Tampa Bay Times28%
Evan Longoria relishes return to Trop, induction into Rays Hall of Fame 13%
By Marc Topkin39%
7/11/2026, 8:55:47 PM
Topics: Evan Longoria, Baseball Hall Of Fame
BS Summary: This article contains 1 faulty reasoning type, including Attempt to Sell a Product or Service, with Attempt to Sell a Product or Service as the most egregious example at 4.5% saturation with 66 hits. Analysis detected 66 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,465 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 30.1% and a BS Rank of 13% (12,798 of 14,612 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 87.60% of the article peer group.
For all the nerves, unease and anxiety Evan Longoria had before his weekend doubleheader ceremonies, he handled Saturday with the usual professionalism and success he showed so many other times at Tropicana Field.
In being inducted into the Rays Hall of Fame, he pulled on the official blue blazer, then delivered a 10-minute speech he said he’d spent six months thinking about.
“I felt like I got it all out,” Longoria said.
“I only felt like I was gonna cry a couple times.
I didn’t want to look around, because I knew if I started looking around and seeing people’s faces, I would have just come apart at the seams.”
There were plenty of familiar faces, including Longoria’s parents, his wife and their three kids, plus other family members; several Rays officials (as well as former team president Matt Silverman); and Soot Zimmer, the 95-year-old widow of Don Zimmer, who Longoria was very close to.
Also, a group of former teammates that included Chris Archer, Grant Balfour (who was also doing TV work), Alex Cobb, Logan Forsythe, Eric Hinske, Kevin Kiermaier, Brad Miller, Fernando Perez and James Shields.
Plus, former coaches Tom Foley and Steve Henderson.
During his 10 years with the Rays, Longoria played 725 times at the Trop, including two 2008 World Series games against the Phillies.
But even using some visualization techniques from his playing days, he said he never felt like he did Saturday, with nearly 23,000 fans, many wearing the No. 3 caps that were promotional giveaways and some in his old jersey, filling the lower bowl and parts of the upper deck (which was reopened for the weekend) waiting on his every word.
“I can’t tell you how many times I read that speech to myself, and the first time I read it out loud, like just at my house, I almost started crying,” he said.
“So I was like, ‘Man, what’s it going to be like when I got 25,000 people in the stands?’
So maybe it sounded like I kind of rushed through it a little bit or didn’t look around, but I was like, ‘I need to keep going.
I need to keep plugging away.’”
Longoria became the second homegrown Rays player inducted into the team Hall (which launched in 2023), joining outfielder Carl Crawford, and the sixth member overall.
Others are national Hall of Famers and Tampa Bay-area products Wade Boggs and Fred McGriff, who played for the Rays in the early years; radio broadcaster Dave Wills, who died in 2023; and Zimmer, the much-loved longtime senior adviser who died in 2014.
Boggs, who, like Longoria, played third base, and Wills’ family also were in attendance Saturday.
Rays CEO Ken Babby and longtime TV broadcaster Dewayne Staats spoke during the ceremony that was emceed by tuxedo-clad radio broadcaster Andy Freed.
Video tributes were played during the ceremony and throughout the game, including from former principal owner Stuart Sternberg, McGriff and former teammates, including Carl Crawford, David Price and Ben Zobrist.
Seeing and hearing from his former teammates, he said, “is always special.”
On Sunday, Longoria’s No. 3 will be retired, joining Boggs’ No.
12, Zimmer’s No. 66 and No. 42 (as part of the league-wide acknowledgement of Jackie Robinson), displayed in a new spot in the upper deck down the leftfield line.
Under orders from Sternberg, no Ray had worn No. 3 since Longoria left.
Longoria said he and his family all will wear his jerseys to the field Sunday to go along with the theme.
“We want to kind of honor that,” he said.
“It’s just meant so much to my family being able to put that jersey on, obviously, from the beginning of my first opportunity here up until this moment — 20 years of just life, basically, culminating in such a special moment, it’s really cool."
Longoria thanked the fans during his speech for their strong support, saying, “I’ll never be able to put into words the love I felt from you putting on the Rays’ No.
3.”
And also for “cuing the violins” from his iconic walkout song, “Down and Out,” which will be played live by Tantric as part of Sunday’s ceremony.
Longoria noted that it has been 20 years since he was drafted third overall by the Rays in 2006.
He thanked many people who helped him reach and star in the majors, which he did from 2008 until being traded to the Giants in December 2017 in a payroll-cutting move, as he was still due $86 million from a hefty contract extension.
Among others, he mentioned his parents (and just about broke down), Soot Zimmer, former Rays manager Joe Maddon (who couldn’t make it due to a family event conflict) and current manager Kevin Cash.
He also referenced his somewhat dubious first Trop appearance, with a less-than-impressive batting practice session the day after signing with the Rays.
“Those who were here to witness that ‘til this day believed I would never make it out of rookie ball,” Longoria said.
Longoria had said repeatedly that one of his biggest disappointments was not getting to return to play at the Trop as a visitor, a product of the Giants’ and Diamondbacks’ schedules from 2018-2023.
The Rays had previously honored Longoria with a statue outside the Trop of his famous arms-up reaction to the Game 162 homer, with a first pitch before a 2024 game after he finished his playing career in 2023 with Arizona, and last season at Steinbrenner Field (the Rays’ 2025 home following hurricane damage to Tropicana Field), where he signed a one-day ceremonial contract to retire as a Ray.
Having these ceremonies back at the Trop was important to him.
“I think the fans deserve that,” he said before the ceremony.
“So I’m grateful that (the Rays) waited.
Some people were like, ‘It’s been long enough,’ but it’s like there was circumstances, obviously, that kind of prevented that.
So I’m glad that they waited until now to be able to do it here, and it’s going to make for a special weekend.”
Longoria’s career included many highlights, such as his Game 162 homer in 2011; his 2008 rookie-year playoff run; three All-Star selections; three Gold Gloves, a Silver Slugger and a Rookie of the Year award; and six top-20 finishes in American League MVP voting.
Of everything he did at the Trop, Longoria said “there’s probably three kind of seminal moments.”
• Catching a foul pop-up by Minnesota’s Joe Mauer as the final out of the game that clinched the Rays’ first playoff berth in September 2008.
• Watching Aki Iwamura step on second base for the final out of Game 7 of the 2008 AL Championship Series against Boston, sending the Rays to their first World Series.
• Hitting the walkoff homer in the 12th inning of Game 162 of the 2011 season, with the Rays’ victory over the Yankees and Boston’s loss to Baltimore sending Tampa Bay into the playoffs.
Longoria joined Bobby Thomson (1951 Giants) as the only players to hit walkoff homers in the final regular-season game to put their teams into the postseason.
Longoria’s father, Mike, said it’s still hard to believe all Evan accomplished since he signed after the 2006 draft.
“I’ve said all along this whole thing has been like something you dream about but never really comes to fruition for like 900% of the people,” Mike Longoria said.
“You want all of your kids to succeed.
And to have his attitude, too.
He’s been a great kid all along, and he’s raising a great family now.
“I couldn’t be more proud of his career than I could be of him as a man.
That’s kind of what it’s done for him, and me.”
Added Mike, for emphasis, “It’s unbelievable.
I know you’ve heard me say it a million times over the years, but it’s unbelievable.
I really can’t believe it.”
Longo’s Legacy weekend
Longoria No. 3 retirement
Approximate start: 1:15 p.m.
Sunday, with live performance of walkout song “Down and Out” by Tantric (which will perform a postgame concert at Ferg’s Sports Bar & Grill).
Gates open: 11:40 a.m.
Giveaways: Longoria bobblecard to first 10,000 fans, Longoria poster to first 5,000 fans.
Also: baseballs and bases with special logo, chalk art, Longoria-inspired haircuts, Longoria-themed merchandise.
More information: Raysbaseball.com/Longo
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