Last Names Coming And Going

[Lee Grimsley]

The best I can tell only four players in major league history have had last names that are spelled exactly the same forward as they are backward -- and two of them have ties to the Texas Ranger organization.

Can you name them?

[Baseball Guru]

The 2 that I know that have Texas ties are Rob Nen and Toby Harrah...
Another that I know of is Dave Otto.....
Are those 3 of the 4 you are thinking of?? I can't think of a 4th off the top of my head right now.....

[Lee Grimsley]

How about Dick Nen, the pitchers father who was a first baseman with the Los Angeles Dodgers and later the old Washington Senators.

The other was Eddie Kazak who played third base for the Cardinals and of course the Rangers own Toby Harrah

All makes you wonder

:freak: Where is Dave Hostettler when you really need him?

[Baseball Guru]

Oh my!!!!
How could you ever forget about Dave Otto:uhoh: :biggrin:
LoL:biggrin:
Good question though....
I love trivia so throw them out at will....I'll try to find some good juicey ones for you as well:biggrin:

[Lee Grimsley]

Triva like which first baseman had the worst bite --

Fred (Crime Dog) Griff or Hank (Bow Wow) Arft?

Looks like nicknames are dying breed in baseball and it is a crying shame -- one of my favorite Rangers of all time (:P ) was Oil Can Boyd

[Baseball Guru]

Here are some nicknames for Hall of Famers:

Henry Louis Aaron ---Hammerin' Hank
George Lee Anderson ------Sparky
Adrian Constantine Anson----- Cap
Don Richard Ashburn -----Whitey
Howard Earl Averill ------Rock
John Franklin Baker------ Home Run
David James Bancroft----- Beauty
Ernest Banks------ Mr. Cub
Jacob Peter Beckley -------Eagle Eye
James Bell --------Cool Papa
Charles Albert Bender------ Chief
Lawrence Peter Berra------- Yogi
James Leroy Bottomley------ Sunny Jim
Roger Philip Bresnahan ------The Duke of Tralee
Dennis Joseph Brouthers ------Big Dan
Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown -----Three Finger
Jesse Cail Burkett-----Crab
Roy Campanella --------Campy
Max George Carey ------Scoops
Steven Norman Carlton------ Lefty
Orlando Manuel Cepeda -------Baby Bull -----Cha Cha
Frank Leroy Chance -----Husk ------The Peerless Leader
Albert Benjamin Chandler------ Happy
John Dwight Chesbro -------Happy Jack
Fred Clifford Clarke----- Cap
Tyrus Raymond Cobb ------The Georgia Peach
Gordon Stanley Cochrane ------Mickey
Edward Trowbridge Collins, Sr.------ Cocky
Earle Bryan Combs ----The Kentucky Colonel
Samuel Earl Crawford -----Wahoo Sam
William Arthur Cummings ----Candy
Hazen Shirley Cuyler -----Kiki
Jay Hannah Dean----- Dizzy
Edward James Delahanty------ Big Ed
Joseph Paul DiMaggio ----Joltin' Joe -----The Yankee Clipper
Donald Scott Drysdale -------Big D
Leo Ernest Durocher -------Lippy-----The Lip
John Joseph Evers----- Crab ----Trojan
William Ewing------ Buck
Urban Charles Faber --------Red
Robert William Andrew Feller -------Rapid Robert
Carlton Ernest Fisk----- Pudge
Edward Charles Ford------ Chairman of the Board ------Whitey
Andrew Foster ----Rube
Jacob Nelson Fox ----Nellie
James Emory Foxx -----Double X -----The Beast
Frank Francis Frisch -----The Fordham Flash
James Francis Galvin------- Gentle James ------Pud
Henry Louis Gehrig -----Buster ------The Iron Horse
Charles Leonard Gehringer -------The Mechanical Man
Robert Gibson------- Hoot
Vernon Louis Gomez-------- Goofy ------Lefty
Leon Allen Goslin ------Goose
Henry Benjamin Greenberg------ Hammerin' Hank
Clark Calvin Griffith -------Old Fox
Burleigh Arland Grimes -------Ole Stubblebeard
Robert Moses Grove ------Lefty
Charles James Hafey -----Chick
Jesse Joseph Haines------ Pop
William Robert Hamilton ------Sliding Billy
Edward Hugh Hanlon -------Ned
Stanley Raymond Harris ------Bucky
Charles Leo Hartnett --------Gabby
Rogers Hornsby ------Rajah
Waite Charles Hoyt ------Schoolboy
Carl Owen Hubbell ----King Carl -----The Meal Ticket
Miller James Huggins -------The Mighty Mite
James Augustus Hunter ------Catfish
Reginald Martinez Jackson -----Mr. October
Travis Calvin Jackson -----Stonewall
Walter Perry Johnson -------Barney ------The Big Train
Timothy John Keefe -----Sir Timothy
William Henry Keeler----- Wee Willie
George Lange Kelly--------- High Pockets
Michael Joseph Kelly King
Harmon Clayton Killebrew, Jr. ------Killer
Anthony Michael Lazzeri -------Push 'Em Up Tony
Robert Granville Lemon
Walter Fenner Leonard --------Buck
John Henry Lloyd -------Pop
Cornelius Alexander Mack -----Connie ------The Tall Tactician
Mickey Charles Mantle -----The Commerce Comet -----The Mick
Walter James Vincent Maranville ------Rabbit
Richard William Marquard------ Rube
Christopher Mathewson -----Big Six ------Matty
Willie Howard Mays, Jr.------ Say Hey
William Stanley Mazeroski------- Maz
Willie Lee McCovey ------Stretch
Joseph Jerome McGinnity------ Iron Man
John Joseph McGraw ----Little Napoleon-----Mugsy
William Boyd McKechnie ------Deacon
John Alexander McPhee------ Bid
Joseph Michael Medwick --------Ducky -------Muscles
John Robert Mize -------The Big Cat
Stanley Frank Musial ----------Stan the Man
Harold Newhouser ----------Prince Hal
Charles Augustus Nichols--------- Kid
James Henry O'Rourke------- Orator Jim
Melvin Thomas Ott ---------Master Melvin
Leroy Robert Paige -------Satchel
Herbert Jefferis Pennock------ The Knight of Kennett Square
Edward Stewart Plank------- Gettysburg Eddie
Charles Gardner Radbourn ------Old Hoss
Harold Henry Reese------ Pee Wee ------The Little Colonel
Phillip Francis Rizzuto -------Scooter
Brooks Calbert Robinson, Jr. -------The Vacuum Cleaner
Wilbur Rogan------- Bullet
Charles Herbert Ruffing------- Red
Amos Wilson Rusie ------The Hoosier Thunderbolt
George Herman Ruth --------Bambino-------The Sultan of Swat
Lynn Nolan Ryan-------- The Ryan Express
Raymond William Schalk --------Cracker
Albert Fred Schoendienst -----Red
George Thomas Seaver -------Tom Terrific
Aloysius Harry Simmons -------Bucketfoot Al
George Harold Sisler------ Georgeous George
Enos Bradsher Slaughter ------Country
Edwin Donald Snider----- Duke ------he Silver Fox
Tristam E. Speaker -----Spoke------The Grey Eagle
Norman Thomas Stearnes------- Turkey
Charles Dillon Stengel ------Casey-----The Ole Perfessor
William Harold Terry-------- Memphis Bill
Samuel Luther Thompson -------Big Sam
Harold Joseph Traynor----- Pie
Clarence Arthur Vance -------Dazzy
Joseph Floyd Vaughan -------Arky
George Edward Waddell ------Rube
John Peter Wagner------ Honus -------The Flying Dutchman
Edward Augustine Walsh---- Big Ed
Lloyd James Waner -------Little Poison
Paul Glee Waner------ Big Poison
John Montgomery Ward --------Monte
Michael Francis Welch -------Smiling Mickey
Willie James Wells--------- Devil
Zachary Davis Wheat ------Buck
Joe Williams ------Cyclone-------Smokey Joe
Theodore Samuel Williams------ Kid-------Thumper ----The Splendid Splinter
Lewis Robert Wilson------- Hack
Early Wynn, Jr.------ Gus
Carl Michael Yastrzemski -------Yaz
Thomas Austin ------Yawkey
Denton True Young ----------Cyclone

[Lee Grimsley]

Oh now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now you've done it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Memory bucket got turned upside down (only my recollections are more from the seemier side of baseball than the Hall of Famers

My all time favorite is WILLIE (PUDDIN' HEAD) JONES, third baseman for the Whiz Kids in 1950.

And one you should remember MARVELOUS MARV THRONEBERRY (I became a fan of his when he was playing with Kansas City, then in the American Association and farm club of the Yankees.

And then there was STEVE (BYE-BYE) BALBONI of those dreaded crosstown rivals, the Yankees.

One of the two ferocious CINCINNATI sluggers -- either TED KLUSZEWSKI of GUS BELL had the nickname of OZARK IKE and I can't remember which one it was.

Or on the theme of Cincy, how about EWELL (THE WHIP) BLACKWELL .

And one who came up through the Dodger farm system OMAR (TURK) LOWN

Then there was DOUG (ROOSTER) RADER of the old Houston Astros. And after he became the Rangers manager his favorite catcher to replace Jim Sundberg -- NED (SCRAPIRON) YOST

JIMMY (THE TOY CANNON) WYNN was another Astro.

How about GEORGE (SHOTGUN) SHUBA OF Dodger fame, along with DUKE SNIDER and HAROLD (PEEWEE) REESE.

And the first relief pitcher to ever be called by the name -- FIREMAN JOE PAGE

Man, that was in the days of BASEBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Baseball Guru]

Those were great Lee:biggrin:

Balboni, the powerful career .229 hitter...LoL:biggrin:
If he didn't hit it out, he usually struck out....I remember him more with KC hitting 30-35 HR's but also striking out 140-160 times......:uhoh:
Lee, remember when hitting 35 HR's meant something????
I miss those days:ohno:

[Lee Grimsley]

Oh I miss those days too when even the weakest teams had players you could remember. But in those days we had farm systems and no free agency.

In 1959 (back in the days when teams broke camp at spring training and headed back north on barnstorming tours) the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago White Sox stopped in Fort Worth at LaGrave Field for an afternoon exhibition game.

Late in the game a rookie who was not going to stick all season with the Cards came in as a pinch runner. His name was Curt Flood. If I had known then the havoc his actions would wreak on the game of baseball I might have hired a hitman to have sniped him out that day.

That was baseball -- I was strictly a Dodger fan because of the Fort Worth Cats and in the oldtime Sporting News they published l box scores of the Montreal Royals and St Paul Saints in AAA and the Mobile Bears and Fort Worth Cats in AA and gave pretty good summaries of the Dodgers class A farms at Elmira and Pueblo.

Wonder what people who gasped when Joe Dimaggio signed a contract for $125,000 per season would have thought about A-Rod?

[Baseball Guru]

Great story Lee...Thanks for sharing it:biggrin: