by Scott Fennessy
Well I am sill on my journey through the 1905 replay and while I am at the end of the month, but unfortunately there are a ton of double headers between me and the end of May 05. So while I won’t have my update as quickly as hoped for, I wanted to post about one of my favorite things about APBA and the cards.
Growing up we didn’t have Facebook, internet, cable tv, Twitter and the instant access around today, so my knowledge of baseball outside Chicago Cubs/White Sox was somewhat limited. I love that APBA puts some personal info on the cards, and specifically the nicknames.
I have noticed that each era the nicknames tend to be based on the knowledge/pop culture of the time frame, but when I was on a bus ride home from work I heard some other passengers discussing football nicknames and I was given my nugget for this week’s article.
I was wondering if those in the community had their favorite nicknames, or any interesting APBA nickname moments. For those of you who have never played any of the late 70’s – early 80’s rosters it seemed every short guy got the name R2D2 (I only remember Freddy Patek of the Royals now).
In my 01 replay the guy who has one of my all time favorites is Norman Elberfeld. He was primarily a shortstop for the Brewers (now a reserve on my 05 Yankee team). While Norman may not sound so great, you gotta love the nickname he has “The Tabasco Kid”
While I have not played any of the late 20’s – early 30’s I love Rogers Hornsby’s “Rajah”. Or one of my early favorite nicknames was George “Baron” Mitterwald. I know he only played a couple of seasons for the Cubs, but hearing Jack Brickhouse announce him during a game as “Der Baron” and the name stuck with me. When I was a rookie manager I even traded for him as a back up because I loved the name so much.
So what are your favorite nicknames, and did you have any player you were drawn to just because of how he was announced?
My favorite nickname story is George Brett’s. Apparently, “Mullet” was not his nickname. :)
http://www.apbablog.com/apba-my-players-in-real-life/i-found-my-george-brett-autographed-apba-card
Tom
That’s odd. I am a HUGE G. Brett fan and am curious how it was “Lou”. That said nice work finding the card again. I never thought to have them autographed. Could have had my Aramis Ramirez card signed a couple years ago.
Roberto Clemente, “Arriba”
Al Hrabosky
“The Mad Hungarian”
John “Bad Dude” Stearns
I know that I got this one out of an APBA Journal years ago…
Bob “Death to Flying Things” Ferguson
Great topic!…Poosh em up,Tony Lazzeri.Thanks!
My favorite player has always been Lou Gehrig so I am partial to the “Iron Horse”!
When I first started playing in 1973 I remember playing with the Phillies and their paper-thin, defensive whiz in CF, Gary Maddux. His nickname was “Buggy Whip” but he struck out so many times when I played with the Phillies I renamed him “Buggy Whiff”!
Nicknames are a big part of all sports and is a great topic to get comments.
Thanks for posting and continued success with your replay!
Jeff
My favorite player has always been Al “Bucketfoot” Simmons.
Pirates announcer Bob “the gunner” Prince had a lot of nicknames for the Bucs.
Bill Virdon…the Quail
Bob Skinner…the Dog
Harvey Haddix…the Kitten
Elroy Face…the Baron
Vern Law…the Deacon
Yes the Pirates seem to get good nicknames.
Waner brothers
Big and Little poison
Al Oliver…Scoops
Dave Parker…the Cobra
Mike Easler…the Hit Man
Phil Garner…Scrap Iron
John Candelaria…the Candy Man
And “Pops”
Ryne ‘gabby’ sandberg
John ‘horse face’ candelaria