Retired Numbers - Tampa Bay Devil Rays

 After many years of effort, the Tampa Bay area finally debuted a Major League Baseball franchise in 1998. The Devil Rays, like any expansion team, was awful. Unlike their NL sibling in Arizona, the D-Rays could never find their feet in their first decade of existence. The winning would eventually come and the redubbed Rays would enjoy competitive play for years to come, but in their short time, they haven't had many players who would earn the ultimate team honor of a number retirement. There are notable choices however.

#12 - Wade Boggs

Wade Boggs with the Devil Rays isn't without a certain degree of controversy, mainly because of his Hall of Fame shenanigans. Signing with the team before their inaugural season, Boggs would spend the final two seasons of his Hall of Fame career with the Devil Rays, staying on track to get his 3000th hit in 1999. That season was covered by an official Showdown card in the original set, but 1998 is fair game here. He hit the first home run in Devil Rays history, and also went deep when he got his 3000th hit. Both home run landing spots were honored by Tampa Bay. In 2000, the season after he retired, Tampa Bay would honor him yet again with their first ever number retirement.

#66 - Don Zimmer

Don Zimmer was long finished as a player when the Devil Rays came into being. His existence in the game continued as a Senior Advisor/Coach for the team up until the year he died. Each season with Tampa Bay, we would change the number he wore to match the number of years he was involved in baseball, ending with the #66. In 2015, the Rays decided to honor such a baseball life by retiring the number in his honor.