The stats are impossible to argue with.
Ten years in a Rays uniform. Nealy 1,500 games played, 261 home runs sent flying, 892 runs batted in, 338 doubles, 618 extra-bases. That trio of Gold Gloves and, oh yeah, that one unforgettable trip to the World Series.
The list goes on, and on and on, but it’s tough to put a real measure on the impact that Evan Longoria — our handsome, gap-toothed third baseman drafted in third round of the 2006 MLB draft — had on the Tampa Bay area. The cover boy of CL’s 2015 edition of Ask The Locals arrived here from Long Beach, California, but he came of age in St. Pete and Tampa at the very same time our cities were growing new legs of their own.
Longo — who once admitted to having a man crush on the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Steven Stamkos — would frequent the Dubliner in South Tampa where he discovered Tampa songwriter Daniel B. Marshall. In St. Pete he liked to eat breakfast burritos at Banyan Cafe. He once said that if local fast-food joint PDQ were a Trop concession he’d be eating it on the field. After the birth of his two kids — Ella and Nash — Longo could be seen playing with them at Crescent Lake Park.
He even loved Doug Dozark’s beer so much he asked Cycle Brewing to brew a signature beer for his downtown Tampa restaurant Ducky’s (which also has a mural from local artist Bask painted on its side).
And Longo was good to those who needed the most help, too.
Proceeds from a recent signature blend of Kahwa coffee went toward Hurricane Irma relief efforts. He once partnered with Red Bull to rehab the historic Belmont Heights Little League Fields, which produced four Little League World Series teams and played incubator to major-leaguers like Gary Sheffield and Dwight Gooden.
In 2011, he teamed up with Moffitt Cancer Center to raise thousands of dollars for research and continued working with the organization in the years that followed. He donated $100 to St. Pete’s PetPal Animal Shelter every time he hit home run — as did Bright House (now Spectrum), the Rays and Ducky's. To date, his home runs have raised $61,300 for Pet Pal.
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Ask The Locals: Evan Longoria
Now, after 10 years as the face of this franchise (sorry Lou Piniella), Longo in his sunburst-bearing, blue-and-white No. 3 is to be no more. Today, the Tampa Bay Rays announced that the organization would trade the 32-year-old third baseman to the San Francisco Giants. In exchange, the Rays get cash considerations, and a handful of players including veteran outfielder Denard Span, who grew up in Tampa, and infielder Christian Arroyo from Hernando. The baseball world is abuzz with analysis, but Longo is still analyzing how he’s feeling inside.
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No. 3 is Kahwa Coffee's new collab with Evan Longoria
“I’m not only saying goodbye to a fanbase, but to a team and to a lot of friends,” he said in response to CL’s question about his emotional state this afternoon. “There are so many people in this organization that I have been friends with since I felt like I was a kid.”
“Leaving friends is the hardest part. My family and I put a lot into the community,” he said on the conference call with local media, adding that Pet Pal and other philanthropic endeavours are things that’ll need to get sorted out. “We’re still passionate about all of that.”
And for now, Longo will have to sort out all of that passion as he packs his bags to move out west for a team that’s committed to winning today (as opposed to the cash-strapped Rays, who are now deep into a major rebuilding phase). He’s making plans to take out an ad in the newspaper to share a more concise message with fans, but for now it’s all just really raw, and he can’t remember too many times when he’s felt like he does today.
“Losing my grandmother. My grandfather passing away. Two babies being born,” he said when asked for a comparable burden of emotions.
“Losing that World Series, that was hard,” he added. “It’s pretty tough to handle.”
Talking heads are already speculating on the impact this trade will have on the field, but for now we’re thinking about the thousands of kids who grew up watching Longo and how they’re reacting to this trade.
Those kids have traded dozens of shirts and jerseys for bigger sizes as the decade has gone on. And while it’s time to hang up your own No. 3 jersey for now, don’t let the impact Longo had outside of the diamond die on the shelf, too.
More quotes from today's phone call with local media.
Longoria to local media at start of call.
I’ve obviously spent the better part of my adult life as a Ray. Thank you to the Tampa Bay media community that’s been very gracious and supportive of me. I can’t recall too many negative things that have been said about me. I’m going to have very different emotions with another group of emotions with media later, but today is obviously a tough day for myself and my family for the all of the friendships and relationships.There are a lot of changes that’ll have to take place in the short and long term.
In response to the Tampa Bay Times question about the idea that Rays may not have honored the commitment he made to the team.
No, I probably should have said it in my initial statement, but I didn’t write it down since I am driving. I have to thank the front office and the way they handled the whole situation. The front office, I don’t blame them. They were in a position where they had to make some changes. I don’t know that they could have done it any better in terms of what they did for me.
On when he felt being traded was real possibility.
I have mentioned in the past that it would be tough for me to sit around and [theoretically] lose 100 games, and when you go through a rebuild there will be tough times, and I didn’t know if I was ready to go through that so that we had a chance to compete. I’ve never had meetings like this before. They were pretty pointed. It was much more real this offseason. I’ve always wished that maybe they would decide to commit to adding to the roster and trying to contend year in and year out. I understand that’s not the way the Rays have done it historically. There’s a part of me that is let down, but it’s been the way that its been as long as I’ve been here. So it’s not too much of a surprise.
Less obvious favorite moments?
My first day, not even as a Ray but when I was drafted, that moment when I took BP for the first time. I was here from Long Beach. That moment, I don’t think I hit but two balls out of the infield, and everyone was thinking, “Who did we draft?” One of the moments that was seared into my minds because it was brought up over and over again.
Response to WFLA question about any past connection to the Giants or San Francisco area.
No not really. No ties before. The happiest part of it all is to be able to go to a place where they’ve assured me that their plan is to win immediately. They’re a natural rival to the Dodgers, and I grew up in the area.
Response to Tampa Bay Times’ Tom Jones who asked about Longo’s thoughts on Tampa Bay as an actual baseball market.
Probably not my territory. Saw that the trade included Span and Arroyo. We’ve had some great times when there was a four or five year stretch of great support. Probably not my territory though.
Response to a FOX 13 about the sense of inevitability surrounding the trade.
Not really until this off season. Never really had the feeling that that was going to change.
Response to WFTS’ questions about a message to fans.
Like I said, I will have something more targeted and meaningful. I know that in talking to Eric and Matt the decision didn’t come easy. They knew there was going to be some backlash. Tough from a fan standpoint.
This article appears in Dec 14-21, 2017.