The Tampa Bay Rays, this year's American League representative in baseball's World Series, have decided to pay tribute to one of the world's great animal lovers. The team has decided to wear a patch of Steve Irwin on the right sleeve of their uniforms during the best-of-seven series.
Irwin, best known as the Crocodile Hunter, was killed just over two years ago off the coast of Australia while filming a documentary. The Australian was the victim of a rare stingray attack, where he suffered a fatal blow to the chest.
"Steve was a big fan of the Devil Rays. Actually, he was a big fan of all teams that have animals as mascots, as he thought it made the public more aware of the creatures and their fragile environments," said Cindy Thomas, a colleague and friend of the Irwin family.
The team did have a moment of silence before their game on the day after Irwin died in 2006. They also retired a jersey with Irwin's favorite number, 64(average number of teeth for a crocodile), at the beginning of the 2007 season.
"I always felt guilty that his life was cut short by a ray. Though it was a stingray and not a devil ray I just never felt right about it. So we want to honor him while participating on baseball's biggest stage," said Rays owner, Stuart Sternberg.
Irwin's death was the reason the team decided to drop devil from their name starting in the fall of 2007. Team officials wanted to distance themselves from what happened near the Great Barrier Reef the year before.
"We considered changing the name completely after the accident. Both the Tampa Bay Flounders and the Tampa Bay Sea Bass were seriously considered, but in the end we settled on just Rays," said the team's marketing director, Kimberly Monnaet.
Notes: This is the second playoff series that the Rays will wear patches. Against the Red Sox in the ALCS the team wore a Ray Romano patch to promote TBS' reruns of Everybody Love Raymond.
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