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The List: Best nicknames
in baseball history
Page 2 staff

June is Nickname Month on Page 2 as we continue our search for the best monikers in all of sports.


	"The Splendid Splinter" ranks as our all-time favorite.

Today, we're out to find the best nickname in the history of baseball. It's no easy task, considering that good nicknames have dominated the diamond since the days of the Georgia Peach and Sultan of Swat.

Check out the top 10 as voted by Page 2's editorial staff, and then click here to submit your choice for the best all-time nickname in baseball.

We'll run our readers' list Tuesday, along with a poll to pick the best baseball nickname of all-time.

1. "The Splendid Splinter" (Ted Williams)
Back in the day, "The Kid" was as skinny as a snake, and just as dangerous.

2. "The Sultan of Swat" (George Herman "Babe" Ruth)
Among his other records, The Bambino, baseball's greatest player, had the greatest collection of nicknames.

3. Willie "Hit 'em Where They Ain't" Keeler
Complicated nickname, deceptively simple hitting philosophy.

4. "Hammerin' " Hank Aaron
In a word, that's what he did. And he did it more often than anyone who ever played the game.

5. "The Big Unit" (Randy Johnson)
The Devo of nicknames.


	Babe Ruth had plenty of nicknames, but "The Sultan of Swat" was the best.

6. "The Georgia Peach" (Ty Cobb)
A sweet nickname for baseball's sweetest swinger, as his .367 lifetime batting average will attest.

7. Mordecai "Three Fingers" Brown
The Hall of Fame Cubs hurler only had three digits, but that's all he needed.

8. "The Yankee Clipper" ("Joltin' Joe" DiMaggio)
The epitome of elegance and grace, like the man himself.

9. Fred "Bonehead" Merkle
In 1908, he cost the Giants a pennant when he failed to touch second base on a hit to the outfield that plated what would have been the winning run. Never lived it down.

10. Walter "Big Train" Johnson
'Cause that's what his fastball sounded like when it roared by.

Honorable Mention: "Big Mac" (Mark McGwire), "The Say Hey Kid" (Willie Mays), "Double X" (Jimmy Foxx), Paul "Poison" Waner and Lloyd "Little Poison" Waner, "Dizzy" and "Daffy" Dean, "Donny Baseball" (Don Mattingly), "Rapid" Robert Feller, "The Chairman of the Board" (Whitey Ford), Willie "Pops" Stargell, "Junior" (Ken Griffey), Roger "The Rocket" Clemens, "Dr. K" (Dwight Gooden).

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