Name Chain #1
Posted by Andy on August 6, 2007
Here's a totally frivolous bit of baseball knowledge for you.
I was a very early user of baseball-reference.com, starting back in 2000 when the site first went live. One of the greatest things I loved about Sean's implementation was the ability to look up any player by name. This seems trivial now but wasn't back then (such mechanisms were not available on ESPN.com or other sports web sites.) That search has since become even more flexible where just the first few letters of a first name or last name can be looked up.
Anyway, when I started playing around with the names, I found that it was possible to start forming chains of names, since the last names of some players matched the first names of some other players. Here is the first such example chain. I'll periodically post others down the road.
Ken Griffey Junior Felix Jose Santiago Rosario Rodriguez
So this chain actually comprises 6 different major league players (actually 8, because there were 3 different guys named Jose Santiago.) Click on the appropriate link below to see that player's B-R page.
Ken Griffey Junior Felix Jose Santiago Rosario Rodriguez
Ken Griffey Junior Felix Jose Santiago Rosario Rodriguez
Ken Griffey Junior Felix Jose Santiago Rosario Rodriguez
Ken Griffey Junior Felix Jose Santiago Rosario Rodriguez
Ken Griffey Junior Felix Jose Santiago Rosario Rodriguez
Ken Griffey Junior Felix Jose Santiago Rosario Rodriguez
Who can figure out what Ken Griffey Jr and Rosario Rodriguez have in common? Post your guess in the comments.
August 6th, 2007 at 8:48 am
Both debuted at age 19, and both were teammates of Ken Griffey Senior at some point during their careers.
And neither one has been in my kitchen.
August 6th, 2007 at 8:55 am
You got it. If not for the one start Wilson Alvarez made in 1989, they both would have been the youngest players in their leagues that year.
Who else has never been in your kitchen?
August 6th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
How about this one:
Tommy John
John Denny
Denny Doyle
Doyle Alexander
Alexander Cole
Cole Hamels
Thanks
August 6th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Awesome...I have a bunch more coming but I didn't have this one. I liked Alex Cole when he came up...thought he was going to have a better career than he did.
August 6th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
Tommy John Andre David Clyde King Brady Clark Griffith
August 7th, 2007 at 7:29 am
Heck yeah...that one is great too!
August 8th, 2007 at 8:02 am
[...] take another short break from the serious stats. See Name Chain #1 for explanation. Although I am calling this #2, some users posted some nice chains in the comments [...]
August 14th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
[...] Name Chain #1 for [...]
August 31st, 2007 at 9:41 pm
I like this one because it has two hall of famers (I think) plus one who seems likely to get there soon.
billy harvey bryan branch rickey clark griffith
August 31st, 2007 at 9:41 pm
busted. I meant:
billy bryan harvey branch rickey clark griffith
August 31st, 2007 at 9:42 pm
busted again. time for bed. take back the potential hall of famer. my original list had rickey henderson not rickey clark. Sorry