Tampa Bay Rays: Whats in a Name?
Change your name and your image will follow. It worked for Puffy or Puff Daddy or P. Diddy, why shouldn’t it work for a baseball team too? From their inception, the baseball franchise in Tampa Bay has pretty much been the laughing stock of Major League Baseball. However, six weeks into the season the new-look Rays are in first place in their division and showing no signs of letting up. Was it really all in the name? To find the answer to this question, one must start at the beginning. First of all, baseball is unlike any of the other three major sports, in that a draft pick takes a lot of time and commitment to develop before he can add value to the team. Thus, when drafted, each baseball player has less immediate impact on his team than any other player in any other sport. Given this factor alone, Tampa Bay has been able to turn losing season after losing season into excellent draft position year after year. The Rays have in turn used these picks mainly on high-potential high school p
