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Related: About this forumModern-day baseball nicknames can't match past
S.F. Chronicle / 5-2-12
Imaginative and colorful nicknames for ballplayers, once a baseball staple, are disappearing, going the way of the spitball, the stirrup sock and Sunday doubleheaders.
Boston's Big Papi and Seattle's King Felix plus a few others are probably all right, and the Giants do have Kung Fu Panda and The Freak. But overall, today's nicknames are inferior to the likes of The Meal Ticket, Big Train, The Yankee Clipper, Big Unit, The Flying Dutchman, Iron Horse, The Big Cat, The Grey Eagle and Baby Bull.
Now we are generally reduced to simply cutting off syllables. Usually only one name is shortened: Kruk, Kuip and Boch. Or there is double reduction, such as MadBum, A-Rod and CarGo.
SNIP
It wasn't always like this, and the Giants certainly have had their share of memorable nicknames. Charles Davis wasn't Charlie or Chuck, but Chili. Jeff Leonard was HacMan, a title combining his uninhibited batting style and an early electronic game. Rick Reuschel's physique and personality earned him the tag Big Daddy, John Montefusco was The Count (sorry, Alexandre Dumas) and Doug Gwosdz (who was in the Giants' organization in 1985 but did not play for San Francisco) was Eyechart for obvious reasons.
STORY: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/02/SPEI1OBOSI.DTL
Samples (more at the link):
Blue Moon
Scrap Iron
Mudcat
Easy Rider
Catfish
Georgia Peach
Arkansas Traveler
The Commerce Comet
The Hondo Hurricane
Memphis Bill
The Dominican Dandy
Wahoo Sam
Country
Moose
Reindeer Bill
Rabbit
Hawk
Goose
The Kitten
The Splendid Splinter
El Goofy
High Pockets
Old Aches and Pains
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Bobby Bonds
Norm Cash
Red Nichols
Don Money
Brad Penny
Ernie Banks
etc.
frylock
(34,825 posts)danny topaz would always play "we're in the money" on his wurlitzer.
hughee99
(16,113 posts)And for a little international flavor
Curt Schilling
Hunter Pence
Felipe Lira
Art Ruble
and
Bartolo Colon
Scuba
(53,475 posts)RockaFowler
(7,429 posts)Mark "the Bird" Fidrych
El Supremo
(20,365 posts)Like:
Jim "Catfish" Hunter
John "Blue Moon" Odom
lastlib
(23,224 posts)usrname
(398 posts)from the Bosox
tclambert
(11,085 posts)cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)bluedigger
(17,086 posts)"The other day they asked me about mandatory drug testing. I said I believed in drug testing a long time ago. All through the sixties I tested everything."
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes/quobsl.shtml
fishwax
(29,149 posts)This seems to be one of these "kids these days" complaints that periodically recurs.
TZ
(42,998 posts)was dubbed "Tinkerbell" by Davey Johnson in ST because he tinkers with his pitches...Tell me thats not a hilarious nickname!