{"id":282453,"date":"2026-05-24T00:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T00:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/282453\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T00:55:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T00:55:00","slug":"longos-legacy-no-3-heading-to-the-rafters-in-jam-packed-rays-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/282453\/","title":{"rendered":"Longo\u2019s Legacy: No. 3 Heading To The Rafters In Jam-Packed Rays Celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 The Tampa Bay Rays are pulling out all the stops this July to honor the franchise\u2019s most iconic third baseman. The team announced new details for \u201cLongo\u2019s Legacy Weekend,\u201d a two-day celebration on July 11-12 that will see Evan Longoria inducted into the Rays Hall of Fame and his No. 3 jersey officially retired.<\/p>\n

The festivities begin Saturday, July 11, before the Rays face off against the Seattle Mariners at 4:10 p.m. Longoria will formally enter the Rays Hall of Fame during a pregame ceremony. The first 10,000 fans through the gates at Tropicana Field will receive a commemorative Evan Longoria snapback hat, sponsored by Union Home Mortgage.<\/p>\n

The celebration continues Sunday, July 12, when the Rays permanently retire Longoria\u2019s No. 3 jersey. To mark the occasion, rock band Tantric will be on hand to perform a live version of \u201cDown and Out,\u201d the iconic track that served as Longoria\u2019s walk-up song throughout his career in Tampa Bay. The first 10,000 fans at Sunday\u2019s game will take home an Evan Longoria bobblehead presented by DEX.<\/p>\n

READ: Hillsborough County Leaders Approve Massive Public Funding Boost For New Rays Stadium Deal<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Evan<\/p>\n

Evan Longoria (Rays)<\/p>\n

Following the game, the party moves across the street, where Ferg\u2019s Sports Bar & Grill will host Tantric for a postgame concert starting at 5 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvan Longoria\u2019s contributions on and off the field were transformative for the Tampa Bay Rays franchise. He delivered countless memorable moments for our fans and set a standard for professionalism that has impacted countless players in our organization,\u201d Rays President of Baseball Operations Erik Neander said. \u201cHis legacy in Tampa Bay endures to this day. He helped establish a winning culture and left an indelible mark on this franchise and community. We couldn\u2019t be prouder to induct Evan into the Rays Hall of Fame.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Evan<\/p>\n

Evan Longoria (Rays)<\/p>\n

Fans attending games throughout the weekend will see specially branded \u201cLongo\u2019s Legacy Weekend\u201d baseballs used in play. Inside Tropicana Field\u2019s Gate 1, the team will showcase custom chalk art honoring the third baseman. A pop-up barbershop will also be set up inside the stadium, offering fans Longoria-inspired haircuts, including the \u201cDraft Day cut,\u201d the \u201cLongo-Hawk,\u201d and the \u201cBig #3.\u201d Exclusive merchandise will be available at the Bay Republic Team Store.<\/p>\n

Longoria will also make an impact off the field during the weekend by returning to the \u201cReading with the Rays\u201d program. Sponsored by Suncoast Credit Union, the initiative encourages local students to read for at least 24 hours over the summer to prevent learning loss. Longoria was a major champion of the program from 2013 to 2017, hosting 12 events during that span. For this weekend\u2019s closed community event, he will read to children at the President Barack Obama Main Library in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n

Please make a small donation to the Tampa Free Press to help sustain independent journalism<\/a>. Your contribution enables us to continue delivering high-quality, local, and national news coverage.<\/p>\n

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Longo\u2019s Legacy: No. 3 Heading To The Rafters In Jam-Packed Rays Celebration<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 The Tampa Bay Rays are pulling out all the stops this July to honor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[30121,120158,23181,202,204,203,199,201,200,48412],"class_list":["post-282453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-evan-longoria","tag-legacy-weekend","tag-rays","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-the-rays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}