TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Rays of Hope

ADVERTISEMENT

By PAUL BOUDREAUX

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 10, 2008

An extraordinary story has ripened on the American scene this year. The story of underdog success over more famous and richer rivals, which will reach its conclusion this fall, should give hope to millions of Americans.

No, I'm not talking about the surprising political victories of Barack Obama and John McCain; after all, we have yet to see these candidates in the heat of a general election, and nearly half of all Americans will end up disappointed after Election Day. Rather, I'm talking about the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team - until recently the sad sack of professional sports - which held the best record in all of Major League Baseball as of Sept. 1, the last month of the sport's long and tiring season.

The Rays' success this year is astonishing for a number of reasons. Until this year, the team had arguably the worst record of any in history - 10 years in the league and nine last-place finishes, with only one next-to-last achievement. Last season, as in years past, they finished with the worst record in the major leagues.

For a decade, Tampa Bay has been the butt of jokes for its funny name (until this year it was the "Devil Rays"), for confusion over where the team plays (in St. Petersburg, across the long bridge from Tampa), for lousy attendance in a football-obsessed state, and for its outmoded domed stadium. Indeed, the new owners had to swallow their pride as recently as this spring, as the citizens of the home city made it clear that they have no desire to pay for a new, open-air downtown stadium.

But in the summer of 2008, the Rays have shone like the sun.

After a typically mediocre April, the team has exploded with a remarkable series of victories that gave it a sizeable lead over both the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees - otherwise known as the aristocracy of baseball. These two juggernauts have won 10 consecutive titles in the American League's East Division, as well as six of the last 12 World Series crowns.

They are the two wealthiest teams in baseball. This year, the Yankees' payroll is $209 million, and the Sox's runs $ 133 million, while the Rays are near the bottom of the pack at $43 million. While the rosters of the New York and Boston are stocked with all-stars, the Rays have no player who is a household name.

The Rays leading the Sox and Yanks in September is like the tiny army of South Georgia stopping the Russian tanks and pushing them back to the gates of Moscow, and threatening Beijing while they're at it. Or if the swimmer from Sudan had edged Michael Phelps. Or, if you prefer, as if Dennis Kucinich and Fred Thompson had suddenly won most of the spring and summer primaries to take the lead in the party campaigns.

And the Rays are an extraordinarily appealing team. If you're a person of faith, you can point to the team's dropping "Devil" from its name. If you're a moralist, you can cite the gutsy trading away of two of the team's top young hitters in the off season because of run-ins with the law and fellow players. If you admire the overcoming of adversity, the Rays have surged in August despite losing arguably their best two all-round players. And if you like drama, the Rays have had a knack for winning games in the late innings, often with a key hit by a role player.

Americans used to be proud to say, "Only in America!" Today, with other nations surpassing us in prosperity, quality of life, individual freedoms, and international admiration, we don't get a chance to repeat this phrase very often. But the Rays' success is truly something you don't find in many other nations. In European soccer for instance, their versions of the Yankees and Red Sox - teams such England's Manchester United, Arsenal, and Chelsea - win nearly all the time. The lesser teams simply can't and don't compete.

But the Rays are poised to upset the idea that money and experience guarantee success. True, September can be cruel - both the Yankees and Red Sox recently bought some top players for the stretch run while the Rays stayed pat.

But the surprise of a young baseball team, which plays to the best of its abilities nearly every day over the course of a long and testing summer, shows that the last can become first and that one can overcome the odds of birth and wealth - something all Americans can be proud of.

Professor Paul Boudreaux, Jr., teaches at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport and Tampa.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT