What's in a name? A lot of creativity once upon a time

Okay, list time!

(Remember those?)

I’m watching the ball games last night and I’m hearing all about ARod this and ARod that and I’m figuring we, as a people, have given up on good nicknames.

Boring, entirely boring.

And with the voice of a friend who thinks Catfish might be one of the best nicknames ever roiling around the brain, and recalling an esoteric mention of an obscure nickname the other night, I’ve come to the conclusion that baseball, old time baseball, had the greatest collection of nicknames in sport history.

Maybe it was a more creative time, maybe there was less political correctness, maybe it was just more fun to come up with cool names than to simply know people by initials or adding a “y” to their last night.

Yawn.

My top 10?

Jim (Catfish) Hunter

Sure it was fake and a product of Charlie Finley’s marketing mind but it is indeed pretty cool. Besides, who doesn't like a nice piece of blackened catfish?

Mordecai (Three Fingers) Brown

Yeah I know. Obvious but still ..

Fred (Bonehead) Merkle

Guy makes one critical and crucial mistake and has to go through the rest of his life known as “Bonehead?” That’s cold. Funny, but cold.

Sal (The Barber) Maglie

The guy was born in Niagara Falls, N.Y., and I’ve played games on fields named after him. Never got thrown at, though, which is how he became The Barber ‘cause he’d “shave” hitters.

Lou Gehrig, The Iron Horse

Now I use to more facetiously for those who might play through too much pain (insert obligatory shot at whatever soft Raptor you wish) it’s pretty cool.

Smoky Joe Wood

Dude threw hard, had nothing to do with fresh air.

Cool Papa Bell

So quick he could flip the switch and be in bed before the room got dark.

Branch Rickey, The Mahatma

Smart, and very religious. Effective combination.

The Fordham Flash Frankie Frisch

Today, that might be the name of a Super Hero.

Ted Williams, The Splendid Splinter

Only because he might be close to the top of The Greatest Hitter Ever list and the John Updike New Yorker essay that could be the best sports writing ever.

There are dozens, if not hundreds more (Shoeless Joe, Charlie Hustle, Mr. October, The Say Hey Kid, The Yankee Clipper), but those might be on the top of my list.

What have you got?

Oh, and the Raptors?

I can think of two worth mentioning and with any level of creativity.

Boogie for Alvin Williams and The Big Kitchen for John Thomas. I guess Mighty Mouse would be a close third. And if I find the guy who first called Oliver Miller The Big O, he and I are going to have to have a very serious chat. Sacrilege.

-

Guess I missed some big debate last night?

The Second-In-Commands south of us?

Too bad but I keep hearing the old guy might have schooled the young guy and being an old guy, I’m all for that.

And I also notice that I’ll be in Oklahoma City covering a game on U.S. election night, wonder what that’ll be like?

-

Mail?

Please. We might have some game stuff tomorrow morning -- not an awful lot, it still is the pre-season – but we’ll need some questions and we haven’t been inundated.

You know the drill, right?

Just click, write, send.

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Right. The Raptors.

Well, a ho-hum day yesterday, going over the mistakes of the night before, trying to put some more offence in now that Valanciunas is fully ready and then some media obligations for the organization that I assure you they all loved like puppy dogs and rainbows.

In other words, a rather slow day in the middle of a pre-season that’s about two weeks long.

But I know the one thing Dwane was hammering home more than any other: Improvement on defence.

As we’ve mentioned a couple of times, there’s been some slippage from last year and I know that can’t be sitting well with the coach.

No reason to sound the alarms, they’re two games into a two-game pre-season and there are about two weeks worth of practice days left.

But listening him post-game the other night in Detroit, there was no question he was miffed and it’s time to really buckle down.

“What was it? 99 points? That’s plenty of points, plenty of points. We’ve got to cut down on the 50 per cent defensive field goal percentage, that’s my biggest concern.”

Rightly so.

-

Are the baseball playoffs the best playoffs in all of pro sports?

Gotta say yes.

Hardly any days off, every game takes on its own character and more drama – usually – than you can shake a stick at and if this past week hasn’t been the best in recent memory and doesn’t prove that point, I’m not sure what would.

You’ve had game-winning extra-inning homers and ninth-inning heroics and great offensive games and every time Justin Verlander pitches we all need to watch. It’s been wonderful, compelling, dramatic theatre day after day after day and you cannot get that in any other sport.

It’s been so good it’s almost been tiring. You sit and watch three dramatic at-bats late in the San Francisco-Cincinnati game and get worn out mentally and then Jason Werth wins a game in the bottom of the night and you take a deep breath and think, wow, what a day.

Then the Yankees and Orloles go 13 innings with the inherent ARod drama and it’s almost too much until you see the masterful Verlander throw a complete game, series-winning shutout that was one of those “sit back kids, I’ll win this one for you” moments that make sports special. You’ve got four Division Series all going the full five games and I cannot see how the league championship series or World Series can match the overall drama of the last week. Hope they do; can’t see how it’s possible.

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Comments

[Tim H.]

Hey Doug:
Do you think the Rap's JV has the potential to match the Tigers' JV for impact on the game?

Blogger's note: Not a chance :)

[Heath]

Oilcan, The Big Unit, and Jellybean are the first three that come to my mind. Only football one of substance that comes to mind is The Galloping Ghost.

[Jim A]

The Round Mound of Rebound (Sir Charles)

Chocolate Thunder (Dawkins)

The Human Highlight Reel (Dominique)

Basketball has had its day for nicknames, too.

[Jerry]

Bill "Spaceman" Lee. A man whose nickname was much more impressive than his talent.

[Mo M.]

The gangster?
The legend(s)?
And this may not have caught on, but I still call him this every time I see our old buddy hump on the court.... "40 mins, 40 points"

I think all nicknames in sports should be left to the irregulars from now on.

[Sharkey]

Hey Doug, your mailbag link goes back to this blog. You should fix that.

Nicknames: I'll give you two really old-school baseball names I love. First, Barney Pelty, a solid pitcher in the 1900s with the St. Louis Browns. He was Jewish, incredibly open and proud about that fact (role model for us Jewish sports lovers), and he threw a good curveball. So, they nicknamed him "The Yiddish Curver." I think that's one of the best ever.

Also, Bob Ferguson, fantastic infielder in the 1870s and 1880s. He was so good at fielding a baseball he was known by the moniker "Death To Flying Things". Gotta love the old-school nicknames.

[Rory]

Travis Snider's nickname is apparently Lunchbox, which is pretty awesome.

[Peter]

You do realize that you're closer in age to the Young Guy than the Old Guy, right? :)

Blogger's note: Maybe chronologically

[D-Mac Ottawa]

I listened to a lot of Dizzy and Peewee way back in the day... Yogi, Whitey, the M&M Boys (aka Mick and Roger The Rajah Maris)...
Sleepy, Tree, Tractor, Fridge... Worm, Juice, Dr. J, Pistol Pete... Milkman, Iceman, Magic, Dr. J... but I think my two all-time favourites are Dick "Night Train" Lane and the just about all-around-perfect in every way "Air Canada".
Cheers. Go Raps! And a little Tina Turner and Sting, cuz why not: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25W8B181JRQ

[Scott]

Ol' Stubblebeard - Burleigh Grimes. The last spitballer, and as if his name wasn't manly enough they had to give him that nickname.

[Rob]

I dont think that any pro athlete has had more worthy nicknames than Shaquille o'neal. Using a players initials is just soooo lame, he never went that route. He at various times was referred to as Shaq.....Shaq-daddy.....The Big Aristotle (due to this numerous quotes, one of the best nicknames ever)....Diesel......and my favourite when he moved to play for phoenix in the desert: The Big Shaqtus. Classic...all for one guy....

[Stavros]

All great nicknames you’ve listed. Have to give a mention to a couple of my favorites growing up. "Rock" (Tim Raines) and "The Hawk" (Andre Dawson).

And... the "Big O" is that slowly sinking space ship looking monstrosity of a tax burden built in the East end of Montréal. Not a basketball player.

Blogger's note: It was Oscar Robertson long before Jean Drapeau

[Lorie]

Hey Doug!
Always liked the nickname "Oil Can" Boyd - simple, in fact elegant and perfect in its simplicity - like all the best nicknames. And how do you know when a nickname's a really good one? When some people don't realize that Yogi isn't his real name. Nor was he named after a certain cartoon bear - in reality it was vice versa! Now, as a nod to last night's lively debate, a couple of words to consider when bestowing new nicknames might be 'malarkey' and 'munster'. And the very good baseball keeps happening. Here's a pretty sweet audio clip of Werth's game-winning homerun from yesterday's Nationals-Cardinals game. Over to you, Mr. Slowes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2012/10/11/audio-jayson-werths-walk-off-home-run/

[sam]

Alex Rodriguez is the poster boy for why you shouldn't offer long term high dollar contracts to players. I'm not sure he's played a full season in the last few years - this playoff, he has all but disappeared - You would think 30 million a year would get you more. He's also under contract for another 5 years.....
His nickname is a little self serving, much like Roger Clemens chosen name of Rocket Man -

There are a lot of great hockey nicknames; The Big M and the Little M - The Golden Jet, and the Golden Brett -

[JT]

I love my baseball but I really can't stand the 3.5 hour 9 inning playoff games. I know part of that is because the commercials are a few seconds longer in between innings but they've gotta crack down on pitchers taking forever between pitches and batters stepping outside the box and such.

[james]

Favourite riff on a nickname: SCTV's lifestyle reporter, Johnny LaRue, goes searching for the truth about the orgasm, asks a number of bar patrons about "The Big O", and is repeatedly told that he's the best basketball player who ever lived.

[A. Young]

The great nicknames came from the great
sports writers. Back in the day of radio or even befor,it was the description of the game and the players, that counted. The writers made the players into the nation,s heros, especially in the states.
A couple that came to mind from football. The Gipper and The Four Horsemen.

[Mike kovacs]

The Kid
Rusty
The Sultan of Swat

How about for a future blog a list of numbers that are remembered for certain players? BBall night be hard as certain players changed their numbers ( to sell more jerseys?) but hockey, of course, has 99 and 4.

[Mark at Work shhhhh]

How about BenJarvus Green-Ellis for a good nickname. "The Lawfirm". The Big Snack for the Steelers' Casey Hampton is a good one too.

[SheikYurbouti]

Some of the most memorable, and apt nicknames:

NFL
The Fridge

CFL
Pinball
Gizmo
The Rifle

Hockey
Boom Boom

Basketball
Brazilian Blur
Big Fundamental

Baseball
Le Grande Orange (okay, maybe not that memorable, but he was a memorable Expo :)

[Alf Chaiton]

Don't forget Vinegar Bend Mizell, a pitcher for the Pirates in the 1960 World Series.

[S.R.]

Junk Yard Dog

[RichardY]

Bo Bo Brazil
Andre the Giant

[Gerry Tanner]

While it may not qualify as a nickname, how about "The man of a thousand stances" for Rod Carew?? He would be on the same list as the Splendid Splinter also as one of the greates hitters of all time I think.

Gerry T.

[doug]

Chocolate Thunder was a good one as it was a apt description of Darryl Dawkins...oh and at the same time on same team "World B free" another good one...and then the best simply "The Doctor:...who we all know...ok cheers,,