It seems fairly simply to me: you either wear throwback jerseys for a team called “the Smokers” and go with all of the tobacco imagery that entails, or else you just avoid it altogether. The Rays, however, want to have it both ways, by wearing replicas of the old Tampa Smokers minor league team jerseys, but by censoring out the cigar that appears on the front:
Weak sauce, Rays. History is history, and the Smokers had cigars on the front of their shirts. Either be cool with that and realize that no one is going to start smoking simply because Evan Longoria has a stogie on his shirt or, if that is just too offensive to your tender sensibilities, go in a different direction and throw back to the, I dunno, Tampa Lace Doilies or whatever makes you feel more comfortable.
