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WATCH: Tampa Bay Rays Honor Late Broadcaster Dave Wills on Saturday

The Tampa Bay Rays honored the life of late radio broadcaster Dave Wills on Saturday afternoon before the Rays took on the Chicago White Sox. Wills died during spring training this year at the age of 58. The team had his wife, Liz, throw out the ceremonial first pitch and the team's Twitter account posted a tribute video to him. You can watch that video below.
Brady Farkas|
WATCH: Tampa Bay Rays Honor Late Broadcaster Dave Wills on Saturday
WATCH: Tampa Bay Rays Honor Late Broadcaster Dave Wills on Saturday

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Tampa Bay RaysChicago White Sox

It was a shock this spring when Tampa Bay Rays radio broadcaster Dave Willis died unexpectedly at the age of 58.

He had been behind the mic for the Rays for 18 years and had called the best moments of the franchise's history, including going to the World Series in both 2008 and 2020.

On Saturday, before a game with the Chicago White Sox, the Rays honored the life of the longtime broadcaster. His wife Liz threw out the ceremonial first pitch and the team's Twitter account posted a tribute video to him with all sorts of testimonials from team personnel and local media.

You can watch that video in full below, but there are partial transcripts of what appears here.

Rays owner Stu Sternberg: "There are those rare people, who when you see them, you just want to be next to them and hear them."

Rays reporter Marc Topkin: There's not a lot of people you know that if you're going to get together with, you're going to enjoy your time with them for sure, and Dave was one of those people."

Andy Freed, Rays broadcaster: You don't normally gain a brother through life in adulthood, and I met Dave when I was 33 years of age, and we got to be brothers."

The Rays are currently out to a 17-3 start this year, which is the best record in the major leagues. Seeing them win the American League East, and possibly the first World Series in franchise history, would be quite the tribute to their longtime broadcaster.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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