TAMPA -- At first, Stuart Sternberg was caught up in images of the past. Sitting among family, friends and Rays executives by the home dugout at George M. Steinbrenner Field after the first inning of Tampa Bay’s 6-3 loss to Boston on Saturday night, he looked out at the scoreboard and saw video of his younger self being introduced as the club’s principal owner.
Then came the images and footage from his 22-season tenure with the franchise. The introduction of the “Rays” name. Sergio Romo introducing the “opener” to MLB. Community events. Award presentations and postseason celebrations. Drafting a young Evan Longoria, then slipping on a No. 3 jersey at his retirement ceremony earlier this year. Game 162. The last out of the 2008 American League Championship Series.
Watching it all flash across the screen, accompanied by Bruce Springsteen’s “No Surrender” and “Born to Run,” Sternberg started to tear up. Then he saw the people.
Out of the home dugout came manager Kevin Cash, all the Rays players and members of the coaching staff and support staff. Club employees lined up behind the backstop, and another bunch of them poured out onto the aisles and walkways around the lower seating level.
As a group, the Rays tipped their caps to Sternberg while fans applauded, giving the club’s outgoing owner a chance to soak in their appreciation in his penultimate home game at the helm.
“To be here with my family in a field, outdoor baseball on a spectacular night, it was, as we say, an 11 out of 10,” Sternberg said afterward. “Eleven on a scale of 10.”
Sternberg has not officially sold the club, but the Rays announced on Wednesday that a deal is “expected to close within the next two weeks pending final approvals.” The club revealed in June that Sternberg had entered exclusive negotiations to sell the team to a group led by developer Patrick Zalupski in an agreement reportedly worth $1.7 billion.
Sternberg and his partners are expected to retain a minority stake in the team, with outgoing team president Matt Silverman representing them on an executive advisory board being established by the new ownership group.
Between a gathering to toast Sternberg on Thursday evening and Saturday’s tribute, the Rays have taken the final homestand to recognize Sternberg’s impact on the organization.
“Very touching tribute,” Cash said. “He's special to all of us. We love him. We love his family. It's a tough couple of days. But we're thrilled for him, and I appreciate the applause and the support that the fans gave him.
“You could tell the emotion that he was feeling throughout that. I think the guys and the people that have been around him, men and women that have been around him for so long, all felt that emotion alongside him.”
Under Sternberg’s leadership, the Rays have won a pair of AL pennants and four AL East titles while reaching the postseason nine times. Since 2008, they have put together MLB’s third-best winning percentage. His philosophy regarding innovation -- break some windows, but don’t burn down the house -- is often credited for freeing up Rays executives to make bold moves and try new strategies.
It was reflected on the caps worn by Rays employees on Saturday night, too. The design included broken window details on one side and an image of Dodgers icon Sandy Koufax, one of Sternberg’s favorite players, on the other.
“It was just too much, too much, too much. It shouldn't have been five seconds, but I wish it had gone on for five hours,” he said of the ceremony. “It's an amazing thing to be able to have people feel that way about you. It really is.”
Seeing the faces of the people wearing those hats made Sternberg even more emotional in the moment, but even more confident the right people are in place to continue forward.
“I'm thankful for each and every one of them,” he said. “It gave me the confidence that the organization has been sort of inoculated, wide and deep, with what we have tried to do, and I think we're there. We've done it.”
Sternberg clearly has made a point to enjoy the final stretch of his last season. He even spent the first four innings of Friday night’s series opener as a ball boy down the right-field line, marveling at how much faster the game feels on the field.
He joined Dewayne Staats and Brian Anderson in the TV broadcast booth for a few innings of Saturday’s game, then moved over to the Rays radio booth alongside Andy Freed and Neil Solondz. But he plans to enjoy Sunday’s home finale free of ceremony or formality necessary.
Just one more beautiful night at the ballpark.
“It’s like everything just lined up perfectly,” Sternberg said. “Kismet. Camelot.”