Stocker Appreciative of McGriff During Rays Early Years

During the early years of the Tampa Bay Rays franchise, former shortstop Kevin Stocker remembers newly elected Baseball Hall of Famer Fred McGriff as a leader.

It’s been more than 20 years since they last were teammates with the then Tampa Bay Devil Rays, but Stocker couldn’t be happier for his former first baseman becoming the 341st member of Cooperstown’s elite group.

"I remember (McGriff) during my rookie year in 1993. During the National League Championship Series, I just remember looking over at the Atlanta Braves’ lineup and seeing Fred. I’m thinking, he was the most dangerous hitter in their batting order,“ said Stocker, who played in 231 games with Tampa during the organization’s first three seasons in existence, during a phone conversation earlier this week from his home in Washington.

McGriff, who logged 19 MLB seasons for six clubs, wore the Devil Rays uniform from 1998 to halfway through the 2001 season when he was traded to the Chicago Cubs. Both McGriff and Stocker were in then Tampa manager Larry Rothschild’s opening day starting lineup for the inaugural 1998 season.

On December 4, at MLB’s Winter Meetings held in San Diego, the Hall of Fame’s 16-member Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee unanimously elected McGriff to the Hall.

Like so many of McGriff’s past teammates and those sitting in opposite dugouts of the 2000 Devil Rays MLB All-Star selection, the question being asked is, what took so long for the Hall to call?

Stocker offers a long list of praise for his former infield partner in Tampa for parts of three seasons.

"Yes, Fred had power to go deep (McGriff clubbed 97 home runs as a Devil Ray), but he was such a smart hitter. He could set pitchers up, and smack doubles and singles going the opposite way,“ recalls Stocker, who was also a member of the Philadelphia Phillies' 1993 pennant-winning team.

While both were teammates in Tampa, Stocker remembers playing a lot of golf with his Ôgood friend’ McGriff. The former shortstop looks back to McGriff as a player who, during a game’s big moment, often rose to the occasion.

The Tampa clubs McGriff played for never won more than 70 games in a season. An expansion club with many inexperienced players, Stocker labels McGriff’s contributions as a quiet leader both on the field and in the clubhouse.

"(McGriff) wasn’t a rah-rah kind of guy. But he was a great friend that knew when a teammate needed someone to talk with. There were a lot of losses through the early years in Tampa. Fred didn’t rush out of the clubhouse after the games. Besides baseball, he loved to talk golf.“

McGriff, who will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York on July 23 as a member of the Class of 2023, hit 493 home runs. Perhaps McGriff’s wait to get the call from the Hall of Fame has taken as long as it has is due to the number of prolific home run hitters that he competed with.

"I’m not surprised that Fred is finally going to Cooperstown. It was easy for him to have gotten lost among Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, and others,“ explains Stocker, who last season was a member of the Phillies’ radio broadcast team.

"Fred would remind me that all I need to do is hit five homers a month during the season, and I’d make my money. I gave it a shot but barely hit over .200. Mentally, Fred was as tough as they come. He was so dominant offensively."

McGriff played his final MLB game on June 28, 2004 as a Devil Ray. He was released by the club and subsequently retired.