101 fun nicknames in baseball history

There was a time, as the baseball balladeer Cashman sings, that if you didn’t have a nickname, you didn’t have a name at all.

These days, with agents and nightly highlights around to mightily promote players, monikers have gone the way of the complete game or hidden ball trick (perfected by Gene “Stick” Michael, to be a nickname dropper).

So “Baseball 101’’ offers this nostalgic toast, in no particular order, to classic nicknames:
 

Team owner/guardian Jack Dunn's "babe" was prolific in sobriquets as well as home runs.

Teenage friend thought he looked like a movie's Hindu yogi character.

Inspired several famous spinoffs: the derisive "Mr. May" for Dave Winfield and the deferential "Mr. November" for Derek Jeter.

"Our kids will tell their kids his name, Joltin' Joe DiMaggio" - from 1941 hit by the Les Brown Orchestra ("The Yankee Clipper" brought no snappy song).

When they gave him the honorific, Brooklyn Dodgers fans never envisioned that someday he'd be selling merchandise at stan-the-man.com.

People back home in Commerce, Okla., never did get around to calling him "The Mick.''

Cool for his composure as a young pitcher, Papa for his maturity as an all-time outfielder.

Spikes gave him blisters one day, so he played the next game in stocking feet.

Was a tall, gangly Red Sox rookie with an explosive bat, historian James T. Skipper Jr. says of the man later known as "Teddy Ballgame."

Minor-league teammate Billy Hitchcock told him, "You're not running, you're scootin.' "

Cal Ripken broke his consecutive-games streak but couldn't touch him nickname-wise.

In Mississippi, where he's from, "oil" is slang for beer.

Whitey Ford meant it sarcastically when the rookie seemed too rambunctious in an exhibition game.

layed for 17 teams in 11 years, including the Yankees.

Elston Howard coined "The Chairman" title, of which Ford once said, "He must think I'm Frank Sinatra."

Teammate John Kennedy pinned it and Lee loved it, reasoning, "Everybody thinks they're earthlings, but in actuality, we're here only for a brief moment."

As a boy, chased balls for his church team and was paid in baked goods.

His heritage was German, so it started out as "Deutschman."

His idol and Indians roommate Larry Doby kiddingly deemed him "as ugly as a Mississippi mudcat."

Nickname (along with a story about going fishing as a kid) created by A's owner Charlie Finley to generate interest.

Childhood friend Joe Morris thought he had a lunar-shaped face.

He had a few lines in the 1954 song "Say Hey" by the Treniers. Recording session was supervised by a young Quincy Jones.

Bounced around with six teams, made five World Series.

A minor-league manager thought he galloped like Sesame Street's "Big Bird," with whom Fidrych appeared on Sports Illustrated's cover.

Called "Cyclone" in his early years for his fastball, the nickname grew shorter as his repertoire grew larger.

Graig "Puff'' Nettles said Sparky "went from Cy Young to Sayonara" when the Yankees brought in Rich "Goose'' Gossage.

A radio announcer noticed his feisty play as a minor-leaguer. As a manager, he was "Captain Hook.''

His size and fastball reminded sportswriter Grantland Rice of an express.

During a Negro Leagues doubleheader at Yankee Stadium, he caught the first game, with a homer and four RBIs, and pitched a shutout in the second.

Main course of the Giants pitching staff, had consecutive strikeouts of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin in 1934 All-Star game.

Cobb County, Ga. was named for his ancestor, Thomas, a U.S. Senator.

Some said he resembled 1930s wrestler George Hackenschmidt.

Liked the Midwest expression "Ain't that a daisy?" but it came out "dazzy."

The collective nickname applied to the St. Louis Cardinals, who won the 1934 World Series with a lineup of all-star nicknames: Leo "The Lip'' Durocher, brothers "Dizzy'' and "Daffy'' Dean, Pepper Martin ("The Wild Horse of the Osage"), "Spud'' Davis, "Ducky'' Medwick, "Ripper'' Collins, "Wild Bill'' Hallahan and playing manager Frankie Frisch ("the Fordham Flash'').

Considered by some the natural all-time home run king, his autobiography is "I Had a Hammer."

The Dodgers rightfielder, also "The Reading Rifle," loved scungilli.

More than 20 years before Pete Maravich, fearless concussion-prone outfielder was carried off fields 11 times.

Yanks 1958 Cy Young winner could fire using no-windup delivery.

Sprayed line drives, better known for being photographed shaking Jackie Robinson's hand after a homer.

Pitcher from West Springfield, Mass.

Compact frame produced 37 homers in 1967.

Old Yankee Stadium. Best ballpark nickname.

No venom in the nicknames. Biographer Clifton Blue Parker wrote that "poison" was Brooklynese for "person."

Nicknamed himself at 3, his mother said, because he liked the local reverend.

190 pounds of muscle in the pre-steroids era.

Top line is G - W - O - S

One version of the origin: As a childhood porter at the Mobile train station, devised a contraption that could carry three or four bags at once.

Identified with popular tune in the 1880s ("fresh" as in "sharp-tongued").

In the minors, a friend and restaurateur spoke better Italian than English and exhorted him to drive in runners, yelling, "Poosh 'Em Up Tone!"

Named either for hay fever sniffling, or treating it with snuff.

Didn't say a word during his first trip as a Cubs rookie.

Led AL with 11 homers for 1911 Athletics, homered to win World Series Game 2 and tie Game 3 in the ninth.

Always could assume fans weren't booing, just going "Moooooose."

Friend Kirby Puckett came up with it at a banquet, eventually calling him just "Baseball."

Calling from a coffee shop during a 1936 minor-league bus trip, learned he had been promoted to Triple-A. Team left him behind, then suffered a crash that killed nine.

Kept taking his cap on and off in batter's box.

Lost parts of two fingers in childhood farm accident.

1930s outfielder proclaimed himself "the ugliest man in baseball."

Also known as "Cha-Cha.'' Son of Puerto Rican baseball legend Pedro Perucho "The Bull" Cepeda.

Arnaldo Hernandez Montero, his father, was original El Duque and Arnaldo, his brother, was the second.

Long before he had the heady company of Willie and Mickey, his parents thought he walked around like royalty.

Made a name for himself in only two games during World War II.

Giants hyped him to counter Babe Ruth publicity, dumped him after two games.

Marbles champion did his best shooting with a pee wee.

Reputation for pitching high and tight.

As Bob Murphy would say, "Never throw a slider to The Glider."

His part in "Field of Dreams" was longer than his one-inning major-league career.

A little guy, yet grown up from when he appeared in "Our Gang" movies.

Perfect for back pages.

To his teammates, he was "Gator."

In Boston, they add a couple extra syllables.

You could read a novel by the time he adjusted his batting gloves.

Had a good head (directly) on his shoulders.

Forerunners of Candido "Candy" Maldonado.

Asked once how he got his nickname, Mets catcher reportedly said, "I don't know."

Former Yankee pitcher and dad of Mets prospect Ike would always try to one-up you.

Counterpoint to Steve Garvey, "Mr. Clean."

Counterpoint to Oscar "Happy" Felsch.

It's said that as a toddler, he tried to say "milk" and it sounded like "mookie."

In Montreal, they loved him as if he were Georges Vezina (hockey's "Chicoutimi Cucumber").

Native New Yorker helped Giants beat Yanks in 1922 World Series.

The only one to both play and umpire in All-Star Games.

In happier times at Yankee Stadium, they played Elton John's "Rocket Man" for him.

Skeptical White Sox teammates kept hearing of his minor ailments.

Mel Allen used the phrase when a game-winning hit allowed the Yankees to catch a train.

Compliment for pitchers such as Galvin in 1800s was, "He made the batter look like pudding."

Won 204 games without a breaking ball (he did throw the spitter).

Remember the way he would get worked up before a pitch?

Babe Ruth's successor as Yankees rightfielder ran on the balls of his feet.

Played first base for Mets the way Todd "Hot Rod" Hundley played leftfield.

Phenom from Hondo, Texas is immortalized in a photo, leading off third base as Bobby Thomson (below) hits his magical homer.

Native of Glasgow, his "Shot Heard 'Round the World'' in 1951 is arguably the most famous home run in baseball history. Afterwards, Thomson (below, right) embraced manager Leo "The Lip'' Durocher.