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December 6th in Rays History!
In 2012, The Rays sign first baseman James Loney to a one year deal as a low risk/high reward player. Loney provided plenty of reward as he had a breakout campaign for the Rays, as he slashed .299/.348/.430 for them and produced a career high WAR of 2.6. The Rays would then re-sign him for three more years during the next offseason.
Side note: In 1997, tickets for the team's first games go on sale and Opening Day's then sell out in just 17 minutes!