Long-time Tampa Bay radio broadcaster Dave Wills dies aged 58

The Tampa Bay Rays have announced that broadcaster Dave Wills died Sunday morning at the age of 58.

Wills had been in the team’s booth since 2005 and called Saturday’s spring training game against the New York Yankees with fellow broadcast regular Andrew Freed.

‘Yesterday was like any other day for the last 18 years. Exchange. laughs. Baseball. Fun. There is no way of knowing that it was the last time. Sadness beyond words today,” Freed wrote on Twitter with a photo of the two in the booth.

“I always felt that we were real brothers. I will miss him forever. Love to him and his family.

The Rays’ radio broadcast for Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles was canceled following the news of Wills’ death.

He spent 18 years as one of two-team radio hosts after working for the White Sox.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Wills missed the last two weeks of the 2022 season due to a cardiac arrhythmia after being hospitalized in Toronto.

“Shocking, sad and heartbreaking covers it all,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash, who, according to the Times, visited Wills’ family on Sunday before returning for the game.

“You have the option to think about the sadness of that, but you can also think about the person he was and what he meant to all of us.”

Wills was born in Chicago and worked as part of the White Sox radio team for 11 years before joining the Rays organization.

“Dave was an outstanding broadcaster, a great friend and a better person,” Rays owner Stuart Sternberg said in a statement.

“He had a remarkable talent for bringing the game to life for our fans and was a vital part of the Rays family. He will be greatly missed and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones during this difficult time.”

Wills suffered a cardiac arrhythmia at the end of the 2022 season but was soon back in the cockpit.