For 10 years, fans at Tropicana Field came to attention at the haunting violin intro to Tantric’s “Down and Out.”
Before the dark rock anthem faded, a crescendo of cheers greeted Tampa Bay star Evan Longoria to the plate.
Longoria’s entrance theme gets a final airing this weekend – a live rendition by the band – ahead of his number retirement, all part of “Longo Legacy Weekend” activities.
Longoria will be inducted in the Rays Hall of Fame on Saturday and have his jersey retired on Sunday. Both ceremonies take place at 4 p.m. before games against the Seattle Mariners.
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Longoria, who played 10 of his 16 seasons in Tampa Bay, officially announced his retirement a year ago. But the Rays waited until the team returned to Tropicana Field this season to honor him.
The third baseman’s place in team history had already been memorialized at the Rays’ longtime dome in St. Petersburg. In 2023, a statue of Longoria was created to depict his walk-off home run in the final regular-season game in 2011 that pushed Tampa Bay to the playoffs. It stands at Gate 4.
And, of course, the left field wall cutout, through which that homer soared, remains labeled “162 Landing.” It was the most famous of Longoria’s 261 home runs with Tampa Bay.
On Saturday, Longo joins Wade Boggs (2023), outfielder Carl Crawford (2023), first baseman Fred McGriff (2024), broadcaster Dave Wills (2024), and senior adviser Don Zimmer (2023) in the Hall.
On Sunday, his No. 3 will go up above the left-field seats, along with No. 12 Boggs (2000), No. 66 Zimmer (2015) and Jackie Robinson, the baseball pioneer whose No. 42 is retired throughout Major League Baseball.
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Longoria was the third overall draft selection in 2006 by the team, and went on to earn the 2008 American League Rookie of the Year, three Gold Gloves, a Silver Slugger and three All-Star appearances.
After earning that final Gold Glove in 2017, he was traded to the Giants at age 32. He still holds several Rays records, including most games played, RBIs and home runs. The California native played his last season in 2023 with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Rays said that Sections 300 to 312 in the upper deck will be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday for each game against the Mariners.
For all three games, the first 5,000 fans will get a “Longo's Legacy Weekend” poster created by Washington, D.C., artist Rob Zilla. The three 11-by-17-inch posters can be combined into a larger poster of Longoria.
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The Rays will also have giveaways for the first 10,000 fans on Saturday (a snapback No. 3 cap) and Sunday (a Longo “bobblecard”).
After Sunday’s game, Tantric will perform a free concert outside of Ferg’s, next door to Tropicana Field.
