This got me thinking... http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/69939668/the-best-hall-of-fame-baseball-nicknames-illustrated?partnerId=ed-8003522-658620023 So what other great nicknames were out there? Not on the list of the link above: The Iron Horse, The Babe/The Bambino/The Sultan of Swat, Joltin' Joe/The Yankee Clipper, The Say Hey Kid, The Kid/Junior (before Dale Earnhardt Jr.), Shoeless Joe, The Mick/The Commerce Comet, The Man/Stan The Man, The Splinter, etc. So, in addition to the names I missed... why were some given the names? The Iron Horse: Henry Louis "Lou" or "Buster" Gehrig His durability and playing in 2130 straight games The Babe: George Herman "Babe" Ruth, Jr. According to Wikipedia, in his rookie season, he was the "subject of various pranks by the veterans, who also most likely gave him his famous nickname. There are various accounts of how Ruth came to be called Babe, but most center around him being referred to as "Dunnie's babe" or a variant. "Babe" was at that time a common nickname in baseball, with perhaps the most famous to that point being Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher and 1909 World Series hero Babe Adams, who appeared younger than he was." Anyone know why he got the nicknames "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat"? I could imagine the Sultan of Swat was largely due to his power hitting... Joltin' Joe/The Yankee Clipper: Joseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio born as Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio I know the Yankee Clipper was because in 1939, Yankee's stadium announcer Arch McDonald, called him this because he likened DiMaggio's speed and range in the outfield to the then-new Pan American airliner. I don't know why he was called Joltin' Joe though... any insights? Say Hey Kid: Willie Howard Mays, Jr. According to Wikipedia, "It is not clear how Mays became known as the "Say Hey Kid." One story is that in 1951, Barney Kremenko, a writer for the New York Journal, proceeded to refer to Mays as the 'Say Hey Kid' after he overheard Mays say, "'Say who,' 'Say what,' 'Say where,' 'Say hey,'". Another story is that Jimmy Cannon created the nickname because Mays didn't know everybody's names when he first arrived in the minors. "You see a guy, you say, 'Hey, man. Say hey, man,' " Mays said. "Ted [Williams] was the 'Splinter'. Joe [DiMaggio] was 'Joltin' Joe'. Stan [Musial] was 'The Man'. I guess I hit a few home runs, and they said 'There goes the 'Say Hey Kid."" The Kid/Junior: George Kenneth "Ken" Griffey, Jr. I would assume both of these were due to how young he looked when he came up and that he was playing with his father so they called him Junior... Shoeless Joe: Joseph Jefferson Jackson According to Wikipedia, "According to Jackson, he got his nickname during a mill game played in Greenville, South Carolina. Jackson suffered from blisters on his foot from a new pair of cleats, and they hurt so much that he had to take his shoes off before an at bat. As play continued, a heckling fan noticed Jackson running to third base in his socks, and shouted "You shoeless son of a gun, you!" and the resulting nickname "Shoeless Joe" stuck with him throughout the remainder of his life." The Mick/The Commerce Comet: Mickey Charles Mantle The Mick is obviously short for Mickey (named by his father after HOF catcher Mickey Cochrane) The Commerce Comet - I have no clue on this one... The Man/Stan The Man: Stanley Frank "Stan" Musial born as Stanisław Franciszek Musiał According to Wikipedia, "...during the 1946 season that Musial acquired his nickname of "The Man". During the June 23 game against the Dodgers at Ebbets Field, St. Louis Post-Dispatch sportswriter Bob Broeg heard Dodger fans chanting whenever Musial came to bat, but could not understand the words. Later that day over dinner, Broeg asked Cardinals traveling secretary Leo Ward if he had understood what the Dodger fans had been chanting. Ward said, "Every time Stan came up they chanted, 'Here comes the man!'" "'That man,' you mean", Broeg said. "No, the man", replied Ward. Broeg mentioned this story in his Post-Dispatch column, and Musial was thereafter known as Stan "The Man"" The Kid/The Splendid Splinter/Teddy Ballgame/The Thumper/The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived: Theodore Samuel "Ted" Williams The Kid - According to Wikipedia, "during spring training Williams was nicknamed "The Kid" by Red Sox equipment manager Johnny Orlando, who after Williams arrived to Sarasota for the first time, said, "'The Kid' has arrived". Orlando still called Williams "The Kid" twenty years later, while the nickname stuck with Williams the rest of his life." The Splendid Splinter - I have no clue Teddy Ballgame - I have no clue The Thumper - I have no clue The Greatest Hitter That Ever Lived - I would assume that this was due to his stated goal that he wanted people to point and say "there goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived." Anyone else I'm missing?
Very Good Stuff, Hammer-(like beer for my Wheaties, keeps me young, so do these kind of posts, thanx). Let me think on this one, and I'll defintely add to it later today....(gotta take the wife-Kim- to the Dr. most of the day today, but will be back).
Baby bull = Orlando Cepeda Pops = Willie Stargell Sky King = Dave Kingman Duke of Flatbush = Duke Snyder And speaking of Cepeda, I still can't believe that my Giants traded him. I can understand wanting to put McCovey at first, left handed and all but Cepeda could have played left. It wasn't like it was unfamiliar territory to him. I mean Cepeda was on such a roll production wise when he played with the Giants. He would have easily been ANOTHER Giant to hit 500 HRs.
Coco Crisp, with Budweiser instead of milk. I've seen and heard matt23 do this myself, with a bloody mary, and OJ half a glass with half of tequila before he ate his Wheaties. In all fairness I think it was to thaw him out from the snowstorm he rode 700 miles to get here to Wichita in 81, on a motorcycle at that. Jose "The Chemist" Canseco.? Who knew something no one else knew during his playing days.
...I decided a long time ago that if I ever had twin girls I was gonna name them Monique and Unique... twin boys?... Jose' and Hose B. ...seriously though, I went to school with and dated a girl named Candice (Candy) Barr....my Brother had a girl singer in his band called Neva Moore.
My dad told me once he dated a girl name Mary Lipshit. (correct spelling. And I dated a girl name Barbara Skummy. She wanted to get married real bad.
outtstanding stuff Hammer, keep up the great work, I enjoyed reading your work, thanks for taking the time, to put all this insightful info up..... You know Rick and I were in Ebbets Field for Stan "The Man" Musials game there, (which is mentioned above)...Yep, Rick, fell out of his seat, trying to grab a HR ball, (wait there were no good RF seats in Ebbets, so he was sitting in LF, when Stan hit a HR, then fell out on the field, knocking the fielder unconscious when he fell right on top of him. The guards took Rick, began to try and beat on him, and I yes, I, SUPERMAN flew down to his rescue...did I say Supes, sorry, I mean, "I'm Batman" jumped down to the rescue, preserving all sanity for baseball lore. Rick walked off with Stan's bat, since Stan took pity on him, for his pains, and efforts to catch Stan's 300th HR.
leo the lip durocher the eck carlton fisk and ivan rodriguez shared "pudge" dominican dandy andres big cat galarraga ryno
______________________ The Eck --- I remember him when he was a starting pitcher for Cleveland....and then he became an arrogant shitface punk as he used to point emphatically and holler towards the batter's direction (where else?) after he completed a save. He was one of the most hated players in the league and I was VERY HAPPY when he choked up that World Series HR to Kirk Gibson which has become HIS real lasting legacy.....couldn't have happened to a better guy.
Here is a link to a FEW HUNDRED or more of every player who ever had a nickname........I mean every player.... the 2nd link is the top #50 Nicknames as deemed by Baseball Almanac, and ESPN... http://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/baseball-player-nicknames.shtml http://www.baseball-almanac.com/hof/hofnick.shtml http://www.baseball-almanac.com/legendary/best_nicknames.shtml ESPN, ran an article in 2001 called The List : Best nicknames in baseball history. They "officially" declared June as Nickname Month and then voted for the best all-time nickname in baseball. Here are their editorial staff's selections, the fans selections, their poll results and more.
