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Posted by Andy on July 28, 2011

Can you figure out the most-viewed player page for each of the names below?

Click on each name to see the answer.










































These can all be verified by entering "The Sanderson" (etc) in the search box.





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94 Responses to “Names”

  1. I have no idea what this post is supposed to mean.

  2. Evil Squirrel Says:
  3. Thanks to trade talks and the accompanying curiosity, "The Beltran" finally leads to Carlos Beltrán. I typed it in yesterday and it led me to Adrián Beltré.

  4. "The The" takes you to Albert Pujols (The Machine)

  5. Interesting that "The Bull" takes you to Hershiser (Bulldog) and not to Luzinski.

  6. The only two I correctly guessed were Martinez and George. I'm not sure if it is good or bad that when I saw "King" I thought of Silver.

    Fans of the Matrix - "the one" takes you to Paul O'Neill. "The neo" takes you to Deion Sanders. Neo doesn't quite get you to Deion Sanders as there are minor leaguers who have "neo" as part of their actual names.

    Apparently "The Ted", "The Sam", "The Splendid", "The ballgame", "The splinter", and "The thumper" all get you to Ted Williams. As do "The William" and "The Williams". Unfortunately, "the hitter" doesn't lead you to Williams (it leads to an empty search). "The pitcher" goes to Hugh Mulcahy.

  7. Evil Squirrel Says:

    "The Who" will take you to Mark "Bay City" Wohlers. Talk about contrasting styles....

  8. Kahuna Tuna Says:

    The one: Paul O’Neill
    The two: Al (Two Gun) Gettel
    The three: Mordecai Brown (Willie Davis is still “the 3”)
    The four: Jack Fournier
    The six: Christy Mathewson
    The nine: Jeff Conine
    The ten: Gene Tenace
    The ninety: Bill (Ninety-Six) Voiselle

    Entering "The 1/8" does not take you to Eddie Gaedel. Too bad.

  9. Who's "The Man"? Apparently, it's Manny Ramirez.

  10. Make it to the show? Heck, he IS "the show": Pedroia.

  11. Evil Squirrel Says:

    Now we know who "The Best" is....

    What a fun time waster.....

  12. oneblankspace Says:

    Wow, those Clemero boys sure can play some ball...sorta. Or could when they were young.

  13. Kahuna Tuna Says:

    The Poodle: Joe Hutcheson (1933 Dodgers)
    The Cow: Al Cowens
    The Pig: Eric (Pigpen) Byrnes
    The Pony: Sandy (Iron Pony) Alomar
    The Buffalo: (Buffalo) Bill Hogg
    The Hog: Shanty Hogan
    The Boar: Whitey Ford
    The Camel: Hank Camelli
    The Ferret: Tony Ferreira (two appearances for the ’85 Royals)
    The Bunny: Hugh High
    The Mouse: Cliff Melton
    The Rat: Gary Gaetti
    The Fish: Eddie Fisher
    The Whale: Fred Walters (wartime catcher for the Braves)
    The Bee: Rico (Beeg Boy) Carty
    The Tick: Carl Hubbell (think “Meal Ticket”)
    The Ant: José Antonio Bautista (he is also “The Bat”)
    The Spider: Torii (Spider-Man) Hunter
    The Lion: Charley (Sea Lion) Hall

    “The Goat” and “The Bug” are the names Messrs. Anderson and Holliday were known by. “The Mink” takes you to Harry Mink O’Neill (one game, zero PAs for the ’39 Athletics).

    The following take you exactly where you’d expect: The Cat, The Fox(x), The Rooster, The Chick, The Duck(y), The (Iron) Horse, The Deer, The Buck, The Turkey, The Rabbit, The (Grey) Eagle, The Hawk, and The Tiger (Don Hoak), The Falcon(e).

    As noted, “The Bull” takes you to Orel (Bulldog) Hershiser (over Leon Durham, Greg Luzinski, Orlando Cepeda, Brooks Lawrence, Bob Watson, et al.). “The Kitten” brings up Harvey Haddix (over Harry Brecheen); “The Donkey,” Adam Dunn (over Frank Thomas v. 1.0); “The Goose,” Rich Gossage, not Goose Goslin; “The Flea,” Fred Patek (over Bob Lillis). Chicken Wolf doesn’t come up for either “The Chicken” (Fred Stanley) or “The Wolf” (Randy Wolf).

  14. The "human rain delay" takes you to Mike Hargrove

  15. "The Otter" takes you to Billy Otterson (up for a few weeks in1887) but not Ed Ott (shortest name in MLB history last I heard), who actually had a career.

    "The Cobra" obviously leads to Dave Parker.

    "The Scrap" gets you Phil "Scrap Iron" Garner but "The Iron" rightly gets you Lou Gehrig.

  16. The Bow Wow: Hank Arft
    The Meow: Len Gilmore
    The Moo: Mike Mussina
    The Buzz: Darren Oliver
    The Roar: Mike Rourke
    The Cluck: Bob Cluck
    The Quack: Kevin Quakenbush
    The Tweet: Joe Walsh
    The Bray: Brayan Pena

  17. Clearly the fun part of the searches is the database's attempt to match as much of the text string as it can, either in the name or using the player's nick

    Nice, interesting, change-of-pace blog, Andy.

  18. Katsuhino Shitanishi is the @#$%.
    Bombo Rivera in the Bomb.

  19. Lawrence Azrin Says:

    @1/ Dave: "I have no idea what this post is supposed to mean."

    Dave, it means that not every post on this blog needs to be deep, meaningful, and reveal some previously unkown and hidden Essential Truth about MLB.

    Sometimes (to paraphrase Cyndi Lauper) the readers here just wanna have fun. Thanks, Andy.

  20. @18
    Panrell, now let's keep this family-rated. :-)

    I was waiting for the first "misuse" of the search engine.

  21. I just did what everyone else was thinking. Hey, at least old Katsuhino got his 15 minutes.

  22. Luis Gomez Says:

    @2 The Squirrel: Roy Sievers
    @3 The Drew: Andrew Romine
    @4 The Dep: Jorge de Paula
    @5 The Rob: Robinson Cano
    @6 The Art: Don Mattingly
    @8 The Tuna: Rauf Tunali
    @9 The Win: Dave Winfield
    @10 The Brett: George Brett
    @12 The One: Paul O'Neill
    @14 The Jr: Ken Griffey, Jr
    @15 The Bal: Ted Williams
    @16 The Larry: Chipper Jones
    @17 The Neil: Paul O'Neill
    @18 The Pan: Lou Gehrig
    @19 The Law: Yogi Berra

  23. @22
    Thanks, Luis. Hey what about "The Luis"?

  24. @18 Does that mean I can't mention Danny Graves?

  25. the earth- arlie latham
    the fat- lance berkman

  26. Luis Gomez Says:

    @23 You are welcome.

    The Luis: Jorge Cantu.

  27. Even "the shit" takes you to a player.

  28. Why does "the Daryl" take you to Dan Haren?

  29. @27
    Joseph, see Panell @18!

  30. @22

    I was hoping for Yogi Berra.

  31. @3
    So, Drew, speaking of trades, when will "The Rasmus" jump to the top of the search list? :-)

  32. John Autin Says:

    the Ball: Ted Williams
    the Strike: Jake Striker

    the Fair: Ron Fairly
    the Foul: Keith Foulke

    the Heat: Heath Bell
    the Curve: Al Orth
    the Drop: Walt Dropo
    the Split: Paul Splittorff

    the Grand: Curtis Granderson
    the Slam: Sammy Sosa

    the Thrill: Will Clark
    the Of: Roy Oswalt
    the Victory: Charlie Faust

    the World: Kevin Mitchell
    the Cosmos: Luke Cosmos (minors)
    the God: Sandy Koufax

    the Smart: J.D. Smart
    the Dumb: Joseph Dumbach (minors)

    the Cool: Dan Uggla
    the Jerk: Jake Northrop

    the Quick: Mickey Rivers
    the Dead: Edward Deady (minors)

    the Beauty: Dave Bancroft
    the Beast: Jimmie Foxx

    the Good: Dwight Gooden
    the Bad: Hank Aaron
    the Ugly: Johnny Dickshot

    the Brady: Brady Anderson
    the Bunch: Melvin Bunch

    the Game: Mat Gamel
    the Animal: Brad Lesley

    the Last: Lastings Milledge
    the Only: The Only Nolan

    the Time: Deion Sanders
    the Has: Ron Hassey
    the Come: Mickey Mantle

    the Bill: Will Clark
    the Is: Ike Davis
    the Due: Brian Duensing

    the Buck: John Buck
    the Stops: Frank Stopski (minors)
    the Here: Felix Heredia

  33. Evil Squirrel Says:


    Ha! I did the search that brought up Danny Graves earlier, but had second thoughts about posting it....


    Roy Sievers is my new favorite player from the distant past (for me anyway)....

  34. "The Dolphin" takes you to Dolphin, an unknown player from the Harrisburg Senators in 1894.

  35. "The Balls" takes you to John Balls, an otherwise-unknown player from AA Reading in 1929.

  36. Evil Squirrel Says:

    Do a search for "The Search", and you'll find a minor leaguer by the name of Michael Search...

    If you're looking to find "The Way", that will bring you to Larry Wayne "Chipper" Jones...

    If you've found "The Light", it shines on Ron Guidry....

    Or if you're afraid of "The Dark", avoid Al Dark...

  37. "The Worst" takes you to "Worster", an otherwise-unknown player from D league Beloit/Chapman in 1910. He hit .165 and may indeed be, "the worst".

  38. "The Ham" takes you to Hank Aaron.
    "The Bacon" takes you to Gordon Beckham.
    "The Piggy" takes you to Piggy Ward, who played in the late 1800's and ended his career in 1906, as a career minor leaguer.


    "The Green" takes you to Hank Greenberg.
    "The Frog" takes you to Bill Hands, another career minor leaguer who played mostly in the 60s and is still alive today at 71.
    "The Kermit" takes you to Kermit Wahl, a 40's/50's minor leaguer for various teams.

    I may or may not have had Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog on my mind during those searches.

  39. "The Turd" takes you to Robert Turdik, an otherwise-unknown minor leaguer who played for 2 teams in 1945.

    Okay, I'm done (for now at least) :)

  40. @38

    I wouldn't call Bill Hands a career minor leaguer. He was a pretty good pitcher (31.8 career WAR) for the resurrected Cubs of the late '60s-early '70s.

  41. @32 You forgot "the devil"- Eric Tipton
    Also I would've thought Johnny Dickshot would have been "the" something else.

  42. @40 - whoops! When I did the search, it came up with his minors page and didn't even notice that he was a big leaguer at all.

  43. Richard Chester Says:

    The Moe: Brian Moehler
    The Larry: Chipper Jones
    The Curly: Curly Ogden

  44. @41 The something else you are referring to takes you to R.A. Dickey. I actually thought it would have been Richie Allen.

  45. All of you have way too much time on your hands! :-)

  46. Johnny Twisto Says:

    The Beatle(s) - Dave Beadle
    The Rolling - Scott Rolen
    The Stones - Steve Stone
    The Door(s) - Jephrey Doorey
    The Jimi (Hendrix Experience) - Ubaldo Jimenez

    The (John) Coltrane - Russell Martin
    The Miles (Davis) - Aaron Miles
    The (Sarah) Vaughan - Mo Vaughn
    The Bix (Beiderbecke) - Brian Bixler

    The KRS(-ONE) - Mike Krsnich
    The LL (Cool J) - Ken Boyer
    The Nas - Rob Dibble
    The Tribe (Called Quest) - Byron Tribe

    The James (Brown) - Jim Thome
    The Curtis (Mayfield) - Curtis Granderson
    The Rev(erend Al Green) - Ben Revere
    The Isaac (Hayes) - Ike Davis

    The Fela (Kuti) - Felartz
    The (King) Sunny (Ade) - Jim Bottomley
    The Ebenezer (Obey) - Ed Beatin

  47. Johnny Twisto Says:

    Oh, in Timothy P's honor, I left out The Rawls - Mike Rawls

  48. The death brings up Danny Darwin who supposedly was nicknamed "Dr. Death"- which I do not remember ever hearing anyone call him - instead of that greatest of all time moniker: Bob "Death to Flying Things" Ferguson. I was also amazed to find out that Ferguson was not the only player with that nickname.

  49. @45 That's because we are all at work.

  50. @48
    No, Hartvig, the honor of Ferguson's moniker should belong to Dave Winfield, even though the seagull was stationary at the time of contact. Or who was it that hit the unfortunate bird with a fastball? Randy Johnson? Can't quite remember.

  51. @46
    Johhny T., is your post a little tour through the contents of your Ipod? :-)

    But I digress ...... or do I? This blog has been a lot of fun.

  52. RIP: "Fat Toad"

  53. Johnny Twisto Says:

    Alas, my Ipod died some time ago. But yes, I'm sure many of those could once be found on there.

  54. Johnny Twisto Says:

    RIP: "Fat Toad"

    Holy ......

    I feel terrible for the guy. He was never close to what was advertised, but he was a decent pitcher for a couple years, with occasional stretches of brilliance. Better than most fans remember him.

  55. The Kitty: Jim Kaat.
    The Puppy: This space available. Inquire within.

    The Romeo: James Romeo (1949-1950 D-leaguer).
    The Hamlet: Gene Krapp (but he's not The Crap: James Crapo, 1905 Haveril, is)
    The Othello: Othello Renfroe (early 70s minors)
    The Lear: Tim Leary
    The Macduff: MacDuffee Biggs (50s minors. Macbeth is available.)
    The Caesar: Tom Candiotti
    The Brutus: Brutus Baker (1939 Martinsville)
    The Cassius: Claude Richey

    The Butcher: John Butcher
    The Baker: Dusty Baker
    What, no Candlestick Maker?

  56. @55
    Paul, that's the spirit!

  57. @52 @54
    Oh my goodness!

    Thanks for the link, JT. A sense of Japanese honor gone horribly wrong?

  58. Dcarson10 Says:

    "The Dude"= Lenny Dykstra
    "The Sex"= Richie Sexson
    "The Cool"= Dan Uggla
    "The Cold"- Jim Hughey
    "The Champion"= Bill Champion
    "The Winner"=Frederick Winner
    "The President"= Dennis Martinez
    "The Chair"=Whitey Ford

    This is fun.

  59. Seems we have everything but "the kitchen" [sink]. Ernie Padgett.

  60. Kahuna Tuna Says:

    Up, up and away . . .

    The Moon: Wally Moon
    The Lunar: Fernando Lunar
    The Sun: Jim Bottomley
    The Solar: Victor Solari (1947-52 minors)
    The Star: Starlin Castro
    The Stellar: William Stellar (1946 Class D)
    The Space: Bill Lee

    The Mercury: George Myatt
    The Venus: Venustiano García (minors)
    The Earth: Arlie Latham
    The Mars: Kevin Marschall Gregg
    The Astro: Joe Astroth
    The Trojan: Johnny Evers
    The Iris: Irish Meusel
    The Flora: Kevin Flora
    The Io: Dane Iorg
    The Leda: Richard Leda (1946 Class D)
    The Saturn: Bronson (Saturn Nuts) Arroyo (IMHO should link to Minnie Miñoso)
    The Dione: Dioner Navarro
    The Rhea: Rheal Cormier
    The Titan: John Titanek (minors)
    The Phoeb: Tom Phoebus (yeah, I fudged this one a little)
    The Atlas: Alvin Atlas Montgomery (1941 Braves)
    The Bianca: Buddy Biancalana
    The Cupid: Cupid Childs
    The Belinda: Stan Belinda
    The Puck: Kirby Puckett
    The Mab: John Mabry
    The Miranda: Juan Miranda
    The Ariel: José Ariel Contreras
    The Prospero: Teodoro Prospero (1995-98 Giants system)
    The Ferdinand: Spurgeon Ferdinand “Spud” Chandler
    The Neptune: Joe Neptune (1913-28 minors, mostly at Class D)
    The Nix: Laynce Nix

    The Planet: Emil Planeta (1931 Giants)
    The Northern: Northern (1907 Class D)
    The Lights: Brad Lidge
    The Comet: Mickey Mantle
    The Dust: Dustin Pedroia
    The Crater: Claude Crater (1956 Class D)
    The Ring: Royce Ring
    The Nova: Iván Nova
    The Alpha: Alpha Eugene Brazle
    The Beta: Yuniesky Betancourt
    The Gamma: Mark Gammage (1979-82 Rangers system)
    The Ray: Tyrus Raymond Cobb
    The Matter: Al Mattern

  61. @61
    Even the moons of planets other than Earth. Impressive, Kahuna!

  62. Wow, when I posted @38 with a few frog-related items, I was going to do "The Fat Toad" but thought that was so obvious and didn't list it...and now the news about him...very sad.

  63. "The Jesus" - Victor Martinez
    "The Christ" - Chris Carpenter
    "The Devil" - Eric Tipton (
    "The Satan" - George Stutz (; went 0-9 in his career
    "The Virgin" - Virgil Trucks
    "The Slut" - Gregg Slutsky (; minors manager/player
    "The World" - Kevin Mitchell

  64. There was a minor league player named Casey Cuntz. I kid you not.

  65. Richard Chester Says:

    The car: Carl Crawford
    The bus: Miguel Tejada
    The train: Walter Johnson
    The plane: Emil Planeta (sorry, Eddie Gaedel's friend named "Tattoo" did not show up)
    The ship: Craig Shipley
    The boat: Roland Howell
    The ferry: Jack Ferry
    The scooter: Phil Rizzuto
    The bike: Alex Bike (minor leaguer)
    The wagon: Honus Wagner
    The trolley: Johnny Butler

  66. John Autin Says:

    @42, Dave V -- When you searched "the frog," you may have started out on a minor-league page as the result of a previous search. If you were on a minor-league page, the search would have turned up the minor-league page for Bill Hands.

  67. John Autin Says:

    @55, Paul -- If Yankee Stadium was The House that Ruth Built, then Willie Mays is The Candlestick Maker. :)

    On second thought, let's not blame Willie for that one....

  68. John Autin Says:

    Tacking on to Richard's #66:

    the jeep: Don Heffner
    the truck: Virgil Trucks
    the subway: Sam Nahem
    the metro: Charlie Metro
    the el: Albert Pujols
    the tram: Alan Trammell
    the choo choo: Choo Choo Coleman (you were expecting Shin-Soo?)

    the raft: Jack Rafter
    the skiff: Bill Skiff
    the steamer: Bob Stanley
    the yacht: Johnny Logan (misspelling of "yatcha")
    the barge: Cy Barger
    the scow: Fay Thomas (sorry, Moose Skowron!)
    the tanker: Taylor Tankersley
    the submarine: Eldon Auker

    the glider: Ed Charles
    the jet: Derek Jeter (what?!? gotta be Sam Jethroe!)

    the mower: Ray Mowe

    (Andy, you've got a smash hit!)

  69. Was Irabu's nickname really "Fat Toad"? I'm not aware of anyone besides Steinbrenner calling him that, but there it is on his B-R page.

  70. Johnny Twisto Says:

    No, it wasn't. I haven't figured out the logic behind what B-R decides to display as nicknames. Some of them are highly dubious.

    (I suppose one might argue it *became* a nickname after Steinbrenner's rant, simply because it has been brought up repeatedly since then and is so well remembered. I would dispute that.)

  71. @66 @69
    Enough, already. :-)

    We need a diversion like this every once in a while.

    But how about a real "baseball" blog as an outlet before we lose our minds with this stuff.

    The last time the Mets swept a road, four-game series anyone?

  72. We need a nickname for Lucas Duda.

  73. I looked up the "the listings" for each team (with a little fudging now and then.)
    The Met: Doug Glanville
    The Phillie: Dave Philley
    The Brave: Major Bravener (minors 1916)
    The Nat(ional): Russell Martin
    The Marlin: Marlin Stuart

    The Cardinal: José Cardinal
    The Pirate: Clay Buchholz (I had to look up Buc.)
    The Brewer: Jim Brewer
    The Astro: Joe Astroth
    The Cub: Aroldis Chapman (Not Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks!)
    The Red: Eric Davis

    The Giant: Jack Pfiester
    The Padre: Tony Gwynn
    The Rocky: Rocky Colavito
    The Diamond: Thomas Diamond
    and The Back: Wally Backman
    The Dodger: Madison Bumgarner (As a man with Brooklyn roots, it pained me to look up The Bum for the LA Dodgers.)

    The Yankee: Joe DiMaggio
    The (Red) Sox: Carl Husta
    The Blue: Vida Blue
    and The Jay: Jayson Werth
    The O(riole): Roy Oswalt
    The Ray: Ty Cobb

    The Tiger: Don Hoak
    The Indian: Bob Johnson
    The White (Sox): Whitey Ford
    The Twin: George Serkirk (Does anyone know why they called him "Twinkletoes?")
    The Royal: Ken Williams

    The M(ariner): Derek Jeter
    The A(thletic): Alex Rodriguez
    The Angel: Angel Pagan
    The Ranger: Rudolph Ranger (minors 1961)

    I also looked up a few out-of-use team nicknames.
    The Expo: Luis Exposito (minors 2006-2011)
    The Colt (45): Russell Martin (His second appearance on this list. Both are because of his three middle names.)
    The Devil (Ray): Eric Tipton
    The Brown: Kevin Brown
    The Bee: Rico Carty (The Boston Braves were called the Bees for a few years in the 30s.
    The Redleg: Redleg Snyder (The Reds were called the Redlegs during the anti-Communist hysteria of the 50s)
    Sorry old-time Washington baseball fans, there is no one listed for the Senators. On the other hand, you do have Jim Bunning.

  74. Richard Chester Says:

    Jay: You could have entered The Robin (a name for the Dodgers for a few years): Robinson Cano (strangely not Jackie Robinson).

  75. The Red: Eric Davis
    The Orange: Rusty Staub
    The Blue: Vida Blue
    The Yellow: Chief Yellow Horse
    The Green: hank Greenberg
    The violet: Frank Violet (1897-1898)
    The black: Don Sutton
    The White: Whitey Ford
    The Purple: Preston Purple (1937)
    The Grey: Tris Speaker
    The Brown: Kevin Brown (minors)
    The Gold: harry Agganis (minors 1953)
    the Silver: Duke Snider

    Pretty good club there

  76. Dukeofflatbush Says:

    I live in Brooklyn, but was raised in North Jersey. A few of my buddies and I went to one of the first few Trenton Thunder games.
    And I swear to you, they pronounce this guy's name just as its written.

    The whole stadium was chanting his name.
    The poor dude took it well.
    He might of been the next Babe Ruth, he just needed a better last name.

  77. You could also have the god (sandy koufax) pitching to the Jesus (Victor Martinez)

  78. "The Lima" - Jose Lima
    "The Bean" - Billy Beane
    "The Tomato" - Olmedo Saenz
    "The Onion" - Frank Onion (
    "The Pepper" - Pepper Martin
    "The Pickle" - Pickles Dillhoefer (
    "The Beet" - John Beetam (
    "The Potato" - Camilo Pascual
    "The Corn" - Cliff Floyd
    "The Carrot" - Tom Carroll (
    "The Squash" - Hub Perdue (
    "The Basil" - George Theodore (

    and finally

    "The Nut" - Bronson Arroyo (and who can disagree with that?)

  79. The Snow - J.T. Snow
    The White - Whitey Ford
    The Sleepy - Bill Burns
    The Dop(ey) - John Dopson
    The Doc - Roy Halladay
    The Happy - Jack Chesbro
    The Bashf(ul) - Larry Bashford
    The Grump(y) - Ward Miller
    The Snee(zy) - John Sneed

  80. @77 I went to see the Thunder the very first season they existed, when they were a Tigers affiliate. My first game there I saw Derek Jeter go 4-5 with a HR and 2 doubles as a visitor playing for the Norwich Navigators. Tony Clark played for the home team.

  81. John Autin Says:

    @72, Neil -- I believe the Mets' last 4-game road sweep was June 8-11, 2006, wiping out Arizona by a combined 37-9. That was in the midst of a 9-game road win streak, including a 3-game sweep in Philly.

    Seems like more than just 5 years ago....

  82. The 50 Most Common Words in the English Language:

    The The: Albert Pujols
    The Be: Barry Bonds
    The To: Miguel Cabrera
    The Of: Roy Oswalt
    The And: Andre Dawson
    The A: Alex Rodriguez
    The In: Omar Infante
    The That: Joe Thatcher
    The Have: Brad Havens
    The I: Ichiro Suzuki

    The It: Sammy Sosa
    The For: Darren Ford (SF's answer to Herb Washington)
    The Not: Don Nottebart
    The On: Paul O'Neill
    The With: Shannon Withem
    The He: Babe Ruth
    The As: Richie Ashburn
    The You: Michael Young
    The Do: Roy Halladay
    The At: Tony Perez

    The This: Greg Thissen (minors)
    The But: Billy Butler
    The His: Hisanori Takahashi
    The By: Bert Blyleven
    The From: Billy Williams
    The They: {nothing found}
    The We: Jayson Werth
    The Say: Willie Mays
    The Her: Babe Ruth (again)
    The She: Gary Sheffield

    The Or: David Ortiz
    The An: Andre Dawson (again)
    The Will: Ted Williams
    The My: Brett Myers
    The One: Paul O'Neill (again)
    The All: David Wright
    The Would: {nothing found}
    The There: {nothing found}
    The Their: {nothing found}
    The What: Peace Chiles (What's The Use, one of my new favorite nicknames)

    The So: Sammy Sosa
    The Up: B.J. Upton
    The Out: Brad Lidge
    The If: Ifran Becerra (minors)
    The About: {nothing found}
    The Who: Mark Wohlers
    The Get: Eddie Plank
    The Which: Richard Whichello (minors)
    The Go: Jayson Werth (again)
    The Me: B.J. Upton

  83. Kahuna Tuna Says:

    My last name list, compiled in honor of Burt Tree, outfielder for the 1902 Le Mars Blackbirds of the Class D Iowa-South Dakota League, is strongly dendrocentric.

    The Alder: Charles (Alderman) Briody (1880-88 NL/UA/AA)
    The Ash: Richie Ashburn
    The Aspen: Rich Aspenleiter (1978-79 Cubs system)
    The Balsam: Tony Balsamo (1959-62 Cubs system)
    The Bay: Jason Bay
    The Beech: Matt Beech (1996-98 Phillies)
    The Birch: Jud Birchall (1882-84 AA)
    The Cedar: Charles Cedario (1949 Class D)
    The Cherry: Rocky Cherry
    The Cork: Corky Miller, who, according to his B-R page, told his teammates when they were complaining about signing autographs, "If you don't like it, play worse."
    The Elder: Dave Elder (2002-03 Indians)
    The Elm: Elmer Dessens
    The Fig: Chone Figgins
    The Fir: Virgil Trucks
    The Gum: Harry Gumbert
    The Hawthorn: Paul Hawthorne Ratliff
    The Hazel: Bob Hazle
    The Hickory: Hickory Bob Harmon
    The Holly: Cole (Hollywood) Hamels
    The Laurel: Laurel Harney (1946-47 Yankees system)
    The Linden: Todd Linden
    The Maple: Howard Maple (1932 Senators)
    The Oak: Rebel Oakes
    The Olive: Oliver Pérez
    The Palm: Rafael Palmeiro
    The Pepper: Pepper Martin
    The Pine: Lou Piniella
    The Plane: Emil Planeta again
    The Rowan: Aaron Rowand
    The Sorrel: Vic Sorrell (1928-37 Tigers)
    The Willow: Ed Willow (1928-29 Indians system)
    The Yew: Tom Yewcic (1957 Tigers)

    The Root: Charlie Root
    The Branch: Branch Rickey
    The Twig: Wayne Terwilliger
    The Bud: Buddy Bell
    The Leaf: Gustav Leaf (1945 Class D)
    The Bough: Bill Boughey (2000-01 Phillies system)
    The Trunk: Todd Trunk (1996 Yankees system) (why not Amos Strunk?)
    The Bole: Carl Boles (1962 Giants)
    The Bark: Len Barker
    The Wood: Kerry Wood
    The Plank: Eddie Plank
    The Board: Whitey Ford
    The Hazewood: Drungo Hazewood (1980 Orioles)

  84. Richard Chester Says:


    Speaking of Dave Philley he is one of a handful of players whose surname matched his team nickname. The only other ones I know are a few guys named Brown who played for the Browns. Jose Cardenal (Car-de-nal')is a near miss.

    Harry Agganis was a major league player for the Red Sox. He died at 26 due to a pulmonary embolism. He was an outstanding college football player.

  85. The Chico: Leo Cardenas.
    The Harp(o): Tommy Harper.
    The Grou(cho): O. Grounds (?!).
    The Gummo: Sam Gummo.
    The Zeppo: Kenneth Zepponi.

  86. Is anyone wondering who their zodiac player is?
    Aries (the Ram): Manny Ramirez
    Taurus (the Bull): Orel Hershiser
    Gemini (The Twins): George Selkirk (I had to use "the Twin.")
    Cancer (the Crab): Johnny Evers
    Leo (the Lion): Charley Hall
    Virgo (the Maiden): John Maiden (minors 1945 and 1950. He debuted when he was only 15.)
    Libra (the Scales): Bobby Scales
    Scorpio (the Scorpion): no one. (Sorry people born between October 23 and November 21.)
    Sagittarius (The Archer): Jimmy Archer
    Capricorn (The Goat): Goat Anderson
    Aquarius (The Water Bearer): Chris Waters and Mr. Bearer, who played for the 1911 Point Pleasant-Gallipolis/Middleport-Pomeroy team in the Mountain States League.
    Pisces (The Fishes): Showboat Fisher

    And, in the spirit of inclusion and multiculturalism, I also looked up the Chinese Zodiac.
    The Rat: Gary Gaetti
    The Ox: Chris Oxspring (minors 2001-11)
    The Tiger: Don Hoak
    The Rabbit: Rabbit Maranville
    The Dragon: Garth Dragon (minors 1965-66)
    The Snake: Tom Sturdivant
    The Horse: Lou Gehrig
    The Goat: Goat Anderson
    The Monkey: Frank Foreman
    The Rooster: Rick Burleson
    The Dog: Greg Maddux
    The Pig: Eric Byrnes

  87. Kahuna Tuna Says:

    Thanks for indulging me with one final list.

    The Alpha: Alpha Eugene Brazle
    The Beta: Yuniesky Betancourt
    The Gamma: Terry Gammage (1983 Yankees system)
    The Delta: Delta Brogden (1961 Athletics system)
    The Eps(ilon): Mike Epstein
    The Zet(a): George Zettlein (1871-76 NA-NL, mainly for the Chicago White Stockings)
    The Eta: Etanislao Toni (Tony) Abreu
    The The(ta): Closest match would be Jug Thesenga (1944 Senators)
    The Iot(a): Hooks Iott (mainly 1947 Giants)
    The Kapp(a): Joe Kappel (1884 Phi. NL, 1890 Phi. AA)
    The Lambda: David Lamb (mainly 1999 Devil Rays)
    The Mu: Mickey (Muscles) Mantle
    The Nu: William Nuschler Clark
    The Xi: Xavier Ximello (2008-09 Mexican League)
    The Omic(ron): Noriyoshi Omichi (2007-10 Yomiuri Giants)
    The Pi: Mike Piazza
    The Rho: Arthur Rhodes
    The Sigma: Tripp Sigman (1929-30 Phillies)
    The Tau: Andrés Torres
    The Ups(ilon): Willie Upshaw
    The Phi: Clifton Phifer Lee
    The Chi: Chipper Jones
    The Psi: Closest match would be either Pumpsie Green or Joe Tepsic (1946 Dodgers)
    The Ome(ga): Henry Omer Benn (one game for the 1914 Cleveland Naps)

  88. John Autin Says:

    Kahuna -- What, no diacritical marks?

  89. DoubleDiamond Says:

    I'm joining this late. Following up on a post I made regarding catchers with last names pronounced but not necessarily spelled the same as bookstore chains who wore #10 for 1993 postseason teams, here are "the" results for some bookstore names:

    the borders - Pat Borders, #10 with the 1993 Blue Jays

    the dalton (B. Dalton Books, a chain bought up by Barnes & Noble but later closed) - Not Darren Daulton, #10 with the 1993 Phillies (comes up for "the daulton") or Dalton Jones but Norman Dalton Cash

    the olsson (Olsson's Books, a Washington, DC, area chain) - William Olsson, a 1948-1949 minor leaguer

    (The spelling variation, the olsen, did not bring up either the 1993 Braves' #10-wearing Greg or the similarly named Gregg Olsen who played around the same time, but instead produced Scott Olsen.)

    the barnes - Ross Barnes, who appeared, but not in every year, between 1871 and 1881

    the noble - Tom Oliver, full name Thomas Noble Oliver, who played with the Red Sox from 1930-1933.

    the walden (Waldenbooks, a chain bought up by Borders but later closed) - Jordan Walden, 2011 All-Star on the Angels, appears to be their current closer.

    the booksa - no matches

    the million - Doug Million, a pitching prospect with the Rockies in the 1990s who died of some sudden illness while playing at the AA level. (I had thought there'd at least be some major leaguer with a nickname like "Million Dollar Arm" or "Five Million Dollar Man".)

    the powell (Powell's Books, a store in Oregon I've heard great things about) - Boog Powell (of 26-game postseason hitting streaks by guys wearing #26 fame)

    the crown (discount chain that started in the DC area in the late 1970s and spread elsewhere in a fairly short lifetime) - Crownwell, a 1926 minor leaguer who appeared in 4 games for Haverhill.

    the encore (Philadelphia-based chain that was almost a Crown-clone, also with a fairly short lifespan) - no matches

    the brentano (another chain bought up by Borders but now closed) - no matches

    the amazon (bringing us into the online age) - no matches. I thought maybe there'd be someone with this in a nickname.

    the strand (big bookstore in NYC) - Paul Strand, played for the Boston Braves from 1913-1915 as a pitcher and sometime-outfielder and then re-appeared in 1924 with the Philadelphia A's only as an outfielder.

  90. DoubleDiamond Says:

    Of course, neither Greg Olsen nor Gregg Olsen came up for "the olsen", because their names are Greg Olson and Gregg Olson, respectively.

    But neither of them comes up for "the olson", either. That honor goes to Matt Guerrier, whose real name is Matthew Olson Guerrier.

  91. Kahuna Tuna Says:

    Powell's Books, a store in Oregon I've heard great things about

    Powell's Books is as good as you've heard, DD. Probably better, in fact.

    Many years ago I worked at a well-known independent bookstore in Pasadena, California. The B-Ref version of its name is "the vroman."

  92. I've been to Powell's. Excellent indeed.

  93. Amazing race today shame Hamilton didn't win
    Button again shows he is got a brain for changeable conditions, although i feel he got somehow lucky with ham being the 1st of the two to pit.