Prospecting the Names
February 29, 2008 by Geoff Young
Filed under Minor Leagues, Odds and Ends
What’s in a name? According to the Baseball Crank, a lot:
Having a great baseball name is important. For example, lots of people remember Drungo La Rue Hazewood (who was 0-for-5 in the major leagues) and Van Lingle Mungo, but almost nobody has heard of Bobby Wallace even though he played 25 seasons in the majors and is in the Hall of Fame. Maybe he shoulda gone by his given name of “Rhoderick.”
I always want to pronounce that name “Wodewick,” by the way. Monty Python has corrupted me.
You should have seen me trying to watch Camelot with a straight face in a college class after having seen Holy Grail dozens of times. Worse yet, a nun taught the class. She also was the RD for my on-campus apartment that year and a heckuva nice woman. Whew, talk about a stressful movie. Anywho…
The Baseball Crank has listed 15 of the best names among current prospects, and 10 of the worst. I’m not sure that I agree with “Jake Wild” as a good name for a pitching prospect, but that’s just me. I remain hopeful that one day we’ll find a prospect named Spiny Norman.
