The Tampa native was 14 or so and the team was brand new to Major League Baseball. In true 1990s style, the Devil Rays’ original home duds featured the team name in a spectrum of teal, green, yellow and purple on the front, underlined by the tail of a manta ray. The backs featured blocky names and numbers in all purple.
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Span, who used to go to Devil Rays games as a teen — he remembers being in awe of a visiting Ken Griffey Jr. — originally questioned the expansion club’s fashion sense.
“When they first came out I was like, ‘What the heck are those?’” Span told Sporting News 20 years later.
Now 34, Span found himself wearing that same jersey March 31, the anniversary of Tampa Bay’s inaugural game. The Rays, having dropped the demonic half of their moniker years ago in favor of sunshine, have grand plans to celebrate two decades of existence this season. That means they will break out the throwbacks a few more times.
Span now appreciates them in all their glory.
“That day definitely turned back the yearbook for me,” he said, speaking of the March 31 game. “It made me realize how old I am because I remember when I went to go see the Rays … (and) them having those same uniforms on. It was cool to bring those jerseys back.”
Much like his attitude toward the relic attire, Span has come around to playing in his hometown.
He wasn’t initially excited when the San Francisco Giants included him in the Evan Longoria trade this past offseason. He worried being close to friends and family would cause a “raucous.”
His mother, however, was a different story.
Still in Tampa Bay, Wanda Wilson was tired of spring training visits to Arizona and daytime naps so she could stay up to watch West Coast games. She remembers learning of the trade while taking care of her infant grandson, Denard Jr. Wilson was wearing a San Francisco shirt when her son marched into the den and broke the news.
“Well, mom, you can take that Giants shirt off.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m no longer a Giant.”
“What are you talking about!?”
“I’m with the Rays.”
Naturally, Wilson was ecstatic. After a 10-year-career that had never placed him closer than Washington, D.C., her son’s games are now a swift 30-minute drive over the Howard Frankland Bridge.
From there, it didn’t take long for Span to get excited about his new chapter with the Rays.
“As the trade sunk in and a couple weeks went by, I got excited and just as happy as she did,” Span said. “I started to look at it from the other way: I get an opportunity to play in my hometown. I have a 6-month-old son, so I have an opportunity to see him every day. And I also have an opportunity to make an impact in the community I grew up in. When I looked at it from that standpoint, my feelings changed quickly.”
And of course, he gets to see his mom all the time.
“It’s comforting just knowing my mom gets the opportunity to watch me play live on an everyday basis,” Span said. “After each game I get an opportunity to give her a hug and a kiss.”
Span owes his mother that much.
Denard Span says he learned his work ethic from his mother, Wanda Wilson. (Photo courtesy of Wanda Wilson)
Life wasn’t always easy for him and his brother, Ray, growing up. Their father, Donald, wasn’t in the picture. While he now has a relationship with Span, and though Wilson re-married in 1998, all the parenting was left to her prior to that. In addition to being an insurance claims adjuster, she had to arrange car rides, help with homework, wash clothes, cook dinner and more.
“The most challenging thing was to jiggle-jagga-jagga-jiggle everything,” Wilson said with a laugh. “Both of the boys played football, baseball and basketball. Not having any family in Tampa, it was kind of difficult when I didn’t get off of work until 5:30 and their game would be like 6 o’clock or their practice would be like 4 o’clock.”
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The routine exhausted her, yet she never wavered or complained. And Span noticed.
“Her impact was monumental to who I am today as a man, as a baseball player, my work ethic,” Span said. “I watched her every morning go to work and just grind. No matter what the circumstances were, she put her head down and kept moving forward. I get a lot of that attribute from her.
“ … As I got older, I started to understand how difficult it was for her to play two parents.”
Those words are not just platitudes from an appreciative son. Rather, Span’s mother has inspired him to help others.
Founded in 2014, The Denard Span Foundation, based in Tampa, seeks to “empower single-parent homes.” The inspiration for the organization, Wilson serves as its executive director in addition to operating her own daycare center. She’s “quite involved,” paying bills, handling paperwork, scouting locations for events and more.
“It meant a lot to me,” Wilson said of the foundation’s cause. She recalled a banquet in which Span was recognized for his efforts.
“He told the people, ‘Look, you guys are honoring the wrong person. You should be honoring my mom. If it was not for my mom, there would be no Denard.’”
Being back in the Tampa area has afforded Span even more time to focus on his foundation. It’s also shined a brighter light on his work. He said that playing in other cities over the years meant he wasn’t visible in his hometown.
“The newer generation, all they knew was the Kiermaiers, the Longorias, the Archers because they’re on the hometown team,” he said.
Span’s alma mater, which his cousins attend, has also benefited from his return. Ty Griffin never coached Span, but the Tampa Catholic baseball coach is among the many who are excited to see Span on the Rays.
“When we saw the potential — even before it was announced — that the Rays could possibly be bringing him home, a lot people got that excitement,” said Griffin, a 1988 U.S. Olympic gold medalist. “A couple of times we’ve gone over to see him play against the Rays. So now, to see him in a hometown uniform is even better.”
Griffin, who grew up in Tampa playing Little League with Dwight Gooden and Gary Sheffield, got to know Span as an alumnus when he took the TC job. Span still works out at the school from time to time and is a frequent helping hand when the baseball team puts together charitable events.
Griffin and some of his players have already taken trips to Tropicana Field to see Span play with the Rays.
“It definitely benefits Tampa Catholic as a whole, having an alumnus make it to the big leagues and then come back and play in the town he grew up in,” Griffin said.
“[My players] get to go see somebody that once played on the field they play on.”
Denard Span in his youth baseball days in the Tampa area.
One of the few veterans on a rebuilding ballclub, Span has been a welcome addition on the Rays’ field as well. He’s no longer the dynamite center fielder he once was, but Span still brings speed, solid contact and a sturdy outfield glove in his 11th season. He also brings leadership and experience.
“[He’s] been around, had a lot of success in the game,” Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier told Sporting News. “We need those guys around for guidance.”
Reliever Sergio Romo, who previously played with Span in San Francisco before joining him in Tampa, said his teammate is “soft-spoken,” but “when he does talk, you listen.” Romo jokingly said that especially applies when Span is suggesting restaurants in the area.
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Clearly, Span’s homecoming has been a hit across the board.
It may not last long, though. With the Rays already among the worst teams in baseball, Span may pose more value to the organization as a trade chip than as a player of their own. Veteran ballplayers don’t last long in Tampa Bay these days.
“I don’t know how long he’ll be able to stay. That’s the bad part about going home,” Griffin said, taking a step back from his excitement. “When you’re still able to produce and maybe [help] take a team to a championship, you may not have a long stay in your hometown.”
Wilson has wondered much of the same. She always wanted her son to cap his career in Tampa Bay.
“We just didn’t expect it so soon,” she said.
Asked about the possibility of another trade down the road, she said, “It is what is.”
For now, it is an ideal fit for Span. He wasn’t sure when the trade first happened, but these days he reflects on the Devil Rays games he attended as a teenager, dreaming of a shot at the big leagues.
“It’s been like a dream come true. It’s been awesome to play in front of my home city and drive across the bridge, 30 minutes away from my house to work every day,” Span said. “Just awesome, man. Never thought it would be a reality.”
