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.
"#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 Historyby ESPN Page 2 Editorial Staff |
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Rank | Nickname [Hover Over Name for Why] | Name |
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 |
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 |
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...