TAMPA BAY RAYS NICKNAMES
Player/Manager/Exec.	Nickname(s)	Reason for nickname(s)
Willy Aybar	Wally Aybar	Reference to Wally Pipp, the Yankees starting first baseman that was benched due to a headache in favor of Lou Gehrig who then started the next 2,130 games. Aybar lost his starting third base job to Evan Longoria when he went on the DL with a sore hamstring
Reid Brignac	Cajun God of Baseball	A nickname from his high school days and a reference to being from Louisiana. Almost always typed with a snicker
Carl Crawford	The Perfect Storm; C.C.	The Perfect Storm is a refence to Crawford being the type of player most coveted by all teams. All Star talent, Young and already signed to a relatively cheap long-term deal; C.C. are his initials
Cliff Floyd	Dr. Huxtable	Signed by the Rays not only for his offense but also for his ability to lead the very young Rays clubhouse. Not too mention he really knows his way around hospitals due to 7 kazillion stints on the DL
Andrew Friedman	World B. Friedman	A play on his last name and reference to the former basketball player World B. Free
Jason Hammel	Hammer	Variation on his name
Akinori Iwamura	Muu-Rah; Top Gun; Aki	Muu-Rah (pronounced like the Marines 'Hoo-Rah') is a play on the pronunciation of his name; Top Gun is a nickname from Japan which is in reference to his strong arm; Aki is a short version of first name
Edwin Jackson	Nuke	Million dollar arm and a five-cent head. Has all the talent in the world but can't seem to harness a fastball that has been clocked at 98 in the 9th inning
Scott Kazmir	Kid K	Very young looking and despite having approx. 100 career starts he is still the youngest of the Rays' starting pitchers and has a propensity for strikeouts
Evan Longoria	Dirtbag	Longoria played college baseball at Long Beach St whose mascot for the baseball team is "The Dirtbags". Longoria is also a throwback player that would find a way to get his uniform dirty in a sterile environment
Joe Maddon	Papa Joe	Due to the nurturing nature of the Rays' skipper
Dioner Navarro	Navi; Pudgito	Navi is a play on his name; Pudjito is a reference to being chubby and younger than Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez
Carlos Pena	El Gato; El Gato del Crimen	El Gato is spanish for 'The Cat' and may be a reference to the Cat-like reflexes as one of the top defensive first basemen in baseball; El Gato Del Crimen is Spanish for "The Crime Cat" a reference to former Devil Rays' first baseman Fred "The Crime Dog" McGriff
David Price	King David	A reference to the biblical King David who was the favored son despite being the youngest and it was his late appearance and ability to defeat Goliath that led the Israelites over the heavily favored and steroid-ridden Philistines.
Shawn Riggans	Diesel	Due to similarity of name to John Riggins of the same nickname
James Shields	James the Greater	Reference to St. James the Greater, who was one of Jesus' disciples. He was referred to as "The Greater" to distinguish himself from the other disciple named James as James Shields is distinguished from the Rays other Ace, Scott Kazmir
Andy Sonnanstine	The Duke	Windup and pitching style are very reminsiscent of Orlando 'El Duque' Hernandez, Andy's hispanic brother from another mother, another right hander that can dominate without an overpowering fastball
BJ Upton	Bossman	B. J. stands for "Bossman Junior" as his dad was nicknamed the "Bossman"
Ben Zobrist	Benny Boo Boo	Apparently a nickname among friends of the shortstop as discovered on his wife's MySpace page