# Great baseball nicknames **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 24, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-baseball-nicknames/494176 "2009-04-24T02:16:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![critter42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@critter42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/critter42)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-baseball-nicknames/494176/41 "2009-04-26T04:04:47Z")
A minor-league player most of his career, [Stubby Clapp](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stubby_Clapp) did play for the Cardinals for a few games in '01. Love the guy, love the name - even if it does sound like a weird STD 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Man\_from\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Man\_from\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_from_Mars)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-baseball-nicknames/494176/42 "2009-04-26T04:27:07Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > Vladimir Guerrero-Vlad The Impaler This one, I don’t get. The only connection between the two is the name. It would a great name though if Guerrero’s sport were fencing. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-baseball-nicknames/494176/43 "2009-04-26T04:42:46Z")
How about “Ock” Duliba (from the German song “Ach, du lieber Augustine”. I forget who he played for. I think he was better known for his nickname than anything else he did. ---
**Author:** ![ShermanAter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ShermanAter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShermanAter)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-baseball-nicknames/494176/44 "2009-04-26T04:43:40Z")
How about James “Cool Papa” Bell > **[Cool Papa Bell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_Papa_Bell)** > > James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell (May 17, 1903 – March 7, 1991) was an American center fielder in Negro league baseball from 1922 to 1946. He is considered to have been one of the fastest men ever to play the game. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. He ranked 66th on a list of the greatest baseball players published by The Sporting News in 1999. > Bell was born on May 17, 1903, in Starkville, Mississippi, to Jonas Bell and Mary Nichols. The 1910 U.S. Census shows him as the fourth... ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-baseball-nicknames/494176/45 "2009-04-26T11:36:28Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The A’s have a pitcher named Outman. A better name than Rays’ pitcher Grant Balfour. Pity Rollie Fingers and Bill Hands were never on the same pitching staff. Bill Lamb, Bob Moose, and Stan Veale were, though. ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-baseball-nicknames/494176/46 "2009-04-26T14:52:15Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Other good nicknames for relief pitchers: Mariano “The Sandman” Rivera and Tom “The Terminator” Henke. I dig Mo Rivera’s other nickname, “The Hammer of God.” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-baseball-nicknames/494176/47 "2009-04-26T16:51:48Z")
[Emil “Hill Billy” Bildilli](http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Emil_Bildilli) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-baseball-nicknames/494176/48 "2009-04-26T18:24:28Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > [Emil “Hill Billy” Bildilli](http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Emil_Bildilli) Did he like Milli Vinilli? ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-baseball-nicknames/494176/49 "2009-04-27T15:11:49Z")
Eric “Napalm” Gagne. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-baseball-nicknames/494176/50 "2009-04-27T16:06:00Z")
Not here to add any nicknames, but wanted to link the OP’s original suggestions to some pages with information about them: [“The Only” Nolan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Only_Nolan) [Bob “Death to Flying Things” Ferguson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Ferguson_(baseball)) After that pitch of Randy Johnson (?) hit the bird flying by and killed it, I’d have thought that nickname should be applied to him! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-baseball-nicknames/494176/51 "2009-04-27T16:31:05Z")
> [@Tony](#): > > This one, I don’t get. The only connection between the two is the name. It would a great name though if Guerrero’s sport were fencing. Maybe it isn’t baseball related…but i’ve never seen him naked, so who knows? ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-baseball-nicknames/494176/52 "2009-04-27T22:20:58Z")
It’s hard to be Randy “Big Unit” Johnson. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-baseball-nicknames/494176/53 "2009-04-28T12:17:55Z")
Ah, yes … there was a time, very recently, when the Yankees’ rotation partly comprised “Big Unit” Johnson, Wang, … and Small. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-baseball-nicknames/494176/54 "2009-04-29T16:04:24Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > Eric “Napalm” Gagne. You reminded me of [Bryan Clark](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Clark_(baseball)), the so-called relief pitcher whose propensity to add to the flames of opposing rallies led him to be dubbed “Gas Can” during his stint with the Indians. The sobriquet played off Dennis Boyd’s nickname of “Oil Can” (mentioned earlier in the thread), which derived from a slang term for the beer cans from which Boyd apparently derived much liquid refreshment as far back as his teenage years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-baseball-nicknames/494176.md?page=2)