Great Sports Name Hall of Fame Nominee - Ed Head

Ed Head.  A simple name, but a great one as well.  The rhyming, the brevity - it all just ties together so well.  So it's lucky for us Ed was able to overcome a traumatic childhood accident to make it to the majors and share his awesome name, and talent, with the world.

Head was a successful left hander on his high school baseball team as a 15 year old kid, and already looked to have potential MLB aspirations.  However, everything changed for Head when the team bus to an away game was involved in an accident that killed Head's then girlfriend and crushed his left arm to the point of near-amputation.  The arm was indeed saved, but there was no way Head was going to be able to pitch with it again at the level he had in the past, so he had to re-learn to pitch as a righty.

And re-learn he did - Head ended up pitching 5 total years in the majors with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1940, 1942-44, and 1946.  Head's career faced interruptions of time in the minors (1941) and time in the war (half of 1944-45), but he always bounced back well, including throwing a no-hitter in his first start of 1946 in his return to the pros.

It wasn't the longest career, but Head's legacy as a pitcher who threw a no-hitter, served our country, taught himself to pitch with his non-dominant hand, AND an awesome name, is certainly something to be honored.  Here's the you, Ed Head!

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.