The Tampa Bay Rays are the closest thing Orlando has to a baseball team. At one point the city hosted the Rays’ AA minor league baseball teams. The team has tried very hard to get into the Orlando market with some advertising and games airing on Sun Sports.
The connection has at times been tenuous. The connection a little strenuous. St. Petersburg is not an easy drive for Orlando and this is simply not a baseball town.
The Rays though stepped up in Orlando’s time of need. The team that is the local team in one of America’s biggest sports reached out to a community that it has only a limited connection to, doing something the city will not forget.
The Rays hosted their “Pride Night” on Friday in a game against the San Francisco Giants. A night that would have been reserved for recognizing and honoring the LGBTQ community turned into a tribute to the victims in a town three hours away.
The Rays pledged to donate to the sale of $5 tickets to Orlando relief efforts and sold out Tropicana Field in an emotional evening. Rays players adorned the hat of the old Orlando Rays and the city and its victims were honored for their strength in the face of a horrible tragedy.
The hat the #Rays will wear tonight
Orlando Rays were an affiliate from 1999 to 2003 #WeAreOrlando #MLB pic.twitter.com/lDsBC1Gj4e
— **620 WDAE** (@620wdae) June 17, 2016
Tonight's attendance: 40,135—second sellout of the season, and the #Rays largest regular season crowd since Opening Day 2006.
— #VoteRays (@RaysBaseball) June 18, 2016
Tonight's pregame presentation included this memorial to the Pulse Victims. #WeAreOrlandohttps://t.co/66hPKSDlAX
— #VoteRays (@RaysBaseball) June 17, 2016
It was a special night for the Rays organization and a touching tribute to the neighbors to the east.
The Rays raised more than $300,000. It was a successful night. What happened on the field did not matter — the Rays lost.
It is yet to be seen whether this will lead to a deeper connection between Orlando and the Rays. That was not the point of this night at all. This was about coming together with neighbors and standing in solidarity. It is not something that will be forgotten though. It surely helped raise the Rays’ profile in Orlando.
The City of Orlando will have its big sports catharsis Saturday when Orlando City takes on the San Jose Earthquakes. Orlando City has its own special tribute planned as the community comes together for a moment of relief and normalcy to remember the victims of a week ago.
