A Nickname For All Occasions

The use of nicknames in baseball has diminished greatly since the heyday of the practice in the first half of this century. Sacramento ball clubs shared in this rich American tradition. where telling honesty required a heavyset guy like George Lial to be called “Tubby” and another with a lousy disposition on the mound, “Grumpy” Gus Fletcher.

In a 1981 study of major league nicknames, James K. Skipper Jr. found the most popular were Lefty, Red, Doc, Bud or Buddy, and Dutch. Capital City players bore all of these, plus quite a few others.

The best known among the Senators/Solons called “Lefty” was Claude Williams, later one of the eight Chicago Black Sox players who conspired to throw the 1919 World Series. Ex-Sacramento first baseman Arnold “Chick” Gandil was another of the conspirators.

Answering to “Red” were pitchers Garth Mann and George Munger, plus one other redhead, Ross “Brick” Eldred.

A battery of “Docs” operating on the diamond would include James Crandall—called the “Doctor of Lost Games” as a relief pitcher—and catcher Les Cook.

Player and manager John “Buddy” Ryan got his nickname because his middle name was Budd, but there was the case of the pitcher named Beasley—called Bud—because that was his given name, not a nickname.

Names from ethnic groups include “Dutch” (Clarence Hoffman, Bert Lerchen, Murl Prather, Walter Ruether); “Frenchy” (Stan Bordagaray, Joe Raymond) and “Fritz” (Fred Mollwitz). Like many Native American players, Moses Yellow Horse was called “Chief”. Irishmen included Joseph “Patsy” O’Rourke and Mark “Patsy” McGaffigan. Emil “Irish” Meusel was German, but the players thought he looked like a son of the auld sod.

Nicknames of “Honolulu Johnnie” Williams and “Seattle Bill” James honored their hometowns. Gil “Miz” DeForrest was from Missouri.

Many nicknames derived from physical attributes. Skinny pitcher Charles Baum was called “Spider” and Ira Colwell was “Slats”. Tall Ben Hunt was “High Pockets.” Big players were called “Moose” (John Cano, Warren Fralich), while portly Albert Gould was “Pudgy’” and husky Ray Perry was “Buffalo”. Slowpokes were “Truck” (Charles Eagan, Harry Hannah).

Frank Morehouse was a little guy, hence “Jockey.” Another diminutive player was Frank Scalzi, called “Skeeter” or “Snuffy” (for a comic strip character).

Blondes Earl Sheely and William Wietelmann were “Whitey” and Henry “Cotton” Pippen was blond as a boy. Elmer “Specs” Shea wore glasses. Ernie Lombardi was called “Schnozz” for his big nose.

Demeanor identified Wilbur “Raw Meat” Rodgers — who behaved as if he’d been eating some — Ted “Bull” Easterly, Harold “Rowdy” Elliott and several “Deacons” (Carroll Jones and Edward Van Buren). Hustling John Martin was “Pepper” and, similarly, Ralph Young and Elton Prentice were “Pep”.

Behavior on the mound gave us Elwood “Speed” Martin, a fast pitcher. William “Wild Bill” Piercy, who was, and John “Duster” Mails, who liked to knock batters to the ground with inside pitches.

Country boys included Forrest “Hick” Cady and two named “Rube,” Ed Kinsella and Oscar Peters.

Age came into play with Ellsworth “Babe” Dahlgren. Paul “Pop” Gregory, Herm “Old Folks” Pillette and John “Schoolboy” Knight. Marino “Chick” Pieretti got his nickname not from his youth, but because a doctor had to remove a chicken bone from his throat. Ernest “Kid” Mohler was playing for Sacramento past the age of 40.

Joe “Flash” Gordon’s nickname came from a comic strip and William “Duke” Kenworthy inherited several million dollars from an English family estate.

Joyner “Jo Jo” White’s nickname derived from his pronunciation of his home state of Georgia — “joe-jah”.

Elliot Wills was “Bump” because he fell down a lot while trying to learn to walk as a toddler.

Other monikers remain a mystery to me, so I can’t tell you how Sylvester “Blix” Donnelly, Roy “Deedle” Moran, Allyn “Fish Hook” Stout, or Elwood “Kettle” Wirts got their nicknames.

But Vernal “Nippy” Jones told me he was nicknamed after his father, who was called “Nip” because he enjoyed taking a nip of whiskey on occasion.