ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — With the Tampa Bay Rays off to a 13-0 start to the season, tying a modern-day Major League record, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better storyline in baseball.
But if anyone could command more attention, it’s 106-year-old Agnes Ingles of St. Petersburg.
10 Tampa Bay first told you about Agnes back in March, when the Tampa Bay Rays and her retirement community, Westminster Palms, surprised her with the news she’d be attending a game at Tropicana Field.
That game was on Thursday, and what a game it was.
Agnes arrived at the stadium surrounded by media and Rays crew members – she truly was a celebrity in that moment. And, as celebrities do, she watched the game in style: In a suite with all of her friends.
But before any baseball was played, it was Agnes who got to take the field at the Trop. As she looked up at the seats, lights and big screens surrounding her, you could feel the emotion as she took it all in. As a lifelong baseball fan, this was an absolute dream come true for Agnes.
And even better, this was her first game ever at Tropicana Field.
“Everything’s so big here,” Agnes said while on the field. “I said I feel like a peanut on a watermelon.”
Agnes was born in New York City, describing herself as a “big city girl.” She eventually moved to Michigan where she was a Detroit Tigers fan before retiring to the Tampa Bay area back in the 1980s.
“I was a Tiger fan. It was really strange -- the first three games [the Rays] played was with the Tigers, so here I am with two teams,” Agnes laughed, referencing Tampa Bay’s season-opening series. “But I’ve been away from Detroit about 50 years, so I’ve kind of dropped off from the Tigers a long time ago.”
When the then-Devil Rays were born in 1998, so too, was a new fanhood for Agnes.
"It’s best to be a fan of a team where you live, because otherwise you’re always looking at the newspaper and sometimes it’s not there," Agnes said. "You’re always wanting to know what the score is when they’re away, so the local stations cater to the local team. And I think that’s better."
The 106-year-old never misses a chance to watch her Rays on TV. In fact, she doesn’t just watch the game once, but twice.
“I watch the rerun the next day to make sure I didn’t miss something,” she said.
But, what about those long extra-inning ballgames?
“It doesn’t matter what time the game goes off at night, I stay with it until the end.”
Like a true baseball fan, her favorite part of the sport is the homerun – a grand slam to be more specific.
And while that may not be surprising, her favorite member of the team just might: Manager Kevin Cash.
That’s why the Rays really knocked it out of the park with a surprise visit from Cash himself. The Rays’ skipper and Agnes chatted it up on the field for a while prior to game time, and he left impressed with her knowledge of the game.
“She knows it! She’s good,” Cash said with a smile and a point toward Agnes.
When given the opportunity, Agnes didn’t hesitate to express her admiration for Cash.
“Who’s your favorite to watch?” Cash asked.
“I watch you a lot, because you never let us know what you’re doing,” Agnes replied.
“Okay, well I don’t really do much during the game,” Cash joked.
Agnes then pulled a response out of her back pocket just as fast as Cash might pull the lineup card out of his during a game.
“Well, you chew gum good!”
After her meeting with Cash, and scoring his autograph, it was time to play ball – two words she got to announce to the fans at Tropicana Field on the big screen as the game was getting underway.
A visit from Raymond and a Rays winner would complete an unforgettable day for an unforgettable fan.
As for the key to making it to 106, Agnes said “there’s just no way to explain it.”
“I keep telling God I like it here, so that’s why he keeps me here I guess!”
