Monday the 13th will be a great day for the Tampa Bay Rays baseball organization. Not only will they have the ceremony to raise and hang the flags from winning their AL East title, and not only will they receive the AL Championship diamond rings, but they get to do it all in from of the New York Yankees. Players and Major League staff will get their rings in a pre-game ceremony, employees on Wednesday, and some will have their rings delivered to Japan or other far-off places.
Three versions of the ring have been made, not counting the cool “replica ring” being given out to fans on April 14. The Major League squad gets the most diamonds, the staff in the Rays organization gets the next level, and affiliates get a bit of bling of their own, too. The real rings are very similar to the replica rings, only with real diamonds.
And the Yankees have to watch.
While the American League Championship ring is certainly stunning, it still pales in comparison to the nearly-four-carat ring given out to the World Series Championship rings given to the Philadelphia Phillies. The World Series rings are 14-karat white gold with 103 diamonds, 92 representing regular season wins and 11 representing post-season wins. The diamond rings for the World Champions are also crowned with a ruby inlay, surrounding the Phillies signature “P”. Each ring is also emblazoned with the name of the player and his number atop the Liberty Bell, and, on the other side, a depiction of the trophy and Citizens Bank Park.
Championship diamond rings are a long-standing tradition in baseball. As players and staff move from team-to-team, each one always has a tangible, valuable reminder of a glorious season spent with a winning organization.
