Baseball's Best Nicknames

Adam: Hey look at the career of Chris Hoiles … why didn’t he have a job offer? Injury? Just hung them up? That’s a solid final year for a catcher. He had an OPS over 1.000 in ’93.

Chris Hoiles

Gabe: Those are definitely better numbers than I would have guessed. I have no idea why he stopped playing.

Adam: Yeah, I can’t remember either. Career OPS over .830 … nice.

Adam: One of McCann’s Baseball-Reference “most similar” players is “Bubbles Hargrave."  Ol’ Bubbles.

Gabe: That has got to be the worst baseball name ever.

Adam: And yes … Bubbles is Pinky Hargrave’s brother.

Gabe: Shut up. Neither of those are real.

Adam: Pinky was a lifetime .278 hitter … 39 bombs too. Bubbles was a lifetime .310 hitter.

Gabe: Still, though. I had an Uncle Pinky. He was a drummer. But how do you make it through years of team sports and still go by “Pinky?” Or “Bubbles?”

Adam: No idea. Pinky was a Brave for a bit, though.

Gabe: Pink doesn’t go with the Braves colors at all.

Adam: Bubbles spent most of his career with the Reds … was on the Yanks in 1930. I bet Babe Ruth had some fun with Bubbles.

Gabe: You’d have to think so. How many times do you think he heard “I know a stripper named Bubbles?”

Adam: Ruth probably knew more than one stripper named Bubbles. And Pinky.

Gabe: Yep. That’s a safe bet.

Adam: On the list of catchers similar to McCann there is a Bubbles … a Shanty a Babe and a Yogi. Catcher had to be the best nicknamed position right? (oh, and Ed Taubensee … which I am sure has McCann stoked)

Gabe: I’m sure. Spanky and Sluggo have got to be the best nicknames ever for teammates who played the same position.

Adam: Yeah, for sure … maybe we should do a top ten list of our favorite nicknames?



And so, here are our top 10 baseball nicknames, based entirely on what we liked the most. Please note, any nickname that consists of First Initial-First Sylable of Last Name (A-Rod, V-Mart, F-Her, etc.), or that contain “Dog” or “Dawg” were not considered.

10.  Bucky F*@#!^% Dent (given to him by adoring Red Sox fans)
9.  The Wizard of Oz (whose real name is the worst kind of swear word in Gabe's house, but a good nickname is a good nickname)
8.  Scrap Iron (Phil Garner)
7.  The Thrill (Will Clark)
6.  Big Train (Walter Johnson)
5.  Big Hurt (Frank Thomas)
4.  Hammer (Hank Aaron)
3.  Mad Hungarian (Al Hrabosky)
2.  Sultan of Swat (Babe Ruth)
1.  The Big Unit (Randy Johnson)

Honorable Mentions: Yankee Clipper, The Kid, Louisiana Lightening, Nails, Ryan Express, Sweet Music, & Operation Shutdown

Hey look!  A bonus list!  These are our Top 10 favorite nicknames which replaced the players' actual names (where they're far more known by these nicknames than the names their mamas gave them)

10.  Leroy "Satchel" Paige
9.  James "Pud" Galvin
8.  Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd
7.  Jay "Dizzy" Dean
6.  Rich "Goose" Gossage
5.  Lawrence "Yogi" Berra
4.  Jim "Catfish" Hunter
3.  Harold "Pie" Traynor (mmm ... pie)
2.  James "Cool Papa" Bell
1.  George Herman "Babe" Ruth

Spanky & Sluggo

And a bonus bonus list!  Our favorite teammate nickname tandems, or groups or teams with nicknames.
6.  Fat Elvis/Big Puma and El Caballo (Lance Berkman & Carlos Lee)
5.  Buncha Idiots (2004 Boston Red Sox)
4.  Killer B's (some combination of Biggio, Bagwell, Bell, Berry, Bogar, & Berkman of Houston)
3.  Bash Brothers (mostly Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco, with a little Hendu, Parker, Lansford, Steinbach, Gallego & Baylor)
2.  Nasty Boys (Norm Charlton, Rob Dibble, and Randy Myers of Cincinnati)
1.  Spanky and Sluggo (Mike Lavalliere and Don Slaught of Pittsburgh)