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Let me start by admitting I can be a bit “old school” when it comes to the national pastime. I am:
- Not fond of the DH (and believe it ought to stand for the disappearing DoubleHeader;
- Prefer high socks to pajama pants;
- Oppose waving a batter to first on an intentional walk;
- Would take a well-turned double play over a pair of strikeouts and a triple over a 450-foot home run;
- Would rather have a spirited debate than wait for a challenge decision;
- Am more interested in how far a baseball travelled than its exit velocity and angle;
- Like to see pitchers and hitters adjust to an umpire’s stike zone;
- Would always choose outdoor over indoor baseball.
You get the idea.
However, I was pleased by the color, excitement and sense of “play” brought to the game by the MLB Players Weekend – more colorful uniforms and caps; personalized socks, bats and batting gloves: the MLB Players Weekend logo (from Little League to the “Bigs.”); tribute patches; nicknames on the backs of uniforms; and charity connections. All of this, I believe created more excitement, particularly for young fans and reminded us all that it’s still a game. That, I believe, is a good thing for baseball.
My favorite part of the promotion was the (player-chosen) nicknames on the uniforms. There were some great ones: Josh Donaldson – Bringer of Rain; Kendall Graveman – Digger (my nickname in my playing days); Robert Osuna – No Panic; Aaron Judge – All Rise; Chih-Wei Hu – Who?; Dustin Pedroia – Laser Show; Kenley Jansen – Kenleyfornia; Trevor Bauer – Bauer Outage; Ian Kinsler – Bootsie (Is that good for an infielder?); Yasiel Puig – Wild Horse. And then, of course, there were those who used already well-established nicknames, like: Moose Moustakas; Mad-Bum Bumgarrner; Joey Bats Bautista; Miggy Cabrera. Others, like Jason Motte (J Motte) used their first initial and last name and still other used just their first name (Matt Kemp; Koji Euhara; Homer Baily (still an unfortunate name for a pitcher).
Finally, there were those business-as-usual players who simply used their last name. In this post, I’d like to provide a list of my favorite nickname from each team, as well as suggestions for a few of the players who chose not to choose a nickname for the weekend.
MY FAVORITE PLAYERS WEEKEND NICKNAMES
Arizona Diamondbacks – Chris Herrmann – Herm the Worm
Atlanta Braves – Brandon Phillips – Dat Dude
Baltimore Orioles – Manny Machado – Mr. Miami
Boston Red Sox – Brock Holt – Brock Star
Chicago Cubs – Justin Grimm – Reaper
Chicago White Sox – Yoan Moncada – Yo Yo
Cincinnati Reds – Michael Lorenzen – Zen Master
Colorado Rockies – Charlie Blackmon – Chuck Nazty
Cleveland Indians – Carlos Santana – Slamtana
Detroit Tigers – Mike Mahtook – Night Hawk
Houston Astros – Carlos Correa – Showrrea
Kansas City Royals – Brandon Mauer – Mauer Power
Los Angeles Angels – Albert Pujols – The Machine
Los Angeles Dodgers – Curtis Granderson – Grandyman
Miami Marlins – Jarlin Garcia – Jarlin the Marlin
Milwaukee Brewers – Josh Hader – Haderade
Minnesota Twins – Max Kepler – Rozycki
New York Mets – Noah Syndergaard – Thor
New York Yankees – Todd Frazier – Toddfather
Oakland A’s – Chris Smith – Rock N Fire
Philadelphia Phillies – Tommy Joseph – Tojo
Pittsburgh Pirates – Gerritt Cole – Cole Train
St. Louis Cardinals – Carlos Martinez – Tsunami
San Diego Padres – Chase d’Arnaud – Cheetah
San Francisco Giants – Pablo Sandoval – Panda
Seattle Mariners – Nelson Cruz – Boomstick
Tampa Bay Rays – Steve Cishek – Speedpass
Texas Rangers – A.J. Griffin – Sweet Lettuce
Toronto Blue Jays – Josh Donaldson – Bringer of Rain
Washington Nationals – Bryce Harper – Big Kid
There were plenty of players who stayed “old school” and just went with their last names on thier uniform backs. Here are suggestions for next year for just a few of those:
Brett Gardner, Yankees – Old School (Gardner said he was “not a big fan” of the loosening of uniform rules)
Corey Gearrin, Giants – Gear Daddy
Zack Greinke, Diamondbacks – Grain-Man
Marco Gonzales, Cardinals – Polo
Mitch Haniger, Mariners – Handyman
Greg Holland, Rockies – Dutch Master
Scott Kazmir, Dodgers – Great Scott
Dallas Keuchel, Astros – Big K
Josh Lindblom, Pirartes – Kim Chee (Played in Korea)
Mike Minor, Royals – M & M’s
Gift Ngoepe – Gift is great on its own
Pat Neshek, Rockies – Collector (Memorabilia and autograph collector)
Dovydas Neverauskas – Scrabble
Daniel Nava, Phillies – Not Nova (See below)
Aaron Nola – Not Nava (See above)
Paulo Orlando, Royals – Three Bags Full (first three MLB hits were triples)
Cameron Perkins, Phillies – Pancakes
Ryan Schimpf – Etouffe
Corey Seager, Dodgers – Kyle’s Brother ()nly fair, Kyle used Corey’s Brother)
Tony Sipp, Astros – Big Gulp
Seth Smith, Diamondbacks – Little Eli (Backed up Eli Manning at Ole Miss)
George Springer, Astros – Slinky (The ultimate spring)
Matt Szczur,Padres – Scissors
Mark Trumbo, Diamondbacks – 76
Scott Van Slyke, Reds – Family Business (son of former major leaguer Andy Van Slyke)
All in all a great weekend for MLB and the fans. Looking forward to next year.
I tweet baseball @DavidBBRT
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Member: Society for American Baseball Research (SABR); The Baseball Reliquary; The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum; Baseball Bloggers Alliance.
