When you speak with Stuart Sternberg about baseball, it doesn't take long to learn that his relationship with the game well precedes his time as principal owner of the Tampa Bay Rays.

From playing baseball in the streets and playgrounds of Brooklyn as a child, to watching Sandy Koufax with his father at their first game together at Shea Stadium, to coaching his sons' little league team, Sternberg's passion for baseball runs deep. It's that passion that allowed him to see beyond the then Devil Rays' long string of last-place finishes when he assumed control of the organization on Oct. 6, 2005, and see that more was possible.

Like a historic last place to first place 2008 Championship season.

Under Sternberg's direction, the Rays put in place a business plan that turned the organization around in three years. On the field, the team significantly increased its Major League payroll and focused on expanding and solidifying its player development operations. By reworking its roster and building training facilities in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Brazil (the first Major League team to do so), the team's Minor League system and Major League clubhouse has since been filled with dynamic, young players.

The changes off the field have been equally as dramatic. From investing nearly $20 million in improvements to Tropicana Field to being the first Major League team to ever offer free parking (still in place today for fans who carpool), Sternberg's fan-friendly approach has been winning over fans. So has his involvement in the Tampa Bay community. Soon after Sternberg took over, the team established the Rays Baseball Foundation focusing primarily on youth and education programs in the Tampa Bay region. Sternberg and his fellow team owners pledged an initial $1 million to start the Foundation and the team now requires players who sign long-term contracts to also support the Foundation.

But the most visible change brought by Sternberg was a complete organizational rebranding including a new name, colors, uniforms and icon, a bright yellow sunburst invoking the magnificence of life in the Sunshine State.

From the first moment, Sternberg has worked to make the Rays a regional franchise reaching across all of Central and Southwest Florida. In both 2007 and 2008, the team played regular season games at the Disney Sports Complex in Orlando. And this year, the team will play its Spring Training games in its newly completed, state-of-the-art Charlotte County training facility where all permanent seating was sold out before the first pitch was thrown.

Prior to his ownership of the Rays, Sternberg spent 25 years in the financial securities industry serving as a partner in Spear, Leeds & Kellogg and the Goldman Sachs Group (from which he retired in 2002).

Sternberg, his wife and four children live in Rye, N.Y.