While Tampa Bay baseball fans gradually accommodate to the reality that the Rays really do seem as good as their record indicates, the perspective of Joe Magrane is telling. For the past decade, he’s been the color analyst for Rays’ TV broadcasts. He’s seen it all; all too often.
“This team isn’t going anywhere; it’s good,” assesses Magrane. “And it will be together for some time. It’s hard for (announcing sidekick) Dewayne (Staats) and I to contain our enthusiasm. For 10 years we’ve seen so much bad baseball and so many vagabond players coming through here.
“It is now what it should be,” he adds. “It’s fun to wake up and go to the park.”
And as for those fans who still stay away in droves when the Red Sox or Commodores aren’t in town? He’s not discouraged. There’s a pattern at play, he says.
“We’ve seen a nice spike in our TV ratings,” points out Magrane. “That, historically, is the first sign. Then on the back end, attendance goes up as more people want to see the team live.
“I think there are a lot of Rays’ fans living in the shadows,” notes Magrane. “They used to be embarrassed to even wear the hats. Now the Rays are a talking point around town.”
*Speaking of talking points, Magrane’s bullish on the notion of that proposed stadium on St. Petersburg’s downtown waterfront.
“I really think a baseball team in an area can be a source of community pride,” he says. “And I think that location is special. I’ve been coming to this area (initially as a spring-training, Major League Baseball pitcher) and to Al Lang (Field) since 1985. I remember looking at the marina and thinking: ‘What a great place to play games for real.’ I think a stadium there would be a crown jewel for downtown St. Pete. Make it even more of a destination and fitting in with the trend of people migrating back to the cities.”
*Magrane also wanted to set the record straight on the return of the prodigal, Josh Hamilton. He’s the “can’t miss,” uber prospect that the Rays made the No. 1 overall pick in the 1999 draft and lavished a ton of bonus cash on. After endless frustrations with alcohol, cocaine and rehab, plus a three-year suspension imposed by MLB, he was — in a bureaucratic roster move — left technically unprotected in December 2006. The likelihood was that no other team would take a chance.
Oops.
The rest is history – and the biggest comeback since Lazarus. Hamilton’s arguably the best player in baseball right now – for the Texas Rangers. A book and a movie are givens. And the Rays, especially Vice President for Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman, have taken their share of criticism for letting all that awesome potential, however tainted, go – with virtually nothing in return.
Magrane puts it in perspective.
“As a society we view those who have gone through transgressions as heroic,” says Magrane. “The bad decisions, the bad judgments — we want to forget all the dark sides. I don’t think the Rays should be blamed – but celebrated for all the opportunities they gave him to get his life back on track. Friedman took a very human, personal interest in his life – not just his career – and I find that commendable.”