As a baseball writer, I like to incorporate the history of the sport with current statistical analysis. The Rays entered the league in 1998. In their 27-year history, the Rays have retired three numbers. Before we cover those players, here is a brief history of retired numbers and why franchises do it.
Having your jersey number retired is a rare and unique honor. When a sports team retires a number, it stops using the shirt number worn by a particular player when they stop playing, as a way of honoring them. However, there is no clear requirement which makes this possible. Not every team in baseball has retired a number and some teams retired the same number twice. Let us explore this tribute to elite players by beginning at its origins.
In 1916, the Indians became the first team to experiment with uniform numbers. Numbers were placed on the sleeve to identify a player’s location in the batting order. History is not clear. Some reports read sleeve numbers were scrapped after a few weeks and other notes it was for a season. Seven years later, Charles Ebbets once suggested placing numbers on both sleeves and on bills of the players’ hats. The Dodgers owner had a vision of selling scorecards which required clear means of identifying players which did not exist at the time. In the same season, Branch Rickey’s Cardinals experimented with a number on the left sleeve. Newspaper reporters mocked the notion, and it drew negative press. In the end, only the Cardinals wore numbers in 1923. For the next six years, numbers on uniforms were a forbidden topic. Then, in 1929, the Yankees were the first to place numbers on the player’s back.
The Rays organization created a Rays Hall of Fame in 2023. The first class included Wade Boggs, Don Zimmer, and Carl Crawford. This summer, newly inducted Hall of Famer Fred McGriff and the late Dave Willis will be honored.
12 Wade Boggs – The seventh-round pick in the 1976 MLB Draft for the Red Sox played high school ball in Plant City, a suburb of Tampa. After 11 years with the Red Sox and five years with the Yankees, Boggs joined the (Devil) Rays for their inaugural season. On Opening Day 1998, Boggs made history by hitting the first (Devil) Rays first home run and recording the first RBI. Boggs ended his glorious career in 1999. The 12 time All-Star, eight-time Silver Slugger award winner, five-time batting title champion collected 3010 hits and had a career batting average of .328 was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.
66 Don Zimmer (Posthumously) – Zimmer has been involved in baseball for over 60 years. His rookie year was 1954 and he shared the Brooklyn Dodger locker room with Hall of Famers Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella, and Duke Snider. The infielder was part of two championships with the Dodgers, one in Brooklyn (1955) and another in Los Angeles (1959). Don’s playing career lasted 12 years and he managed for 13. He spent his final 11 years of his life as a senior adviser for the Rays. Zimmer was instrumental with the growth of young players in the organization to include home grown talent Carl Crawford. Don Zimmer passed away in 2014.
42 Jackie Robinson – Robinson never played for the Rays, but it is retired for significance Jackie had to baseball and civil rights. Every April 15th MLB and the baseball community celebrates Jackie Robinson Day. This annual celebration began in 1997, the 50th anniversary of Robinson’s first MLB game breaking the color barrier. Robinson wore the number 42. In honor of Robinson’s courage and impact to the game, his number 42 is retired league wide. No team can issue the number 42 ever again.
13 – Carl Crawford – This home-grown talent played in Tampa for nine of his 15 years in the MLB. Crawford was an All-Star for four of those nine seasons with the (Devil) Rays. During that time, Crawford was a speedster. Crawford had 81% successful stolen base rate and led the American League in triples four times. This “five-tool player” brought an irreplaceable excitement to the team and remains one of the most dominant Rays in Tampa Bay history.
29 – Fred McGriff – Nicknamed the “crime dog,” McGriff was part of the inaugural season of the Devil Rays. From 1998 to 2001, McGriff wore a Devil Rays uniform. He returned in 2004 for a final season and retired as a Devil Ray. McGriff, a Tampa native, collected 603 hits, 102 doubles, 99 home runs, and 359 RBIs in 577 games for the Devil Rays. A ceremony will be held on September 1 to honor McGriff’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Rays’ Hall of Fame.
DW – Dave Willis (Posthumously) – Long-time radio announcer, Dave Willis will be honored on April 14. Willis passed away last year during spring training. Dave joined the Rays’ radio booth in 2005.
