The Rays have not won a game since author Stephen King visited the Trop on April 25. Is it a curse or a coincidence?
By JOEY JOHNSTON
Tribune Staff Writer
(c) Tampa Bay Times. Originally published May 11, 2002.
ST. PETERSBURG – Stephen King is watching.
And he’s frightened.
“I’m horrified at what has happened to my Devil Rays.”
The Rays happened again Friday night.
Another game. Another defeat. This time, a 6-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. The Rays had chances. Don’t they always have chances? Does it ever matter?
Now the losing streak has reached 15. The major league’s post-1900 record (23) is within reach.
Oh, the horror.
All because of the sinister Stephen King, who authored the start of this miserable stretch. It’s his fault, you know.
King, the acclaimed novelist, innocently ventured into Tropicana Field on April 25. The Rays were going good. One more win and they’d be at .500. But on that fateful afternoon, the Rays collapsed during the ninth inning against Minnesota, which began the disastrous …
Hold it.
Wait a second.
My Devil Rays?
“I am a Devil Rays fan,” King said Friday afternoon by telephone from his office in Bangor, Maine. “I’m not kidding. They are not that bad of a team. Losing streaks like this aren’t supposed to happen to anybody. It’s terrible. I want it to end.”
He’ll have to wait one more day.
OK, maybe longer.
King: It’s Not My Fault
King, a New Englander, is a baseball fanatic. He sometimes grows a beard when the World Series ends and doesn’t shave until spring training begins. King’s literary disciples know how much he loves the Red Sox. He’s a long-time season-ticket holder at Fenway Park.
Now you know something else.
Stephen King digs the Rays.
He came to the Trop from his winter place in Sarasota. Actually, King was there to see Twins pitcher Matt Kinney, whom he coached at Bangor West Little League (King’s son, Owen, also played). Now that he knows his way over the Skyway, King said he’ll return.
Maybe he’ll even wear a Rays cap.
“I don’t think I’m a jinx,” King said. “They said Babe Ruth [after his trade to the Yankees] was a jinx to the Red Sox. I never believed that, either. I’m a 55-year-old man with bad eyesight. I’ve got nothing to do with this.
“Why haven’t the Devil Rays won? I’ll tell you why. You’ve got to pitch the ball, catch the ball and hit the ball. The same stuff I used to tell my little leaguers.”
King chuckles when told a Rays radio announcer carried around a copy of “Misery” and got players to stick pins into its cover. Exorcise those demons! Now that would teach Stephen King to mess with this ballclub.
“They picked the wrong book,” he said. “They should’ve picked “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.’ That’s my jinx book. After it came out, I had my [automobile] accident. And Tom Gordon [now a sore-armed Cubs reliever] hasn’t been the same since.”
Tampa Bay’s Tales Of Terror
Perhaps you’ve heard about King’s latest horror book.
Devil Rays 2002 media guide.
Actually, Tampa Bay’s sordid season fits nicely into King’s existing titles of the macabre.
Firestarter: The Estaban Yan Story.
Needful Things: Hitting, pitching, defense, fans, wins.
The Dead Zone: The Trop’s upper deck (and some nights, the lower deck).
Dreamcatcher: Hey, didn’t you used to be Toby Hall?
The Green Mile: What Greg Vaughn seemingly covers while chasing a flyball in left.
Insomnia: Yes.
Desperation: Ditto.
“There’s nothing like baseball,” King said. “There’s nothing like a really good pennant race. This isn’t good for the Devil Rays and it’s not good for sports in that area. Right now, they’re snakebit.
“More people [fans] should go. It’s not a bad time. I actually like the ballpark. It’s a little dingy inside, but the day I went, it was 95 degrees outside. I’d rather be in the air-conditioning. I saw some spirit. They were yelling, “Let’s go, Devil Rays’ about as loud as a bunch of 70-year-olds could hope to yell.”
OK, we’ll forgive the obligatory old-folks joke, fired from afar. Want to know the truth? Stephen King is no different than most Rays’ fans.
He keeps watching. With each dismal result, he gets more frightened.
That’s how crazy it has become. Even the master of ghoulish tales is pleading for at least one happy ending. It has become torture.
