Baseball’s Colorful Nicknames Are Missed

Whatever happened to nicknames in baseball?

They used to be as much a part of the game as home runs, strikeouts and stolen bases. That charming part of the game seems to have been lost on the current generation.

Everyone has a theory as to why attendance has dropped and only a handful of major league teams are showing a profit.

I’d like to add mine. It’s the missing nicknames.

Where, I ask, are Peanuts, Smoky, Lippy, Major, the Brat, the Hat, the Cat, the Kitten, the Crow, the Barber, the Whip, Boog, Yogi, Cot, Junior, Scooter, Cookie, Pee Wee, Salty, Lefty, Piggy, Sheriff, Bobo, Cura, Milkman, Old Reliable, Rude, Big Cat, Snuffy, Swish, Sibby, Skoonj, Moose, Scrap Iron, Preacher, Prince, Gabby, Rajah, Diamond Jim, Pistol Pete, Bullet Bob, Jungle Jim, Ducky, Whitey, Big Poison, Little Poison, and of course, Sey Hey, Duke, the Mick, the Kid or Slendid Splinter, the Yankee Clipper or Joltin’ Joe, the Man and the Babe?

If you can identify the aforementioned and can put surnames with the nicknames, you are indeed a fan from a happier time. And remember, most of the above played when there were only 16 teams and 400 players in the majors and no teams west of the Mississippi.

Most of the men whose names I listed played during the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s.

But the names have one thing in common: They are all identifiable to most avid baseball fans.

They played when fans made players part of their own families. Fan clubs existed in all parts of the country, even where some fans never got to see their heroes perform live.

Fans followed these players daily through newspaper accounts and radio. Broadcasters were identified with the teams they covered. You may have heard of Red Barber, Mel Allen, Russ Hodges, Harry Caray, Ernie Harwell, Bob Prince, Jack Buck, Jack Brickhouse, Chuck Thompson. . . . But that’s another story.

My love affair with nicknames began with the old syndicated Ozark Ike comic strip.

Ozark was a three-sport athlete. He could throw a touchdown pass the length of a football field and sink his famous “peg shot” from anywhere on the basketball court. But his best sport, by far, was baseball.

His team rarely lost. How could it, with the likes of the power-hitting Ozark, hard-throwing pitcher Spike Cleats and the defensively brilliant Bubba Bean, the lanky first baseman?

From fantasy to reality, my attention swung to the International League.

There were the likes of Clarence (Soup) Campbell, Boris (Butch) Woyt, Al (Yogi) Cihocki, Howitzer Howie Moss, Fireman John Podgajny, Al (Moose) Lakeman, George (Bingo) Binks, Jack (Lucky) Lohrke, Glenn (Red) McQuillen, Marv (Wiggles) Rickert, Herbert (Babe) Barna, Ralph (Putsey) Caballero, Stan (Stash) Lopata, Kenny (The Kid) Braun, Don (Jeep) Hefner and Bob (Sarge) Kuzava. Other clubs in the league had the likes of Sam (Jet) Jethroe, George (Specs) Toporcer, George (Shotgun) Shuba, Hank (Bow-Wow) Arft, and Glenn (Rocky) Nelson.