Evan Longoria Becomes Tampa Bay Rays All-Time Homerun King

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In Saturday’s 16-1 route of the New York Yankees Evan Longoria made Tampa Bay Rays history. In the 3rd inning of that game Evan Longoria deposited an Ivan Nova curveball into the catwalk of Tropicana field for his 164th career home run in a Tampa Bay Rays uniform to take over the all-time home run record for the franchise. The record was preciously held by first baseman Carlos Pena who spent 5 years in Tampa Bay and hit 163 career home runs in 726 career games. Longoria hit his 164th home run in his 815th game which is 89 more games the Pena so he obviously had more at-bats to carry out this record. It’s still no small feat, being the franchise leader in home runs is an accomplishment for anybody.

Longoria who was stuck on 163 home runs since April 3rd was happy to finally get this out-of-the-way. “It took me quite awhile to do it. But it came in a game we needed to win” Longoria said. Rays manager Joe Maddon chimed in saying ” My first thought was to thank Carlos for all the great work he has done for us, Longo’s going to keep adding to that. I would say double at least”. It’s a great accomplishment for the most identifiable name and face in Rays history. Longoria has been a force for the Rays ever since 2008 when he captured rookie of the year for the team. This is just another one of many more great things to come for the 3-time all-star of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Before Longoria was in Tampa Bay I vividly remember going to Tropicana Field in 2007 and seeing no banners in the entire stadium. Since then he’s helped the once laughingstock of Major League baseball hang up quite a few banners from American League Champions to a few AL East division championships. Longoria and the Rays haven’t captured the elusive 1st world series championship but he has played a huge role into redecorating the left field bleachers with banners and elevating the franchise to new levels.