Holy crap, Rich Becker

[Guest Edgy DC]

Check out the man's middle name.

I might have died not knowing that was his middle name.

[Guest iramets]

Edgy DC wrote: Check out the man's middle name. I might have died not knowing that was his middle name.

I wonder who's going to be the UMDB's biggest hit today?

[A Boy Named Seo]

He made a huge mistake not going by Dick.

[nymr83]

especially when they list you alphabetically, then he'd be Becker, Dick ...

edit, yes i'm going to make you go to umdb to see his middle name

[Guest OlerudOwned]

UMDB and Baseball Reference have two different middle names listed.

They're both hilarious in their own way.

[nymr83]

based on the two one is likely a typo not a complete mistake

[Guest vtmet]

Nymr83 wrote: based on the two one is likely a typo not a complete mistake

thebaseballcube.com version is the same as the ultimatemets.com version...looks like baseballreference.com left off a letter...

[Guest OlerudOwned]

vtmet wrote: ="Nymr83"]based on the two one is likely a typo not a complete mistake thebaseballcube.com version is the same as the ultimatemets.com version...looks like baseballreference.com left off a letter...

I wonder if Baseball Reference thought the real one was a joke.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Retrosheet has the shorter version.

The one on UMDB matches the one in The Sporting News Baseball Register.

We'll have to invite him here to discuss his middle name.

[metirish]

Would be even cooler if his last name was Pecker....

[Guest Edgy DC]

I added the middle-name dispute to his Wikipedia entry. They'll probably cut if for being the most interesting thing there.

[Frayed Knot]

]We'll have to invite him here to discuss his middle name

I'm betting it's a family name and Rich inherited the common WASP-ish tradition of carrying your mother's maiden name (or other such family moniker) as your middle name.

Could also be a name that is an Anglicized version of Gerhardt or something along those lines.
I remember this hockey player from years ago whose name was Larry Goodenough. When I first heard it I assumed they were saying Godunov as some similar Eastern European name even though this was before the flood of pro players from that area. It wasn't until I saw it in print that I realized that it was spelled and pronounced exactly like you'd spell and say the phrase; 'Good Enough'. I always wondered about the origins of that one.
Not surprisingly, his nickname was Izzy.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I imagine he's of Northern European stock and it's simply an archaic Germanic version of Goodheart.

[DocTee]

He must've had a helluva time in middle school