GSNHOF Nominee - Taylor Teagarden

Taylor Teagarden - what a name. It's alliterative, it sort of reminds me of India, and it's the kind of name that builds character. If I didn't know any better, I'd think Taylor Teagarden was a friend of Strawberry Shortcake. Instead he's a decent young catcher for the Texas Rangers. Ah the beauty of great sports names.

Though Teagarden has mostly been known as potential trade bait in Texas thanks to the glut of backstops in their system, and his accolades are part of the reason for that. He was a member of the 2005 NCAA champion Texas Longhorns, as well as the catcher for the 2008 U.S Olympic team that won the bronze medal. And as if that wasn't awesome enough, his first major league homerun (hit in his second major league game) turned out to be a game winner, leading the Rangers to a 1-0 victory over a dominant Scott Baker and the Twins.

Clearly the kids has some skills. They aren't showing as much on offense this year, as Teagarden is hitting only .187/.250/.341. But a normally terrible Rangers pitching staff has made major strides this year, and a lot of that credit (at least recently) has got to go to Taylor.

Teagarden has got to start hitting some or those other Ranger catchers may eventually overtake him (although Jason Saltalamacchia is hurt and Max Ramirez isn't hitting at AAA). But Teagarden has only been a major leaguer for 37 games this year, and if I were the Rangers it would take an awful lot for me to give up on a catcher with an awesome name like Taylor Teagarden (no offense Salty).

To see the best sports names of all time, visit the Truly Great Names page.
To see some good sports names that were voted out, visit the Good Names page.
To see the current voting ballot, visit the Ballot page.