The Tampa Bay Devils Rays had been in a deep rut for many years, so when New Yorker Stuart Sternberg purchased the franchise, he immediately went to work with Matt Silverman to make changes throughout the organization, including reinterpreting the name "Ray" that was associated with the sting ray to the “ray of Florida sunshine.”
With new ownership in native New Yorker, Stu Sternberg, the Tampa Bay ball club was rebuilt from the ground up. We worked closely with Major League Baseball's Creative Services VP Anne Occi and developed hundreds of sketches that pursued his vision of a no-nonsense, refined branding approach. The final uniform program was strikingly elegant without any unnecessary flourishes. The uniform script was based on classic typographic that featured just a "glint" of sunlight reflected by Florida's rays of sunshine.
Along with changes in the clubhouse, the Rays came out of Spring Training with a new attitude and a new game. From last in the league, the Rays battled through the season, winning the American League East division, the AL Pennant, and then onto the biggest stage in Major League Baseball -- the World Series. While they could not put down the Phillies for the trophy, the Rays had risen from “worst to first.”
We were fortunate enough to have our work cited in Jonah Keri’s book “The Extra 2%,” which chronicled the Rays' revolution:
"Back at the drawing board, the team leaned on Fanbrandz, hoping to find a workable idea in a short time frame ... to shift from fish to feeling, the team turned to Principal Bill Frederick ... just as the Anaheim Ducks had called on Frederick to chase away the ghost of Emilio Estevez, the Rays asked him to help them rid themselves of the Devils for good."
The Rays would go on to pull a similar feat in the 2020 World Series, claiming the American League championship, but ultimately losing to the Dodgers 3-1 in Game 6. Nonetheless, it was a landmark achievement for the franchise.
