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Sternberg Is Relishing Every Memorable Moment

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 14, 2008

NEW YORK - All that was missing was Stuart Sternberg rubbing his hands together in fiendish delight Friday night as he anticipated what was to come over the weekend at Yankee Stadium.

"I've been waiting two months for this weekend," Sternberg said before the rained-out series opener between the first-place Rays and fourth-place Yankees.

Why the extra anticipation?

"Really, what's happening this weekend is we have a lot of Red Sox fans rooting for the Yankees, and that's been my big goal this year and it lined up, and I can't ask for more than that," said Sternberg, who continued along merrily:

"I just want to be there with the Red Sox fans when they cheer Jeter on, and A-Rod, and their former Damon, and Giambi, and the whole crew. All the guys that they love all year long, year after year, as they sit there and root for them to get hits and strikeouts and all that good stuff. I'd love to share a bar seat with a couple of Sox fans as they root for the Yankees."

Sternberg would have to be content with soaking in the scene Saturday night (he had to attend a wedding during the day and missed the opener) as he looked forward to welcoming the Red Sox to Tropicana Field on Monday. But now that September has arrived, the Rays' principal owner finally seems to be allowing himself some open satisfaction with what his team has accomplished in such a short time.

He called his monologue on conflicted Boston fans "my version of gloating" as his team eyes its first playoff run. In some ways, that rare feeling already has seeped into the atmosphere - most notably in the pair of taut games the Rays played at Fenway Park last week that had Sternberg and his family (among many others) on the edge of their seats.

He said he has never had such a response from people as he did after the Rays triumphed in 14 innings Wednesday night to take two of three from the Red Sox. His Blackberry wouldn't stop buzzing, first at night and on into the morning.

"The amount of people that stayed up to watch the game, it was like one of those classic late-night Red Sox-Yankees playoff games," Sternberg said. "It was wives of friends who stayed up who'd never cared about it before and people who casually had watched."

The list of converts seems to be growing as the Rays continue their drive toward October. Last week "felt like playoff baseball," Sternberg said, and as a native New Yorker he has witnessed plenty of fall classics up close.

But there's obviously another level to watching your team play the way the Rays have to this point, and Sternberg is relishing each memorable moment that comes along.

"To be able to take it to a level as a fan, and then layer in the idea that you own this thing and you see the success of the people you put in place to produce this is extraordinarily rewarding, so I'm able to get it from both sides," he said. "Those couple games were just incredible."

The Rays have had their share of contests that fit that description this year, but the intensity that was present at Fenway and figures to be evident at the Trop this week marks a different kind of baseball. October, of course, will elevate it even further.

Playoff baseball at the Trop is all but certain at this point - an astonishing turnaround from the state of the Rays when Sternberg's group took over ownership in the fall of 2005.

Has it finally reached the point where it seems real for Sternberg?

"It seems real, but it seems extraordinarily unlikely," he said. "It seems real because we didn't go on one of those 19-out-of-22 runs to get there. It's been building all year."

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