Once Stuart Sternberg’s tenure as principal owner of the Tampa Bay Rays came to an end, he made sure those around him felt his gratitude.
After finalizing the $1.7 billion sale of the team to an ownership group led by Jacksonville-based homebuilder Patrick Zalupski on Sept. 30, Sternberg provided cash bonuses to each full-time employee in the organization, more than 500 people in all.
“The bonuses were tenure-based,” MLB insider Ken Rosenthal wrote in The Athletic. “According to sources briefed on how the money was distributed. Some longstanding employees, including scouts and minor-league coaches who spent more than a decade with the club, received a full year’s salary.”
Sternberg, 66, owned the Rays for 20 years after purchasing the team from Vince Naimoli in 2004 for $200 million.
Throughout two decades, the Rays produced winning, exciting teams under Sternberg. Two World Series appearances, four American League East division titles, nine postseason appearances and the third-best winning percentage in Major League Baseball was uncharacteristic for a team with a historically low payroll, but the Rays got it done.
However, the perpetually low payroll — ranking in the bottom 10 and, often, the bottom five — drew the ire of critics in the fanbase and the national media, with their fingers pointed at Sternberg.
The blame for the departures of beloved players, the failed new stadium deal and more fell directly on him. But internally, those who worked for the organization felt much different.
In a piece by Tampa Bay Times columnist John Romano, it was reported that a group of Rays employees who were troubled by the backlash against Sternberg wrote a letter that was to be forwarded to the Times for publication. When Sternberg found out, he shot down the letter, fearing his employees would be caught in the crossfire. Instead, he would rather bear the responsibility of public resentment on his own.
In the following months, as talks about selling the team gained momentum, the letter was rewritten multiple times. During a private, celebratory gathering in Septmeber, the letter was read to Sternberg.
“Dear Stu,” it wrote. “The past year has been challenging like none we’ve seen since you assumed principal ownership of the team in 2005. Little did we know that losing the roof, losing our home field, and some of our own homes, would mean losing you too …”
There are many more examples of the kindness and compassion that Sternberg displayed during his time owning the team, and this latest gesture is an emblematic stamp of who he was to so many of those who gave their professional lives to the organization.
Sternberg and his partners remain minority owners of the club, with roughly a 10 percent share.