What great nickname sticks out in your mind? I have a few individual favorites…
[ul]
[li]Charlie Hustle - Pete Rose[/li][li]Mr. October - Reggie Jackson[/li][li]Iron Horse - Lou Gehrig[/li][li]The Sultan of Swat - Babe Ruth[/li][li]Elroy Hersh - Crazy Legs[/li][li]Jim Hunter - Catfish[/li][li]The Great One - Wayne Gretzky[/li][li]Bob Kelley - Battleship[/li][li]Jerome Bettis - The Bus[/li][li]Richard Petty - The King[/li][li]Karl Malone - The Mailman[/li][/ul]
As well as some team-specific nicknames:
[ul]
[li]The Purple People Eaters - Minnesota Vikings Defense[/li][li]The Steel Curtain - Pittsburgh Steelers Defense[/li][li]The Big Red Machine - Cincinnati Reds[/li][/ul]
You get the idea. What are some of your favorites?
Back in the deadball era, they had a lot of great names. My personal favorite was Bob “Death to Flying Things” Ferguson.
Other good ones were Russ “The Mad Monk” Meyer, Tony “The Apollo of the Box” Mulane, Ed “The Only” Nolan.
Of course, we can’t forget Fred “Bonehead” Merkle. An outstanding player whose career will forever be defined by one stupid mistake. Similar, in many ways, to Bill Buckner (except that Merkle’s mistake happened in his rookie season).
Another odd one was The Rabbi of Swat. That was the nickname of Moses Solomon, a minor-league slugger who had a brief cup of coffee with the Giants in 1923 (and hit no homers in the majors).
Probably the worst nickname was Hugh “Losing Pitcher” Mulcahy. He pitched for the Phillies in the 30s and 40s, who ended up with a career record of 45-89.
Individuals:
[list]
[li]The Refrigerator-William Perry[/li][li]The Galloping ghost - Red Grange[/li][li]Michael “Air” Jordan (Says it all really)[/li][li]The Glide - Clyde Drexler[/li][li]Sweetness - Walter Payton[/li][li] “Shoeless” Joe Jackson[/li][li]CuJo - Curtis Joseph[/li][li] The Hammer - Hank Aaron[/li][li]The Georgia Peach - Ty Cobb[/li][li]“Mean” Joe Greene[/li]
Teams/Groups (In addition to those already mentioned)
[li] New York Sack Exchange- Jets early 80’s D line[/li][li] Purple Reign - U Washington’s 1984 defense[/li][li] Phi Slamma Jamma- U. Houston early 80’s basketball[/li] Murderer’s Row - 1927 Yankees
Individuals:
[list]
[li]The Refrigerator-William Perry[/li][li]The Galloping ghost - Red Grange[/li][li]Michael “Air” Jordan (Says it all really)[/li][li]The Glide - Clyde Drexler[/li][li]Sweetness - Walter Payton[/li][li] “Shoeless” Joe Jackson[/li][li]CuJo - Curtis Joseph[/li][li] The Hammer - Hank Aaron[/li][li]The Georgia Peach - Ty Cobb[/li][li]“Mean” Joe Greene[/li]
Teams/Groups (In addition to those already mentioned)
[li] New York Sack Exchange- Jets early 80’s D line[/li][li] Purple Reign - U Washington’s 1984 defense[/li][li] Phi Slamma Jamma- U. Houston early 80’s basketball[/li] Murderer’s Row - 1927 Yankees
William Perry was known to his teammates as Mudslide, because that’s allegedly what his body resembled when he took his shirt off.
And as much as it pains me to say it, Stanford’s defensive line (?) in the late '60s was known as the Screaming Thunderchickens, or something like that. Go Bears!
Johnny “Blood” McNally, running back for the Packers in the 1930s. At least I’m pretty sure his last name was McNally, you rarely hear that part mentioned. I’m surprised there isn’t a comic book character named Johnny Blood.
Bone Fans of the Seattle Mariners know of who I speak. When Griffey Jr. played here he was known as “The Kid”. Guess middle age as finally caught up with him.
Dale Earnhardt was commonly known as “The Intimidator” to most fans as previously posted but to true NASCAR fans he was also known as Ironhead.
