) wrapped in barbed wire.

After graduating from high school in 1999, Jonny attended Santa Rosa Junior College where he continued to play ball. His hard work and dedication to his craft paid off as he was selected in the 18^th round of the 2001 amateur draft by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. From 2001-2004 Jonny moved through the minor league ranks, even making a stop in my old home town of Bakersfield, California for a full season with Joey in 2002. Jonny played in 135 games that season in heat that is borderline the closest one can ever come to playing in the first ring of Hell. He crushed 30 home runs for the Bakersfield Blaze that season and hit .276. On Christmas Eve of that year Gomes experienced persistent chest pains, which he was originally going to try and sleep off. Instead, he checked himself into the hospital. A cardiologist charged a deliberator just in case and explained to Jonny that he was suffering a heart attack, an anteroseptal myocardial infarction (widow-maker) to be more specific. As a result of the heart attack, the Rays' team doctor had to keep nitroglycerin pills on-hand in case Gomes suffered a second heart attack.

In 2003 and 2004 Gomes got called up for a total of 13 games, but spent the majority of his time in AAA with the Durham Bulls routinely hitting dingers. In 2005 Gomes was finally called up for his longest stretch and played in 101 games that season, the highlight of which took place on July 30, 2005. This cap was only used for that one season as an alternate style, mostly Sundays. The July 30th game happened to fall on a Saturday. Close enough.

7/30/2005: The Devil Rays were hosting the Kansas City Royals that day with future American League Cy Young-winner Zack Greinke on the mound. Gomes was already having an exception July, the kind that any rookie would love to build a career on. In Gomes’s first at-bat in the bottom of the second inning, he went down on three straight pitches, Greinke’s first strikeout of the game. This would be the last time Gomes didn’t make contact with the ball. When Gomes’s came up in the bottom of the third inning he worked a 2-2 count on Greinke. When Greinke threw the hanging slider, Gomes turned on it, knocking it into the far corner of the left-centerfield stands at Tropicana Field. In his next at-bat, same results. For his fourth, and final at-bat of the game the Royals put in reliever Mike MacDougal and; sure enough, it was gone. Gomes had become the first player in franchise history to log three home runs in one game. The rest of the season went pretty well for Gomes. He finished with a .282 average, 21 home runs and 54 RBI which was good enough for a third place finish for the AL Rookie of the Year Award.

Jonny’s career became a bit odd after that as he and Devil Rays/Rays battled over what his role would be with the club. Gomes was immediate fan favorite, he hustled every game and always came to the defense of his teammates; however, his playing time diminished as players like Carl Crawford and Ben Zobrist were called up. He was sent up and down from AAA numerous times, but could never string enough hits together to keep face and stay up in The Show. At the end of the 2008 season Gomes and the Rays parted ways. He was immediately picked up by the Reds on a minor league contract, was cut after spring training, but stuck in AAA with the Louisville Bats where he was called up in May. Jonny spent three years with the Reds. During his time he had another three-home run game on August 13, 2009, the first two of which came off of former Nationals’ pitcher, my friend Colin Balester. Gomes also played 148 games in 2010, the most in a  season of his career, but he was also one of the lowest paid players at $800,000. I know that seems like a lot in terms of baseball dollars, but reflect that upon his skill level and the road he took to get there. In the middle of the 2011 season the Reds traded Gomes to the Nationals where he hit .204 with eight home runs and 12 RBI in 43 games. At the end of the season he was granted free agency where a hopefully Billy Beane was waiting with a $1 million contract.

Back to reality

Sorry, had a lot that I needed to cram in about the man before I could continue, it’ll all make sense in the end. In the month after I was eliminated from the Fan Cave I had two choices:

1. Wallow in my misery and not watch baseball.

2. Get my ass on the road and watch as much baseball as I possibly could.

Needles to say, option two was way more satisfying. The first leg of my tour took me to Seattle to meet up with my friend, and Mariners fan Tommy Bentley (@RealTomBentley). 

He allowed me to crash with him for a few days so I took care of all the tickets and beer (fair trade). On the first game of the series we each grabbed a beer and crushed them during batting practice, then we headed over to the Athletics’ side dugout for batting practice so we could grab a few pictures. A few of the guys were stretching, a few were in the cage, but the one thing I wasn’t expecting, nor was I paying attention to, was Jonny walking over to me. “Hey!” he said. “What the hell are you doing here?” Not ay any point in time before this moment had I ever met Jonny, nor did I have any clue that he knew who I was, but for the next few minutes we talked about why I wasn’t in the Fan Cave anymore, how my time was and what I was up to now. He didn’t have to do it, I certainly wasn’t expecting it, but I was truly appreciative of the fact that he took the time to get to know me as I was the Athletics representative in the Fan Cave.

The next day Tommy and I kept to the beer chug and batting practice routine, and sure enough Jonny came back over to shoot the breeze until it was his time in the cage. The thing that I never took into consideration that he finally mentioned was that he became genuinely interested in me because of the articles that Yahoo!, Deadspin and NBC Sports had written, as well as the MLB Tickets commercial I was featured in. If you haven’t noticed, Jonny has a lot of ink, and much like myself, people with ink generally like to talk to other people with ink. At the time I hadn’t planned on sticking around for the last game of the series, but I did mention that he would probably see me in Oakland. We shook hands and he went back to practice, but only after making a pit stop behind the cage  to play catch with one of his friend’s kids.

When we met up in Oakland it came on the afternoon when the Athletics had invited me to throw out first pitch, July 18, 2012. I wrote about this portion back on April 1^st, so I’ll try to keep in succinct. I was actually the second person who was going to be throwing out the first pitch. Roberta Gonzalez, a local Emmy Award-winning news broadcaster, was the first to go. She was way more nervous than I was, mostly because she would be throwing to Josh Reddick, her favorite player. She asked me if I wouldn’t mind warming up with her, I obliged needing the practice myself. What I wasn’t expecting was having to do three interviews with a few people on the field before my throw; thus, I wasn’t able to get loose. Jonny then spotted me, came over and chatted it up with me while the first lady took the mound. We both watched in awe as she threw a laser right down Broadway into Reddick’s glove. Jonny then turned to me, nudged my arm and said, “Well… don’t fuck it up.” Truly inspiring.

We saw each other again in Toronto when the Athletics took on the Blue Jays, you may remember this series as the time that Reddick did his Spider-man impersonation and the A’s dealt the Jays their worst home defeat in the franchise’s history, 16-0. I was only able to make it to the second game (the 16-0 game) and the final game of the series which the Athletics ended up losing despite home runs from Reddick and Brandon Inge. Prior to the game Jonny had spotted me as my seats were right behind the dugout, so we chatted it up again. It was at this point I had asked him about his version of “The Shark” he had been doing which I wrote about in my post from June 24^th. For him it was called the Mahi-Mahi, and it was something that he and Kurt Suzuki were doing. Even with that, I still needed a photo.

I touched on quite a bit of this in my post on Travis Blackley and the Australia World Baseball Classic cap, but I left a bit out. Prior to the first game in Cleveland against the Indians almost all of the pitchers had spotted me and came over to say hello and thank you for being so supportive of the team. There was a rain that had pounded down throughout the day which was looking like it might postpone the game so batting practice was canceled. But, as luck would have it, everything cleared up and the game was on. My tickets were a few rows behind the Athletics dugout and I really had nothing to do before the game so I kicked it in my seat. Shortly thereafter Jonny and the gang emerged from the dugout for warm-ups and stretching. At one point Jonny and I locked eyes and I gave him one of my “wink and finger point” hellos, he then became very animated and summoned me over to the rail. “Dude! I’m so glad you’re here, “ he said. “There’s someone here you have to meet.” He then walked with me headed toward home plate and called out to a dude named JJ. Like Jonny is Seattle, I wasn’t expecting JJ to know who I was. Jonny gave us a quick introduction before he headed back to the field, and I immediately knew this was somebody I needed to get to know.

JJ, a die-hard Reds fan, is a tattoo artist in Cincinnati at Doll Star Tattoo. Jonny and JJ had become acquainted during his time with the Reds and built a string relationship from it. In fact, most of Jonny’s ink that has been featured was done by JJ, including Jonny’s American History tribute piece on his leg. JJ was even featured in the E:60 piece. JJ knew who I was because

1. He’s a tattoo artist.

2. He’s a baseball fan.

In my travels I soon found out that reason number one was way more prevalent as tattoo artists love to talk and show off their creations. Anyway, JJ and I kicked it together and watched the game. Jonny unfortunately didn’t get any playing time that night, or throughout the series. The conversation started out about the Fan Cave, but it then led into all of the work that he had done on Jonny as well as a anti-Chicago Cubs piece he was doing for a Milwaukee Brewers fans which featured Bernie Brewer with an assault rifle blowing the Cub away. And people think my tattoos are weird. 

We grabbed some beers, some hot dogs and I also grabbed a cup of this buffalo chicken macaroni n’ cheese which was legendary. The Athletics won the game 3-0, which made for their third straight win. There wasn’t a very big crowd at The Jake that night, but there was a father and son who were sitting right behind us that we talked to occasionally throughout the game. The kid was about nine or 10 and kept hollering for a ball in between innings. I was a bit surprised that he never got one, seeing as there weren’t that many kids around, but I assured him that he would get one by the end of the game. When that time came he was a bit bummed out, so I reached into my backpack and pulled one out for him. For some reason Ryan Cook developed a tendency to throw baseballs at me anytime we met up, I’ll go into more detail in a future post about that, so I had one on me to give to anybody who wanted one. JJ and I thought this kid had been super cool so I was more than happy to give it to him.

JJ and I swapped numbers and said he would hit me when the two of them headed out. What they and I weren’t expecting was that in the hour between when the game ended and when I ran into them I was going to be four beers and a shot it. Long story short, I ran into a few of the TV crew for the Athletics who I had met randomly up in Toronto as well. So, we caught up. When I met up with JJ and Jonny they were only about two beers in, which was totally fine with me as I needed to stop or I would be sleeping in my car as I had to drive back to Pittsburgh that night only to have to drive to Buffalo, New York the next morning for a visit to New Era Headquarters only to then drive back to Cleveland for the next game and finally drive back to Pittsburgh again. Yah… so I enjoyed another beer on the next round, of course! Jonny and JJ had been talking about a design for another tattoo that Jonny was going to get at which I asked if I could sit in on it. I think it was the alcohol that gave me the courage to ask. Both of them were totally cool with it and said that they would be doing it the next day. In the meantime, since the bar was pretty dead we just chilled and engaged in conversation with the waitress which somehow broke out into a discussion about a party that she was going to head to where a “Jungle Juice-type” concoction was going to be served, except she didn’t call it Jungle Juice, but all three of us called it that. For the life of me, I can remember every detail of that conversation, venue, etc, but I can’t remember what she called it. No matter. It was late and they needed to rest so we parted ways until the next day. At this point I was sobering up significantly and felt that I needed to get something greasy in my belly. What I wasn’t expecting was to run into the TV crew again which of course ended with more beer and eventually some pizza. Needless to say, it was a miserable drive to Pittsburgh and Buffalo when I woke up in my car the next morning.

Jonny had left tickets for me at Will Call for the next game, and I was still in a bit of a cloudy mood after somehow making it to New Era in Buffalo 10 minutes before my meeting. Not wanting to let those tickets go to waste, as well not wanting to leave Cleveland without saying good-bye to everyone, I forged ahead and drove the two and-a-half hours to the game and kicked it with JJ. The A’s won 7-0 despite being struck out 16 times by Indians pitchers. This only aided my theory on strikeouts: Strikeouts don’t matter as long as they’re not all consecutive. 27 outs will happen, as long as you’re able to put runs on the board and get the win it shouldn’t matter how they occur.

I had to go run and meet up with a friend before the game ended so I regrouped with JJ and Jonny after the game. The hotel was only a few blocks away so Jonny elected to walk back with the two of us with a sack of Bud Lights rather than take the team bus. When we arrived JJ had the valet bring his truck up so we could get his tattoo gun and other supplies out of the back. Right at about the time the valet returned, the A’s team bus arrived. For some reason the feeling of “I want to be anywhere but here” washed over me. It’s not that I was nervous about being there or anything, I just felt out of place, like I was intruding. I had touched on this in my Blackely piece in that I’ve always done my best to not violate the line between the fans and the players. Tonight, I was clearly pole vaulting over it. JJ had his hands full with his equipment so I brought up the chair. Based on the time it took us to get everything I thought all of the players would have been up the elevator by the time we strolled inside. Nope! We caught the next elevator with winning pitcher Tommy Milone, Derek Norris, Coco Crisp and Evan Scribner. Norris elected to stand at the back of the elevator with his face against the wall; it was hard not to laugh. What I also didn’t know about this hotel was that the elevator only takes you to the sixth floor. From there you have to take another elevator to get to the floor that your room is on. Sooooooo… when we got to the sixth floor the entire team was milling about, waiting for their next elevators. That feeling of not wanting to be there grew stronger. I did my best to keep my eyes on the prize and not acknowledge anyone’s presence when JJ and I both heard Josh Donaldson yell, “Hey! Aren’t you that guy from the Fan Cave!?” I slowly turned my head, smiled and said, “Yah!” To which he responded, “Sick!!!” That was the extent of any conversation I had with anyone in that room. It took one more elevator with Chris Carter, Milone and Scribner and a walk to JJ’s room before I could let out my laughter from Donaldson’s reaction. “Sick!” has thus been incorporated into every conversation JJ and I have had since that night.

A few minutes after we got in the room Jonny rolled in with the bag of Bud Lights and passed them around before turning on he TV to MLB Network. We all chatted for a bit while JJ set up his machines, I did what I could to make myself useful. The commercial I was in for MLB Tickets came on at which Jonny, with a swig of beer in his mouth, pointed at it, swallowed and said, “This is how all of us first found out who your were.” Pro ball players watch MLB Network as often, if not more often than the fans do, and the first time most of them saw the ad was in the clubhouse of the Coliseum when someone noticed that hat I was wearing, the tattoos and yelled out, “I saw that dude in Deadspin!” This then evolved into “Fan Cave guy” after everyone finally saw me in person on July 18^th (redundant, I know). Regardless, it was still a weird feeling. Jonny then put all of the beers in the fridge and called room service to bring us up a few more. For some reason I asked him, “What about all the beers in the fridge?” To which he responded, “What happens when we run out of those?” You really can’t argue with that logic. It was in this time that I got to know him a little bit better. I asked him about his time in Bakersfield, to which he told me the story about the new guys and the bridge that I mention in my Hank Aaron piece from April 13th. He also told me about how Dusty Baker looks out for every one of his players and that Jayson Werth is one of the smartest, most dedicated players in the game; so much to the point where Werth has used his own money to help make that a winning ball club. He then had to take time out to give his wife and kids a call back home. Everything I ever felt that I needed to know about the guy had occurred within a 24-hour time frame: He’s loyal to his team, his family, his friends and especially his country after he showed off his “Tribute to the USA” tattoo that JJ had done for him. Tonight they were working on a piece for the inside of his right arm above the elbow of a heart with the date of his wedding inside. 

Seriously. How could you not love this guy?

 About an hour in I realized what time it was and also remembered that I had to drive back to Pittsburgh as to drop off my rental car and catch my train to Detroit the next morning. I said my good-byes, thanked both JJ and Jonny for their time and walked back to my car. I grabbed some food, took a light snooze and hit the road. I never saw the finished piece, as something as personal as that really isn’t my place to be nosey. When I rolled to Cincinnati in the middle of September JJ was unfortunately too busy to make it, but he was still able to pull some strings and get me a ticket for the game. One of these days I’ll get back and pay him back for that.

As for Jonny, I’ve only seen him once since that night; October 3, 2012, right after the A’s beat the Texas Rangers on the last day of the season to win the AL West Division crown. One of the guys from the TV crew, the ones I met up with in Toronto and Cleveland, had hooked me up with a media pass for that game. I’ll save most of the details for a later post, but I hung around until Jonny came out so I could tell him congratulations in person. We hugged it out, bro-style, and wished each other well. He had his family with him and plenty of celebrating to do, so I didn’t want to slow him down on that front.

I was both sad and happy for him when the offseason came around. The A’s had offered him a nice one-year deal, but the Boston red Sox upped the ante and gave him a two-year $10 million deal. For a guy who made roughly $1 million per year on one-year contracts, not to mention having gone through all the experiences that life had thrown at him, I didn’t once question why he signed that deal. The man has literally given his heart, and almost died in the process because of it, to play this game. He has always been at the forefront of local charities in and around the Bay Area, and wherever he has played professionally. He was the biggest supporter and mascot for the Petaluma baseball team who almost won the Little League World Series. While it’s a bummer that we couldn’t have his presence in the A’s clubhouse anymore, we all couldn’t be happier for him that he has moved on to greener pastures and still gives his all for the team, the fans and the city he plays in.

June 19- Tampa Bay Devil Rays

I’m still trying to figure out how it’s possible that I own so many Tampa Bay Devil Rays hats at which none of them were actually used on the field. Today marks the third time I’ve written about a Devil Rays cap which was custom made to look like a game-worn cap, but features slight differences to prove its dismissal. The other two caps I wrote about on January 8^th and almost two weeks ago on June 7^th. Both of these caps feature the same logo on the front as this one, the slightly off-center “TB” with the upward moving Devil Ray, but the main differences in each cap came in the form of the bill color or the overall penal and bill color combination. I realize all of this sounds way more complicated than it should, but it’s just the way it is. This particular logo was actually used on the team’s caps from 1999-2000; however, the cap itself featured black panels and a black bill. This cap is a combination of those two years’ caps, according to the panels and logo; however, the purple bill was only used for their home caps during their inaugural season in 1998 on this cap which I wrote about on February 28^th. So in a nut shell, this cap is a combination of the first three years in the history of the Devil Rays. Whew! Now that we have that settled, let’s move on.

I picked this fancy little number up in Union Square in Manhattan on May 7th during my time in the MLB Fan Cave. We had gotten a three-hour break in between games after a short visit from current Beach Boys members Mike Love and Bruce Johnston. Love, if you didn’t know, is the uncle of Minnesota Timberwolves power forward and Oregon-born Kevin Love. Love didn’t say much during the 35 minutes or so that they were there, but Johnston was a gas. For as old as he is the man was full of energy. He told us stories of past tours after he took over at bass in 1965 with the departure of Glen Campbell. Johnston then left the group in 1972 to embark upon a successful solo career. What’s most interesting about this time period is that Johnston won a Grammy award for “Song of the Year” in 1977.

Flashback

In 2011 my roommate at the University of Oregon and I went to Magic Mountain in Valencia, California the day before the Ducks had won the Rose Bowl over the University of Wisconsin Badgers. One of the most popular ides featured is a ridiculous roller coaster called X2. It’s hard to describe its awesomeness so I just suggest you go check it out. One of the perks of waiting in line for over an hour it was that there was a guy kicking it in the middle of the line barriers tossing out trivia questions while we waited. No prizes were awarded, but it was a great way to keep your mind off the lull. For a good 25 minutes while Jared and I were waiting I answered all but one of the questions right, and we’re talking out of about 40 or 50 questions. The topics varied, but I knew my stuff. One of the questions that I only knew was, “What’s the name of the resort that Zak Morris and his friends from “Saved by the Bell” worked at?” The answer: Malibu Sands Beach Club. It also haled that I knew the name of the owner, Leon Carosi, and his daughter Stacey’s names. What’s the point of this tangent you may be thinking? The last question he asked was, “What is the name of the “ironic” sing that Barry Manilow won a Grammy for in 1977, but didn’t write?” As soon as he asked this question he thought he stumped me… until I said, “I Write the Songs.” And then I followed it up with, “Yah, it was written by Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys.” After I let that out the quiz master then said, “Well, on that note I’m going on break.”

Back to the Story

While we were giving Johnston and Love a tour around that song came up in the discussion. It was actually proposed as more of a question from Johnston to see if any of knew what he was talking about. This is when I chimed in with the song title, the artist who got famous for it, what awards he won from it, etc. Johnston was rather blown away by the fact that someone as young as me knew, not only who he was, but so much about his career. This is when I explained to him that I had taken A LOT of music history courses, not to mention, studied a lot of this stuff on my own. This of course was all made better by the fact that my fellow Cave Dwellers and I had no clue they were coming in. I admit it. I get nerdy on occasion.

After they left we were free to mill about. I opted to catch the N train down to Union Station where the largest Lids in the city is located, all the while listening to “Pet Sounds” on my IPod. I had been there a few times before, every visiting pretty much entailing that I would be leaving with somewhere between five and 11 hats. I mean, when you look at a wall like this you just know you’ll find something that you need, especially if you’re an ardent New Era Cap collector like myself.

It wasn’t until I got back to the Fan Cave that I realized I had made a “mistake” in purchasing this cap. I don’t have anything against it; it’s just that I had mistaken the 1998 home cap for this one. I’m a little bit of a stickler when it comes to game style caps is all, but I do really enjoy this one. As for the marks, I had to keep it within the realm of when it could have been used if it were.

#13- Very few really remember this guy playing for the Devil Rays, but he did from 1998-2000. Miguel Cairo was originally signed as a free agent by the Los Angeles Dodgers at the age of 16 in 1990, although he didn’t make his Major League debut until April 17, 1996 with the Toronto Blue Jays where he only played in nine games that season. On November 20, 1996, he was traded to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for minor leaguer Jason Stevenson. Cairo spent most of the 1997 season with the AAA Iowa Cubs, where he hit .279 in 135 games and was selected to the American Association All-Star team. He also appeared in 16 games for the Cubs and had 7 hits in 29 at-bats (.241).

Having not played in very many games Cairo was not added to the Cubs’ protected list for the upcoming expansion draft, which would help the incoming Devil Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks fill their rosters and minor league affiliates. The Devil Rays selected Cairo with the eighth overall pick. He hit his first home run on April 28, 1998 off of Mike Oquist of the Oakland Athletics. Cairo had a pretty decent three years in Tampa. He hit .275 with 373 hits, 69 stolen bases and 116 RBI in 389 games before getting singed by the Athletics after his he became a free agent, but was ultimately traded back to the Cubs for Eric Hinske just a few days away from the start of the 2001 season.

#39- A bit of a journeyman after the 1997 season, Roberto Hernandez found his way onto the Devil Rays as one of the few free agents they decided to sign going into their inaugural season. One thing I should first point out is that this is not the same Roberto Hernandez, formerly Fausto Carmona, who currently pitches for the Rays. This Hernandez was born in Puerto Rico and raised in New York City. He was taken with the 16^th overall pick by the California Angels in the 1986 amateur draft out of the University of Connecticut. He was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1989. In 1991, while pitching for the Vancouver Canadians of the Pacific Coast League, Hernandez experienced numbness in his pitching hand, later determined to be caused by blood clots. He was rushed into emergency surgery to have veins transplanted from his inner thigh to his forearm. The surgery was successful and he went on to make his major league debut as a starting pitcher against the Kansas City Royals on September 2 of that year.

Hernandez had a long and largely successful career as a relief pitcher in the major leagues. In 1993 he was instrumental in the White Sox' drive for the American League West Division pennant, going 2–1 with 21 saves in the second half of the season. He made four appearances in the American League Championship Series that year and pitched four scoreless innings.
In 1997, Hernandez was traded to the San Francisco Giants as part of a nine-player deal and appeared in all three games of the National League Division Series against the Florida Marlins. After the season, he signed as a free agent with the Devil Rays. In 1999, he earned his career-high of 43 saves which is also a Devil Rays team record. His 43 saves were for a team that only won 69 games overall.
His performance level declined after being traded to the Kansas City Royals prior to the 2001 season. Since then, he has signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves in 2003, the Philadelphia Phillies in 2004 and the New York Mets in 2005. After 2002, he moved from being a closer to being a setup man, in which role he has generally flourished. He signed a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates for the 2006 season. On July 31, 2006, Hernandez was reacquired by the Mets along with pitcher Oliver Perez for outfielder Xavier Nady.
On December 2, 2006, Hernandez signed a one-year, $3.5 million contract with the Cleveland Indians for the 2007 season with a $3.7 million club option for 2008. Coming out of spring training, he and Rafael Betancourt were the Indians' primary right-handed eighth-inning relievers. But Hernandez pitched poorly over the first three months of the season (6.23 ERA in 28 games) and eventually lost the confidence of manager Eric Wedge. He was designated for assignment June 20 and waived for the purposes of giving him his unconditional release June 28. Hernandez was signed to a minor league contract by the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 7, 2007 and, after pitching in one game for the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s, was recalled to the Dodgers on July 18.
On August 16, 2007, Hernandez appeared in his 1000th game against the Houston Astros. He became the 11th pitcher in major league baseball history to appear in 1000 career games. Hernandez made two All-Star Game rosters; the first in 1996 with the White Sox and the second in 1999 with the Devil Rays. In both of those seasons Hernandez cracked the top-10 in voting for the AL Cy Young award as well; the only times he ever made the lists.

June 13- Tampa Smokers

Well, the time has come. For the worst part of the last 12 years I unfortunately have been a smoker. A smart as I am and with as much knowledge as there is available to show people why smoking is bad, I still kept the habit up. Sadly, it all started because of a girl. When I was 18-years-old I graduated high school from Columbia River High School in Vancouver, Washington and started dating someone who was a year younger than me. Everyone in her family smoked, with the exception of her younger brother and sister who quite possibly picked up the habit once they were old enough. I can still remember the night I started too. We were driving from her house back to mine and she asked if I wanted one. We had been dating for about three months and I had always refused up until that moment. I can’t really give much of a solid reason as to why I say yes, other than with the hopes of getting some action, which is pretty much the only reason why a young kid like myself would do something when a woman asks. But from then, I was hooked.

After we broke up I started buying my own packs. I wasn’t chain smoking or anything, maybe like three-to-four a day. The only person close to me who smoked was my best friend Ronnie Forrest. He and I would always get together in our free time and jam out to Blink-182, our favorite band. On the evening of September 9, 2001 we enjoyed our last cigarette together right before I went home following his going away party as he was set to leave for Navy boot camp on the morning of September 11^th; kind of crazy how that one worked out. For the next few months we chatted when we could. He and I had dreams of hanging out together in San Diego, California, going to school at San Diego State once his papers came in. He finished the top of his graduating class, and with that, he had the option to go wherever he wanted. He of course chose San Diego.

Our meeting and co-habitation would never come to fruition. In the months following his training he was set to deploy for Iraq, to serve in the Persian Gulf as the United States prepared for war. In the last hour before he flight was set to leave to London, England I had an opportunity to talk with him on the government’s dime. He first talked my mom for a solid 30 minutes before she passed it off to me. My mom said that he sounded drunk, which ended up being true once I had the chance to hear his voice. We were both 19-years-old, but with him being in the military he was allowed certain adult privileges. Our conversation fell heavily upon how we were doing and what he had been up to, but it ended with the only time I had ever said “I love you” to any of my friends. I had always been one to bottle up my emotions when it came to those closest to me, but I couldn’t really think of anything else to tell him. It wasn’t meant to be gay or anything of that nature, rather that I had always treated him like a brother. The phone went silent for a minute and he came back with an “I love you” of his own, followed by, “No really Ben, I really mean it and I really appreciate hearing it from you.” We said our goodbyes and he boarded his plane. I then walked outside, lit up a cigarette and cried my eyes out. For some odd reason I felt that was the last time I was ever going to hear from him. As it turned out, I was correct. While Ronnie and his fellow troops had a brief layover in London they were allowed to walk about the city until their plane for Iraq left later that evening. Somewhere on the route back (and I still haven’t gotten a clear answer about this), Ronnie was struck by a train and killed instantly. It would be two weeks before the news got to me. I called his parents’ house after someone I knew had heard about his death, I had to make sure things weren’t being blown out of proportion. Sure enough, my worst thoughts came true. From that moment on, smoking became my only escape.

Years have passed and my daily dosage has increased slightly. I got up to about a half-pack-a-day when I went to Europe in the summer of 2010, but I have yet to exceed that. I never feel good after I smoke either, which is one of the more unusual things that I always notice, yet I still continue to do so. When I took my Major League Baseball road trip this last summer after my time in the MLB Fan Cave I was able to make it to three Tampa Bay Rays games while I was in Florida. Tampa is a haven for smoking, cigars mostly, and Tropicana Field is one if the few places I’ve been equipped with a smoking bar. Little did I know that the smoking bar was for cigar smokers only, something I found to be incredibly funny. But with that, anytime I felt the need to light up during the game I made my way to the deck just outside the smoking bar to get a good puff in while raindrops trickled down on my head.

It was during this trip to Florida that I met the love of my life, my girlfriend Angie Kinderman (@sconnieangie), a soon-to-graduate student at Nova Southeastern University in the physician’s assistant program. In the near 10 months that we’ve been together, and with her extensive medical background, Angie has been asking me to quit for the sake of me being around longer to share time with her. Deep down I want this too, but I could never get myself to break the habit until now.

Angie means the world to me and the last thing I want to do is burn out because of a continuous mistake that I’ve made for nearly half of my life thus far. Losing someone I loved is what really aided the process, but gaining someone I love will help end it. I have many more years of baseball to watch and enjoy with my sweetie. I would much rather do it with a healthy set of vital organs.

I picked this cap up a few weeks ago, and I really lucked out too. I had only seen this cap for sale once on the MLB.com shop Web site and all they had left were 7s and 6 7/8s. I had pretty much given up hope until I decided to peruse the Lids clearance section on their Web site. Sure enough, a few hats in and they hat it… on sale… AND IN MY SIZE NO LESS! I threw that, my Indianapolis Indians cap and an A.J. Pierzynski Chicago White Sox Player-T in my cart and checked out. For those of you who don’t know how hard it was to find, all I can say is that they only made it for one season: 2011. That’s right, and somehow there were still a few lying around the Lids warehouse in Indianapolis waiting for me to find it. Tight!

Now, to clear a few things up and why I spent most of this story thus far talking about smoking... This cap is a re-release of the old Tampa Smokers caps from 1951. The original Smokers were a charter franchise of the Florida State League that started play in 1919. The name reflected the importance of the cigar industry to the Tampa area. These Tampa Smokers moved to the Southeastern League in 1929 and officially ceased operations along with the league after the 1930 season. In 1932, the Smokers played in the short-lived West Coast Baseball League, but disbanded again when the league collapsed after a single season. The name was revived professionally for a final time in 1946, when the Tampa Smokers became a charter member of the Florida International League, a Class C league that was notable for fielding a team in Havana, Cuba. In 1952 this incarnation of the Tampa Smokers became one of the first three racially integrated teams in Florida, fielding black player Claro Duany. These Smokers folded along with the Florida International League after the 1954 season. The importance of the cigar industry to Tampa's economy had waned by the 1950s. When minor league baseball returned to the city in 1957, the new team was called the Tampa Tarpons.

On July 2, 2011 the Rays donned the Smokers uniforms as they took the field against the St. Louis Cardinals as part of their throwback days; however, the Rays made one key alteration in the uniform. This is what the original jersey looks like.

This is what they wore.

Do you see it? Despite the team name and the heritage of the team the Rays and MLB elected to remove the cigar logo from the front of the chest for a “slightly more contemporary version” for today’s crowds. In others words, NO SMOKING! This is a move that MLB pulled off last season as well with the Houston Astros when they wore their Colt .45s jerseys without the guns. It’s a move, in my eyes, which makes no sense as the team name itself signifies these removed objects, but more importantly the entire history and culture behind their names and logos no longer have any relevance. Basically, if you’re going to go old school, be sure to keep it as such. We don’t want another Washington Bullets to the Washington Wizards fiasco on our hands.

When it came to the marking up of the cap there was only one name that came to mind; however, his time with the Smokers was brief, so I needed to expand upon the history a little bit. I think y’all will agree.

#AL- Funny that it came out as “AL,” since it is his first name, but I assure you it’s his first and last initials. Al Lopez was the son of immigrants from Asturias, Spain who went to Cuba, then settled the Spanish-Cuban-Italian immigrant community of Ybor City, Tampa, Florida in the late 1880s. He was born in Ybor City. The cigar industry was most important in Tampa at the time, and Lopez's father, Modesto Lopez, worked in a cigar factory. Lopez visited his father's workplace as a child and "hated" the smell of tobacco that permeated the factory building. "I vowed never to work in one," he said later. Modesto died of throat cancer when Al was a young child. On May 16, 2013, his boyhood home is being moved to 19th Street and 9th Avenue in Tampa, where it will become the Tampa Baseball Museum.

After a boyhood spent playing baseball whenever possible, his professional career began in 1924 at the age of 16, when he quit school and signed on as a catcher with the Class-D Tampa Smokers. His starting salary was $150 per month. While with the Smokers, he impressed pitcher Walter Johnson with his abilities during a winter barnstorming exhibition game and was soon moving up in the minor leagues. He hit .293 in 167 games with the Smokers.

Lopez broke into the major leagues in 1928 with the Brooklyn Dodgers and became their starting catcher in 1930. Over a career which ran until 1947, he played for the Dodgers (1928, 1930-1935), Boston Bees (1936-1940), Pittsburgh Pirates (1940-1946) and Cleveland Indians (1947). His best offensive season was 1933, when he hit .301, stole 10 bases, and finished 10th in National League MVP voting. Overall, he compiled modest batting numbers, including 613 runs, 51 home runs, and 652 RBI and a .261 batting average. He was better known for his defense and his ability to handle pitchers, which earned him two trips to the All-Star game and respect around the league. In 1945, he surpassed Gabby Hartnett's major league record for career games as a catcher, and when he retired after the 1947 season, his major league record for games caught stood at 1918. This record was not broken until 1987 by Bob Boone, and the National League record was broken by Gary Carter in 1990.

As the first Tampa native and one of the first Hispanic-Americans to play in the major leagues, Lopez was already well-respected and celebrated in his hometown, especially among the city's Latin community. When he was named manager of the Indians in 1951, Tampa honored him with a parade. Under Lopez, the Indians won over 90 games from 1951 to 1953 but came in second place to the New York Yankees each season. In 1954, the team won a then American League record 111 games to capture the AL pennant but were upset by the New York Giants in the 1954 World Series. In 1955 and 1956, Lopez's squads again finished second to the Yankees. Lopez was "incensed" that Cleveland fans repeatedly booed Indian's third-baseman Al Rosen during the stretch run of 1956 season and felt that team management did not properly support his injured player. Consequently, he resigned at the end of the season, and agreed to manage the White Sox a month later.

Lopez enjoyed similar success in Chicago, as his new team finished in 2nd place to the Yankees in 1957 and 1958. His "Go Go White Sox" team finally broke through and won the American League pennant in 1959. He stayed with the team until 1965, finishing in second place five times and never posting fewer than 82 victories.

When the city of Tampa built a new minor league and spring training ballpark for the White Sox in 1954, it was named Al Lopez Field in his honor. Later in life, Lopez would recall a spring training incident in which an umpire with whom he was arguing threatened to throw him out of a game there. "You can't throw me out of this ballpark," protested Lopez, "This is my ballpark - Al Lopez Field!" The umpire ejected him anyway, causing Lopez to exclaim, "He threw me out of my own ballpark!"

Lopez retired to the White Sox front office after the 1965 season, but returned to manage parts of the 1968 and 1969 seasons after manager Eddie Stanky was fired. When Lopez retired for good due to health concerns in May 1969, his 1,410 wins ranked 11th all-time, and he never had a losing record in 15 seasons as a big league manager. His 1954 Indians and 1959 White Sox were the only non-Yankee clubs to win the AL pennant between 1949 and 1964 inclusive. His 840 wins with the White Sox still rank second in franchise history, behind Jimmy Dykes (899).

Lopez was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977 by the Veterans Committee along with Joe Sewell and Amos Rusie. Ernie Banks was the only player that year to be elected in by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Lopez returned to Tampa upon retirement. As the first major league player and manager from the community, he was often mentioned as an inspiration by other baseball figures from the area and was considered one of Tampa's "legends" and most honored citizens.

When aging Al Lopez Field was razed in 1989, Horizon Park, a city park a few blocks north of the old ballpark site, was renamed Al Lopez Park and a statue of him was dedicated there. As a renowned alumnus, the athletic center at Jesuit High School, which is located across the street from Al Lopez Park, was also dedicated to him. And when the Tampa Bay area finally gained its own major league franchise in 1998 with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Lopez was asked to throw the ceremonial first pitch before their inaugural game.

Lopez died in Tampa at the age of 97 just four days after the White Sox won the 2005 World Series, their first championship in 88 years and their first pennant-winning season since Lopez led them to the World Series in 1959. He had been hospitalized for a heart attack, suffered two days earlier at his son's home. At the time of his death, Lopez was the last living person who had played major league baseball during the 1920s and is the longest-lived member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

#11- Remember that throwback game I mentioned that was played on July 2? Well, if there was a Player of the Game award for that particular game it probably would have gone to then-first baseman Casey Kotchman. The Rays beat the Cardinals that day by the score of 5-1, mostly thank in part to Kotchman’s 2-4 day at the plate including three RBI. The same could be said for outfielder Justin Ruggiano who also went 2-4 with a home run and two RBI. And the came could also be said of Johnny Damon who went 4-4 on the day with all singles and no RBI.

The fact of the matter is that in the case of Damon, singles are only good for strip clubs if there isn’t a return on the scoring. As for Kotchman and Ruggiano… in the bottom of sixth inning the Rays were down 1-0. The bases were loaded for Kotchman as Kyle McKlellan gave him a sweet pitch to hit which he smacked for a base-clearing double. Ruggiano batted next and tagged his fourth home run of the season. Since the score ended 5-1, it’s fair to say that Kotchman’s offensive production is what really turned the tide in the game. And for that, he earned a spot on the Smokers cap. Boom!

June 7- Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Well, tonight’s post will certainly be interesting on account of the fact that the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s uniform database currently isn’t working. Or, in lieu of my post from last night, perhaps their upset with me for mentioning the fact that some of their listing are incorrect and I’m only receiving an error message on my end. If this is the case, this would indeed be a disturbance. But really, what are the odds of that?

I picked this cap up back in the summer of 2010 off of the Lids Web site as really more of an impulse buy. I ran into a similar problem with a nearly identical Tampa Bay Devil Rays cap which I wrote about on January 8th. By this I mean I bought the cap because it looks cool, more important I thought it was a cap the Devil Rays wore within the first few years they were playing ball circa 1998. Well, I was wrong, just like the post from January. I of course haven’t let it get me down, I still dig it. This cap is actually a hybrid of the 2000 and the 2001 caps. How do I know?

From 1998 through the end of the 2000 season all of the Devil Rays caps had black panels and only in two cases, 1998 and 1999-2000, was the bill of the anything but black. The bills for these other caps were purple and only used for their road caps. In 1998 it featured only the Devil Ray as shown here in post from February 28^th, and for the road cap used from 1999-2000 featuring the logo shown on this cap. The Devil Rays didn’t start using all green caps until the 2001 season, which I’ll get to some time down the road.

Because this is a custom cap there unfortunately isn’t much of a history behind it. However, a cap like this gives me free reign to talk about a few unsung heroes of the first few years of Devil Rays baseball. While a lot of names and faces certainly came and went over the first few years, it still gave a couple of guys more than enough time to make a noticeable impact in the league which aided in them getting picked up by other franchises. Or, as in one of the cases below, Tampa gave him a place to go out on a high note.

#2- In the third round of the 1995 amateur draft the Florida Marlins selected Randy Winn out of Santa Clara University and immediately sent him to the minors to play for the Elmira Pioneers, and intermediate-A squad in the New York-Pennsylvania League. For the next two seasons Winn bounced around between advanced-A with the Brevard County Manatees and the Kane County Cougars before moving on to AA with the Portland Sea Dogs through the end of the 1997 season. With two expansion teams ready to roll for the upcoming 1998 season all that was left for them to do was draft a team. Winn was one of the few players in the Marlins system to find his name on the expansion draft eligibility list. With the 58h overall pick the Devil Rays picked up Winn to fill in one of their outfield spots.

On May 11, 1998 Winn made his major League debut with the Devil Rays as a pinch runner for Paul Sorrento in the Devil Rays’ 4-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians. That season Winn played in 109 games, batting .278 with one home run, 17 RBI and 26 stolen bases. In 1999 and 2000 Winn spent only half of his time at the Major League level, while the other half was spent in AAA with the Durham Bulls. Winn had so-so years with the Devil Rays those two years, but did incredibly well during his run with the Bulls. While he was in Durham he never hit below .330, not to mention he hit for 10 home runs and 70 RBI in the 125 games combined over those two seasons. Despite being in such a crummy situation of coming and going Winn proved that all the effort he put into stepping up his game paid off. In 2001 he played in 128 games and boasted a .273 average with six home runs and 50 RBI. In 2002 Winn took off. That year he made his one and only All-Star Game appearance for his 13-year career by hitting .298 with 181 hits, 17 home runs, 75 RBI and 27 stolen bases. Despite all the good he did for the club that season h was traded away to the Seattle Mariners at season’s end.

#3- If there was ever a name that deserved to be on the list of the greatest baseball names of all-time Quinton McCracken certainly needs to be in the Top-10. McCracken was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 25^th round of the 1992 amateur draft out of Duke University. Not a bad year to be enrolled at Duke either, especially considering they had just won their second and arguably best National Championship in basketball.

McCracken played in the outfield for three seasons in Colorado, averaging .291, three home runs and 38 RBI per season in the 274 total games he played. But, despite his services with the Rockies, McCracken’s name ended up on the same list as Winn’s for the expansion draft as he was selected with the fourth overall pick behind Jeff Suppan.

Playing in a career-high 155 games, McCracken had his best-ever season, batting .292 with 7 home runs, 59 RBI, and was named the Devil Rays first-ever most valuable player. After playing only 40 games in 1999, because of a torn ACL he suffered after getting his foot caught in the padding on the wall during an attempted catch at Tropicana Field, he spent most of 2000 in the minors with AAA Durham. The Devil Rays released him on November 27, 2000, and he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals on December 22, he was released in spring training. On April 13, 2001, McCracken signed with the Minnesota Twins. He again spent most of the year in Triple-A, where he batted .338 for Edmonton.

#33- The number is pretty obvious, but the how he got there and the results of him leaving are merely small chapters in the Major League Baseball career of Jose Canseco. Despite a great 1998 campaign with the Toronto Blue Jays where he hit 46 home runs and stole 29 bases, the most since the 40 he stole in 1988, he was signed by the Devil Rays right before the 1999 season. That year he hit .279 with 34 home runs and 95 RBI in only 114 games. He made his sixth and final All-Star Game appearance that year, but had his seasoned shortened due to intense back pain he was suffering. Nonetheless, he still had one hell of a “quiet” year.

In 2000 Canseco got off to a poor start. He was batting .257 with two home runs which led the Devil Rays to waiving him after 61 games that year. He was claimed off waivers by the New York Yankees in August 2000, which caught many, including Yankee manager Joe Torre off guard, as the Yankees had four other players who fulfilled a similar role to Canseco. Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman made the claim to prevent the Blue Jays, who were in a close race with the Yankees, from acquiring Canseco. He made one appearance in the 2000 World Series against the New York Mets and earned his second World Series ring when they defeated the Mets in five games. Despite this achievement Canseco later called his Yankees tenure "the worst time of [his] life" due to receiving limited playing time.

April 21- Tampa Bay Rays

Today was a rather frustrating day. My Oakland Athletics unfortunately bit the dust against the Tampa Bay Rays for the third consecutive game at Tropicana Field; but overall, I was just happy to be there with my girlfriend Angie Kinderman (@sconnieangie) sitting by my side. For the first two games we walked hand-in-hand to the stadium from our hotel which sat about a mile or so away. In the seven months we’ve been together I still enjoy every second that I get just milling about, holding her hand and talking about nothingness that only matters to the two of us. As we got to the stadium we toured around the inside, seeing if there was anything of note to stop and look at. I had been to the Trop for a few games the previous season and knew what to expect; however, Angie hadn’t. I’ve always been a fan of getting to the games as the doors open to watch batting practice, but not for the reasons why most fans go. There’s an undying part of me that loves to analyze a team during times of practice. It helps me get a sense of how the tone and team mentality will affect that day’s game. Due to the fact that it was a road series for the A’s we were able to see them at work, forgetting about all of the little exhibits going on around the stadium. Every few minutes or so I asked Angie if she wanted to go check anything out. She kept saying no and that she was enjoying watching me react and talking to her about everything that was going on. Most people I know don’t really care for my in-depth knowledge of the game, but then again, most people I know aren’t exactly baseball fans. Angie is, and I love her deeply for her passion and willingness to learn more about it; however, being a good partner also means sacrificing one’s needs for another, and I didn’t want to neglect her from getting the full experience of the stadium.

One of the key things that any fan should check out is the Rays Touch Tank which sits in center field. I realize that anyone can go to Sea World or any other aquatic park to see the same thing, but there’s just something cool about actually having a display or show in honor of the mascot. While I agree that it would be kind of odd to have a touch tank for another other mascot in the league (Diamondbacks snake pit for example), just try to keep an open mind with this one because how often does one get to see any variety of sting ray in person? Anyway, Angie and I had been talking about it for the first two games, but she didn’t have a problem waiting until the final game of the series to go check it out. Once again, we got there as soon as the gates opened; however, unlike the first two games there was a massive crowd on account that it was a bobblehead day for Rays starting pitcher David Price’s dog Astro. Weird, I know. As we got in there was all ready a bit of a line forming, but it was only a 20 minute wait so no big deal. As we got to the top of the stairs one of the employees for the Rays served as the host and told everybody about the dos and don’ts about touching and feeding the rays. All vital information as to not have your hand gummed off. The host kept asking me if I ever played baseball, to which I said yes, but never professionally; which is true as I played halfway through high school before my accident. After the tutorial we headed in.

Angie had told me she worked with sting rays before, so most of what she should and shouldn’t do was old news to her. As the rays swam by she lowered he hand in to pet them. It was hands down one of the most adorable things I’ve ever seen and captured on film.

I realize this is going to get me a stern talking to from her, but I don’t care. In that moment she reminded me of a little kid, full of wonder. I’m pretty sure she felt the same way about me as I try to pet them, and especially after three came surfacing at one time to seemingly bite my hand off. I don’t flinch often (ask David Price), but that time got me. We snapped the photo of me wearing the Rays hat before we bounced and we headed down to our seats to chill out before game time and talk about baseball. No matter how obscure and trivial our little moments and adventures seem, there’s no one I would rather spend my days doing those things with.

I picked this cap up off of the MLB.com Web site a few weeks ago, along with a slew of the 2012 Stars & Stripes caps. I’ve always been a big fan of themed team caps; however, not a lot of teams seem to do them anymore. This one in particular was one that I saw on a few other Web sites for months last season, but I never could bring myself to picking it up even though the color made it look awesome. My biggest complaint was that I thought it was a custom cap at the time. What I later came to realize is that it was the hat they wore it for one game last season on Earth Day; something I’m not sure how the hell I missed considering that I was in the MLB Fan Cave watching the game the day they were wearing it. Which only goes to prove, with as much as I do know about the history and numbers of baseball, there are still a lot of things I don’t know and/or pay close enough attention to. The date I marked on my cap is for that game as a constant reminder; however, there is another important bit of information that I totally screwed up on and wish I had marked on this cap instead.

4/22/12- The Rays are one of the few teams in MLB who celebrates Earth Day regularly. One of the important things they did was unveil the current version of the Rays Touch Tank, hence why I took the photo of me there. In most of the cases of the photos of me wearing the hat I always try to act out a face or pose or be in a location that has to do with the story and markings of or on the hat, just in case I had never clarified that. Anyway, one of the main purposes for the Touch Tank is to create awareness for the Florida Aquarium which is located in Tampa. I point this out because the Rays actually play in St. Petersburg in case you also didn’t know that. The other thing the Rays did for the promotion was for every bat broken during the game the Rays would plant an oyster ball. Now, I’m not sure what an oyster ball is, and every time I looked it up it kept referring me to Rocky Mountain Oysters (cow testicles). So if someone can help me with this one, it would be much appreciated.

Another important thing that should be known about the touch tank is that it also helps raise money for various charities in the Tampa Bay area. Proceeds from the sale of "ray food" (literally food you can buy to feed the rays) goes to the Florida Aquarium and the team's charitable foundation. Additionally, for every ball hit into the tank during a game by a Rays player, the Rays will donate $5,000 to charity with $2,500 going to the Florida Aquarium and $2,500 going to that player's charity of choice. It should be noted that the Rays, in their now 15-year existence have never knocked one in the tank during a game; however… only one time has it ever actually happened by an opposing player.

I must first note that you should scroll back up to look at the picture of Angie that I posted because it actually plays a huge role in the rest of this story. As some of you may know I love to write, but very few people also know that I love to take photos; the weirder and funnier, the better. At times I can actually take amazing photos if I want to, but in most cases I take them as quickly as possible to post as I have always been taught that the “in the moment” photos are key to being a photo journalist. The photo of Angie was taken quickly and she didn’t have a clue until I posted it on Instagram, which I also connect to my Twitter and Facebook account. I use the same user name as my Twitter handle (shakabrodie) and have quite a few MLB players following me (not bragging, it helps the story letting you know). One of my followers is current Chicago Cubs pitcher Edwin Jackson. Jackson and I became chummy when he visited the Fan Cave last season while he was with the Washington Nationals. Once I got an Instagram account (after the Fan Cave) he and I started following each other and occasionally message each other on our photos. The thing about this photo is that he reminded me of this (sorry Edwin!)…

On June 24, 2007 the Los Angeles Dodgers visited Tampa for an interleague series versus the then Devil Rays. With Jackson on the mound for the Devil Rays, Dodgers outfielder Luis Gonzalez tagged the one and only game-time home run into the Touch Tank in the first inning with Rafael Furcal on base and two outs. Here’s a video with a very “X-Files”-esque soundtrack for some strange reason: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8-Q0BQrCwU

With that, I probably should have marked my cap up with that date; however, I felt that was more of a Dodgers accomplishment so I nixed it. I still wanted to tell you the story though because it’s one of those weird moments that seems like it occurred more often than it turns out. I also want to apologize to Edwin again based on what my response was to his.

Oh, and because I didn't mention it above, the Rays beat the Minnesota Twins 6-2 on 4/22/12.

UPDATE

For those of you who may have missed it (myself included), Detroit Tigers third baseman, and reigning American League MVP, Miguel Cabrera socked his 25th home run of the 2013 season off of Jeremy Hellickon at The Trop on 6/30/13. Where did it land? In the Rays Touch Tank. Cabrera became only the second player in MLB history to achieve the feat during a game. Here's the video in case you missed it: Splash!!! The other thing that I need to point out is that Angie, not me, was the first person to point this out. Not really sure how I missed hearing about it; nonetheless, I don't know what I'd do without this wonderful, baseball-loving woman by my side.

UPDATE #2

I can't believe this happened while I was watching it, as opposed to catching a clip of it on YouTube or ESPN, but Rays catcher Jose Lobaton just became: the first Rays player, third person ever, only person to do it in the postseason and the only person to knock a walk-off shot into the Rays tank on 10/7/13 off of Koji Uehara of the Boston Red Sox. Uehara, you know, the guy who had only given up nine earned runs in 75 appearances prior to that moment. Splash!!! Crazy!!!

UPDATE #3

5/27/15: Today I was stuck at work, and unfortunately I missed out on Nelson Cruz becoming the fourth player in MLB history to knock a baseball into the Touch Tank. In typical Cruz fashion, dude pal came up clutch when his team needed a dinger the most. In the top of the ninth inning Rays' reliever Brad Boxberger came in after starter Chris Archer pitched eight innings of spectacular baseball. Boxberger punched out the first two batters (Mike Zunino and Austin Jackson) and then proceeded to walk Seth Smith and Robinson Cano. With two on and two outs, Cruz proceeded to bring the rain to an unsuspecting group of manta rays. Splash!!! The Rays would not have an answer in the bottom of the inning and the Seattle Mariners went on to win 3-0. Easily the best part of that moment was hearing Root Sports Northwest commentator, Aaron Goldsmith, belt out one of the greatest sound bytes of the last decade, "We've got a floater here in Tampa!" Well done Cruz! And well done Aaron.