If you have paid any attention to the ML scene to date, you’ve heard about how hot the Tampa Bay Rays are. They opened the season with 13 straight victories tying a modern-day record. Yesterday, they finally lost their first home game.

All this greatness didn’t come immediately for the Rays. Twenty-five years ago, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks became the 29th and 30th ML franchises. I had a front row seat back in ’98 as the Devil Rays stayed at the hotel.

Heading into the expansion draft I was more concerned with the Diamondbacks because they were the NL team and my friend Doc was scouting the league for the draft. Unlike the ’76, ’69 and ’62 drafts I wasn’t aware of the process.

Editor’s note: The Diamondbacks won it all in 2001, but are a horribly run organization where the Rays have yet to win it all despite being one of the better run franchises in the league.

Like most Brewer fans, who probably don’t know that Joe Schultz was the franchise’s first manager (1969 Seattle Pilots), I don’t think most young Rays fans realize Larry Rothschild piloted the Devil Rays in 98-01. I’m not sure if it was purely a Chicago thing but he had a backstory akin to Steven Seagal. Aside from playing high school ball at Homewood Flossmoor, his narrative was more myth and magic. He was on Lou Piniella’s staff that won the WS in 1990, but Stan Williams was the lead pitching coach.

Having the desk that was most sports-savvy in town, we were more aware of the few baseball teams that stayed with us. The two biggest names on the original Rays were HOF’ers Fred McGriff and Wade Boggs. As the roster was veteran heavy, most of the guys behaved like professionals. I had very little contact with Boggs, but a colleague engaged him on the second shift quite a bit. As a new franchise the roster was littered with also-rans and tail ends of rosters, but that didn’t mean there weren’t some great guys with interesting ties to the city.

One of the highlights of having this particular team at the hotel was a man of great physical stature, Frank Howard who provided instant credibility and gravitas. They needed an adult because the owner and his entourage acted like small town rubes. The current Rays ownership and front office is highly regarded. The fans in Tampa owe Vince Naimoli a great debt. Were it not for his gumption and drive, they wouldn’t have a team there today. However, Vince and his wife and her twin sister created scenes every time they appeared in the lobby. Everyone was loud and expected everyone to treat them like royalty, and it seemed like the players and coaching staff had to operate under that cloud of unprofessionalism.

At the time, the only other ML teams that stayed with us were the Atlanta Braves and the Cleveland Indians. Both of those teams exuded professionalism from their dress codes to how they carried themselves in public-the front office and ownership that is. Looking back on it, owning a team was a lark for them and it seemed like the Cowboys’ Jerry Jones was their model.

The Devil Rays were 63-99 in that first season and the team would never win more than 69 in any of Rothschild’s 3+ seasons and he would be replaced by his former boss, Lou Piniella. The team would take their business after this first season so Mrs. Naimoli and her sister would be closer to the shops on North Michigan.

I probably have fonder memories of Esteban Yan’s Rays career than most Rays fans. Sometimes it’s better to not have an emotional attachment to a team. The 1998 Cubs which I’m honoring this season hadn’t quite hit their stride yet.

Editor’s note: the Rays first series at the Cell preceded the “Kerry Wood game” by a few weeks.