Baseball Names as Poetry
Ted Williams, The Splendid Splinter
Before the steroid's era in baseball, I was a huge fan, starting in the mid-70s and lasting until the early 90s when people like Mark McGwire and Roger Clemmons went from heroic, hardworking athletes to drug abusing cheaters. Don't even get me started on Barry Bonds. I loved the history of the game. I collected baseball cards by the thousands, read every book my local library owned on the major leagues and counted meeting Hall of Famer Bob Feller as one of the highlights of my life. I still enjoy looking at black and white photos of old games and watching video clips of some of my childhood favorites, but I couldn't tell you who won the world series last year.
Because professional baseball dates back to 1876, there have been thousands of men to play the game and among them have been a few guys with truly poetic names. Without further ado, please let me present a few of my favorites.
- Van Lingle Mungo
- Mordecai "Three-Fingered" Brown (uh…had a slight farming accident)
- Calvin Cooledge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma "Cal" McLish (I'm not kidding)
- Ferris Fain (you'll notice several alliterative names)
- Yogi Berra
- Jesus Alou
- Bo Belinsky (was once engaged to Kim Novak)
- Dusty Rhodes
- Goose Gossage
- Hensley "Bam-Bam" Muelens
- Chipper Jones (real name is Larry)
- Frankie Fritcsh "The Fordham Flash" (for his college)
- Lou "The Iron Horse" Gehrig
- Christy Mathewson
- Ted Williams "The Splendid Splinter" (because he was so skinny)
- Dominic Dimaggio (Joe's brother)
- Carl Furillo "The Reading Rifle" (for his hometown, Reading, PA)
- Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb
- Grover Cleveland Alexander
- Smoky Joe Wood
- Rube Waddell
- Hideo Nomo
- Mudcat Grant
- Vinegar Bend Mizell
- Enos "Country" Slaughter
- Puddin' Head Jones (originally from Scotland County, NC and my Dad's all-time favorite)
- Pee Wee Reese (marbles champ as a kid)
- Frank "The Big Hurt" Thomas
- Rocky Colavito (The Original Italian Stallion)
- Marty Marion, Greg Gagne, Mickey Mantle, John Jaha, Willie Wilson (love that alliteration)
- Wonderful Terrific Monds III (I once owned a domain name honoring this Braves minor leaguer. it was the home of my first blog).
Who have I left out? Leave your favorites in the comments.
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