Source: www.draysbay.com --- Monday, November 06, 2017
Out with the old, in with the new The Tampa Bay Devil Rays were struggling in every way possible. The on-field product had been lousy as the multitude of roster moves made by the front office had failed to bring a winning atmosphere to Tropicana Field. Attendance lagged as well. After drawing 2.5 million people during their first season in 1998, the flagging Hit Show failed to sustain interest and the team finished the 2000 season with a draw of 1.4 million people. Clearly, in the eyes of Rays leadership, this called for a new start. The first change was in the uniforms. They dropped the rainbow gradient uniforms in more a traditional style with plainer colors. They were still known as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, but they’d no longer have the full name on their jerseys as they dropped the Devil and simply went with, ‘Rays’. The team distanced itself away from their inaugural season, letting go of Miguel Cairo and Quinton McCracken. In January of 2000, the Rays were part of a three team deal that sent their All-Star closer, Roberto Hernandez, to the Kansas City Royals and Cory Lidle to the Oakland Atheltics. In return, the Devil Rays received the 1998 American League Rookie of the Year, Ben Grieve . Just a couple of weeks into the season, the Devil Rays split with another inaugural part of their roster. Larry Rothschild was fired after just 14 games and he would be replaced by Hal McRae, who had been the bench coach. Just a few wee ...
from Baseball http://ift.tt/2hKyeYc
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