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Awesome night card, pt. 106


A general perception exists that baseball has lost its ability to nickname its players. Once a colorful part of the sport's past, nicknames have either degenerated into Han-Ram, A-Rod, I-Pod style abbreviationisms, or come about because some people actually think Chris Berman is clever.

Although I tend to think the nicknames were better back in the day, I'm not totally convinced that people are nickname illiterate today. I mean "Pokey" is a perfectly ideal baseball nickname, and Reese was around as recently as 2004.

So this is what I'm going to do. Occasionally, I am going to post an all-decade baseball nickname team. I'll do one for the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and '00s (I'll think about going back farther to the '20s, '30s and '40s). Then, once I'm done -- which will probably take about 7 years -- everyone can vote on which team is the best.

Meanwhile, I am taking suggestions for your favorite baseball nicknames. Leave them in the comments or in the comments on future all-decade nickname posts. Or just send me an email. There are lots of nicknames out there -- and they're not all as lame as "Tex" and "Longo."

So give me some examples. Go back 70 years if you like, or restore my faith in current players' ability to continue the fine art of nicknaming.

Comments

I'll definitely go with "The Thrill" for Will Clark and how about "Pudge" for Carlton Fisk and Ivan Rodriguez.
shoeboxlegends said…
I agree with Play at the Plate on Clark. As a Red Sox fan, I'd like to nominate Oil Can Boyd and the Spaceman, Bill Lee.
hiflew said…
What a great idea for a series of posts. Mark "The Bird" Fidrych is one of my favorites.

And you are right most of the old timers do have great nicknames from The Say Hey Kid to The Splendid Splinter to The Sultan of Swat. I will say there is one current one that I love and that is "The Hebrew Hammer" Ryan Braun.
Matthew Glidden said…
Good idea!

1. "Luscious Luke" Appling -- which should be a combined wrestler-baseball name. (He was also "Old Aches and Pains.")

2. "Hot Potato" Hamlin

3. "High Pockets" Kelly

4. "The Great Stone Face" (Fred Hutchinson)

5. "The Human Rain Delay" (Mike Hargrove)
Drew said…
You gotta have Yogi in there, and I'd also like to nominate "The Mad Hungarian" Al Hrabosky, Denis "Oil Can" Boyd, Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford, and Richard Michael "Goose" Gossage. Thats all for now, but I've got more hahah! Cool idea!
Spiegel83 said…
I like the "Duke of Flatbush." That one always sounded great to me. I also agree that the "Hebrew Hammer" is a great nickname for Ryan Braun.
longlivethewho said…
I've always like Lou Gehrig's other nickname... Ol' Biscuit Pants.
AdamE said…
Someone already said Pudge and Splended Splinter so how about Spaceman, Oil Can, The Rocket, Greek God of Walks.
AdamE said…
Preacher Roe...
SpastikMooss said…
If Pokey counts then I assume Coco Crisp does too?

Also Butts Wagner, Corn Dogg Franks, Motor Boat Jones, Bud Weiser, Coot Veal, Pants Rowland, Scott Super Duper Cooper Scooper, Catfish Hunter, Cookie Rojas, Pumpsie Green, Cool Papa Bell, Chipper Jones, Peaches Nadolney, Pickles Dillhoefer, Stubby Clapp, Shooty Babbitt, Toe Nash, Woody Held, and Icicle Reeder.

You know...just to name a few.
Bo said…
I think it's worth noting that most of the older nicknames actually were coined by the media, not the players. Actually, that's true today as well for nicknames like "Big Hurt" and "Big Unit".
Greg Olsen said…
Skeeter Barnes, Bobo Newsome (a favorite of my late grandma), Schoolboy Rowe, Joel 'Zoom-Zoom" Zumaya, Rock Raines, Juan "Shoulda-Taken-the-Money" Gonzalez
Unknown said…
Big unit was actually named by a fellow player, Tim Raines. Anyway, lincecum is "the freak". Point is, they are out there.
Baseball nicknames are as old as baseball itself. There were "King" Kelly, "Parisian Bob" Carruthers and (my favorite) Bob "Death To Flying Things" Ferguson.

I don't imagine Dave Winfield wanted to resurrect that one...
Doc said…
Some oldies for you...

Charles "Chief" Bender
Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown
Walter "Big Train" Johnson
Honus "The Flying Dutchman" Wagner
Christy "Big Six" Mathewson
Ty "The Georgia Peach" Cobb
Denton "Cy" Young
Tris "The Grey Eagle" Speaker
Gorgeous George Sisler
Wee Willie Keeler
Eddie "Cocky" Collins
Rogers "Rajah" Hornsby
Rube Waddell
Pie Traynor

I could go on and on for the old timers...

Oh yeah, and BOOG!
AdamE said…
Don't forget CC Cheeseburger Sabathia
night owl said…
I'll file away all-nickname suggestions above (and future ones) and review them when I do the all-nickname teams. Thanks!
gcrl said…
Don't forget the penguin, ropes, toy cannon, disco dan ford, bulldog, or the bison. Or the group collectively called the stuntmen.
Slangon said…
I always kind of liked Choo Choo Coleman. But I think my all time favorite baseball nickname is Sandy "The Left Arm of God" Koufax.
Greg Zakwin said…
gcrl mentioned it, but I'll repeat it:

The Bison.

And hasn't Broxton been called Ox a few times? And the SOSG guys call Kershaw The Minotaur, I think.
Wrigley Wax said…
Dick Tidrow.....Dirt