MLB All Nickname Team
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by user I am a cpcp
I don't know if it's been proven, but I have to think MLB has seen more players with well-known nicknames than any other sport. Sure, the NBA and NFL has seen their share of nicknames (Air, Magic, The Dream and so on) but in baseball, you'll generally find a nicknamed player or three on every team. Here's my lineup for the MLB all-nickname team. Some of them are on here because the name is inseperable from the player, others are on here because they're just great nicknames.
C - Lawrence Peter Berra - Yeah, that's right. Lawrence Peter. I had to look it up. I never got Yogi, but now I see why he didn't go by Larry Dick.
1B/OF - Pete Rose - Charlie Hustle will never be banned on my lists.
2B - Willie Keeler - Willie "Hit 'em Where They Ain't" Keeler might have the record for the longest nickname. Truthfully he's mostly on the list because he played some second base.
3B - (John Peter) Honus Wagner - Not sure where Honus came from, but between that and The Flying Dutchman, Wagner's gotta be on the list.
SS - Ozzie Smith - "The Wizard of Oz" is a little goofy, but Smith made it work with his spectacular play and signiture flip.
RF - "The Babe" George Herman Ruth - This is obvious. Not only was he known only by this name, he had nicknames to go with the nickname.
CF - "Shoeless" Joe Jackson - With Rose and Jackson, maybe nicknames can be bad for a player? But once again, I won't ban this great nickname from my list, either.
LF/1B - Stan Musial - While "The Man" has become a commonplace nickname for any Stans and Dans of today, Stan Musial really earned it.
DH - Travis Hafner - The Cleveland Indians are creating an entire marketing campaign around "Pronk", naming his high-percentage-home-run-landing-zone in right field "Pronkville." Plus, if I didn't have Pronk on the list, my dog would be mad at me.
SP - Roger Clemens - Nothing odd about "The Rocket." He has a rocket arm, pretty cut and dry. But, it's still synonomous with Roger Clemens.
SP - "Oil Can" Dennis Boyd - "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).'"
SP - Nolan Ryan - No one wanted to mess with The Nolan Ryan Express. If the name wasn't such a big part of who he was, it wouldn't be on the list. It's kind of dumb.
SP - Randy Johnson - "The Big Unit" can mean so many things. It's very versatile, more for making fun of him than anything, but it's still versatile.
RP - Rich Garces - I don't know if I ever saw him pitch, but he was one of my favorite players just because of his name. BEWARE OF EL GUAPO.
RP - Al Hrabosky - "The Mad Hungarian" creates a great mental picture, doesn't it?
Notable Exceptions:
Don Mattingly - "Donny Baseball" just doesn't... do it for me.
Ted Williams - He had quite a few nicknames, none strong enough to take a place in the starting lineup
Reggie Jackson - Helping the Yankees in October and getting yourself a name out of Playboy isn't good enough for me.
"Hammerin'" Hank Aaron - There are just too dang many outfielders with nicknames.
Fred McGriff (The Crime Dog), Mike Hargrove (The Human Rain Delay) and Frank Thomas (The Big Hurt) - I already had Rose and Musial splitting time between OF and 1B, these guys didn't have a shot.
Date
Sat 07/08/06, 2:07 pm EST
