I frequently turn to the minors for these Names of the Week because while there are plenty of awesomely named big-leaguers, often they’re well known enough so that most of you guys will have already heard of them, and in some cases gotten so used to the name that you’ve become inured to its wonders (e.g. Coco Crisp, “Randy Johnson, The Big Unit,” Prince Fielder, etc). The other good bet is to turn to the past, when men were men and ballplayers had f****** awesome names. Today’s pick was born in Eddy, Texas, in 1904, which is likely why he was known as:
Well, I thought it was funny.
Nugent’s given name is Granville, which is pretty good in its own right. He was a career minor leaguer, playing from 1926 to 1941 for the Terre Haute Tots (!) (alongside Uke Clanton and Watty Clark), the Little Rock Travelers, the Midland Cowboys, and the El Dorado Lions, among other teams. No date of death is listed on baseball-reference, which makes a late-in-life career switch to rock star a possibility, though still perhaps unlikely.
Meantime, bonus points are awarded to the Mets for acquiring Taylor Tankersley; as Greg at Faith and Fear in Flushing points out, with plausible poesy, the Amazin’s have taken on an alliterative trio this winter: the aforementioned T. Tankersley, Chris Capuano and, of course, previous Name of the Week honoree Boof Bonser. I take this as a clear sign that the Mets are once again moving in the right direction.
Alliterative all-star team .... hmmmm
Bret Boone
Cecil Cooper
Harvey Haddix ....
etc etc etc
The Nuge!
If ya can't lick 'em...lick 'em.
Boy does that album cover bring back memories. My buddies and I would play that one at obscene volumes in our dorm room, all to the disgust of the ladies on the floor, who a) we weren't chasing, and b) even if we were we didn't have a prayer.
Terminus El Dorado is still on my regular MP3 playlist.
I think this line should stay in the bigs. How about players named after players?
Emma,
I suddenly remembered I have wanted to post this when I saw your "names in baseball" posts.
Nothing will ever be the same since Cliff Ditto managed in Walla Walla. You could look it up.
Talk about alliteration on a number of levels ...