Kameron Misner‘s walk-off home run that gave the Rays a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies Thursday was a historic blast, being the first home run hit in a regular season game at Steinbrenner Field and Misner becoming the first player in Major League history to have his first big league home run be a walk-off homer on Opening Day.
But the Rays did have one walk-off homer on Opening Day previously, and it came from one of the biggest names ever to wear a Rays uniform.
The then-Devil Rays trailed the Boston Red Sox 4-1 going into the bottom of the ninth inning on March 31, 2003 at Tropicana Field. The game was Lou Piniella‘s debut as Tampa Bay’s manager, and the Red Sox had Alan Embree on looking to close out the contest, but saw the left-hander give up a two-run shot to Terry Shumpert, who was in his first game with the club after signing two days earlier.
Embree would give up a single to Ben Grieve, and Embree’s replacement Chad Fox walked Marlon Anderson to set up Carl Crawford, in his first full season with the club, for the heroics.
The excitement would be short-lived that year, as Tampa Bay lost five of its next six games en route to a 99-loss season. But for one afternoon that season, Tropicana Field was a paradise.
Steve Carney is the founder and publisher of St. Pete Nine. One of the people most associated with baseball coverage in Tampa Bay, he spent 13 seasons covering the Rays for flagship radio station WDAE, first as producer of Rays Radio broadcasts, then as beat reporter beginning in 2011. He likes new analytics and aged bourbon, and is the owner of one of the ugliest knuckleballs ever witnessed by baseball scouts.
