Names
Posted by Andy on July 28, 2011
Can you figure out the most-viewed player page for each of the names below?
Click on each name to see the answer.
These can all be verified by entering "The Sanderson" (etc) in the search box.
Posted by Andy on July 28, 2011
Can you figure out the most-viewed player page for each of the names below?
Click on each name to see the answer.
These can all be verified by entering "The Sanderson" (etc) in the search box.
July 28th, 2011 at 8:09 am
I have no idea what this post is supposed to mean.
July 28th, 2011 at 8:13 am
"The End" brings you to....
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/chaveen01.shtml
July 28th, 2011 at 9:05 am
Thanks to trade talks and the accompanying curiosity, "The Beltran" finally leads to Carlos Beltrán. I typed it in yesterday and it led me to Adrián Beltré.
July 28th, 2011 at 9:32 am
"The The" takes you to Albert Pujols (The Machine)
July 28th, 2011 at 9:56 am
Interesting that "The Bull" takes you to Hershiser (Bulldog) and not to Luzinski.
July 28th, 2011 at 10:07 am
The only two I correctly guessed were Martinez and George. I'm not sure if it is good or bad that when I saw "King" I thought of Silver.
Fans of the Matrix - "the one" takes you to Paul O'Neill. "The neo" takes you to Deion Sanders. Neo doesn't quite get you to Deion Sanders as there are minor leaguers who have "neo" as part of their actual names.
Apparently "The Ted", "The Sam", "The Splendid", "The ballgame", "The splinter", and "The thumper" all get you to Ted Williams. As do "The William" and "The Williams". Unfortunately, "the hitter" doesn't lead you to Williams (it leads to an empty search). "The pitcher" goes to Hugh Mulcahy.
July 28th, 2011 at 10:30 am
"The Who" will take you to Mark "Bay City" Wohlers. Talk about contrasting styles....
July 28th, 2011 at 10:35 am
The one: Paul O’Neill
The two: Al (Two Gun) Gettel
The three: Mordecai Brown (Willie Davis is still “the 3”)
The four: Jack Fournier
The six: Christy Mathewson
The nine: Jeff Conine
The ten: Gene Tenace
The ninety: Bill (Ninety-Six) Voiselle
Entering "The 1/8" does not take you to Eddie Gaedel. Too bad.
July 28th, 2011 at 10:36 am
Who's "The Man"? Apparently, it's Manny Ramirez.
July 28th, 2011 at 10:43 am
Make it to the show? Heck, he IS "the show": Pedroia.
July 28th, 2011 at 10:46 am
Now we know who "The Best" is....
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bestka01.shtml
What a fun time waster.....
July 28th, 2011 at 10:48 am
Wow, those Clemero boys sure can play some ball...sorta. Or could when they were young.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/clemero01.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/clemero02.shtml
July 28th, 2011 at 11:01 am
The Poodle: Joe Hutcheson (1933 Dodgers)
The Cow: Al Cowens
The Pig: Eric (Pigpen) Byrnes
The Pony: Sandy (Iron Pony) Alomar
The Buffalo: (Buffalo) Bill Hogg
The Hog: Shanty Hogan
The Boar: Whitey Ford
The Camel: Hank Camelli
The Ferret: Tony Ferreira (two appearances for the ’85 Royals)
The Bunny: Hugh High
The Mouse: Cliff Melton
The Rat: Gary Gaetti
The Fish: Eddie Fisher
The Whale: Fred Walters (wartime catcher for the Braves)
The Bee: Rico (Beeg Boy) Carty
The Tick: Carl Hubbell (think “Meal Ticket”)
The Ant: José Antonio Bautista (he is also “The Bat”)
The Spider: Torii (Spider-Man) Hunter
The Lion: Charley (Sea Lion) Hall
“The Goat” and “The Bug” are the names Messrs. Anderson and Holliday were known by. “The Mink” takes you to Harry Mink O’Neill (one game, zero PAs for the ’39 Athletics).
The following take you exactly where you’d expect: The Cat, The Fox(x), The Rooster, The Chick, The Duck(y), The (Iron) Horse, The Deer, The Buck, The Turkey, The Rabbit, The (Grey) Eagle, The Hawk, and The Tiger (Don Hoak), The Falcon(e).
As noted, “The Bull” takes you to Orel (Bulldog) Hershiser (over Leon Durham, Greg Luzinski, Orlando Cepeda, Brooks Lawrence, Bob Watson, et al.). “The Kitten” brings up Harvey Haddix (over Harry Brecheen); “The Donkey,” Adam Dunn (over Frank Thomas v. 1.0); “The Goose,” Rich Gossage, not Goose Goslin; “The Flea,” Fred Patek (over Bob Lillis). Chicken Wolf doesn’t come up for either “The Chicken” (Fred Stanley) or “The Wolf” (Randy Wolf).
July 28th, 2011 at 11:25 am
The "human rain delay" takes you to Mike Hargrove
July 28th, 2011 at 11:30 am
"The Otter" takes you to Billy Otterson (up for a few weeks in1887) but not Ed Ott (shortest name in MLB history last I heard), who actually had a career.
"The Cobra" obviously leads to Dave Parker.
"The Scrap" gets you Phil "Scrap Iron" Garner but "The Iron" rightly gets you Lou Gehrig.
July 28th, 2011 at 11:33 am
The Bow Wow: Hank Arft
The Meow: Len Gilmore
The Moo: Mike Mussina
The Buzz: Darren Oliver
The Roar: Mike Rourke
The Cluck: Bob Cluck
The Quack: Kevin Quakenbush
The Tweet: Joe Walsh
The Bray: Brayan Pena
July 28th, 2011 at 11:44 am
Clearly the fun part of the searches is the database's attempt to match as much of the text string as it can, either in the name or using the player's nick
Nice, interesting, change-of-pace blog, Andy.
July 28th, 2011 at 11:49 am
Katsuhino Shitanishi is the @#$%.
Bombo Rivera in the Bomb.
July 28th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
@1/ Dave: "I have no idea what this post is supposed to mean."
Dave, it means that not every post on this blog needs to be deep, meaningful, and reveal some previously unkown and hidden Essential Truth about MLB.
Sometimes (to paraphrase Cyndi Lauper) the readers here just wanna have fun. Thanks, Andy.
July 28th, 2011 at 12:34 pm
@18
Panrell, now let's keep this family-rated. 🙂
I was waiting for the first "misuse" of the search engine.
July 28th, 2011 at 12:41 pm
I just did what everyone else was thinking. Hey, at least old Katsuhino got his 15 minutes.
July 28th, 2011 at 12:48 pm
@2 The Squirrel: Roy Sievers
@3 The Drew: Andrew Romine
@4 The Dep: Jorge de Paula
@5 The Rob: Robinson Cano
@6 The Art: Don Mattingly
@8 The Tuna: Rauf Tunali
@9 The Win: Dave Winfield
@10 The Brett: George Brett
@12 The One: Paul O'Neill
@14 The Jr: Ken Griffey, Jr
@15 The Bal: Ted Williams
@16 The Larry: Chipper Jones
@17 The Neil: Paul O'Neill
@18 The Pan: Lou Gehrig
@19 The Law: Yogi Berra
July 28th, 2011 at 12:50 pm
@22
Thanks, Luis. Hey what about "The Luis"?
July 28th, 2011 at 12:50 pm
@18 Does that mean I can't mention Danny Graves?
July 28th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
the earth- arlie latham
the fat- lance berkman
July 28th, 2011 at 1:00 pm
@23 You are welcome.
The Luis: Jorge Cantu.
July 28th, 2011 at 1:18 pm
Even "the shit" takes you to a player.
July 28th, 2011 at 1:22 pm
Why does "the Daryl" take you to Dan Haren?
July 28th, 2011 at 1:31 pm
@27
Joseph, see Panell @18!
July 28th, 2011 at 1:32 pm
@22
I was hoping for Yogi Berra.
July 28th, 2011 at 1:34 pm
@3
So, Drew, speaking of trades, when will "The Rasmus" jump to the top of the search list? 🙂
July 28th, 2011 at 2:02 pm
the Ball: Ted Williams
the Strike: Jake Striker
the Fair: Ron Fairly
the Foul: Keith Foulke
the Heat: Heath Bell
the Curve: Al Orth
the Drop: Walt Dropo
the Split: Paul Splittorff
the Grand: Curtis Granderson
the Slam: Sammy Sosa
the Thrill: Will Clark
the Of: Roy Oswalt
the Victory: Charlie Faust
the World: Kevin Mitchell
the Cosmos: Luke Cosmos (minors)
the God: Sandy Koufax
the Smart: J.D. Smart
the Dumb: Joseph Dumbach (minors)
the Cool: Dan Uggla
the Jerk: Jake Northrop
the Quick: Mickey Rivers
the Dead: Edward Deady (minors)
the Beauty: Dave Bancroft
the Beast: Jimmie Foxx
the Good: Dwight Gooden
the Bad: Hank Aaron
the Ugly: Johnny Dickshot
the Brady: Brady Anderson
the Bunch: Melvin Bunch
the Game: Mat Gamel
the Animal: Brad Lesley
the Last: Lastings Milledge
the Only: The Only Nolan
the Time: Deion Sanders
the Has: Ron Hassey
the Come: Mickey Mantle
the Bill: Will Clark
the Is: Ike Davis
the Due: Brian Duensing
the Buck: John Buck
the Stops: Frank Stopski (minors)
the Here: Felix Heredia
July 28th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
@24
Ha! I did the search that brought up Danny Graves earlier, but had second thoughts about posting it....
@22
Roy Sievers is my new favorite player from the distant past (for me anyway)....
July 28th, 2011 at 2:15 pm
"The Dolphin" takes you to Dolphin, an unknown player from the Harrisburg Senators in 1894.
July 28th, 2011 at 2:16 pm
"The Balls" takes you to John Balls, an otherwise-unknown player from AA Reading in 1929.
July 28th, 2011 at 2:19 pm
Do a search for "The Search", and you'll find a minor leaguer by the name of Michael Search...
If you're looking to find "The Way", that will bring you to Larry Wayne "Chipper" Jones...
If you've found "The Light", it shines on Ron Guidry....
Or if you're afraid of "The Dark", avoid Al Dark...
July 28th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
"The Worst" takes you to "Worster", an otherwise-unknown player from D league Beloit/Chapman in 1910. He hit .165 and may indeed be, "the worst".
July 28th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
"The Ham" takes you to Hank Aaron.
"The Bacon" takes you to Gordon Beckham.
"The Piggy" takes you to Piggy Ward, who played in the late 1800's and ended his career in 1906, as a career minor leaguer.
whereas
"The Green" takes you to Hank Greenberg.
"The Frog" takes you to Bill Hands, another career minor leaguer who played mostly in the 60s and is still alive today at 71.
"The Kermit" takes you to Kermit Wahl, a 40's/50's minor leaguer for various teams.
I may or may not have had Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog on my mind during those searches.
July 28th, 2011 at 2:28 pm
"The Turd" takes you to Robert Turdik, an otherwise-unknown minor leaguer who played for 2 teams in 1945.
Okay, I'm done (for now at least) 🙂
July 28th, 2011 at 2:39 pm
@38
I wouldn't call Bill Hands a career minor leaguer. He was a pretty good pitcher (31.8 career WAR) for the resurrected Cubs of the late '60s-early '70s.
July 28th, 2011 at 2:39 pm
@32 You forgot "the devil"- Eric Tipton
Also I would've thought Johnny Dickshot would have been "the" something else.
July 28th, 2011 at 2:55 pm
@40 - whoops! When I did the search, it came up with his minors page and didn't even notice that he was a big leaguer at all.
July 28th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
The Moe: Brian Moehler
The Larry: Chipper Jones
The Curly: Curly Ogden
July 28th, 2011 at 3:11 pm
@41 The something else you are referring to takes you to R.A. Dickey. I actually thought it would have been Richie Allen.
July 28th, 2011 at 3:16 pm
All of you have way too much time on your hands! 🙂
July 28th, 2011 at 3:18 pm
The Beatle(s) - Dave Beadle
The Rolling - Scott Rolen
The Stones - Steve Stone
The Door(s) - Jephrey Doorey
The Jimi (Hendrix Experience) - Ubaldo Jimenez
The (John) Coltrane - Russell Martin
The Miles (Davis) - Aaron Miles
The (Sarah) Vaughan - Mo Vaughn
The Bix (Beiderbecke) - Brian Bixler
The KRS(-ONE) - Mike Krsnich
The LL (Cool J) - Ken Boyer
The Nas - Rob Dibble
The Tribe (Called Quest) - Byron Tribe
The James (Brown) - Jim Thome
The Curtis (Mayfield) - Curtis Granderson
The Rev(erend Al Green) - Ben Revere
The Isaac (Hayes) - Ike Davis
The Fela (Kuti) - Felartz
The (King) Sunny (Ade) - Jim Bottomley
The Ebenezer (Obey) - Ed Beatin
July 28th, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Oh, in Timothy P's honor, I left out The Rawls - Mike Rawls
July 28th, 2011 at 3:32 pm
The death brings up Danny Darwin who supposedly was nicknamed "Dr. Death"- which I do not remember ever hearing anyone call him - instead of that greatest of all time moniker: Bob "Death to Flying Things" Ferguson. I was also amazed to find out that Ferguson was not the only player with that nickname.
July 28th, 2011 at 3:36 pm
@45 That's because we are all at work.
July 28th, 2011 at 3:39 pm
@48
No, Hartvig, the honor of Ferguson's moniker should belong to Dave Winfield, even though the seagull was stationary at the time of contact. Or who was it that hit the unfortunate bird with a fastball? Randy Johnson? Can't quite remember.
July 28th, 2011 at 3:44 pm
@46
Johhny T., is your post a little tour through the contents of your Ipod? 🙂
But I digress ...... or do I? This blog has been a lot of fun.
July 28th, 2011 at 3:47 pm
RIP: "Fat Toad"
July 28th, 2011 at 3:49 pm
Alas, my Ipod died some time ago. But yes, I'm sure many of those could once be found on there.
July 28th, 2011 at 3:52 pm
RIP: "Fat Toad"
Holy ......
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/07/28/hideki-irabu-found-dead-suicide-suspected/
I feel terrible for the guy. He was never close to what was advertised, but he was a decent pitcher for a couple years, with occasional stretches of brilliance. Better than most fans remember him.
July 28th, 2011 at 3:57 pm
The Kitty: Jim Kaat.
The Puppy: This space available. Inquire within.
The Romeo: James Romeo (1949-1950 D-leaguer).
The Hamlet: Gene Krapp (but he's not The Crap: James Crapo, 1905 Haveril, is)
The Othello: Othello Renfroe (early 70s minors)
The Lear: Tim Leary
The Macduff: MacDuffee Biggs (50s minors. Macbeth is available.)
The Caesar: Tom Candiotti
The Brutus: Brutus Baker (1939 Martinsville)
The Cassius: Claude Richey
The Butcher: John Butcher
The Baker: Dusty Baker
What, no Candlestick Maker?
July 28th, 2011 at 3:58 pm
@55
Paul, that's the spirit!
July 28th, 2011 at 4:00 pm
@52 @54
Oh my goodness!
Thanks for the link, JT. A sense of Japanese honor gone horribly wrong?
July 28th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
On the topic of names, check this out...
http://mlb.sbnation.com/2011/6/6/2208562/mlb-draft-power-rankings-2011-draft-philadelphia-phillies-news
Hilarious!
July 28th, 2011 at 5:20 pm
"The Dude"= Lenny Dykstra
"The Sex"= Richie Sexson
"The Cool"= Dan Uggla
"The Cold"- Jim Hughey
"The Champion"= Bill Champion
"The Winner"=Frederick Winner
"The President"= Dennis Martinez
"The Chair"=Whitey Ford
This is fun.
July 28th, 2011 at 5:29 pm
Seems we have everything but "the kitchen" [sink]. Ernie Padgett.
July 28th, 2011 at 5:44 pm
Up, up and away . . .
The Moon: Wally Moon
The Lunar: Fernando Lunar
The Sun: Jim Bottomley
The Solar: Victor Solari (1947-52 minors)
The Star: Starlin Castro
The Stellar: William Stellar (1946 Class D)
The Space: Bill Lee
The Mercury: George Myatt
The Venus: Venustiano García (minors)
The Earth: Arlie Latham
The Mars: Kevin Marschall Gregg
The Astro: Joe Astroth
The Trojan: Johnny Evers
The Iris: Irish Meusel
The Flora: Kevin Flora
The Io: Dane Iorg
The Leda: Richard Leda (1946 Class D)
The Saturn: Bronson (Saturn Nuts) Arroyo (IMHO should link to Minnie Miñoso)
The Dione: Dioner Navarro
The Rhea: Rheal Cormier
The Titan: John Titanek (minors)
The Phoeb: Tom Phoebus (yeah, I fudged this one a little)
The Atlas: Alvin Atlas Montgomery (1941 Braves)
The Bianca: Buddy Biancalana
The Cupid: Cupid Childs
The Belinda: Stan Belinda
The Puck: Kirby Puckett
The Mab: John Mabry
The Miranda: Juan Miranda
The Ariel: José Ariel Contreras
The Prospero: Teodoro Prospero (1995-98 Giants system)
The Ferdinand: Spurgeon Ferdinand “Spud” Chandler
The Neptune: Joe Neptune (1913-28 minors, mostly at Class D)
The Nix: Laynce Nix
The Planet: Emil Planeta (1931 Giants)
The Northern: Northern (1907 Class D)
The Lights: Brad Lidge
The Comet: Mickey Mantle
The Dust: Dustin Pedroia
The Crater: Claude Crater (1956 Class D)
The Ring: Royce Ring
The Nova: Iván Nova
The Alpha: Alpha Eugene Brazle
The Beta: Yuniesky Betancourt
The Gamma: Mark Gammage (1979-82 Rangers system)
The Ray: Tyrus Raymond Cobb
The Matter: Al Mattern
July 28th, 2011 at 5:56 pm
@61
Even the moons of planets other than Earth. Impressive, Kahuna!
July 28th, 2011 at 6:09 pm
Wow, when I posted @38 with a few frog-related items, I was going to do "The Fat Toad" but thought that was so obvious and didn't list it...and now the news about him...very sad.
July 28th, 2011 at 6:23 pm
"The Jesus" - Victor Martinez
"The Christ" - Chris Carpenter
"The Devil" - Eric Tipton (http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/tiptoer01.shtml)
"The Satan" - George Stutz (http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/stutzge01.shtml); went 0-9 in his career
"The Virgin" - Virgil Trucks
"The Slut" - Gregg Slutsky (http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=slutsk001gre); minors manager/player
"The World" - Kevin Mitchell
July 28th, 2011 at 6:33 pm
There was a minor league player named Casey Cuntz. I kid you not.
July 28th, 2011 at 6:51 pm
The car: Carl Crawford
The bus: Miguel Tejada
The train: Walter Johnson
The plane: Emil Planeta (sorry, Eddie Gaedel's friend named "Tattoo" did not show up)
The ship: Craig Shipley
The boat: Roland Howell
The ferry: Jack Ferry
The scooter: Phil Rizzuto
The bike: Alex Bike (minor leaguer)
The wagon: Honus Wagner
The trolley: Johnny Butler
July 28th, 2011 at 7:50 pm
@42, Dave V -- When you searched "the frog," you may have started out on a minor-league page as the result of a previous search. If you were on a minor-league page, the search would have turned up the minor-league page for Bill Hands.
July 28th, 2011 at 7:56 pm
@55, Paul -- If Yankee Stadium was The House that Ruth Built, then Willie Mays is The Candlestick Maker. 🙂
On second thought, let's not blame Willie for that one....
July 28th, 2011 at 8:09 pm
Tacking on to Richard's #66:
the jeep: Don Heffner
the truck: Virgil Trucks
the subway: Sam Nahem
the metro: Charlie Metro
the el: Albert Pujols
the tram: Alan Trammell
the choo choo: Choo Choo Coleman (you were expecting Shin-Soo?)
the raft: Jack Rafter
the skiff: Bill Skiff
the steamer: Bob Stanley
the yacht: Johnny Logan (misspelling of "yatcha")
the barge: Cy Barger
the scow: Fay Thomas (sorry, Moose Skowron!)
the tanker: Taylor Tankersley
the submarine: Eldon Auker
the glider: Ed Charles
the jet: Derek Jeter (what?!? gotta be Sam Jethroe!)
the mower: Ray Mowe
(Andy, you've got a smash hit!)
July 28th, 2011 at 8:27 pm
Was Irabu's nickname really "Fat Toad"? I'm not aware of anyone besides Steinbrenner calling him that, but there it is on his B-R page.
July 28th, 2011 at 8:34 pm
No, it wasn't. I haven't figured out the logic behind what B-R decides to display as nicknames. Some of them are highly dubious.
(I suppose one might argue it *became* a nickname after Steinbrenner's rant, simply because it has been brought up repeatedly since then and is so well remembered. I would dispute that.)
July 28th, 2011 at 8:55 pm
@66 @69
Enough, already. 🙂
We need a diversion like this every once in a while.
But how about a real "baseball" blog as an outlet before we lose our minds with this stuff.
The last time the Mets swept a road, four-game series anyone?
July 28th, 2011 at 9:20 pm
We need a nickname for Lucas Duda.
July 28th, 2011 at 9:50 pm
I looked up the "the listings" for each team (with a little fudging now and then.)
The Met: Doug Glanville
The Phillie: Dave Philley
The Brave: Major Bravener (minors 1916)
The Nat(ional): Russell Martin
The Marlin: Marlin Stuart
The Cardinal: José Cardinal
The Pirate: Clay Buchholz (I had to look up Buc.)
The Brewer: Jim Brewer
The Astro: Joe Astroth
The Cub: Aroldis Chapman (Not Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks!)
The Red: Eric Davis
The Giant: Jack Pfiester
The Padre: Tony Gwynn
The Rocky: Rocky Colavito
The Diamond: Thomas Diamond
and The Back: Wally Backman
The Dodger: Madison Bumgarner (As a man with Brooklyn roots, it pained me to look up The Bum for the LA Dodgers.)
The Yankee: Joe DiMaggio
The (Red) Sox: Carl Husta
The Blue: Vida Blue
and The Jay: Jayson Werth
The O(riole): Roy Oswalt
The Ray: Ty Cobb
The Tiger: Don Hoak
The Indian: Bob Johnson
The White (Sox): Whitey Ford
The Twin: George Serkirk (Does anyone know why they called him "Twinkletoes?")
The Royal: Ken Williams
The M(ariner): Derek Jeter
The A(thletic): Alex Rodriguez
The Angel: Angel Pagan
The Ranger: Rudolph Ranger (minors 1961)
I also looked up a few out-of-use team nicknames.
The Expo: Luis Exposito (minors 2006-2011)
The Colt (45): Russell Martin (His second appearance on this list. Both are because of his three middle names.)
The Devil (Ray): Eric Tipton
The Brown: Kevin Brown
The Bee: Rico Carty (The Boston Braves were called the Bees for a few years in the 30s.
The Redleg: Redleg Snyder (The Reds were called the Redlegs during the anti-Communist hysteria of the 50s)
Sorry old-time Washington baseball fans, there is no one listed for the Senators. On the other hand, you do have Jim Bunning.
July 28th, 2011 at 10:02 pm
@74
Jay: You could have entered The Robin (a name for the Dodgers for a few years): Robinson Cano (strangely not Jackie Robinson).
July 28th, 2011 at 10:08 pm
The Red: Eric Davis
The Orange: Rusty Staub
The Blue: Vida Blue
The Yellow: Chief Yellow Horse
The Green: hank Greenberg
The violet: Frank Violet (1897-1898)
The black: Don Sutton
The White: Whitey Ford
The Purple: Preston Purple (1937)
The Grey: Tris Speaker
The Brown: Kevin Brown (minors)
The Gold: harry Agganis (minors 1953)
the Silver: Duke Snider
Pretty good club there
July 28th, 2011 at 10:08 pm
I live in Brooklyn, but was raised in North Jersey. A few of my buddies and I went to one of the first few Trenton Thunder games.
And I swear to you, they pronounce this guy's name just as its written.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=fagget001eth
The whole stadium was chanting his name.
The poor dude took it well.
He might of been the next Babe Ruth, he just needed a better last name.
July 28th, 2011 at 10:14 pm
You could also have the god (sandy koufax) pitching to the Jesus (Victor Martinez)
July 28th, 2011 at 10:46 pm
"The Lima" - Jose Lima
"The Bean" - Billy Beane
"The Tomato" - Olmedo Saenz
"The Onion" - Frank Onion (http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=onion-001fra)
"The Pepper" - Pepper Martin
"The Pickle" - Pickles Dillhoefer (http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dillhpi01.shtml)
"The Beet" - John Beetam (http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=beetem001joh)
"The Potato" - Camilo Pascual
"The Corn" - Cliff Floyd
"The Carrot" - Tom Carroll (http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/carroto02.shtml)
"The Squash" - Hub Perdue (http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/perduhu01.shtml)
"The Basil" - George Theodore (http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/theodge01.shtml)
and finally
"The Nut" - Bronson Arroyo (and who can disagree with that?)
July 28th, 2011 at 10:51 pm
The Snow - J.T. Snow
The White - Whitey Ford
The Sleepy - Bill Burns
The Dop(ey) - John Dopson
The Doc - Roy Halladay
The Happy - Jack Chesbro
The Bashf(ul) - Larry Bashford
The Grump(y) - Ward Miller
The Snee(zy) - John Sneed
July 29th, 2011 at 12:05 am
@77 I went to see the Thunder the very first season they existed, when they were a Tigers affiliate. My first game there I saw Derek Jeter go 4-5 with a HR and 2 doubles as a visitor playing for the Norwich Navigators. Tony Clark played for the home team.
July 29th, 2011 at 12:26 am
@72, Neil -- I believe the Mets' last 4-game road sweep was June 8-11, 2006, wiping out Arizona by a combined 37-9. That was in the midst of a 9-game road win streak, including a 3-game sweep in Philly.
Seems like more than just 5 years ago....
July 29th, 2011 at 1:26 am
The 50 Most Common Words in the English Language:
The The: Albert Pujols
The Be: Barry Bonds
The To: Miguel Cabrera
The Of: Roy Oswalt
The And: Andre Dawson
The A: Alex Rodriguez
The In: Omar Infante
The That: Joe Thatcher
The Have: Brad Havens
The I: Ichiro Suzuki
The It: Sammy Sosa
The For: Darren Ford (SF's answer to Herb Washington)
The Not: Don Nottebart
The On: Paul O'Neill
The With: Shannon Withem
The He: Babe Ruth
The As: Richie Ashburn
The You: Michael Young
The Do: Roy Halladay
The At: Tony Perez
The This: Greg Thissen (minors)
The But: Billy Butler
The His: Hisanori Takahashi
The By: Bert Blyleven
The From: Billy Williams
The They: {nothing found}
The We: Jayson Werth
The Say: Willie Mays
The Her: Babe Ruth (again)
The She: Gary Sheffield
The Or: David Ortiz
The An: Andre Dawson (again)
The Will: Ted Williams
The My: Brett Myers
The One: Paul O'Neill (again)
The All: David Wright
The Would: {nothing found}
The There: {nothing found}
The Their: {nothing found}
The What: Peace Chiles (What's The Use, one of my new favorite nicknames)
The So: Sammy Sosa
The Up: B.J. Upton
The Out: Brad Lidge
The If: Ifran Becerra (minors)
The About: {nothing found}
The Who: Mark Wohlers
The Get: Eddie Plank
The Which: Richard Whichello (minors)
The Go: Jayson Werth (again)
The Me: B.J. Upton
July 29th, 2011 at 1:27 pm
My last name list, compiled in honor of Burt Tree, outfielder for the 1902 Le Mars Blackbirds of the Class D Iowa-South Dakota League, is strongly dendrocentric.
The Alder: Charles (Alderman) Briody (1880-88 NL/UA/AA)
The Ash: Richie Ashburn
The Aspen: Rich Aspenleiter (1978-79 Cubs system)
The Balsam: Tony Balsamo (1959-62 Cubs system)
The Bay: Jason Bay
The Beech: Matt Beech (1996-98 Phillies)
The Birch: Jud Birchall (1882-84 AA)
The Cedar: Charles Cedario (1949 Class D)
The Cherry: Rocky Cherry
The Cork: Corky Miller, who, according to his B-R page, told his teammates when they were complaining about signing autographs, "If you don't like it, play worse."
The Elder: Dave Elder (2002-03 Indians)
The Elm: Elmer Dessens
The Fig: Chone Figgins
The Fir: Virgil Trucks
The Gum: Harry Gumbert
The Hawthorn: Paul Hawthorne Ratliff
The Hazel: Bob Hazle
The Hickory: Hickory Bob Harmon
The Holly: Cole (Hollywood) Hamels
The Laurel: Laurel Harney (1946-47 Yankees system)
The Linden: Todd Linden
The Maple: Howard Maple (1932 Senators)
The Oak: Rebel Oakes
The Olive: Oliver Pérez
The Palm: Rafael Palmeiro
The Pepper: Pepper Martin
The Pine: Lou Piniella
The Plane: Emil Planeta again
The Rowan: Aaron Rowand
The Sorrel: Vic Sorrell (1928-37 Tigers)
The Willow: Ed Willow (1928-29 Indians system)
The Yew: Tom Yewcic (1957 Tigers)
The Root: Charlie Root
The Branch: Branch Rickey
The Twig: Wayne Terwilliger
The Bud: Buddy Bell
The Leaf: Gustav Leaf (1945 Class D)
The Bough: Bill Boughey (2000-01 Phillies system)
The Trunk: Todd Trunk (1996 Yankees system) (why not Amos Strunk?)
The Bole: Carl Boles (1962 Giants)
The Bark: Len Barker
The Wood: Kerry Wood
The Plank: Eddie Plank
The Board: Whitey Ford
The Hazewood: Drungo Hazewood (1980 Orioles)
July 29th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
@74
Speaking of Dave Philley he is one of a handful of players whose surname matched his team nickname. The only other ones I know are a few guys named Brown who played for the Browns. Jose Cardenal (Car-de-nal')is a near miss.
@76
Harry Agganis was a major league player for the Red Sox. He died at 26 due to a pulmonary embolism. He was an outstanding college football player.
July 29th, 2011 at 6:18 pm
The Chico: Leo Cardenas.
The Harp(o): Tommy Harper.
The Grou(cho): O. Grounds (?!).
The Gummo: Sam Gummo.
The Zeppo: Kenneth Zepponi.
July 29th, 2011 at 10:42 pm
Is anyone wondering who their zodiac player is?
Aries (the Ram): Manny Ramirez
Taurus (the Bull): Orel Hershiser
Gemini (The Twins): George Selkirk (I had to use "the Twin.")
Cancer (the Crab): Johnny Evers
Leo (the Lion): Charley Hall
Virgo (the Maiden): John Maiden (minors 1945 and 1950. He debuted when he was only 15.)
Libra (the Scales): Bobby Scales
Scorpio (the Scorpion): no one. (Sorry people born between October 23 and November 21.)
Sagittarius (The Archer): Jimmy Archer
Capricorn (The Goat): Goat Anderson
Aquarius (The Water Bearer): Chris Waters and Mr. Bearer, who played for the 1911 Point Pleasant-Gallipolis/Middleport-Pomeroy team in the Mountain States League.
Pisces (The Fishes): Showboat Fisher
And, in the spirit of inclusion and multiculturalism, I also looked up the Chinese Zodiac.
The Rat: Gary Gaetti
The Ox: Chris Oxspring (minors 2001-11)
The Tiger: Don Hoak
The Rabbit: Rabbit Maranville
The Dragon: Garth Dragon (minors 1965-66)
The Snake: Tom Sturdivant
The Horse: Lou Gehrig
The Goat: Goat Anderson
The Monkey: Frank Foreman
The Rooster: Rick Burleson
The Dog: Greg Maddux
The Pig: Eric Byrnes
July 30th, 2011 at 3:37 am
Thanks for indulging me with one final list.
The Alpha: Alpha Eugene Brazle
The Beta: Yuniesky Betancourt
The Gamma: Terry Gammage (1983 Yankees system)
The Delta: Delta Brogden (1961 Athletics system)
The Eps(ilon): Mike Epstein
The Zet(a): George Zettlein (1871-76 NA-NL, mainly for the Chicago White Stockings)
The Eta: Etanislao Toni (Tony) Abreu
The The(ta): Closest match would be Jug Thesenga (1944 Senators)
The Iot(a): Hooks Iott (mainly 1947 Giants)
The Kapp(a): Joe Kappel (1884 Phi. NL, 1890 Phi. AA)
The Lambda: David Lamb (mainly 1999 Devil Rays)
The Mu: Mickey (Muscles) Mantle
The Nu: William Nuschler Clark
The Xi: Xavier Ximello (2008-09 Mexican League)
The Omic(ron): Noriyoshi Omichi (2007-10 Yomiuri Giants)
The Pi: Mike Piazza
The Rho: Arthur Rhodes
The Sigma: Tripp Sigman (1929-30 Phillies)
The Tau: Andrés Torres
The Ups(ilon): Willie Upshaw
The Phi: Clifton Phifer Lee
The Chi: Chipper Jones
The Psi: Closest match would be either Pumpsie Green or Joe Tepsic (1946 Dodgers)
The Ome(ga): Henry Omer Benn (one game for the 1914 Cleveland Naps)
July 30th, 2011 at 2:16 pm
Kahuna -- What, no diacritical marks?
July 31st, 2011 at 3:14 pm
I'm joining this late. Following up on a post I made regarding catchers with last names pronounced but not necessarily spelled the same as bookstore chains who wore #10 for 1993 postseason teams, here are "the" results for some bookstore names:
the borders - Pat Borders, #10 with the 1993 Blue Jays
the dalton (B. Dalton Books, a chain bought up by Barnes & Noble but later closed) - Not Darren Daulton, #10 with the 1993 Phillies (comes up for "the daulton") or Dalton Jones but Norman Dalton Cash
the olsson (Olsson's Books, a Washington, DC, area chain) - William Olsson, a 1948-1949 minor leaguer
(The spelling variation, the olsen, did not bring up either the 1993 Braves' #10-wearing Greg or the similarly named Gregg Olsen who played around the same time, but instead produced Scott Olsen.)
the barnes - Ross Barnes, who appeared, but not in every year, between 1871 and 1881
the noble - Tom Oliver, full name Thomas Noble Oliver, who played with the Red Sox from 1930-1933.
the walden (Waldenbooks, a chain bought up by Borders but later closed) - Jordan Walden, 2011 All-Star on the Angels, appears to be their current closer.
the booksa - no matches
the million - Doug Million, a pitching prospect with the Rockies in the 1990s who died of some sudden illness while playing at the AA level. (I had thought there'd at least be some major leaguer with a nickname like "Million Dollar Arm" or "Five Million Dollar Man".)
the powell (Powell's Books, a store in Oregon I've heard great things about) - Boog Powell (of 26-game postseason hitting streaks by guys wearing #26 fame)
the crown (discount chain that started in the DC area in the late 1970s and spread elsewhere in a fairly short lifetime) - Crownwell, a 1926 minor leaguer who appeared in 4 games for Haverhill.
the encore (Philadelphia-based chain that was almost a Crown-clone, also with a fairly short lifespan) - no matches
the brentano (another chain bought up by Borders but now closed) - no matches
the amazon (bringing us into the online age) - no matches. I thought maybe there'd be someone with this in a nickname.
the strand (big bookstore in NYC) - Paul Strand, played for the Boston Braves from 1913-1915 as a pitcher and sometime-outfielder and then re-appeared in 1924 with the Philadelphia A's only as an outfielder.
July 31st, 2011 at 5:35 pm
Of course, neither Greg Olsen nor Gregg Olsen came up for "the olsen", because their names are Greg Olson and Gregg Olson, respectively.
But neither of them comes up for "the olson", either. That honor goes to Matt Guerrier, whose real name is Matthew Olson Guerrier.
August 1st, 2011 at 2:02 pm
Powell's Books, a store in Oregon I've heard great things about
Powell's Books is as good as you've heard, DD. Probably better, in fact.
Many years ago I worked at a well-known independent bookstore in Pasadena, California. The B-Ref version of its name is "the vroman."
August 1st, 2011 at 3:40 pm
I've been to Powell's. Excellent indeed.
August 2nd, 2011 at 5:46 am
Amazing race today shame Hamilton didn't win
Button again shows he is got a brain for changeable conditions, although i feel he got somehow lucky with ham being the 1st of the two to pit.