|
At what point does a guy's nickname become his official baseball name?
I don't mean so much nicknames that are diminutions of a guy's given first name. i don't care if a guy is Bill Doran, Billy Doran, or William Doran, but what makes Oil Can or Catfish or Roadblock the initial name that gets onto the front of a baseball card, on a BB-R page, or in a Baseball Encyclopedia listing?
is it an art or a science that tips these things one way or the other? I personally don't know what Hunter's name is in the Encyclopedia, but I know his cards have used both "Catfish" and "Jim." I think Boyd's did too, and I think the cards actually trended toward "Dennis" during the second half of his career, when baseball announcers finally stopped to think, "Aren't we just calling this guy a drunk on national television?"
Consensus happens through mysterious ways. "Polar Bear Alonso" is unlikely to ever become Pete Alonso's official baseball name, but I'd like to have a head's up if it's starting to look that way. I don't think we appreciate just how close "Doc Gooden" came to being Dwight Gooden's official baseball name, and the transfer might well have happened if his appearance hadn't been so erratic (and his pitching so unDoc-like) in the second half of a career.
Why are so many pre-war guys nicknamed Babe, but some get that name in the holy books, and some do not?
It's a mystery. If his U.S. career had lasted longer, would "Mr. Sparkle" have become Tsuyoshi Shinjo's official baseball name forever?
| 
