"I know I lost weight." - LANCE CARTER, reflecting on the trip to Japan
BY THE NUMBERS
17: Players on roster for their first opening day as a Devil Ray.
14: Players on 25-man roster new to organization this season.
4: Players on 25-man roster who were in 2003 opening lineup. (Carl Crawford, Rocco Baldelli, Aubrey Huff, Toby Hall).
1: Players on the 25-man roster who were in the 2002 opening lineup. (Hall)
NO FOOLING
When team officials got back in their offices Thursday, it was April 1 after all. So Rays PR boss Rick Vaughn dismissed the three-page fax from the Washington Wild Things as a joke from an old friend. Actually, it was a contract ($600 a month, one year plus an option) to pitch for the independent Frontier League team in Pennsylvania.
Seeking to play off the lead character in the 1989 film Major League, Wild Things general manager Ross Vecchio made the offer to Vaughn, a 48-year-old who pitched at George Mason University, throwing the first no-hitter in school history. (Since the character was played by actor Charlie Sheen, they also made an offer to a 68-year-old Ohio man named Charles Sheen.)
But before Vaughn could sort the whole thing out, the Frontier League, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, quashed the publicity ploy by enforcing its player age limit of 27.
"I always told Chuck LaMar I had what it takes to pitch pro ball, and this verifies it," Vaughn said. "I hope he doesn't get upset he had this kind of talent under his nose."
