Rays seem ready to dump Devil

[powersurge]

See. Stingrays is cheesy and minor league.

I think you've got a point: If the Rays went for the "Stringrays" name, they would have to have an absolutely perfect logo and uniform design to avoid looking bush league. I'm sure it can be done -- I have a very clear mental image of how a "Stringrays" script could look absolutely fantastic -- but it's a case where if you can't achieve perfection, you shouldn't make the attempt. The simpler, more flexible "Rays" is a more forgiving identity concept. A not-fantastic logo and uniform design can still be attractive for the Rays, but probably not for the Stingrays.

Agreed. Although STINGRays would be better than the way too clean, safe, and boring RAYS it could easily turn into a gem or a piece of sh....that being said it probably is better for them to just call it a day and go with 'Rays'.

I predict that the uniforms will be a typical mish mosh poor attempt at classic meets modern (i.e. Nationals) and will pretty much look bad regardless of the nickname.

Wow...talk about being optimistic.

[darthxenu]

Making A Move - On The Web

By MARC LANCASTER

Published: Aug 12, 2007

ARLINGTON, Texas - We all know by now the Devil Rays aren't going to be the Devil Rays much longer. And we're all relatively certain their new name will be derived from simple subtraction - dropping the "Devil" and leaving them as the Rays.

Not that the (Devil) Rays will acknowledge even that much at this point. They're playing it by the book, revealing nothing about their new name, new colors or new look until an official announcement this fall. But the machinations that will usher them to their Devil-less future already are in progress.

Open up your Web browser and type in www.therays.com. After a momentary pause, you'll be funneled to the Rays' current official site, which has as its primary domain www.devilrays.com. Hmmm?

Along the same lines, the popular fan-created Devil Rays Web site that had resided at www.raysbaseball.com suddenly went dark Tuesday night and relocated to www.raysbb.com. In a message to users on the site's fan forum, administrator Dan Hirsch said the previous address would become the official team site.

Rays president Matt Silverman wouldn't confirm or deny that, saying only the official site will remain at devilrays.com until the whole ball of wax is unveiled in a couple of months. That should occur sometime following the World Series, with the Bucs' bye week of Nov. 11 a logical choice.

The newly minted Rays will have at least a couple of options for their new Web home in raysbaseball.com and therays.com. They may have a couple of more by the time the name is rolled out. Major League Baseball Web sites are run centrally by MLB.com, which also handles the purchase of the various Web addresses. It's common for MLB to gobble up as many intuitive addresses as it can and point them all to the official site.

That's what happened with raysbaseball.com, whose owners were first contacted about selling the domain name in March. In an e-mail, Hirsch declined to reveal any details about the compensation he received from MLB. If another potential name-dropper's experience is any indication, it could have been a hefty chunk of change.

St. Petersburg-based writer Bob Andelman bought a couple of Rays-related domain names - www.emailtherays.com and www.tbrays.com - about five years ago. Last summer, a company purporting to represent the Rays' online interests contacted Andelman about buying the tbrays.com domain for MLB use. Initially skeptical, Andelman checked the bona fides with a Rays official he knew and was told the company was credible. He wanted to be sure to double-check, as the compensation they agreed upon was $10,000.

Andelman accepted the offer, which would have turned him a hefty profit on his original investment, but didn't hear back from his contact for three or four weeks. He finally made a follow-up call and found the man exasperated that Andelman had told the Rays about their negotiation. Andelman never heard from him again, and tbrays.com remains his. Unless MLB decides to come calling again, of course.

"If they're interested, I'm here," he said Friday.

The same cannot be said for the proud owners of the most straightforward possibility for a new Rays address, www.rays.com. Since 1996, that domain has belonged to Ray's Boathouse, a seafood restaurant that has become a Seattle institution during six decades of existence in various forms. That's a lot more history than the Rays can claim, and Ray's has no inclination or intention to step aside for the newcomers.

Lori Magaro, who as part of her marketing and public relations duties for the restaurant registered rays.com 11 years ago, said in an e-mail that she has been contacted about selling "many times throughout the years and a few times recently" by various parties.

Her answer now is the same as ever: "It is not for sale."

Chalk up another loss for the Rays.

Currently, going to raysbaseball.com brings up the following image:

This could be another indication that the name is going to be changed from Devil Rays to Rays.

[Sir Donald]

Looking at the image - it says "Raysbb.com" is a fan site, whereas TB Devil Rays official site is on the left. Most respectable fan sites have a link to the proper site.

[I Am A Flaming Douche Bag]

I hate how there doing what the ducks did. Just get a whole new name instead of dropping part of it.

[Survival79]

Additionally, the Devil Rays have had a Spanish version of their homepage located at www.raysbeisbol.com since April 4, 2007.

[darthxenu]

Looking at the image - it says "Raysbb.com" is a fan site, whereas TB Devil Rays official site is on the left. Most respectable fan sites have a link to the proper site.

The image is from raysbaseball.com, the site raysbb.com used to be located there, but raysbaseball.com is now owned by MLB Advanced Media LP. That's why the site has two links. One for the old site and one for the new one.

[Lee.]

Every team on the MLB shop has their team colors (as we know them, anyway)...TB has this purple background, and a light blue outline on the TB...

Of course, if someone else has already posted this, nevermind. I was just looking for a green hat, since I saw them on the highlights last night, and thought "I'm gonna miss that green..."

[powersurge]

Huh....

No sign of yellow....this does not bode well for my prediction. The purplish blue paired against a teal blue would be interesting but way too 90's for me.

I hope the lighter blue and yellow rumor turns out to be true in the end. Baseball needs a color scheme like that instead of all of the navy or black thats been turning up.

[Survival79]

Every team on the MLB shop has their team colors (as we know them, anyway)...TB has this purple background, and a light blue outline on the TB...

Of course, if someone else has already posted this, nevermind. I was just looking for a green hat, since I saw them on the highlights last night, and thought "I'm gonna miss that green..."

The logo and colors look very similar to what is being used on the Devil Rays homepage.

Huh....

No sign of yellow....this does not bode well for my prediction. The purplish blue paired against a teal blue would be interesting but way too 90's for me.

I hope the lighter blue and yellow rumor turns out to be true in the end. Baseball needs a color scheme like that instead of all of the navy or black thats been turning up.

I could be wrong, but from what I can recall lighter blue was explicitly not part of the rumored colorway.

I really have no idea what they're going to do. Rays? Stingrays? Orange? Pink? Brown? Hypercolor? Light urple? Jaleel White?

[Lee.]

No matter what...Ihope they do keep the "Rays" wordmark on the homes. I've been going back to take a look, and really, except for the basic colors, they do have a pretty solid set going on.

Purple and teal. Add some pinstripes, and it's the Charlotte Hornets all over again

[powersurge]

Every team on the MLB shop has their team colors (as we know them, anyway)...TB has this purple background, and a light blue outline on the TB...

Of course, if someone else has already posted this, nevermind. I was just looking for a green hat, since I saw them on the highlights last night, and thought "I'm gonna miss that green..."

The logo and colors look very similar to what is being used on the Devil Rays homepage.

Huh....

No sign of yellow....this does not bode well for my prediction. The purplish blue paired against a teal blue would be interesting but way too 90's for me.

I hope the lighter blue and yellow rumor turns out to be true in the end. Baseball needs a color scheme like that instead of all of the navy or black thats been turning up.

I could be wrong, but from what I can recall lighter blue was explicitly not part of the rumored colorway.

I really have no idea what they're going to do. Rays? Stingrays? Orange? Pink? Brown? Hypercolor? Light urple? Jaleel White?

There was a rumor or two that they were going the way of the UCLA Bruins, hence the lighter blue. I personally think that would be a nice identity for them, but in the end they'll probably go navy or some kind of darker overly used blue.

[CubsFanBudMan]

Purple and blue would certainly qualify as a "surprise," as suggested earlier in the thread.

[francis]

Purple and blue would certainly qualify as a "surprise," as suggested earlier in the thread.

Why not keeping Green and Blue, reverse the order and take a lighter green.

Same color scheme as Vancouver :

it's not used by any MLB team and i love so much the New Canucks Jersey !!!! One of the best in NHL !

[Survival79]

FWIW...

Navy, Columbia Blue, And A Little Gold

What you see color wise on the forum is exactly what you'll be seeing the Rays wearing next year. Navy, Columbia Blue, and some accent gold around lettering and perhaps the piping is indeed the correct answer.

The name Rays is featured on the jerseys as it is now, except the lettering style has changed. Whether Devil is removed from the team name remains to be seen.

My expectations would be the usual white at home, grey on the road uniforms. A navy alternate jersey works well at home AND on the road with either white or grey pants. I would expect somewhere down the line, but not initially (just my guess), that a columbia blue jersey will be introduced.

I would expect a navy hat to be worn both at home and on the road. If a columbia blue hat with navy bill isn't introduced immediately, it won't be far behind.

The gold is insignificant and I can't imagine it ever being used other than to capture letters or logos to make them perhaps standout in certain situations.

So there it is, take it to the bank. You'll see it all in November.

Certainly nothing new and earth shattering with this color scheme. It obviously has been done before without the gold accent and has shown great success. Don't forget however, the team that sports these colors is a winner in all sports with rabid fans. We'll see how the idea is received by Rays fans real soon. New uni's won't put fans in the seats. But maybe if it sells well enough they'll take the money and buy the 2 starting pitchers and 1 reliever they need to win more games than they lose.

GO HEELS!!!!!!!

[powersurge]

I hope they emphasize gold more than just a tiny accent, because I would really like a navy, columbia blue, gold combo. It would look very UCLA-esque, which to my knowledge isn't a look thats currently present in MLB.

[wdm1219inpenna]

MLB had their chance to contract the D'Rays and the Expos (now the Nationals) a few years back. I wish that could have happened. Neither of these teams are EVER going anywhere, unless they relocate, or in the Nat's case, relocate AGAIN...

The Rays are bland, they are boring, they are at best, spoiler fodder for the rest of the league.

The Nats, red hat, white letters, just like the Phillies, Reds & Cardinals....BORING.......yeah they have the blue caps for the road but still, they're non-essential....

Sigh

[dahatman]

MLB had their chance to contract the D'Rays and the Expos (now the Nationals) a few years back. I wish that could have happened. Neither of these teams are EVER going anywhere, unless they relocate, or in the Nat's case, relocate AGAIN...

The Rays are bland, they are boring, they are at best, spoiler fodder for the rest of the league.

The Nats, red hat, white letters, just like the Phillies, Reds & Cardinals....BORING.......yeah they have the blue caps for the road but still, they're non-essential....

Sigh

The Nationals are going to be competitive in a couple of years. They had to come back from MLB not investing in the minor league system and with Stan Kasten and Trader Jim you have great baseball minds at work. Add to that the deep pockets of the Lerner and a new stadium next year and the Nationals will be flush with cash. As for the uni's, I am not all that fond of the Walgreen's "W" and would like to see a return to the block "W". I thought that the caps they wore for the Walter Johnson night were great and complimented the uni's very well.

As for the D-Rays, between them and the Marlins, I think that the Florida experiment has failed. The Marlins may have won two championships but the STL Browns, Milwaukee Braves, Boston Braves and Philadelphia A's all won championship and eventually had to relocate because of poor ownership and worse attendance. At this point, I do not see MLB revisiting contraction again.

[PeytonManningRocks]

No matter what...Ihope they do keep the "Rays" wordmark on the homes. I've been going back to take a look, and really, except for the basic colors, they do have a pretty solid set going on.

Purple and teal. Add some pinstripes, and it's the Charlotte Hornets all over again

Which would be very fitting since both franchises have played in nearly-empty stadiums

[TampaBayEverybodyLovesRays]

Give the Rays a little more time before thinking of contraction. They have a TON of good players in the minors that are bound to do something at the major league level.

[KJTALBOT]

To keep it on topic. I'll believe Navy, Columbia Blue and Gold when I see it.

Please. Anything but Navy. Please.

Did I say please?