Only two numbers worn by Tampa Bay personnel have been retired by the franchise.
The Rays do not have defined criteria that must be met for a number to be retired. Suffice it to say, if the Rays organization sees fit to retire a player's or a coach's number, they have made a special contribution to the team.
Wade Boggs has an outstanding .328 lifetime batting average and won 5 batting titles during his legendary career. On August 7, 1999 Wade Boggs became an elite member of the 3,000 hit club when he homered off Cleveland's Chris Haney at Tropicana Field. Wade Boggs retired as a Devil Ray in 1999 and served as the team's hitting coach through the 2001 season.
In 1947, Jackie Robinson integrated American sports by breaking baseball's color barrier. He overcame numerous obstacles off the field, and he helped lead the Brooklyn Dodgers to six pennants and one World Series Championship. In recognition of his legacy, his number has been retired "in perpetuity", never to be worn again in the Major Leagues.
Don Zimmer spent 66 years in professional baseball, 56 of those in the major leagues as a player, coach and manager. He reached the postseason 19 times, won six World Series rings, and spent the last 11 years of his life as the Rays senior baseball advisor-his longest tenure with any of the 14 clubs that employed him. "Zim" and his wife, Soot, called the Tampa Bay area home since the late-1950s.
