50's Baseball Nicknames

[dukehjsteve]

Blue Moon?

Odom.

[DrJay]

The Hawk?

[dukehjsteve]

2 more 50's, but don't ask me their first names... I don't know them:

Peanuts

Puddin'Head

[dukehjsteve]

The Hawk?

Harrelsen

[dukehjsteve]

Slats

[DrJay]

The Hawk?

Harrelsen

More than one Hawk. I was thinking Clay "The Hawk" Carroll, 1970s reliever for the Reds. His 37 saves in 1972 was an NL record.

[Conor Dary]

Blue Moon?

Odom.

I already got that one....

[KDFINE]

The Hawk was from the 60s not the 50s.
I know Puddin' Head. He played 3rd base, and was one of the first baseball cards that I got.

[KDFINE]

Ducky's link to T&F? I haven't a clue. I guess I'll cheat and look him up on Wikipedia but I won't ruin it by giving his name on this board (for now).
I know Peanuts but don't know his real first name.
The baseball encyclopedia lists him as Peanuts and gives his given name in small print.
Another from the 50s was Chico. The BB encyclopedia lists him that way, and gives his given name in small print. This one should be relatively easy.

[dukehjsteve]

Ducky's link to T&F? I haven't a clue. I guess I'll cheat and look him up on Wikipedia but I won't ruin it by giving his name on this board (for now).
I know Peanuts but don't know his real first name.
The baseball encyclopedia lists him as Peanuts and gives his given name in small print.
Another from the 50s was Chico. The BB encyclopedia lists him that way, and gives his given name in small print. This one should be relatively easy.

Chico's gotta be Carrasquel.. and I always have assumed that was his real name.
( Boy I dug deep into the head for this one ! )

[Davidokun]

Chico Escuela

Baseball...bin berra berra good to me.

[tandfman]

Slats

What about Slats?

I asked who Slats was on page 1 of this thread, and you correctly answered!

[dj]

2 more 50's, but don't ask me their first names... I don't know them:

Peanuts

Puddin'Head

Harry Lowery and Willie Jones

[dj]

Ducky's link to T&F? I haven't a clue. I guess I'll cheat and look him up on Wikipedia but I won't ruin it by giving his name on this board (for now).
I know Peanuts but don't know his real first name.
The baseball encyclopedia lists him as Peanuts and gives his given name in small print.
Another from the 50s was Chico. The BB encyclopedia lists him that way, and gives his given name in small print. This one should be relatively easy.

Chico's gotta be Carrasquel.. and I always have assumed that was his real name.
( Boy I dug deep into the head for this one ! )

A couple of '50s shortstop Chicos: Alfonso Carrasquel and Humberto Fernandez. Carrasquel was the first Latin ballplayer to play in the MLB all-star game (1951).

[dj]

Ducky's link to T&F? I haven't a clue. I guess I'll cheat and look him up on Wikipedia but I won't ruin it by giving his name on this board (for now).
I know Peanuts but don't know his real first name.
The baseball encyclopedia lists him as Peanuts and gives his given name in small print.
Another from the 50s was Chico. The BB encyclopedia lists him that way, and gives his given name in small print. This one should be relatively easy.

Ducky Schofield is the father of U.Florida LJer Kim Schofield from the '70s and early '80s.

[KDFINE]

DJ is correct on Lowery and Jones.
Chico Carrasquel's real first name is Alfonso.
I looked up Ducky's link to T&F. After reading it I can honestly say that I hadn't any recollection of her.

[cullman]

Ducky

Dick Schofield whose daughter Kim was a long jumper and whose granddaughter is former trackster Hillary Werth.

edit: Answered already...missed by that much! Toronto Blue Jays fans know the Schofield family trivia as Ducky's son Dick Schofield and grandson Jason Werth both played for them...one too late in his career and the other too early.

[cullman]

How about Jungle Jim? He played in a World Series in the 1950s.

[dj]

How about Jungle Jim? He played in a World Series in the 1950s.

Rivera. Although my first inclination is to go to basketballer Jim Luscutoff.

[dj]

Time to fess up.

My knowledge of baseball first names starts with my first year of collecting baseball cards, 1959. That year the Topps series included the player's common name at the top of the card with a signature over the photo.

I found it curious at the time that most Latins were given a nickname that Anglos could pronounce, foremost of course being Bob Clemente, who was the first to successfully fight back. But there were the Chicos--Carrasquel and Fernandez, and Minnie Minoso, Pancho Herrera, Willy Miranda, Mike Fornieles, Pete Ramos, most of whom were never known by anything but their Anglo name.

The only Latins I can think of who played using their proper name as rookies were Camilo Pasqual, Orlando Cepeda and Humberto Robinson.

I know there are lots I'm not thinking of on both sides of the ledger, but I think the preponderance falls among the Anglo nicknames.

[cullman]

It is Jim Rivera. Ha! I thought you might be of that era. I couldn't resist a bit of 1959 Chicago White Sox trivia.

[Dutra5]

The Hawk?

Harrelsen

More than one Hawk. I was thinking Clay "The Hawk" Carroll, 1970s reliever for the Reds. His 37 saves in 1972 was an NL record.

Hawk Taylor was a catcher in the 60's. Real name Bob.

Of course there's always The Hawk who's the best of them....Andre Dawson.

[dj]

It is Jim Rivera. Ha! I thought you might be of that era. I couldn't resist a bit of 1959 Chicago White Sox trivia.

Loved the photos from the '59 Series, particularly Al Smith having beer spilled on his head as he watches a Charlie Neal homerun go over the left field wall at Comiskey. It was the first year baseball news photos made some sense.

[KDFINE]

And what was Al Smith's real first name, and what was his nickname? (I'll be gone all day.)

[dj]

And what was Al Smith's real first name, and what was his nickname? (I'll be gone all day.)

Alphonso. Don't know his nickname, and no, it wasn't The Happy Warrior!

[KDFINE]

I believe it is Alphonse rather than Alphonso. Close enough. I still have his 1954 Topps card as well as the card from the 1955 TV screen set (non-Topps).

[dj]

I believe it is Alphonse rather than Alphonso. Close enough. I still have his 1954 Topps card as well as the card from the 1955 TV screen set (non-Topps).

You're right, Alphonse.

The 1955 TV screen set of cards was the last Bowman set until the Topps monopoly on bubblegum cards was broken in the 1970's.

[dj]

For those of you who were baseball card collectors, here's a website you might enjoy:

http://www.vintagecardtraders.com/virtual/

[DrJay]

Doggie is Tony Perez.

The Destroyer is George Foster: "If (George) Foster would have been playing with the Dodgers in the '50's they wouldn't have had to tear down Ebbets Field. George would have demolished it with shots off his bat." --Sparky Anderson

[KDFINE]

Final hints for Paw Paw.
Paw Paw is a place in Michigan.
Incredibly, my 1982 baseball gives "Smokey" as his nickname (and it isn't Smokey Burgess either).
One other source I've seen, I think Wikipedia, lists 4 nicknames, but Paw Paw was the only one I ever heard when he played.

Al Smith's nickname was Fuzzy, which I found out when double checking the spelling of his first name because I never heard it. I only put it up because someone else mentioned the memorable World Series beer cup photograph.

[KDFINE]

O.K. No one is going to get it.
Charley "Paw Paw" Maxwell. Lefty lighting American League outfielder from 1950 through 1964, primarily with the Tigers.

[dj]

O.K. No one is going to get it.
Charley "Paw Paw" Maxwell. Lefty lighting American League outfielder from 1950 through 1964, primarily with the Tigers.

Oh, yes. Vaguely remember it now. But I think the spelling on his name was "Charlie" Maxwell.

[KDFINE]

DJ. You are right on the spelling of his first name. Anyone who was a Tiger's fan at that time appreciated his Yankee killing bat.

[dukehjsteve]

Re the Tigers mnetioned above, and having nothing to do with a nickname... the Tiger name I thought was cool was Walt Dropo.

[dj]

Re the Tigers mnetioned above, and having nothing to do with a nickname... the Tiger name I thought was cool was Walt Dropo.

Owner of one of the great rookie seasons of all time. Over .300, 30 HR, 100RBI for the BoSox in '50, then never hit any of those markers again in a 13 year career.

Dropo was short for Drop-Off.