New Tampa Bay Rays’ Uniforms Nod To Skateboarding Culture, History

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — The Tampa Bay Rays revealed their vibrant new City Connect uniforms inspired by skateboarding culture during an event at Tropicana Field Monday afternoon.

The team will wear the new uniform for the first time Friday and throughout the weekend, the Rays posted on social media.

After that, the uniforms will be worn at every Saturday home game, as well as two games on the road this summer — in Atlanta on June 15 and St. Louis on Aug. 7, according to MLB.com.

The team hosts a City Connect Celebration Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m., at the St. Pete Pier. The event includes a drone show, live music, food trucks, games, Rays’ merchandise, a live artist installation, a skateboarding demonstration and mascot appearances.

“Behold the bold,” the Rays wrote in a social media post about the new jerseys, which the team calls a combination of “daring individuality and vivid personality, all across the Bay.”

The cap’s new logo combines a sting ray with an image of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, “representing the connections across Tampa Bay’s communities,” the team wrote.

The jersey numbers and the cap’s underbill also mimic skateboarding grip tape texture. The texture of the uniform itself is designed to simulate “a black shirt that has been weathered in the Florida sun,” according to the Rays.

“Tampa Bay” is written across the jersey’s chest - for the first time since 2007 - in a style that pays homage to skate media, street art and underground culture.

Another image incorporated into the new uniform features three palm trees, a nod to the history marker sign at Perry Harvey Sr. Park in Tampa, home of the Bro Bowl, one of the first skate public skate parks in Florida, and a pelican, representing the St. Pete Pelicans, which played in the Florida State Negro League in the 1940s and 1950s.

The pants also feature a small image of a skateboarding stingray.

The city of St. Petersburg wrote in a social media post that the “new design reflects the true essence of the Tampa Bay community.”

“These are awesome. A very cool nod to Tampa history,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor wrote on social media.