When team officials selected Devil Rays as their nickname when Tampa Bay was first announced as an expansion team in 1995, it was not warmly received. Some fans objected to the “Devil” term. The team wanted Stingrays, a common sea creature found in the Florida waters, but that name was copyrighted by a professional team in Hawaii.
In 2007, the franchise officially removed “Devil” and became simply the Tampa Bay Rays (focusing more on sunshine than sea creatures). They promptly made their first trip to the World Series and have been a much better team ever since.
