Tampa Bay Rays

When Tampa Bay's Major League Baseball team entered the American League in 1998, the team called itself the Devil Rays, even though the manta rays that visit Tampa Bay are not particularly common, and devil rays are a smaller species that is even less familiar to Florida's coastal waters. As the Devil Rays, the expansion team performed poorly on the field, never finishing better than fourth place and never winning more games in a season than it lost. That may be why, in 2008, the team changed its name to the Rays, adding a graphic representing Florida sunshine to their uniforms to go along with a stylized manta ray. That year, the Rays finished first in its division and made it all the way to the World Series, which it lost to the Philadelphia Phillies. As an expansion team, Tampa Bay relied on a mix of veterans and rookies to fill out its roster. Fred McGriff, who played first base for the Braves in 1995, the year the team won its first World Series in Atlanta, hit 19 home runs and tallied 81 RBIs for the Devil Rays in 1998, and improved on that record in 1999 by slugging 32 homers and driving in 104 runs. Another early contributor to the Devil Rays was former Oakland Athletics star Jose Canseco, who, as the team's designated hitter, bettered McGriff's 1999 home-run total with 34 but trailed him in RBIs, albeit with a respectable 95. The team's fortunes improved in 2008 after it shortened its name. The bigger reason for the team's success that year, though, was the arrival of third baseman and eventual Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria, who drove in 85 runs and hit 27 homers (in 2009, he'd drive in 113 runs and hit 33 homers). Over at first base, Longoria was complemented by former Boston Red Sox player Carlos Pena, who drove in 102 runs and hit 31 homers (in 2009, he'd drive in 100 runs and hit 39 homers). In recent years, game-used and signed jerseys, bats, and balls by a new crop of Rays have been attracting the same level as interest as the vintage gear associated with Longoria and others. In particular, rookie cards published by Topps and Bowman for Randy Arozarena (2020) and Wander Franco (2019) have been actively traded on eBay.