Baseball Handles and Nicknames Quiz

Answer: Yogi

Lawrence "Yogi" Berra got his nickname as a teenager when his friends saw a resemblance between his demeanor and that of an Indian yogi in a movie. Despite being a Hall of Fame quality catcher for the New York Yankees with 3 AL MVP awards and 10 World Series championships, Berra is perhaps better known for his colorful persona and memorable "Yogi-isms".

Some of those one-liners include "When you come to a fork in the road, take it", "Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical", and "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours.".

Answer: Pudge

Not only did nobody catch more games in Major League Baseball history than Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez, very few did it better. Pudge won 13 Gold Gloves in his career, and retired with 311 home runs and just under 3,000 career hits at the plate. The nickname Pudge was born on Rodriguez's first day at Texas Rangers camp in 1991 as a 16-year old Puerto Rican prospect. Rangers coach Chino Cadahia coined it from Rodriguez's stocky build. Remarkably, Rodriguez became the second "Pudge" to enter the Hall of Fame. Catcher Carlton Fisk - another stocky youngster whose catcher games played record Rodriguez broke - entered the Hall of Fame in 2000.

Answer: Hack

While the late-1990s and early 2000s steroid-era of baseball rewrote much of the offensive record books, the greatest individual offensive season in baseball remains diminutive Hack Wilson's 1930 season with the Chicago Cubs. Wilson hit for a .356 average, with 58 home runs (a National League record that stood until 1998) and 191 RBIs (a Major League record that still stands). Wilson had debuted with the New York Giants in 1925 when the moniker "Hack" first appeared, albeit the exact genesis of the nickname is uncertain. Wilson was a combative type and struggled with alcohol which shortened his career and ultimately his life.

Answer: Doc

Long-time Toronto Blue Jays radio voice Tom Cheek gave Roy the nickname "Doc" for his name's similarity to Wild West outlaw Doc Holliday. After a dominant decade with the Toronto Blue Jays, Doc Halladay threw the second no-hitter in postseason history when he blanked the Cincinnati Reds as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2010 National League Division Series. Halladay claimed a Cy Young Award in each league and has his number retired by both the Blue Jays and Phillies after he retired. Halladay was an avid pilot and lost his life in 2017 when his private plane crashed in the Gulf of Mexico.

He was posthumously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.

Answer: The Man

Who knows how Stan Musial's career would have played out if the young pitcher didn't damage his shoulder in 1940? That injury turned his attention to becoming a full-time hitter. Musial's average was over .320 in ten of his first 12 big league seasons, peaking in 1948 with a .376 season.

After taking the 1945 season off to serve in the United States Navy, Musial returned in 1946 to claim his second of three MVP awards in his career while leading his St. Louis Cardinals to a World Series title. Musial record 3630 hits in his career - including a perfect split of 1815 home hits and 1815 road hits - for a .331 batting average.

Answer: Mr. October

Jackson earned the nickname "Mr. October" when he hit home runs on three consecutive pitches in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series for the New York Yankees. The Yankees would go on to win that series and give Jackson the fourth of his five World Series championships in a seven-year period. Jackson hit 10 home runs in the World Series over his career and was named the World Series MVP twice.

He was no slouch in the other months of the year. Jackson retired with 563 career home runs, 2548 hits, and an AL MVP.

Answer: Three Finger

"Three Finger" was more of a description than a nickname! Brown lost a finger and mangled two others in an accident on his parent's farm as a five-year old child on his parents farm in Indiana in 1881. Brown persisted and utilized his lack of digits to grip the baseball in unique ways that kept hitters in independent leagues off balance.

He did not make his debut until he was 27 in 1903 with the St. Louis Cardinals. After one season he was traded to the Chicago Cubs where he would have the most successful years of his career.

He averaged 24 wins a season and was the ace pitcher on the Cubs' 1907 and 1908 World Series championships.

Answer: Pops

Stargell earned the nickname "Pops" for his leadership inside the clubhouses of the 1970s Pittsburgh Pirates teams that twice won the World Series. Stargell's impact was felt on the field too. In 1979 he was named the MVP of the NL, NLCS, and World Series, the first player to win all three awards in the same season.

He was a feared power hitter who was able to overcome the cavernous Forbes Field that the Pirates played in during the first half of his career. Stargell's 296 home runs were the most of any player in the 1970s decade.

Answer: Stretch

McCovey put his 6-foot-4 frame and range to good use as a first baseman. McCovey won the NL Rookie of the Year in 1959 despite playing only 52 games. McCovey led the league in home runs three times, and was named the NL MVP in 1969. McCovey was the 12th member of the 500 home run club and retired with 521 home runs.

In the eyes of rival manager Sparky Anderson, McCovey's numbers were even more impressive because "everyone pitches around him. If you let him bat 600 times and pitched to him instead of around him, he'd hit 80 home runs."

Answer: Baby Bull

Sometimes you are born into a nickname, and that was the case with Cepeda, whose father was known as "The Bull" in his career playing baseball in the Dominican Republic. In 1961 Cepeda was the first player born outside of the United States to lead a league in home runs when he paced the NL with 46 home runs in 1961.

After six consecutive All-Star seasons with the Giants, Cepeda missed most of the 1965 season after an injury and was stunningly traded to St. Louis and questions were raised about if Cepeda could return to perform at a high level. Just two years later Cepeda was a World Series champion and the first unanimous MVP winner in thirty years.