Made-For-the-Diamond Baseball Names: Bob Walk and Homer Bailey come to mind for me, but your list is excellent! Love Steels! You guys continue to do a great job.
Happy New Year to you too. Fun Sunday read! Well, aside from the obvious double entendre baseball names we all knew and loved as boys (Dick Pole, Pete LaCock, Rusty Kuntz etc.), the name Early Wynn (for a pitcher too!) flashed in my mind as one of the all-time great baseball game names. Cecil Fielder is pretty self-explanatory, and Johnny Bench, ironically, because he didn't spend much time riding the pine. Also, as pure nicknames that have a baseball "feel" to them as opposed to, say, hockey or football: Catfish Hunter, Oil Can Boyd, Coco Crisp (although I can see him as a wide receiver or track star-turned-runningback), Cool Papa Bell, Dusty Baker, Boog Powell (defensive lineman, maybe, to), and Goose Gossage (maybe Kenny "The Snake" Stabler's go-to back and after-hours wingman/running buddy ...
Oh man, some great names there. Good point about names that just feel like baseball, too. Some that always hit that note for me: Clint Hurdle, Champ Summers, Ty Cline, Mudcat Grant.
Happy New Year to you too, Adam. Not gonna lie, that 88 Topps James Steels triggered me at first glance. Must have pulled at least 400 of those back in the day. Topps should have printed "Free James Steels card in every pack!" on the the wax.
My pick for for names is RIP REPULSKI. Yeah I know it's a nickname, but aside from a few years with a facsimile "Eldon" autograph, the preponderance of his cards (that I can find) print his name as "Rip" on the front. Not to mention the phenomenal alliteration when joined with Repulski. It just screams BASEBALL PLAYER.
Ha! I think everyone has an equivalent (or a few) to your '88 Topps Steels. I think my first was 1981 Topps Steve McCatty. Repulski is a great choice! I'm sure more than one announcer had him "ripping" a double or triple down the line.
Matt Batts
Indeed. Another catcher with a hitting-themed name. He had some pretty nifty baseball cards in the 1950s, too.
Made-For-the-Diamond Baseball Names: Bob Walk and Homer Bailey come to mind for me, but your list is excellent! Love Steels! You guys continue to do a great job.
Thank you! Bob Walk is sort of an unfortunatme name for pitcher. :)
Happy New Year to you too. Fun Sunday read! Well, aside from the obvious double entendre baseball names we all knew and loved as boys (Dick Pole, Pete LaCock, Rusty Kuntz etc.), the name Early Wynn (for a pitcher too!) flashed in my mind as one of the all-time great baseball game names. Cecil Fielder is pretty self-explanatory, and Johnny Bench, ironically, because he didn't spend much time riding the pine. Also, as pure nicknames that have a baseball "feel" to them as opposed to, say, hockey or football: Catfish Hunter, Oil Can Boyd, Coco Crisp (although I can see him as a wide receiver or track star-turned-runningback), Cool Papa Bell, Dusty Baker, Boog Powell (defensive lineman, maybe, to), and Goose Gossage (maybe Kenny "The Snake" Stabler's go-to back and after-hours wingman/running buddy ...
Oh man, some great names there. Good point about names that just feel like baseball, too. Some that always hit that note for me: Clint Hurdle, Champ Summers, Ty Cline, Mudcat Grant.
Happy New Year to you too, Adam. Not gonna lie, that 88 Topps James Steels triggered me at first glance. Must have pulled at least 400 of those back in the day. Topps should have printed "Free James Steels card in every pack!" on the the wax.
My pick for for names is RIP REPULSKI. Yeah I know it's a nickname, but aside from a few years with a facsimile "Eldon" autograph, the preponderance of his cards (that I can find) print his name as "Rip" on the front. Not to mention the phenomenal alliteration when joined with Repulski. It just screams BASEBALL PLAYER.
Ha! I think everyone has an equivalent (or a few) to your '88 Topps Steels. I think my first was 1981 Topps Steve McCatty. Repulski is a great choice! I'm sure more than one announcer had him "ripping" a double or triple down the line.