The Tampa Bay Rays honored victims of Orlando’s mass shooting with a dedicated “Pride Night” on Friday, which drew their largest regular-season crowd in more than 10 years.
Forty-nine people were killed at an Orlando night club on Sunday last week in what was the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
The Rays chose to make their contest against the San Francisco Giants a night of observance as Tropicana Field hosted 40,135 fans, the most at the ballpark since its opening day in 2006.
Photo: AFP
The team wore “We are Orlando” T-Shirts for batting practice and hats of their former minor league team, the Orlando Rays, during the contest. A tribute video from both teams played on the scoreboard.
Tampa Bay also made tickets for the game available for just US$5 beginning on Tuesday and donated the proceeds to a victim’s fund. The Rays announced that they raised more than US$300,000.
“Orlando is a huge part of baseball’s heart,” Major League Baseball’s vice president of social responsibility Billy Bean said. “What happened in Orlando happened to everybody, and I’ve been very proud of the way baseball has responded with wanting to be supportive.”
The Giants’ Jeff Samardzija threw a four-hitter as San Francisco won their sixth consecutive game.
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Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
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