Tampa Bay Rays Franchise History - A Fan's Essentials

 

Fall 2023: To purchase a reasonably priced 8" x 24" plaqued mounted version of the Tampa Bay Rays poster that's ready to hang on your wall, please visit Heritage Sports Stuff.

1. Tampa Bay Rays – The Team Name 

The franchise was created as an expansion team for the 1998 season. The team was originally known as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays from 1998 to 2007, then changed their name to Tampa Bay Rays from 2008 to the present.

2. Tampa Bay Rays – The Championship Record 

Two World Series Championship appearances: 

2008 lost to Philadelphia Phillies 4-1

2020 lost to Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2

Two American League Pennants: 

2008 97 wins - 65 losses

2020 40 wins - 20 losses

Four Division Championships: 

American League East 2008

American League East 2010

American League East 2020

American League East 2021

3. Tampa Bay Rays – Home Stadium History 

Tropicana Field 1998 - Present

Tropicana Field (commonly known as the Trop) has been the ballpark of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB) since the team's inaugural season in 1998. The stadium was opened in 1990. Prior to the Rays' first season in 1998, the stadium was known as Florida Suncoast Dome (1990–1993) and ThunderDome (1993–1996), then Tropicana Field from 1997-Present.

4. For more information on the Rays, you should bookmark these three great websites: 

For a huge amount of great historic information: https://www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/rays.shtml 

For great information about the team's ballparks: https://ballparks.com/baseball/index.htm 

For a listing of every Rays season and how the team fared, click here.

5. Celebrate the Tampa Bay Rays' uniform history by owning a piece of history: 

If you love the Tampa Bay Rays and the history of the Rays franchise, you might really love to own an original piece of artwork celebrating the team's historic uniforms as seen in the poster at the top of this blog - you can actually own one of those original pieces of art! There are only 7 pieces of original art available for sale, and when these 7 are sold, that's it, they're all sold out. 

These original watercolor paintings would make a great gift (birthday gift, anniversary gift, retirement gift, Christmas gift, etc.) for someone you love or even a great gift for yourself (one of these framed pieces would look fantastic in your home or office). 

Each piece can be bought one of three ways: 

1. As unframed art that you could have framed or mounted yourself (the one on the left) 

2. Framed in our "Classic" framed version (the middle version) 

3. Framed in our "Deluxe" framed version (the version on the right)  

If you would like more information about this great artwork including the three ways you could purchase each piece, please visit our Tampa Bay Rays YouTube video or go directly to the artwork website Heritage Sports Art where you can see and purchase the artwork. 

And if someone you know loves the history of sports uniforms (but maybe another team) and loves great art, please let them know that we have over 1500 pieces of great original artwork for sale at www.heritagesportsart.com (all NFL teams, all MLB teams, all NHL teams, all CFL teams, select NCAA football teams) or check out each team's video at the Heritage Sports Art YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/user/ssillcox 

And please search my blog archive http://heritagejerseys.blogspot.com/ for other blogs on the history of the Tampa Bay Rays. 

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This text was written by Scott Sillcox and was last updated October 15, 2023. I have tried to ensure the accuracy of the information, but I am human and can make mistakes. If you believe I have made a mistake, please let me know by email at ssillcox@rogers.com ! 

Many thanks!!! 

Scott