What two words mattered most for Rays’ City Connect uniforms

ST. PETERSBURG — The Rays could have designed their City Connect uniforms to highlight the sandy Pinellas County beaches, picturesque waterfronts and flip-flops lifestyle.

They could have based them on the classic Ybor City cigar factories, brick streets and buildings and the rich history, including in baseball, on the Tampa side.

Or they could have opted for other elements that reflect the water-based, tourism-driven, laidback scene the Tampa Bay region is well known for.

But the uniforms they unveiled Monday morning were something of a changeup — a bright, bold, eye-catching nod to the area’s “deeply rooted counterculture scenes” with a theme and focus on skateboarding.

“I think a big question people are going to ask is, ‘Why skateboarding?’ This is why‚” explained Warren Hypes, team vice president for creative and brand. “We wanted to tell a different story. It’s in our DNA to do things differently.

“So Ybor is beautiful, and the beaches are beautiful. And there’s so much cool history we could talk about in this area. But I think at the end of the day, we wanted to use the platform to tell a different story. So that’s what we’ve done here. …

“I think that’s the most Rays thing that we could do.”

The uniforms, which the Rays are calling “Grit x Glow,” will be worn for the upcoming weekend series against the Mets, then for all remaining Saturday home games plus two on the road: June 15 at Atlanta, Aug. 7 at St. Louis. Merchandise will be available initially at the Tropicana Field team store and online.

As much time and effort the Rays put into small and surprising details during the four-year design process with Nike, what will stand out the most to many fans are the two big fire-trimmed words on the front:

Tampa Bay.

“To me, that’s the most important thing about this uniform,” Hypes said.

Since the 2008 rebranding and launch of the Rays era, the jerseys have featured only the team name or burst logos, with no mention of where home is, drawing complaints and consternation from some fans.

Putting Tampa Bay on the front also eliminates any controversy or risk in alienating area residents by picking one side of the bay as the team is working intensely on a plan to build a new stadium in St. Petersburg while growing support in Tampa.

“Absolutely,” Hypes said. “We’re always region-focused first. That definitely played into the decision making.”

The City Connect uniforms have a four-year lifespan, which conveniently lines the Rays up for a redesign for the 2028 season, when they hope to be in the new stadium.

There are several unique features to the uniforms, which include dark gray pants, bright socks, and a black jersey made to look like it was faded in the sun:

• A link to the past with Devil Rays-style gradient accents on the left sleeve and right pants leg (to embody “the against the grain” spirit of the area)

• A skating ray doing a trick called a stalefish in an embroidered patch on the left hip (and also inside the jersey collar)

• A patch combining the three palms of the marker sign at Tampa’s Perry Harvey Sr. Park (home of the historic Bro Bowl skate park) and the pelican that is part of the St. Petersburg flag and its baseball history, on the bottom (and tucked in) part of the jersey

• And a bright version of the burst logo on one sleeve, with the other kept open for a potential sponsor patch

But the coolest part may be the logo on the hat and matte batting helmets, which combine the shape of a ray and the Sunshine Skyway.

The Rays came up with and pushed that idea, using it as a symbol of connectivity for the whole area, and moved it from a small patch to the more prominent spot on the hats and helmets.

“That’s probably my favorite logo in this,” Hypes said.

A major point of the City Connect jersey program, which Major League Baseball launched in 2021, is to appeal to a younger fan base, which the skateboarding theme certainly should do.

“There’s so many natural ties,” Hypes said. “Skateboarding has influences on hip hop, punk music, fashion, all these things. By tying into that, and bringing it into baseball, we’re absolutely targeting a younger audience.”

It took some work to get there. From the original list of 200 cool things about the Tampa Bay area they gave to Nike in 2020, to four concepts, to six to eight versions of a uniform, to the final one.

Hypes said they had to balance Nike not going too far with the skateboarding angle, and selling team bosses — principal owner Stuart Sternberg, team presidents Brian Auld and Matt Silverman — on the benefits.

In doing so, Hypes said the Rays feel like they are telling an untold story.

“Tampa Bay has kind of maybe under the radar become the East Coast capital of skateboarding,” he said.

Skateboarding touches are included in the design, such as grip tape texture in the jersey numbers and underbill of the caps. Skateboarders, videos and images of the sport, and ties to the Bro Bowl will be featured in marketing campaigns. Skateboarding-related giveaways are planned. A skateboarding charity event will be held Aug. 10 at Tropicana Field. And all, they feel, done authentically.

But the Rays will also accentuate other aspects of the “independent, underground spirit of Tampa Bay” such as “art, tattoos, music, all the things that a national audience may not know” in what many still consider a vacation/retirement destination.

Hypes said he knows some fans won’t like the design and may find it polarizing. He is not too concerned.

“I feel great about it,” he said. “Is it a risk? Sure. Is it the first time we’ve taken a risk as an organization? No. That’s one of my favorite things about working here is having a leadership team that really pushes you to think outside the box and allows you to do things differently.

“Stu always says break some windows, don’t burn down the house. Hopefully we broke some windows with this and did something cool.”

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