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February 27, 2021

 WHERE HAVE ALL THE GREAT BASEBALL NICKNAMES GONE?

There was a time when many baseball players had colorful nicknames that followed them their entire careers. Some of them weren’t exactly flattering, but they stuck. For some reason, it’s not like that anymore. It seems that most top players named Rodriguez, for example, have an initial and a dash, following by the word Rod. Alex Rodriguez was A-Rod; Ivan Rodriguez was I-Rod, Francisco Rodriguez was K-Rod (for strikeouts); and Eduardo Rodriguez is E-Rod. How original and imaginative is that?

Mike Trout has been considered the best player in baseball for nearly a decade, yet he’s still just Mike Trout. No real nickname. If he played in older days he might have been called “Rainbow,” as in Rainbow Trout, or even “Gilly” or “Gill Man” since fish have gills. Someone would have come up with something. Think about some of the other young superstars today – Bryce Harper, Juan Soto, Manny Machado, Corey Seager, Fernando Tatis, Jr., Nolan Aranado, Trevor Story, Francisco Lindor, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Pete Alonso, and on and on. No recognizable or catchy nickname. Of course, there’s Mookie Betts, but Mookie is almost like a first name now. D.J. LeMahieu is called “The Machine.” That qualifies as an old-fashioned nickname, but those are few and far between today.

You can go back to the 19^th century for the start of it with guys like Old Hoss Radbourn

and Wee Willie Keeler. In the early decades of the 20^th century nicknames were everywhere. Look at the superstars. Ty Cobb was “The Georgia Peach”; Honus Wagner “The Flying Dutchman”; Tris Speaker “Spoke” or “The Gray Eagle”; Christy Mathewson “Big Six” and Walter Johnson “The Big Train.” Some had two nicknames. The Babe was “The Bambino” and “The Sultan of Swat. Lou Gehrig was “Larrapin’ Lou” and “The Iron Horse.” Jimmie Foxx was “Double-X” and “The Maryland Strongboy.” And I’m just scratching the surface.

(In the featured photo, we see “Double-X” teasing “The Splendid Splinter” about his scrawny biceps).

Even brothers had nicknames. Paul and Lloyd Waner were “Big and Little Poison.” Jay Hanna Dean and brother Paul were “Dizzy” and “Daffy.” Charley Gehringer was “The Mechanical Man,” “The Wild Horse of the Osage,” while Joe Medwick was simply “Ducky.” Moving into the 1940s Stan Musial was “The Man;” Joe DiMaggio “The Yankee Clipper,” Johnny Mize “The Big Cat.” The great Ted Williams actually had four nicknames. He was alternatively “The Spendid Splinter,”  “The Kid,” “Thumper” and “Teddy Ballgame.” In the 1950s the Yankees big three on the mound – Vic Raschi, Allie Reynolds and Eddie Lopat – all had nicknames. They were “The Springfield Rifle,” “The Chief or Superchief” and “The Junkman.”

With the new stars there were new nicknames. Mickey Mantle was at first “The Commerce Comet” and later just “The Mick.” Willie Mays, of course, was “The Say Hey Kid,” while Henry Aaron was “Hammerin’ Hank.” Edwin Snider was “The Duke of Flatbush” and teammate Elwin Roe was “Preacher.” Whitey Ford was known as “The Chairman of the Board’ while Pete Rose was “Charlie Hustle.” Harmon Killebrew was “The Killer” while pitcher Frank Lary was “The Yankee Killer.” Then there was Yogi and Campy, while Don Mueller was “Mandrake the Magician,” and Don Zimmer with the great nickname of “The Gerbil.”

There are always more. Just randomly, Mordecai Brown was “Three Finger,” Mark Fydrych was “The Bird,” while Jim Grant was “Mudcat” and Jim Hunter “Catfish.” Old Timer Roger Bresnahan was known as “The Duke of Tralee,” as in Tralee, Ireland. Al Simmons was “Bucketfoot Al” and Brooks Robinson “The Human Vacuum Cleaner.” Dennis Boyd had the colorful nickname of “Oil Can,” while Mike Hargrove, who took forever to get ready to hit, was known as “The Human Rain Delay.” Fans in Montreal nicknamed Rusty Staub “Le Grand Orange,” for his red hair. Diminutive slugger Jimmy Wynn was tabbed “The Toy Cannon” and slugger Fred McGriff was the “Crime Dog.” The great Tom Seaver was known as “Tom Terrific” or simply, “The Franchise.” The Dodgers’ Ron Cey was known as “The Penguin” and Shane Victorino as “The Flyin’ Hawaiian.” Two great base stealers also had nicknames. Rickey Henderson was “The Man of Steal,” while Vince Coleman was known as “Vincent Van Go.” Get it?

While the great nicknames slowly diminished in the 1990s and into the new century, there were still a few that were catchy and apropos. The great Randy Johnson at six-foot-ten was known as “The Big Unit,” while huge slugger Frank Thomas was “The Big Hurt” and Roger Clemens “The Rocket.” One of the best was rotund infielder Pablo Sandoval, who was known as “Kung Fu Panda.” I could go on and on because there were so many over the years. But now, it seems the great nicknames are few and far between.

With all the aforementioned great players today the question begs, where are the nicknames? Has the sense of humor of the game been lost? The old nicknames were fun, sometimes even a bit demeaning, but players were given them and they stuck. Are we so enamored today by bat flips, showboating, fancy celebrations and players rushing off to be on social media that no one has time for nicknames. In any case, one of the most colorful and amusing parts of the game has been lost, and that is the proliferation of great nicknames that was part of the diamond tradition for so long.

I’ll leave you with one final thought. There was an infielder named Bob Ferguson, who played from 1871 to 1884, and who was known as a great defensive player. His nickname has to be one of the strangest and imaginative ever. It was “Death to Flying Things.”

Let us know what your favorite player nicknames were.

Bill Gutman

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