What is the silliest nickname a baseball player has/had? What is the best?

Question

Big Papi, the Big Unit, the Rocket? Which ones are cool, and which ones are pretty dumb?

I myself enjoyed hearing Mo Vaughn referred to as "Mo Food" by a NYC sports radio personality. =D

Answer 1

The worst nickname? Well, there was Choo-Choo Coleman, who didn't have any idea where he picked the name up, but I would have to agree with "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy. And I remember David Letterman picking on Mookie Wilson.

Best? "Teddy Ballgame" (Ted Williams) says it all, but my choice would be "Li'l Abner", taken from the now-defunct comic strip, which was applied to Ron Swoboda.

Incidentally, Mickey Mantle's given name was Mickey. He was named for Hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane.

Other great names: The Big Train (Walther Johnson), Meal Ticket (Carl Hubbell), The Iron Horse (Lou Gehrig), The Barber (Sal Maglie, so called because of he pitched batters close and inside), The Ol' Perfessor (Casey Stengel), Stan "The Man" Musial (he earned it), Yogi Berra, "Say Hey" (Willie Mays), "Joltin' Joe" DiMaggio, The Vulture (Phil Regan), Blue Moon Odom, Mudcat Grant, The Wizard of Oz (Ozzie Smith) and Charlie Hustle (Pete Rose).

Paul Waner and his brother Lloyd were known as "Big Poison" and "Little Poison" respectively. Another brother act was Jerome "Dizzy" Dean and his brother Paul, nicknamed "Daffy."

Bob Feller was known as "Rapid Robert" and Tom Seaver was "Tom Terrific." Nolan Ryan did not have a nickname, but his fastball was called "Von Ryan's Express" after a contemporary movie; later the "Von" was dropped.

Pumpsie Green (his given name was Elijah Jerry Green) was the first black player for the Boston Red Sox. He received the nickname name as a child from his mother.

A recent one, no longer applicable, is "Steady" Eddie Guardado.

Connie Mack is entirely a nickname: he was Cornelius McGillicuddy. And let us not forget Mark "the Bird" Fydritch (probably from "queer as a bird," meaning "wacky") or "Mr. October (Reggie Jackson).

"Papi" in its various forms is a Spanish term of respect for a beloved elder (also equivalent to "Daddy") and has been applied to several Hispanic players, such as Edgar Martinez.

Yankee Stadium is still called "The House that Ruth Built," and the original Washington Senators used the nickname instead of their formal name, which was the Nationals. The Senators were often described as "first in war, first in peace and last in the American League." Casey Stengel was the first to call the Mets "Amazing".

And that's the tip of the iceberg.

Answer 2

The absolute worst is Big Papi. The coolest is The Man Of Steal, Rickey Henderson who leads in most steals in a season with 130!

Answer 3

Some of the coolest:

The Big Unit
Vlad the Impaler

Silliest:

The Rocket (it's sounds kinda weird)

Answer 4

The worst nickname ever is, indisputably, Hugh "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy, who played for the Phillies in the 1930s and 40s.

For the best, I like Oil Can Boyd and Vinegar Bend Mizell.

Answer 5

I think "Oil Can" Boyd is great but Stump Merrill is ridiculous. And that is his given name.

A few years ago the Indians had Coco Crisp (which is a nick-name) and Milton Bradley(real name) on their team. I think that takes the cake for ridiculous names on one team.

Howard Johnson "HoJo" and "Mookie" Wilson were a couple of great met players with nicknames too.

Answer 6

Mark "The Bird" Fydrich (sp?)

Pitched for The Tigers back in the laste 70;s for only one season (due to an injury)....but he was called that because he was tall and lanky and his hair was blonde and very curly...so he kinda looked like "Big Bird" from sesame street...plus he was a little off because he would talk to the baseball.

Answer 7

A player from the 1800s had the nickname of Robert "Death to Flying Things" Ferguson. kinda just rolls off the tongue doesn't it? The coolest to me, (but probably not to him) was Dick Stuart of the Pirates. He was such a bad fielder that he had the nickname " Dr. Strangeglove". That is hilarious.

Answer 8

Bob "Death to Flying Things" Ferguson for all-time great nicknames. He played in the 1880s.

Now? Hm, the Big Unit. Maybe back when he got it "unit" had no slang sexual connotation but now it does.

Answer 9

I liked Len Dykstra's nickname of "Nails" back in 86 along with "El Sid" for Sid Fernandez. Also did not mind "Scrap Iron" for Phil Garner.

Dumb nicknames: "Kruker" for John Kruk, "Giambino" for Jason Giambi.

Answer 10

Big Unit and Rocket are also pretty funny if you think about it... Iron Man Cal Ripken Jr. was a pretty cool name I think.