Nomenclature Question for a Rainout Night

[Edgy MD]

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?

[Fman99]

So you're saying that we'll never see a Donruss card that says "Piss Missile Pete Alonso" on it? Like, ever?



(Damn, I'm sad Zvon isn't here to help me with this)

[Benjamin Grimm]

Didn't Tim Raines at one point ask to be officially known as "Rock" Raines?

[Frayed Knot]

I suspect that newspaper writers probably had a big hand in such things back in the day.

Somebody nicknamed Ruth Babe at some point but that wasn't what his NYY teammates called him.

Around the clubhouse he was neither Babe nor George but 'Jidge', a name derived from Gehrig's mother's attempt at George.

[MFS62]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Didn't Tim Raines at one point ask to be officially known as "Rock" Raines?

Yes. But it never stuck.

Neither did my nickname for Roger Clemens - "Fat coward, bat tossing mother-f**ker".

Later