 From the babe to the boss. There's been a ton of unforgettable nicknames in Yankees history So we caught up with the true legend who knows the thing or two about the subject All right, so Ron aka Louisiana Lightning Gator Do you remember when you were first called those nicknames? Sure You got to remember that Gator is the nickname that my teammates gave me Louisiana Lightning Even though it's so touchy that it just was something that was kind of put the tag on you know Rizzuto tagged me with that one night during a game. I was pitching so that's how it came about But my nickname Gator was given to me by my teammates when I got called up in 75, you know you I'm in triple A I get a call in the morning from Bobby Cox who was my manager he tells me to get on a flight I got a report to New York They have a double header against Boston. I do all of that. I get to the park. I get a uniform I go down to introduce myself to Bill Verdin who was the manager. He tells me to go in the bullpen I go in the bullpen and then I introduce myself They get me talking about where I'm from and when one I don't remember who asked me What do you have a lot of in Louisiana? And I said we got a lot of rain We got a lot of snakes got a lot of alligators and then all of a sudden, you know Somebody just went like well, we'll just call you Gator You know and I'm going that's perfect. That's fine And then about the same time I did that all of a sudden my foot got hot and I looked down They had one of them was giving me a nickname and the other one had lit up my shoelaces So I got initiated into the club real quick, but that that's how I got my nickname and it's always stayed So you're saying you could have been called snake as a nickname possibly know when they when they asked me What do you have a lot of you know, and I said rain, you know, and you could see their heads turning nothing We got a lot of snakes, you know, and you're going like Snake, you know, it just didn't catch, you know, it didn't You know and I said we have a lot of alligators and all of a sudden it, you know Gator for short Which you know implies, you know that and all and it just boom Of course, I had to take my shoes off so they could see if I had wet And not you know, they checked my toes Hear all the stories, but anyway, that's how I got mine. So which one do you prefer Louisiana? Well Gator you you like Gator because it's shorter, okay, but it's more meaningful because your teammates gave it to you That's what's more Meaning Louisiana lightning like I said, we're Zudo just said something about, you know, Louisiana Lightning one night More or less like pitching, you know, so that's you know, that's stuck now It's pretty when you're signing it because it's so long, you know, but that's not my nickname Both are great and now let's talk about some of these current Yankees nicknames and let's start with Aaron judge Right the judge. Well, it's like that's the best to me because it's just When you see and write feel everybody sitting out there with the with the wigs and the robes on because that's exactly what goes on in a Court room, you know, so he's holding court that that's it and that's the thing So, you know, when you hear here comes the judge. I mean it just it hits you. I mean, it's just for him It's priceless Intimidating which goes along perfectly. He's intimidating. You know when you look at him I'm not so sure if the name is intimidating But it just suits him, you know, because when he walks in and it's just here comes the judge It's just his name and it implies authority How about our oldest Chapman the Cuban missile Which is kind of like your Louise Anna. Yeah, you know, it's just it's something that when when other people are referring to you And they're not using your name You know, then it's fun because that implies Something that you can do that nobody else can do or something that you have that nobody else has How about James Paxton the big maple? Well, I asked him would he wanted me to refer to him as and he said just call me packs So I don't I didn't know what's his nickname big maple big maple like the maple tree. Yeah, so he's from Canada So, right, so that's the other tap too. Okay, so well, you know, you understand how proud he is being from Canada So that's their, you know emblem on the on the flag so I can understand We might come up with one here for this for the state He can use that when he's in Canada use one when you're in the something new for when he's with the Yankees Right, which packs has that's that's a nice one. Yeah, and it's like a name We might have to think about something, you know, somewhere maybe the tag on him over here Out of all the Yankees history Do you have a favorite nickname or some favorite nicknames that come to mind when you think about the Yankees? Maybe it was a teammate who you played with their current player Well, we had we had we had a lot of characters on our club With a lot of nicknames and they were all fun in because of what they stands for We had a mr. Dirt. We had a mr. Puff We had a count We had a cat, you know, we had so many and and you know when you find out who those names imply a lot of them it's because of their person and their Their characters who they were I like them all I know, you know, it was one of the fun times in my life because we never referred to each other has Ronald or Greg or Jim or James or where are given names? Everybody had nicknames, you know When you go down position by position, it's you know, it's a snatcher willow Well, the only one that who never really did anything was bucky when I say bucky, you know, exactly who it is Yeah, you know, but then you had, you know, you had Greg who was nicknamed Puff You know, we had the quick Mickey Rivers You know, you had so many other guys that had great nicknames and it'd be hard to pick one who you like I mean, I like mine, you know, I don't want to be biased, but I like mine. It's pretty nice get it