Game 162

I’ve told this story here before but today seems like a good day to tell it in a post.

In 2011, I was in the navy and my ship was deployed to assist in the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf during the Arab spring unrest in Libya and Syria.

We only got armed forces network on the ship. You’ve probably heard them mentioned from time to time on broadcasts. It was just blind luck that we got the Rays v Yankees instead of the Braves v Orioles game. It was a Wednesday night game in St Pete but a Thursday Morning game in the eastern Mediterranean.

Every morning at 7:15a we had a morning meeting and that was right around the game’s end. I was lucky enough to be senior enough to spend most of my time in an office by that point so everyone was collecting in the office for our morning meeting just in time to see my heavily caffeinated, impressively sleep deprived ass lose what was left of my mind when Longo hit that HR off of Scott Proctor.

It will absolutely be a core memory for the rest of my life. Playing 3rd, batting 3rd, and wearing number 3. Cue the violin. Welcome to the Rays Hall of Fame Evan Longoria.