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Rays tales

By MARC TOPKIN

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 2, 2001

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT: Eddie Bane, a special assistant to GM Chuck LaMar, knows what it will be like for Dewon Brazelton as a rookie going from college to the big leagues. Bane did the same thing in 1973 when the Twins made him the 11th pick (out of Arizona State), gave him a $60,000 bonus and brought him directly to Minneapolis.

"I walk in and there's this big, bald man and it's Harmon Killebrew," Bane said. "There's some things you just have to be ready for. Jim Kaat took me under his wing. He just said, 'Hey meat, you go with me everywhere.' This guy (Brazelton) will have to have somebody like that. The jealous guys were in the minor leagues. I didn't find that out until the next year, when I went and played with them. They were the ones that were upset. Not the ones who were already there."

Bane went 0-5 in 23 games for the Twins that year, made it back for four starts in 1975 and 17 games in 1976, then spent the rest of his career in the minors.

MR. McRAE, MEET MR. BLACKWELL: Hal McRae made it clear he didn't approve of players wearing earrings on the field, and hinted he may soon ban his Rays from doing so.

Actually, there's a lot McRae doesn't like about the fashion sense of today's players.

"The bad things about it is that the game is just sort of allowing the players to continue to do things," McRae said. "How far does it go?

"The pants got long, you stopped showing the stirrups, you stopped showing whatever patterns were on the socks, then the pants went into the shoes. So what's the next fad? That's what's scary. It's gradually just drifting. Where does it stop? This might be a good time to put on the brakes and maybe take some of it back."

What they're saying

Larry Stone, writing in the Seattle Times: "They're not the 1927 Yankees, mind you, or even the 2000 Orioles. But after enduring enough turmoil this season to last a lifetime -- with the added threat that the franchise's lifetime might end this winter -- the Rays finally have ascended to a glorious state of mediocrity. Considering they once were in danger of an all-time loss record, that's nothing short of heaven."

Quote of the week

"It was probably a lot of somethings I said." -- GREG VAUGHN, on whether it was something specific he said to get ejected Thursday

By the numbers

26: Home runs allowed by Ryan Rupe, tying Esteban Yan's team record.

55: Games in which Rays scored fewer than four runs.

92,451: Pitches thrown in team history.

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