Or You Can Call me "Jay"

[Edgy MD]

• A.J.
  • AJ Ramos (2017)

  
  [*]B.J.

  • B.J. Hubbert (minors, 2006-2008)
    
  • B.J. Huff (minors, 1996-2001)

  
  [*]C.J.

  • C.J. Nitkowski (2001)

  
  [*]D.J.

  • D.J. Dozier (1992)

  
  [*]E.J.
  [*]F.J.
  [*]G.J.
  [*]H.J.
  [*]I.J.
  [*]J.J.

  • J.J. Putz (2009)
    
    • J.J. Franco (minors, 2017)

  
  [*]K.J.
  [*]L.J.

  • L.J. Mazzilli (minors, 2013-2017)

  
  [*]M.J.
  [*]N.J.
  [*]O.J.
  [*]P.J.

  • P.J. Leclair (minors, 1994-1995)
    
  • P.J. Yoder (minors, 1995-1997)
    
  • P.J. Ochoa (minors, 1999-2002)
    
  • P.J. Bevis (minors, 2002-2004)
    
  • P.J. Conlon (minors, 2015-2017)

  
  [*]Q.J.
  [*]R.J.

  • R.J. Spang (minors, 1992-1994)
    
  • R.J. Harris (minors, 2009-2012)

  
  [*]S.J.
  [*]T.J.

  • T.J. Rivera (2016-2017)
    
    • T.J. Chism (minors, 2009-2014)

  
  [*]U.J.
  [*]V.J.
  [*]W.J.
  [*]X.J.
  [*]Y.J.
  [*]Z.J.

[Frayed Knot]

And that doesn't even include J. C. Martin - that would be Joseph Clinton Martin for those scoring at home (or even if you're alone)

AJ, as noted in another thread, is named simply Alejandro so the J is either Junior or just a shortened version of the lengthy AleJandro

Others on that list:
John Christopher Nitkowski
Joseph Jason Putz
Thomas Javier Rivera
and William Henry Dozier which somehow morphed into D.J.
Reminds me a bit of J. D. Drew whose name was David Jonathan Drew, so now we have an example of initial names for dyslexics. Either that or he didn't want people thinking he spun records
for a living.



I always found the use of initials in place of a name to be an odd choice. In his book, Robert Allen Dickey simply passes off his name as, 'at one point people just started calling me R. A.', as if
that were the most logical thing in the world and once that decision was made for him there was no way for him to stop it or not go along with it.
The J. middle initial seems to happen most often these days as a sub for 'Junior' so as to differentiate the son from dad. My thought to that would be if you don't want him to be confused with
dad then don't give him dad's exact name ... but to each his own.

Then there's the whole initial first then middle name thing which usually starts with the concept of 'we're going to name the kid this but call him that'. Sure, OK
The other problem with that idea is that I grew up assuming anyone with a name like that was automatically connected to Watergate since the first people I "knew" with that split were the likes
of G. Gordon Liddy, E. Howard Hunt, H. Robert Haldeman, etc.

Then there was a president of Duke University for a time who went by H. Keith H. Brodie. His full name was Harlow Keith Hammond Brodie so you can hardly blame him for going with Keith but
the H. Keith H. part is just too pretentious even for an academic. President Brodie was at Duke when one of my sisters was and she and her friends labeled him: aka H. Keith H.

[Guest 41Forever]

I suspect they feel a certain kinship to Jay Hook, Jay Payton and Jay Bruce despite their apparent lack of a second letter. A.J. Burnett gets partial credit!

[Edgy MD]

I'm surprised that the something-J Mets community only had five members at the big league level, but there's a probably a 50-50 chance that L.J. Mazzilli and P.J. Conlon will join the club in 2018. B.J. Surhoff and E.J. Junior are somewhat less likely.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Frayed Knot wrote: I always found the use of initials in place of a name to be an odd choice. In his book, Robert Allen Dickey simply passes off his name as, 'at one point people just started calling me R. A.', as if that were the most logical thing in the world and once that decision was made for him there was no way for him to stop it or not go along with it.

I can relate, going all the way back to my Sunshine Band days. Now
people call me Jace, even some of my nif's. haha

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

Probably not likely that there's any athlete willing to go by O.J. so that will probably remain empty.

[Edgy MD]

The last active professional baseball guy who went by "O.J." was O.J. Garza, who played his last game in 2009.



[fimg=400]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B9LU8BMCYAAsF1g.jpg[/fimg]

He was born in 1978, while Simpson not only was still within the good graces of US popular culture, but was actually still active in the NFL, so you may be right.

[Frayed Knot]

Then there was Cleveland pitcher Chad Ogea (pronounced Oh-Jay) who arrived in the big leagues during 1994 - aka: the summer of O.J.
I recently heard a story about him having a hard time convincing one of his none-too-bright teammates that he was NOT in fact related to Simpson.

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

Wasn't it Manny Ramirez who overheard all the people talking about the O.J. car chase and thought they were talking about Ogea?

[Frayed Knot]

Mets Willets Point wrote: Wasn't it Manny Ramirez who overheard all the people talking about the O.J. car chase and thought they were talking about Ogea?

That sounds right. Manny was a great hitter but probably didn't spend the off-seasons working on his doctoral thesis.
I recently saw a mini-docu on those mid-90s Indians teams and that's probably where I heard the story.

[G-Fafif]

N.J. native Al Leiter.

[Edgy MD]

I guess it's notable that two of the Something-J's on deck, waiting to fill in their slots in the AlphaMet, are namesake (and therefore J-initialed) sons of longtime Mets, who both originated in Brooklyn.

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: I guess it's notable that two of the Something-J's on deck, waiting to fill in their slots in the AlphaMet, are namesake (and therefore J-initialed) sons of longtime Mets, who both originated in Brooklyn.

Which means at some point in their lives they probably took the J train.

[Edgy MD]

The Mets employed Wally Backman, Jr. I wonder if he ever went by W.J.

[Edgy MD]

Seems to me that if Ron Darling used his family name in his baseball career, he could have been our "R.J."

He almost qualifies.

[Frayed Knot]

Well he actually was R.J. within the '80s clubhouse -- Keith still refers to him that way occasionally -- but rather that being for Ronald Jr. it was after the R. J. Reynolds tobacco company although
I forget the convoluted logic that got him that moniker.