Players’ Weekend is all about fun and smiles … and some serious hardball, too. Photo by Erik Drost.
On the weekend of August 24-26 – as MLB celebrates its second annual Players’ Weekend – uniforms will take on a whole new look. The uniforms and equipment (from spikes to batting gloves to catcher’s masks) will be more colorful and will tell fans more than ever about the players on the field. For example, the right sleeve of Players’ Weekend uniforms will be adorned with a patch on which the players can honor individuals who inspired them on their way to “The Show.” Players’ Weekend caps will also feature the baseball “Evolution” logo –showing a progression of five player images reflecting the progress from Little League to youth leagues to the major leagues.
Perhaps of greatest interest, however, will be the names on the back of the jerseys, as players can choose a nickname for display that reflects their own personalities, passions or sense of humor. We’ll be seeing such monikers as “LATE LIGHTNING” (Steve Pearce); “THE CONDUCTOR” (Chris Sale); and “UNDERPANTS” (Hunter Pence). In this post, Baseball Roundtable will take a look at its favorite nicknames from each team and suggest nicknames for a number of players who have chosen to stick to current regular-season practice and use their surname on the back of their Players’ Weekend uniforms. (Side note: I do miss the days … in my youth … when nicknames like Stan the Man, The Splendid Splinter, The Commerce Comet, Spaceman, Dr. Strangeglove, Yogi, Duke, Sudden and many more were commonplace in MLB.) For a look at BBRT’s take on the best and worst MLB nicknames of all time, click here.
EVEN MORE FUN WATCH – THE LITTLE LEAGUE CLASSIC
Players’ Weekend will be a fun time to be at the ballpark. There is another event planned for this month that will also add some “life” to the game – particularly for a group of very young ballplayers.
The Second Annual Little League Classic – a regular-season, major league game played in Williamsport, PA (home of the Little League World Series) – will be played (and televised on ESPN) on Sunday, August 19, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
The game, which will feature the Mets and Phillies, will take place at Bowman Field (a minor league park not far from the LLWS site) and attended by a crowd made up primarily of Little Leaguers and their families. The MLB players will attend a Little League World Series game earlier in the day and will also take part in a number of formal and informal interactions with the youngsters. Tune in for the coverage, particularly if you are up for a day of handshakes, autographs, laughs, smiles – and a great combination of Little League and Major League baseball.
BASEBALL ROUNDTABLES PICKS FOR
THE BEST PLAYERS’ WEEKEND NICKNAMES
American League
Angels – Cam “BEDROCK” Bedrosian
Astros – Josh “RED DOG” Reddick
A’s – Andrew “TRIGGONOMETRY” Triggs
Blue Jays – Curtis “GRANDYMAN” Granderson
Indians – Shane “NOT JUSTIN” Bieber
Mariners – Nelson “BOOMSTICK” Cruz
Orioles – Paul “PAPA FRITA” Fry
Rangers – Nomar ‘BIG CHILL” Mazara
Rays – Kevin “OUTLAW” Kiermaier
Red Sox – Steve “LATE LIGHTNING” Pearce
Royals – Danny “CHILL SERGEANT” Duffy
Tigers – Michael “THE PLUMBER” Fulmer
Twins – Trevor “LURCH” May
White Sox – Yoan “YOYO” Moncada
Yankees – Aroldis ‘THE MISSILE” Chapman
LIFE FATHER – LIKE SON
Prince Fielder followed in his father Cecil’s powerful footsteps. Photo by RLHyde
It seems appropriate to mention a father-son baseball connection in the same post as the Little League Classic. So, here we go.
On this day (August 17) in 2012, Tigers’ first baseman Prince Fielder played in his 1,000th major league game. He cranked a pair of home runs as Detroit topped the Red Sox 10-0 – giving him 232 career roundtrippers. Notably, his father Cecil Fielder also had exactly 232 home runs after playing in 1,000 MLB contests. (And, like Prince, hit that 232nd roundtripper as a member of the Tigers.)
Cecil Fielder, the father, went on to hit 319 regular-season home runs in his 13-season MLB career. Prince Fielder played one less MLB season than his dad – but also cranked 319 regular-season homers. They are also the only father-son combination to each put up a 50-home run campaign (Cecil hit 51 in 1990 and Prince bashed 50 in 2007).
National League
Braves – Ender “GAME ENDER” Inciarte
Brewers – Jacob “KING COBRA” Barnes
Cardinals – Michael “WACHMOLE” Wacha
Cubs – Carl “STRINGBEAN SLINGER” Edwards, Jr.
Diamondbacks – John Ryan “CHOIR BOY’ Murphy
Dodgers – Kenley “KENLEYFORNIA” Jansen
Giants – Madison “MAD-BUM” Bumgarner
Marlins – Jarlin “JARLIN THE MARLIN” Garcia
Mets – Jose “JOEY BATS” Bautista
Nationals – Erick ‘FEDDICCINI” Fedde
Padres – Joey “JOEY FUEGO” Luchessi
Phillies – Aaron ‘WOLF” Loup
Pirates – Ivan ‘SUPER NOVA” Nova
Reds – Michael ‘ZENMASTER” Lorenzen
Rockies – Charlie ‘CHUCK NAZTY” Blackmon
BBRT gives the Giants the overall title for the best package of nicknames – from actual nicknames like Madison “MAD-BUM” Bumgarner to Pablo “PANDA” Sandoval to Hunter “UNDERPANTS” Pence – to some unique monikers like Tony “TONE RANGER” Watson to Derek “LAST NAME” Holland to Ray “BLACKOUT” Black.
A few other established and one-weekend-only nicknames on the Giants’ squad: Evan “LONGO” Longoria; Jeff “SHARK” Samardzija; Ty ‘THE PREACHER” Blach; Chase “Cheetah” d’Arnaud; Nick “HUNDO” Hundley; Gerald ‘BUSTER” Posey; Derek “D-ROD” Rodriguez; and Johnny ‘EL JUCHO” Cueto. I could go on, but you get the idea, the Giants knocked it out of the park when it comes to Players’ Weekend nicknames.
A number of players have reportedly chosen to use (as usual) their surname on their jersey backs. BBRT is offering up some potential nicknames for future use by a “BAKER’S DOZEN” of the players from this group.
Jandel Gustave –Astros –GUSTO
Ryan Burocki – Blue Jays – THE ROCK
Wes Parsons – Braves – PARSNIPS
Tommy La Stella – Cubs – BELLA
Zack Greinke – Diamondbacks – GRINDER
Corey Kluber – Indians – CLUBBER LANE
Alex Cobb – Orioles – SWEET CORN
Tres Wingenter – Padres – BIG BIRD
Pat Neshek – Phillies – THE COLLECTOR
Tyler Danish – White Sox – SWEET ROLL
Ryan LaMarre – White Sox – PITCHER’S NIGHT MARRE
Jacob Ellsbury – Yankees – SWELLSBURY
Ben Heller – Yankees – MELLER YELLER
Primary Resources: MLB.com; Baseball-Reference.com
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Member: The Society for American Baseball Research; The Baseball Reliquary; The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
