Dennis Boyd, who got the name, according to a USA Today interview of February 28, 1988, "for draining beer cans in his hometown of Meridian, Mississippi, where beer is called oil." He has attempted to shed the name which sometimes led to unfortunate word play. ("The Can is leaking," said Vin Scully during the 1986 World Series when Boyd got into trouble.) http://www.m-w.com/lighter/name/baseball.htm
Growing up a dyed-in-the-wool Yankees fan, one knew all of the great nicknames of the eras -- "The Babe", "Iron Man", "Scooter", "Catfish", "Donnie Baseball", etc., and their origin ... pretty much; but the sheer elegance in its simplicity of "Oil Can" along with the mystery of its origin, allowed this Yankees fan to think that the nickname of a hated Red Sox man was truly a classic.
It wasn't until many years later, upon seeing an old, taped interview with Boyd, that the mystery was revealed. Seems that in the dog days of summer where he grew up and learned to play ball (somewhere in the deep south, I can't recall exactly), it would get so hot and he would get so thirsty that the beverage he would drink to refresh himself would go down very smoothly. "It was just like drinking oil [drankin' ole]." Again, classic. http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/baseball/nicknames/010612.html
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