The Tampa Bay Rays Hall of Fame was officially opened Sunday, as the late Don Zimmer became the initial inductee, the first of three former Rays to be enshrined in the inaugural class in 2023.
To accept the award for Zimmer, who died in 2014 after a 66 year career in baseball, including the final 11 as senior baseball advisor in Tampa Bay, were his widow Soot and son Tom, also a long-time Major League Baseball executive. Also speaking at the ceremony were Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg and former Rays coach Tom Foley.
The two other members of the inaugural class of the Rays Hall of Fame will be inducted later this season, with Wade Boggs scheduled to be honored July 9 against Atlanta, and Carl Crawford on August 26 against Miami.
Watch the entire ceremony, hosted by Rays television play-by-play broadcaster Dewayne Staats, below!
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.
