This is sports-related, so I believe this is the correct forum to post it in…
As most Americans (and others too, possibly) must know, one of the all-time great baseball players, Ted Williams, died a couple of days ago. I’ve heard many nicknames that were given to Williams during his lifetime–three to be exact: Teddy Ballgame, The Splendid Splinter, and The Kid.
This got me to thinking…what’s the unofficial record for nicknames for a single athlete? Let’s see…Ruth was The Babe, the Bambino, the Sultan of Swat…
So what’s the record? [These should be real nicknames used by the masses, not the one-shot type that boxers tend to use before a fight to trump themselves up, as in “Rocky”: “Ladies and gentlemen, the Favorite Son of Boston, the Massachusetts Mauler, the Master of Disaster, the King of Pain, the Man on a Mission, etc., etc., etc.”]
Babe Ruth was also the King of Klout and pretty much anything else a sportswriter could dream up. I think most of these nicknames are dreamed up by sportswriters (or these days, the gang on ESPN) just looking for a way to juice up their stories. I mean, did anyone ever REALLY address Reggie Jackson as “Mr. October?”
The best, of course was Bob “Death to Flying Things” Ferguson.
Most nicknames were chosen by sportswriters, and it wasn’t uncommon for stars to have multiples (though I’d guess Ruth had the most). Still, those with multiples include:
Joe Dimaggio – “Joltin’ Joe” and “The Yankee Clipper”
Pee Wee Reese – not only “Pee Wee,” but “The Little Colonel.” He also had a third nickname that Joe Garagiola mentioned in “Baseball is a Funny Game.”
John Martin – better know as “Pepper” and “The Wild Horse of the Osage.”
My personal favorite is Frankie Frisch, the Fordham Flash.
Although I also like Rabbit Maranville and Kiki Cuyler, whose given name was Hazen Shirley Cuyler.
And Pee Wee Reese was nicknamed Pee Wee long before he became a ballplayer. He was a marbles champion in his hometown in Kentucky, and a Pee Wee is a type of marble.
Kiki Cuyler got his nickname because he stuttered as a youngster and had trouble pronouncing the first syllable of his surname, which should be pronounced “Kigh”.
Heck, if we’re going to count players whose nicknames were used instead of their given names, it’s a whole new ballgame:
Mookie Wilson
Boog Powell
Jeff Tesreau (his real name was Charles; named “Jeff” because of his supposed resemblance to boxer Jim Jeffreys)
Pie Traynor
Germany Schaffer
Irish Meusel
Cy Young
The Big Hurt: Frank Thomas
The Big Unit: Randy Johnson
The Big Cat: Andres Galaraga
The Rocket: Roger Clemens
The Killer B’s : Biggio, Bagwell and Bell
Charlie Hustle, Cincinatti’s favorate son: Pete Rose