TAMPA, Fla. — Scan the history of this little sports galaxy, and one encounters a veritable constellation of aging stars who arrived in the bay area hoping for a final glimmer.
Some emitted a glint or two before fading. Others fizzled outright.
Tom Brady twinkled like no other.
In a surreal, seismic 39-game span, Brady bucked a trend seemingly indigent to our region: elder statesmen whose attempt to prolong their careers in the bay area end with more of a flatline than a stat line. Whereas Brady made history, others with similar fanfare and tread barely made a whimper.
See if you remember any of these forlorn final chapters.
OLB/DE Dexter Manley, Bucs
— Year of arrival: 1991
— Age upon arrival: 32
Three years after setting Washington’s season sack record (18 1/2) in 1986, Manley failed three drug tests and was suspended but applied for reinstatement the next year. A two-time Super Bowl champion with Washington and one of the game’s true characters, he played in 14 games for the Bucs (starting seven) and had 6 1/2 sacks for a 3-13 team. But a fourth failed drug test in December 1991 resulted in a lifetime NFL ban. “I had been working on two years’ sobriety,” said Manley, who officially totaled 97 1/2 career sacks. “But one night I went to the club, which was stupid in the first place, and snuck a sip of Dom Perignon when no one was looking. Less than one month later, I did cocaine and lost the NFL forever. Tampa is a seedy town, man.”
OT Anthony Munoz, Bucs
— Year of arrival: 1993
— Age upon arrival: 34
A nine-time first-team All-Pro, Munoz was training for a triathlon when the NFL’s escalating salaries and the chance to reunite with Sam Wyche (his old Bengals boss) lured him from a brief retirement. The comeback came to a screech when the eventual Hall of Famer tore his right rotator cuff in a preseason game against the Bills in Orlando, two days after his 35th birthday. “I gave it all I had,” Munoz said a couple of days later. “I’m at a point in my career that makes it easy to handle things like this. If it had happened the first couple years of my career, it might’ve been different.”
OT Tim Irwin, Bucs
— Year of arrival: 1994
— Age upon arrival: 35
After his 14-season NFL career, Irwin became a judge and philanthropist in his home state of Tennessee. But this former Vol’s other stint in orange was fleeting and forgettable. A durable right tackle for 13 years with the Vikings, Irwin was besieged by back and biceps injuries during his lone season in Tampa, watching his 197-game starting streak end when he was deemed inactive in a late-October game against the 49ers. By early November, the Bucs had waived him.
G Bill Ranford, Lightning
— Year of arrival: 1998-99
— Age upon arrival: 31
Ranford had a glowing international resume (gold medal with Canada at 1994 World Championships) and a Conn Smythe Trophy (as playoff MVP for Edmonton’s 1990 Stanley Cup-winning team) upon arriving in Tampa in 1998. But in his nine months with the Lightning, he was among a litany of culprits in a 19-win season. The team’s highest-paid player ($3 million a year), Ranford went 3-18-3 with an NHL-worst 3.90 goals-against average before being dealt to the Red Wings in late March 1999. In fairness, however, that team may have struggled with Andrei Vasilevskiy hoisting a knight’s shield in net.
INF Vinny Castilla/OF Greg Vaughn, Devil Rays
— Year of arrival: 2000
— Age upon arrival: 32 (Castilla) and 34 (Vaughn)
This power-hitting pair boasted six combined seasons of at least 40 home runs upon arriving in St. Petersburg, where it joined fellow sluggers Fred McGriff and Jose Canseco. The team marketed the foursome as The Hit Show, but as Tampa Bay Times beat reporter Marc Topkin poetically put it, a letter was added to the middle word of that moniker when it failed miserably. Injuries limited Castilla to six home runs in 85 games, while Vaughn’s 28 homers were 17 fewer than he totaled the previous year in Cincinnati. The Devil Rays won 69 games — same as the year before — and started slashing payroll shortly thereafter.
2B Roberto Alomar, Rays
— Year of arrival: 2005
— Age upon arrival: 37
Among the greatest second basemen of all time, Alomar tried extending his career a tad longer with Tampa Bay, but back, leg and vision problems wouldn’t allow it. A 10-time Gold Glove Award winner, Alomar went 0 for 11 with three errors in limited spring action, yanking himself from a contest after committing two errors in one inning. “I couldn’t play no more,” he said upon retiring. “I have no excuses. I did it for 17 good years and have no complaints. It’s time for me to move on.”
OF/DH Manny Ramirez, Rays
— Year of arrival: 2011
— Age upon arrival: 38
This 12-time All-Star attempted one final career re-boot with the Rays, joining the club as part of a package deal with Johnny Damon. He sparkled in spring training, batting .311 with three home runs, but went 1 for 17 in his first five games before “retiring” amid reports of another failed drug test. He never played another big league game.
DH Hideki Matsui, Rays
— Year of arrival: 2012
— Age upon arrival: 37
A nine-time all-star in Japan and the 2009 World Series MVP with the Yankees, Matsui signed a minor league deal with the Rays in late April and was finished by late July. The home runs he smashed in each of his first two games with the club would be the only two Matsui would hit in 34 games. He was batting .147 when the Rays designated him for assignment on July 25.
CB Richard Sherman, Bucs
— Year of arrival: 2021
— Age upon arrival: 33
Brady coaxed this five-time Pro Bowler to switch coasts when injuries began depleting the Bucs secondary. With neither a formal offseason or training camp, he started the Oct. 3 game at New England — days after signing his one-year deal — and went the distance, collecting seven solo tackles and recovering a fumble in a 19-17 win. Sherman then played nearly every snap a week later against the Dolphins but tweaked his hamstring minutes into a Thursday-night game at Philadelphia four days later. He never returned to full health after that 12-day, three-game stretch, appearing in only two more contests before an Achilles injury ended his season for good in early January.
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Tampa Bay Times staff writer Rick Stroud contributed to this report.
