The List : Best Nicknames in Baseball History

ESPN, on Page 2, ran a great article in 2001 called The List : Best nicknames in baseball history. They "officially" declared June as Nickname Month and then voted for the best all-time nickname in baseball. Here are their editorial staff's selections, the fans selections, their poll results and more.

Baseball Almanac Top Quote

"#3. Willie Hit em Where They Ain't Keeler - complicated nickname, deceptively simple hitting philosophy." - ESPN Page 2 Editorial Staff (2001)

The List : Best Nicknames in Baseball History

by ESPN Page 2 Editorial Staff

1st The Splended Splinter Ted Williams
2nd The Sultan of Swat Babe Ruth
3rd Willie "Hit 'em Where They Ain't" Keeler Willie Keeler
4th "Hammerin' " Hank Aaron Hank Aaron
5th The Big Unit Randy Johnson
6th The Georgia Peach Ty Cobb
7th Mordecai "Three Fingers" Brown Mordecai Brown
8th The Yankee Clipper Joe DiMaggio
9th Fred "Bonehead" Merkle Fred Merkle
10th Walter "Big Train" Johnson Walter Johnson
The List : Best Nicknames in Baseball History by ESPN Page 2
baseball almanac flat baseball

baseball almanac fast facts

The ESPN Page 2 editorial staff gave an honorable mention to: Mark "Big Mac" McGwire, Willie "The Say Hey Kid" Mays, Jimmie "Double X" Foxx, Paul "Poison" Waner and Lloyd "Little Poison" Waner, "Dizzy" and "Daffy" Dean, Don "Donny Baseball" Mattingly, "Rapid" Robert Feller, Whitey "The Chairman of the Board" Ford, Willie "Pops" Stargell, Ken Griffey "Junior", Roger "The Rocket" Clemens and Dwight "Dr. K" Gooden.

The ESPN Page 2 editorial staff received more than two-thousand letters after they published their list of the best nicknames in baseball history. Some agreed. Some disagreed. Some made suggestions of their own. The Page 2 editorial staff then took those letters and made another baseball list based on the quantity of received letters:

Top Ten Nicknames by Letters Received
Rank Nickname Name Letters
1st Charlie Hustle Pete Rose 121
2nd Stan the Man Stan Musial 103
3rd Shoeless Joe Joe Jackson 96
4th Sultan of Swat / The Babe Babe Ruth 79
5th Donnie Baseball Don Mattingly 57
6th Oil Can Dennis Boyd 51
7th The Splended Splinter Ted Williams 48
8th The Wizard of Oz Ozzie Smith 39
8th Hammerin' Hank Hank Aaron 39
10th Mr. October Reggie Jackson 28
ESPN Nickname Poll Results

The two lists (Best Nicknames in Baseball History & Top Ten Nicknames by Letters Received) were combined and a poll was taken. Here are the results of that particular poll.

14,647 votes and from the poll came a new list of top ten baseball nicknames (no new entries were permitted).

Do you agree with their choices? Do you have a favorite nickname? Share your opinion on Baseball Fever where there are thousands of topics about baseball nicknames...