The Campaign To Put The 2008 Tampa Bay Rays In Stirrups


Baseball is a sport built on its history. The great teams in baseball can look back and talk about players like Babe Ruth and Ted Williams and Ty Cobb and Sandy Koufax and Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron. Fans of those teams can talk about the "Shot Heard 'Round The World" or The Big Red Machine or the GasHouse Gang or Kirk Gibson off of Eck or Bill Buckner.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays history consists of exactly 10 losing seasons, A swan song from Wade Boggs, some terrible free agent signings and some of the worst uniforms in the history of baseball.

Thankfully, the Rainbow Warriors are a distant memory and we have been treated to a much classier set of uniforms for the last few years. But the days are numbered for the green and grey, as only 10 games remain in the 2007 season. In 2008 the Tampa Bay Devil Rays will officially change their name to the Tampa Bay Rays and their colors will change to Navy, Yellow and Light Blue.

Paul Lukas of Uniwatch has seen the new unis and calls them "a total snooze — not wonderful, not awful, just booooooring". Of course that report scares us a little bit as our only complaint about the current set was the green jersey.

One reason to allow Paul Lukas to see the uniforms so far in advance of the public unveiling (Nov. 11), may be to gauge public reaction.

So we will take this opportunity to call for a minor aesthetic change.

ADD STIRRUPS TO THE NEW UNIFORMS!

This is an opportunity for the Tampa Bay Rays to add a bit of class to the uniform. To add a bit of nostalgia to a franchise that has no history of its own.

Few things say "baseball" more than stirrups. And not just plain Navy stirrups. Why not throw some stripes in there. Maybe Navy stirrups with three stripes towards the top in a yellow-white-yellow pattern?

If you would like to see the Devil Rays include stirrups with the new uniforms, please support our campaign by sending the letter below to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Just copy the letter and paste it in the main section of THIS PAGE, with "Stirrups in '08" in the subject line.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Tropicana Field
One Tropicana Drive
St. Petersburg, FL 33705

Re: Stirrups in '08

To Whom It May Concern:

It has now been confirmed that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays will change their name to the “Tampa Bay Rays” and that the new uniforms will be Navy, Yellow and Light Blue.

I am writing to ask that the team please consider including striped stirrups as part of the new uniforms. Stirrups have long been a part of the baseball uniform and they have fallen out of favor in recent years as longer pants and solid sanitaries have become more popular.

It is my hope that the Devil Rays would consider adding striped stirrups to the new uniforms and at the same time add a nostalgic piece of baseball to a team that lacks a history of its own

Sincerely,

Consistently inconsistent [Uniwatch]