Do you guys remember Thoughts and Sox? A while back he mentioned this name as a good one, and I noted it thusly for future use. My next few names should all be nominations of old, so get used to that for the next couple of Fridays!
Anyways, Urckfitz here is a relief pitcher in the Astros system. He's slowly been working his way up since they signed him as a 19 year old in 2009, and he's currently in his third season (well first real full-ish season) of AAA for the Stros. His stats this season over 19 games include a 3.97 ERA, 18 strikeouts, and 12 walks. I'm fairly curious if he'll see some major league action when rosters expand in a month, but I wouldn't be surprised if his major league debut didn't come until 2015.
There isn't a lot to say about Urckfitz's name besides dang, that's an unusual name! A ck, a z, begins with a vowel, has all the ingredients for everyone's favorite four letter word...that's beautiful. I looked for a little more information on the name, to check its nationality or see if Pat has ever talked about it, but couldn't find anything. I did find two neat little articles that I'll pass on to you guys though:
1. An interview with the blog "What the Heck Bobby?" A pretty informative little piece on Urckfitz and his career, and I like his mention of former Astro/current Marlin Kike Hernandez as an underrated player, since I agree!
2. An article on Pat Urckfitz's duck call making business. Apparently in the offseason, Urckfitz makes duck calls. That's a pretty sweet little niche activity for one's downtime!
Urckfitz joins Seth Schwindenhammer and Napoleon Einstein on Ballot 8 of the GSNHOF - best of luck dude!
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.
I remember I sent you Seth Sshwindenhammer but I don't remember sending you Urckfitz.
ReplyDeleteI also sent you another one. I can't remember it at the moment but it was better than all of these. I can't for the life of me remember what it is was. Maybe you can find it in your email. What I actually sent you was a link to a picture of his card. I think it was a minor league card or maybe a mothers.
Here is another one though. Kicker is his nickname was Ugly:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xGU3W7Ugqn4/S1yFIMD9R7I/AAAAAAAAC-4/GhV7D8YVM1E/s400/1994+Sporting+News+Conlon+Collection+%231286+Johnny+Dickshot.jpg
Haha, Dickshot actually already came and went - great name though!
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah I wonder when you mentioned it. I had your name tied to it haha.