The Names of the Game (Part 2)

Simply "Yaz".

MORE Baseball names & nickanmes

• Dave Kingman (Cubs, Giants & others) - "King Kong" & "The Sky King".
• Felix Hernandez (Mariners) - "King Felix"
• Ozzie Smith (Cardinals HOF) - "The Wizard of Oz".
• Rey Ordonez (Mets) - APBA Nickname: "The Wizard of Ahs".
• Ernie Banks (Cubs HOF) - "Let's Play Two"
• John Candelaria (Pirates) - "Candy Man"
• Steve "Bye Bye" Balboni (Royals & Yankees)
• Carl Yastrzemski (Red Sox HOF) - "Yaz" -- great nickname (one of my favorites) & great player.
• Sal Maglie (51' Giants) - "The Barber"
• Orlando Hernandez (Yankees) - "El Duque"
• Billy Herman (HOF Cubs & Dodgers) - Full name: William Jennings Bryan Herman, as in William Jennings Bryan (Political Figure).
• Alex Rodriguez - "A-Rod"

Taking Charge

• Sheriff Blake (29' Cubs)
• Rocky Nelson (60' Pirates)
• Lenny Dykstra (Mets & Phillies) - "Nails"
• Lee Roy "Popeye" Mahaffey (31' Athletics)
• Rocky Swoboda (69' Mets)
• Harry "Gunboat" Gumbert (Cards & Giants)
• George Shuba (53' Yankees) - "Shotgun"
• YES, SERGEANT! Bob "Sarge" Kuzava (Yankees), Gary Matthews (Braves & Giants) - "Sarge" & Gary Matthews, Jr. (son) - "Lil' Sarge", and last... but not least "Sgt. Dan" Velderrain - APBA Pro.

The Gas House Gang

• Pepper Martin 
• Frankie Frisch - "The Fordham Flash"
• Ripper Collins
• Leo "The Lip" Durocher
• Dizzy Dean & Daffy Dean
• Joe "Ducky" Medwick

THANK GOD! for Nicknames

Edwin Donald Snider.

• Chipper Jones - Real Name: Larry Wayne Jones; who happened to name his kid "Shea" for all his heroics at Shea Stadium. Fans at Shea, used to love chanting "Larry!", in which led to Braves' reliever John Rocker going off on Mets fans & New Yorkers in which he made derogatory remarks.
• Duke Snider - Real Name: Edwin Donald Snider.
• Yogi Berra - Real Name: Lawrence Peter Berra.
• Whitey Ford - Real Name: Edward Charles Ford - His nicknames on top of him using Whitey, was "The Chairman of the Board" & "Slick".
• Tug McGraw - Real Name: Frank Edwin McGraw, Jr.
• Babe Ruth - Real Name: George Herman Ruth - who was nicknamed "The Great Bambino" & "The Sultan of Swat".
• Kid Nichols (Braves HOF) - Real Name: Charles Augustus Nichols
• Gabby Hartnett (Cubs HOF) - Real Name: Charles Leo Hartnett.

STRANGE NAMES are made of these...

Does this guy look familiar?!

• Orval Overall (06' Cubs) - his nickname was "Jeff".
• Urban Shocker (Browns & Yankees)
• Coaker Triplett (42' Cardinals)
• Les Nunamaker (12' Red Sox)
• "Ziggy" Hasbrook (17' White Sox)
• Mellie Wolfgang (17' White Sox)
• Firpo Marberry (25' Senators) - nicknamed "Fred".
• Clemens "Steamboat" Dreiswerd (46' Red Sox)
• Merv Rettenmund (69' Orioles & 75' Reds)

• John Lowenstein (Orioles) - Maybe not the weirdest name ever, but have you seen this guy (and his huge aviator glasses)?! He looks exactly like the "Una-Bomber", and just like the Una-Bomber, he hails from the state of Montana (sounds fishy).

• John Wockenfuss - Was involved in one of the more famous trades (at least for Tiger fans) when he and Glenn Wilson were traded to the Phillies in exchange for Willie Hernandez & Dave Bergman, just prior to the Tigers' World Championship 1984 season.

• Fred Snodgrass (12' Giants)

Nicknames from the 71' Athletics

• Curtis "Coo Coo" Blefary
• Mudcat Grant
• Vida Blue - APBA nickname: Space Cadet.
• Catfish Hunter
• Blue Moon Odom - One of my favorite names ever! Plus it helps that it's also one of my absoulte favorite Ice Cream flavors.

Private Eyes

• Were you looking at my Heinie? Heinie Groh (12' Giants) & Heinie Wagner (46' Red Sox).
• (Murray Monroe) "Dick" Dickson (Cardinals)
• Dick Crutcher (14' Braves)
• Fred Merkle's famous mistake dubbed "Merkle's Boner".
• Chien-Ming Wang - APBA gave him the 'brilliant' nickname "Wanger".

Names & Places

• "Seattle Bill" James (14' Braves)
• "Death Valley Jim" Scott (17' White Sox)
• George Woodling (53' Yankees) - "Old Faithful"
• Ty Cobb (Tigers HOF) - "The Georgia Peach"
• Gus Zernial (53' Athletics) - "Ozark Ike"
• Ron Guidry (Yankees) - "Louisiana Lightning"

Not So Clever (and Redundant) Nicknames

• Ival "Goodie" Goodman (40' Reds)
• Burgess "Whitey" Whitehead (Cards & Giants)
• John "Hippity" Hopp (42' Cardinals)
• Kenneth Boswell (69' Mets) - "Bozzy"
• "Poison" Ivy Andrews (37' Yankees)

POOR TASTE?

Do ya hear what I am saying?

• Rod Beck (93' Giants) - "Shooter". For a second, I thought it was a APBA nickname given in the new reprints, so my first thought, REALLY APBA? The guy committed suicide with a gun, and you have to use this as his nickname -- turns out, it was actually his nickname. Not making fun of suicide whatsoever, but kind of weird considering how everything turned out.
• Don Mossi (54' Indians) - "Ears". This may go down as the meanest nickname someone could have been given, do you really have to point out that this guy had huge ears?! (Sorry, couldn't help myself with the caption)

SHORT & Interesting

• Art Nehf (29' Cubs)
• Bobby Pfeil (69' Mets)
• "Hick" Cady (12' Red Sox)
• Vean Gregg (25' Senators)
• Joe "Peco" Giard (27' Yankees)
• Bibb Falk (White Sox)

COOL NAMES (that I like)

• Wally Moon (62' Dodgers)
• Tug McGraw (Mets & Phillies closer)
• Cesar Cedeno (Astros)
• Cesar Geronimo (Reds)
• Larry Bowa (Phillies & Cubs) - Even as a kid, I loved the name... it rolls off the tongue well, BO-WA. C'mon, who's with me?

• "Smokey" Joe Wood (Red Sox) - Had the potential for a whole lot more, one of the more tragic stories in baseball's history -- but also one of the coolest nicknames ever!

• Ossie Bluege (25' Senators) - this also could go in Strange Names.
• Roger Peckinpaugh (25' Senators)
• Bake McBride (77' Phillies)

• Johnny Pesky (Red Sox) - Pesky's Pole wouldn't be named Pesky's Pole, if he happened to have a weird name like Nunamaker (Nunamaker's Pole? Yeah, kind of sucks).

Gates Brown of the 68' Tigers.

• Milton Bradley & Coco Crisp 
• Norm Cash (Tigers)
• Jimmie Foxx (Athletics & Red Sox HOF)
• Rudy York (Red Sox & Tigers)
• Mookie Wilson (86' Mets)

• Gates Brown (Tigers) - The APBA Blog needs to do a Monster Card Monday on his limited 68' APBA Card --- .370 AVG, 6 HR & 15 RBI (.685 Slg + .442 OBP = 1.127 OPS) in 92 AB's!

• Boog Powell (Orioles)
• Burt Campaneris (Athletics)
• Nomar Garciaparra (Red Sox) -- NO-MAHHHH!!!!

My father has a weird sense of humor, and likes to joke that his favorite two siblings to watch while growing up was Frank & Brooks Robinson of the Orioles.