Total Baseball (1994 Edition)/Total_Baseball_1994_Edition_Creative_Multimedia_1994.iso/dp/0004/00045.txt

Text File | 1994-02-14 | 14KB | 215 lines

$Unique_ID{BAS00045}
$Title{Baseball Nicknames}
$Author{
Skipper, Jr., James K.,}
$Subject{Baseball Nicknames}
$Log{}

Total Baseball:  The Players


Baseball Nicknames

James K. Skipper, Jr.


Nicknames for professional baseball players date from the 1860s.  Yet from
that time to the present, there has been little systematic research on how
players receive their nicknames, what the nicknames mean, and how they might
be classified.  This essay will attempt such an analysis by starting with
pitchers enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Using this limited
population has several advantages.  First, it allows for a manageable number
for a report of this length.  Second, the players discussed are important in
the history of the game.  Third, the players are well enough known that the
analysis can concentrate on their nicknames without having to detail their
careers and accomplishments.
     Excluding John Montgomery Ward, Martin Dihigo, and George Herman Ruth,
who played more games at other positions than pitcher, and Al Spalding and
Clark Griffith, who were elected principally for their executive talents, 48
hurlers are in the Hall of Fame.  If we define a nickname as a name which is
not derived from a person's given names, but one which is added to,
substituted for, or used alternatively with those given names, 40 of the
pitchers in the Hall of Fame, or 83 percent, have nicknames.  This percentage
is over three times greater than the 25.6 percent of all major league players
with "official" nicknames (i.e., those that have been recorded and documented)
through 1979, as I reported in an earlier study.  Thus ability may be an
important variable associated with the tendency for a player to attract a
nickname, but certainly not the only one.  Eight of the all-time-great
pitchers do not have official nicknames.  They are:  John Clarkson
(1882-1894), Adrian Joss (1902-1910), Stanley Coveleski (1912-1928), Robert
Lemon (1941-1958), Warren Spahn (1942-1965), Robin Roberts (1948-1966), James
(Hoyt) Wilhelm (1952-1972), and Sanford Koufax (1955-1966).
     There are many ways in which nicknames might be classified.  The ultimate
test of any system is its usefulness.  I have chosen to begin this review with
two generic categories based on whether the origin of the nickname indicates a
direct relation to the game of baseball, or to something else.  Then I have
let the nicknames themselves and the circumstances surrounding their origin
suggest subcategories.  In instances of multiple nicknames and conflicting
accounts of origins, it is the most commonly used nickname which is
classified, and the account which I believe is most convincing.  Even so,
judgment calls are involved.

Nicknames Directly Related to Baseball

     Surprisingly, just 10 of the pitchers have nicknames that are directly
related to baseball.  There are two apparent categories.  Eight of the
pitchers received their nicknames during their major league careers and two
before they reached the majors.  William Cummings (1866-1877), who is credited
by some with developing the curveball, was called "Candy."  The term "candy"
referred to his "doing such a sweet job pitching the baseball."  James Galvin
(1875-1892) received the nickname of "Pud" for making pudding out of opposing
batters.  He was also called "Gentle Jeems," due to his laidback personality,
and "the Little Steam Engine," because of his vigorous pitching style.
     Charles Radbourn (1880-1891) was tagged "Old Hoss" after the proverbial
old farm horse who was always faithful and ready to work.  Radbourn won 18
games in the space of a month during the last portion of the 1884 season.
Joseph McGinnity (1899-1908) earned the nickname "Iron Man" by winning five
games in six days for Brooklyn in 1900.  "Iron Man" refers to his
indestructibility.  Another account, however, is that the nickname really
stems from McGinnity's off-season job in an iron foundry.
     Walter Johnson's (1907-1927) fastball led to two nicknames, "Barney"
after Barney Oldfield, who was driving race cars at a mile a minute, and "the
Big Train," since at the start of his career trains were the fastest vehicles
yet developed.  Burleigh Grimes (1916-1934) was the last of the spitball
pitchers.  He did not shave on the days he pitched because the slippery elm he
chewed and used to moisten the ball irritated his skin.  This led to his
nickname of "Ol' Stubblebeard."  "The Meal Ticket" was applied to Carl Hubbell
(1928-1943) in 1933, due to his ability to win crucial games and prevent
losing streaks for the New York Giants.  He was also called "King Carl" in
reference to the majesty of his pitching.  Finally, Robert Feller's
(1936-1956) blazing fastball gave rise to his "Rapid Robert" nickname while
pitching for the Cleveland Indians in 1936, even before he had graduated from
high school.
     Denton Young (1890-1911) was addressed as "Cy," short for "Cyclone,"
before he had won a major league game.  At a tryout with Canton of the
Tri-State League in 1890, not only did Young's fastballs get by the batter,
they splintered the boards of the backstop.  A bystander remarked, " 'Pears as
though a cyclone struck 'em."  A nickname was born.  "Cy" became a popular
baseball nickname, and many future players would inherit Young's "Cy," even
though they had little in common with him.  Richard Marquard (1908-1925) also
received his nickname, "Rube," before he became a major leaguer.  Marquard was
compared to George "Rube" Waddell (see below) by Indianapolis Star
sportswriters after he had won his first game for that city's minor league
team in the American Association of 1908.  The nickname stuck with him for his
entire career.

Nicknames Not Directly Related to Baseball

     The nicknames of Hall of Fame pitchers which are not directly related to
the game of baseball illustrate eight broad categories which may be used in
the future to classify other players' nicknames.
     Place nicknames are the first category.  The fastball pitcher Amos Rusie
(1889-1901) grew up in Indiana and was called "the Hoosier Thunderbolt."
Herbert Pennock (1912-1934) was born in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and had
the nickname "the Knight of Kennett Square."  Similarly, Edward Plank
(1901-1917) was born in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, attended Gettysburg College,
and was a guide at the Civil War battlefield during the off-season.  He was
known as "Gettysburg Eddie."  Juan Marichal (1960-1975) hailed from the
Dominican Republic and was referred to as the "Dominican Dandy."
     Nicknames which designate either age or ethnic identification represent
two more categories.  Players who begin their careers at an early age are
often called "Kid," as was the case of Charles Nichols (1890-1906).  He
received his nickname in 1887 at age seventeen, when he won 21 games for
Kansas City in the Western League.  Waite Hoyt (1918-1938) signed a major
league contract at age fifteen and immediately acquired the nickname of
"School Boy."  Jessie Haines (1918-1937), on the other hand, did not acquire
the nickname of "Pop" until the latter stage of his career.  Charles Bender
(1903-1925) was of Indian extraction and was called "Chief."  An ethnic
designation was given to almost every Indian ballplayer from the 1890s to the
1950s.
     Distinguishing physical characteristics define another category. "Lefty"
is the most common nickname in baseball history.  Two pitchers in the Hall of
Fame have that nickname, Robert Grove (1925-1941) and Vernon Gomez
(1930-1943).  Grove was also called "Mose," short for Moses, because of his
silvery hair, and Gomez, "the Gay Castilian," referring to his fun-loving
personality and Spanish heritage.  In addition, Gomez also earned the tag
"Goofy" early in his career after he told a sportswriter he had invented a
revolving goldfish bowl so that the fish would be able to see everything
without having to swim!  Hair color is the source of the second most popular
set of baseball nicknames.  "Red" and "Whitey" are the most common.  These
nicknames are represented in the Hall of Fame by pitchers Urban "Red" Faber
(1914-1933), Charles "Red" Ruffing (1924-1947), and Edward "Whitey" Ford
(1950-1967).  Variation in body size also results in many nicknames with some
form of "Big" being most popular--Edward Walsh (1904-1917) was "Big Ed";
Christopher Mathewson (1900-1916) was "Big Six."  However, with Mathewson,
some believe the "Big Six" sobriquet referred either to a New York
typographical union, or a large New York City fire engine, both of which had
the same nickname.  In more modern times, Donald Drysdale (1956-1969) at 6'5"
tall was called "Big D."  A body deformity or missing part may also be a
reason for a nickname, as in the case of Mordecai Brown (1903-1916).  He lost
half of his right index finger (pitching hand) as a youth in a mining accident
and was accorded the nickname of "Three Finger."
     Personality and behavioral traits are a parallel category to physical
characteristics as a source of nicknames.  Michael Welch (1880-1892) was given
the nickname "Smiling Mickey" by cartoonist E. V. Munkitvick because he always
had a smile on his face, and John Chesbro (1899-1909) was known as "Happy
Jack" for the same reason.  Chesbro was also called "Algy," which was a
popular slang term for sissy, which in his case meant exactly the opposite.
Timothy Keefe (1880-1893), a 344-game winner, was dubbed "Sir Timothy" in
honor of his royal achievements and lordly bearing.  George Waddell
(1897-1910) fit the classic stereotype of the country yokel in appearance,
mannerisms, speech, and other behaviors.  He liked nothing better than chasing
fire engines, marching in parades, and tending bar, which on several occasions
took precedence over his pitching chores.  Fans began calling him "Rube" from
the start of his career.  "Rube," like "Cy," had been applied to many players
after Waddell.  White Sox manager Lena Blackburne is credited as the first to
tag Jerome Dean (1930-1947) as "Dizzy."  Pitching for a U.S. Army team in
1928, Dean was mowing down one White Sox batter after another.  Blackburne
screamed at his batters, "Don't let that Dizzy rookie fool ya."  The nickname
was reinforced in 1930, when Dean joined the St. Louis Cardinals, because of
his zany behavior and colloquial speech.
     Sometimes an incident occurs in one's life which is so significant that
it leads to a nickname.  This category may be called "critical incident."
Grover Cleveland Alexander (1911-1930) was referred to as "Old Pete," although
he was addressed as "Pete" or "Alex."  The nickname stems from a hunting trip
in Texas during which Alexander fell from a buckboard and landed on his face
in a large pool of alkali and mud resembling peat.  Clarence Vance (1915-1935)
was known as "Dazzy" by age eleven.  He picked up the term as a youth in his
native Nebraska from a cowboy who said of his beautiful pistol, "Ain't it a
dazzy."  Vance started using the word "dazzy" so much that it became his
nickname.  Later he called his change-of-pace pitch a "dazzy"!  Leroy Paige
(1948-1953, 1965) also was bestowed with his nickname of "Satchel" at an early
age.  As a seven-year-old porter in the Mobile, Alabama, railroad station, he
managed to rig up ropes around his shoulders and waist, which made it possible
for him to carry so many satchels at once that you could hardly see him.
     In addition to ballplayers being nicknamed after each other, they are
also nicknamed after other real people or fictional characters.  For instance,
Robert Gibson (1959-1975) was called "Hoot," after the cowboy movie star of
the 1930s and 1940s, Edmund "Hoot" Gibson.
     The last category is amphigoric.  The nicknames either make no sense, or
they do not refer to that to which the nickname refers to in any other case.
Eppa Rixey (1912-1933) was dubbed "Eppa Jephtha" by Cincinnati writer Bill
Phelon, who took pleasure in such bizarre nomenclature.  Theodore Lyons
(1923-1946) was christened "Tex" early in his career, even though he had no
association with the state of Texas.  A sportswriter started using "Tex" when
he could not discover Lyons' first name in time to make his column deadline.
Early Wynn (1939-1963) was nicknamed "Gus" in 1937 by minor league teammate
Ellis Clary, who said he just looked like a Gus!  For purposes of publicity,
James Hunter (1965-1979) was given the nickname "Catfish" at his signing in
1964 by Oakland owner Charles Finley.  Hunter had no association with the
nickname, or the fish, before that time.

Observations

     What can be concluded from this brief review of the nicknames of pitchers
in the Baseball Hall of Fame?  First, the answer is yes to the question of
whether baseball players' nicknames can be classified.  Even this limited
population allows for the development of empirical categories.  Second, based
on this sample, it appears that a substantial majority of players' nicknames
are not directly related to the game of baseball.  Third, subject to more
extensive analysis, it would seem that physical and personality and behavioral
characteristics may account for the largest number of nicknames.  Fourth, it
is quite possible (given conclusions two and three) that some players would
have had the same nicknames whether they played baseball or not.  We are aware
of them, however, because they did play baseball, and records have been kept.
Finally, the categories themselves are heuristic, which is to say, they
suggest other categories--for example, nicknames that stem from childhood as
contrasted from those that do not; nicknames which can be used as terms of
address, such as "Red" or "Satchel," as compared to those which are used
primarily as terms of reference, such as "Gettysburg Eddie" and "Iron Man."
     At this stage the categories are neither demonstrative nor definitive,
neither all-inclusive nor mutually exclusive.  They are not etched in stone.
They will have to be extended, modified and revised, divided and subdivided,
before their usefulness is maximized.  They do, however, provide a foundation
upon which to build our understanding of baseball players' nicknames.