GSNHOF Nominee - Stubby Clapp (Merry Christmas Edition)

First off, Merry Christmas to you and yours from the GSNHOF!

2nd off, Merry Christmas to Nicknames - You are now allowed in the GSNHOF! 

(Well not all nicknames, mind you.  This isn't 'Nam after all, there are rules).

The rules go like this: Nicknames are allowable if the person goes by that name IRL (such as in newspaper articles, or on baseball cards).  So a guy like Coco Crisp will finally get his day.   Pacman Jones would be considerable as well, since Adam Jones briefly was known as that before switching back a few years ago.  Same with Catfish Hunter.  Should infuse some nice new blood into the GSNHOF balloting.

I'm starting this change off with one of the all time great nickname/last name pairings - Stubby Clapp:

Richard Keith Clapp was born a Dick, but was always destined to be a Stubby.  His father and grandfather before him both went by Stubby, so it was only a matter of time before Richard did too.  Stubby the Third only played 23 games in the majors (with the Cardinals in 2001) but was well known in all areas he played for his great personality and habit of doing a backflip every time he went onto the field.  He could hit a decent amount too despite his lack of Major League success, and Canadians will forever remember him for his game winning hit against the u.s. in the 1999 Pan Pan American Games.  So the guy was fairly popular for reasons beyond his awesome name.

Since his playing career, Stubby Clapp has coached at various levels in the minors, and is currently the hitting coach for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.  He also has had several children, including a boy named Cooper who, you guessed it, goes by Stubby.  The tradition continues!

Hopefully no one is too sad to see the nickname restriction leave the GSNHOF.  Personally, the awesomeness of Stubby Clapp's name erases any pangs of guilt I have over abolishing the legal name requirement.  The more the merrier, they say, especially on a day such as this.

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.

GSNHOF Nominee - Angel Pagan

Angel Pagan has one of those all time underrated names.  I mean, the mere mention of his name makes me picture the Angel and Devil on your shoulder motif that has been done so many times:

The dude's a walking contradiction, but I feel people tend to overlook how great of a name it is.  But I guess that's why I'm here - to give a great name credit where credit is due.

Anyways, Mr. Pagan:

has had a nice little career since joining the Giants in 2012.  He was actually drafted by the Mets way back in 1999 in the amateur draft, but didn't sign with the team until the day before they would have lost his rights.  He spent a few years with them in the minors before the Cubs grabbed him in the Rule 5 draft, and Pagan then had two okay years with the Cubs before returning to the Mets in a trade. 

New York is where Pagan finally became established as an everyday starter, and after three years he was traded to the Giants where he continued showcasing some decent skills.  Injuries have led to short seasons in 2013 and 2014 and a weak statistical season in 2015, but Pagan did help the Giants win a World Series in 2012, so I'm sure no one around him is complaining.

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.

GSNHOF Nominee - Greg Legg

I often admire great names for their simplicity.  No bells or whistles or gimmicks - just a name that sounds awesome when it rolls off the tongue, whether you're 4 years old or 44 years old.

I'd say that applies to Greg Legg:

Legg was a 22nd round pick of the Phillies in 1982, and turned that opportunity into a 13-year career.  He only played fourteen games in the majors (11 in 1986 and 3 in 1987), but his intangibles and ability made him worth keeping around for the Phillies, so much so that they helped him get into coaching at the end of his minor league career.  And that's what Legg does now, as he's had several hitting coach jobs and head coaching jobs in the minors and other leagues since his retirement.

A simple tale of a simple guy with a simple name.  And what a great name it is.

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.

GSNHOF Nominee - Handsome Monica

Handsome Monica - now that's a name.  And it has a great twist!  

But first, here's a clip of Monica showing off his hitting prowess:

Born Donald Ray Monica, Handsome's Mom never really cared for the name, and just called him Handsome.  Which worked, for a while, but then he went to a private school where they went by first names (not nicknames) and Handsome would've had to go back to "Donald."  Disliking this option, his parents helped him legally change his name to Handsome at the age of 13.  And since that day, Donald Ray Monica has officially become Handsome Monica, legally and otherwise.

He had hoped to be drafted by the MLB this year, but it didn't happen, so now he's going to college at Arizona to hone his craft.  Hopefully things go well for Handsome in Arizona and he's able to become an all time great in the majors.  In the meantime, at least he's decent looking!

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.

GSNHOF Nominee - Jaquiski Tartt

I love when I'm watching a football night game and some awesome name comes up in the starting lineups.  Recently this happened during a 49ers game, when Jaquiski Tartt was mentioned.  Who is he?  Well, here's some dude live-You tubing the 49ers pick or Tartt in the 2015 draft:

Here's a photo if that tells you more:

Tartt has kind of a cool story - he didn't play football until his senior year of high school (He was a basketball player).  He ended up at Samford university, and now has a chance of becoming the best player to ever attend that school and end up in the NFL (his only real competition is Cortland Finnegan).  And that would be awesome, because Finnegan is a punk who thankfully once received his comeuppance:

Tartt is currently the starting SS for the 49ers, and given the state of their defense he should be able to start there for a while.  So best of luck to Tartt in earning a long NFL career, and a place along the elite of the GSNHOF!

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.

GSNHOF Nominee - Boubacar Aw

The dude has been recommended by anyone and everyone since I started the GSNHOF, so it's about time I nominate him.

Boubacar Aw was a three year player for Georgetown from 1995 to 1998.  He shot .528 from the field with 4.6 six boards per game, with a career best 11.4 ppg and 6.2 rpg in his final college season.  After that he played basketball overseas for a long time.  So no NBA time for the guy, but he was MVP of the Senegalese National Team in 2005, so that's something!

The most interesting stuff about Aw though, IMHO, has to do with his post playing career.  Aw eventually became a substitute teacher at Hoggard High School in North Carolina, and that was it for his job until the girl's basketball coach was let go following the 2011-12 season.  At that point, Aw was promoted in two ways - To a full time teacher AND to head girls' basketball coach.  Here's him doing a post game interview for the team:

So from Senegal to Georgetown to Senegal to Hoggard, NC, Boubacar Aw has been all over.  Quite the travels for the guy, and I hope he gets prompted from Ballot 9 to the GSNHOF!

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.

The Results of Ballot Eight of the Great Sports Name Hall of Fame

We set a new record for voters this month, with a whopping 65 people submitting their vote for the greatest names of Ballot 8.  I think it helped to have the ballot answerable via Google Forms, so people could just click a few boxes and move on.

We also had a second consecutive ballot where we elected someone at the last minute!  It's weird - the more people who vote, the harder it is to elect someone.  After 13 votes this guy was as 100%.  By 30 votes he was barely above 50%.  Things weren't decided until about vote 62, but in the end Pete LaCock became the 7th name elected to the Hall of Fame with 36 votes (55.4%).  Congrats!

We also had some sad news...Ben Gay was on his 7th ballot, and needed to get in or get out.  He had some good support, but 28 votes is only 43.1%, which means he did not get in.  So he's out.  No more Ben Gay on the ballot.

So that's the one name in and one the one good name out.  Here's the rest:

Got enough votes to continue on to Ballot 9:
Jorge Poo Tang - 34 votes, 52.3%
Misty Hyman - 30 votes, 46.2%
Dikembe Mutumbo - 29 votes, 44.6%
Manli Wang - 28 votes, 43.1%
Ed Head, Frostee Rucker, Ten Million - 20 votes, 30.8%
Napoleon Einstein - 18 votes, 28.7%
Doug Fister - 17 votes, 26.2%
Bum Ho-Lee - 14 votes, 21.5%

Did not get enough votes - fall off the ballot to be remembered NEVERMORE!

Baskerville Holmes - 12 votes, 18.5%
Yancey Thigpen - 10 votes, 15.4%
Arquimedez Pozo - 8 votes, 12.5%
Seth Schwindenhammer, Alamazoo Jennings - 7 votes, 10.8%
Co-Eric Riley - 6 votes, 9.2%
Odrisamer Despaigne - 5 votes, 7.7%
Osseee Schreckengost - 4 votes, 6.2%
Pat urckfitz - 3 votes, 4.6%

That means one name is in, one good name is out, and eight decent names live on for the next vote.  I'm excited to see if Jorge Poo Tang gets in on ballot 9, and if Bum Ho-Lee gets enough support to even stick around.  I guess we'll see!

Great Nicknames - Arlie Latham, aka "The Freshest Man on Earth"

(Voting is still open for Ballot 8 of the GSNHOF - so if you haven't voted yet, do that first here.)

Can't introduce a new ballot name this week since the ballot is live, so I figured instead I'd introduce a guy with SEVERAL fun nicknames.  This man, this myth, this LEGEND, is Arlie Latham, a turn of the 19th century player whose career lasted from 1880 to 1909 with several gaps in between.  Here's a nice little pin back of the guy:

Now, Latham would be remembered for his career alone even if he had no crazy nickname.  He's still 7th all time in career stolen bases and has the record for oldest stolen base at age 49.  He also has a negative record - most errors by a 3B in league history, over 200 ahead of the next nearest player.  Both of his records seem to be quite safe, so he may be remembered for those for a long time.

He'll be more remembered for his hijinks though, which gained him several nicknames, including "The Dude," "The Hustler from Hustletown," and the aforementioned "The Freshest Man on Earth."  While the latter was technically a reference to a popular song of the day, it also fit his personality, as Latham was a nut on the ball field.  Famous playing career incidents include lighting a firecracker under 3rd base to "wake himself up," doing somersaults to avoid tags on the basepaths, and his trademark terrible defense.  Some even took to renaming grounders that got through the infield "Arlie Lathams" due to the number of balls that got under his glove.

Latham really make a name for himself after playing though, as he became the first ever first base coach and did some memorable things in his role as base coach and assistant.  One notable story comes from a game where it grew dark and Latham's team wanted the game cancelled.  Latham proceeded to light twelve candles in the dugout as "a message" to the umpire, and the umpire came over and blew them all out.  So Arlie relit them, and when the umpire came back over he was so peeved that he cancelled the game, declaring Latham's team in forfeit.  Just Arlie being Arlie!

Even better though, is the rule change that Latham brought on regarding 3rd base coaching.  Given that the position was so new, there were very few set rules for coaches other than staying outside the foul line, so Latham would walk up and down the third base line during at bats trying to distract and disrupt the pitcher.  After many pitchers and teams complained, the major leagues put the third base box into the rule book to ensure antics like Latham's didn't become the norm.  So even after his career ended, Latham was still getting his name involved in the great history of baseball.  

On a side/weird note, despite his notoriety and place in the record books, Latham really has very few baseball cards to his name.  He has 17 "cards" from his playing career (several are pins or coins) and only five cards since, with non since 1995 Conlon.

With so many retro sets these days, you'd figure Latham would get a bit more love.  Nevertheless, even though he's a lesser known player, he'll definitely never be forgotten by those who are aware of his antics and achievements on and off the field.

Ballot Eight of the GSNHOF is here: VOTE VOTE VOTE!

Voting for Ballot Eight of the Great Sports Name Hall of Fame HAS ENDED! See the results here.

Ballot Seven of the GSNHOF was introduced in February of 2012.  Since then I got married, bought a car, bought a house, and have taught for three full years (now in year four).  Let's hope I stay more on top of this in the future!

But finally Ballot Eight is here!  So browse through the list below and vote for your favorites, with a few things to keep in mind:

- You can vote for as few as one name and as many as ten names

- Names on 55% of the ballots or more go to the hall, with 20-55% going on to the next ballot and anything under 20% dropping off the ballot.  The one exception is Ben Gay, who is on his 7th and final ballot.  He either makes the hall or falls off per our rules and regulations.

- To vote, either complete your ballot here or send me an email.  Those are your two options - if for some reason that doesn't work for you comment here and we'll figure something out.

- Voting will be open for two weeks, ending at midnight on Thursday 10/29/15.  Feel free to promote and share this as well (On Twitter, on Facebook, WHEREVER) so we get a lot of votes!

Here are the names for your consideration on Ballot Eight:

1. Ben Gay

2. Misty Hyman

3. Ten Million

4. Manli Wang

5. Dikembe Mutumbo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo

6. Pete LaCock

7. Baskerville Holmes

8. Jorge Poo Tang

9. Doug Fister

10. Alamazoo Jennings

11. Bum-Ho Lee

12. Seth Schwindenhammer

13. Napoleon Einstein

14. Pat Urckfitz

15. Odrisamer Despaigne

16. Frostee Rucker

17. Co-Eric Riley

18. Arquimedez Pozo

19. Yancey Thigpen

20. Ed Head

21. Ossee Schreckengost

Great Sports Name Hall of Fame Nominee - Ossee Schreckengost

Schreckengost.  Where in the heck does a name like that come from?

Let's find out:

"Altered form of German Schreckengast, a nickname from Middle High German schreck (imperative of schrecken ‘to frighten’) + den gast ‘the guest’, presumably a nickname for an unfriendly innkeeper."

"A nickname for an unfriendly innkeeper" - I like that.  And I wonder if Ossee would've fit the part had he taken a non-baseball career as his profession.  See, even as a ballplayer, Ossee had issues with others in hotels.  He was Rube Waddell's personal catcher and roommate on road trips, and got so fed up with the pitcher's night time eating routine that he insisted on a "No crackers in bed" rule for Waddell's contract.  Waddell signed it, and animal crackers were never an issue for the two again.

In terms of career stats, Schreckengost had a lifetime career slash of .271/.297/.345 over 11 seasons.  He's known mostly for catching Addie Joss' perfect game in his final professional game, which is quite the way to finish a career for a catcher.

And Ossee Schreckengost is quite the way to finish off Ballot Eight, which is now complete with his addition to the site!  So next week I'll post up the poll and we'll see if we can add some names to the Truly Great portion of the Great Sports Name Hall of Fame!

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.

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.

Great Sports Name Hall of Fame Nominee - Yancey Thigpen

Yancey Thigpen is underrated.  Not just for his play, but also for his name.  Dude's first name is Yancey.  YANCEY!  That is awesome.  Thigpen works for well with it, and then to top things off, the guy's middle name is Dirk.

Yancey.  Dirk.  Thigpen.

That is one hell of an awesome name.  He even went by cool nicknames in his career like "Meatball" and "Phil."  Yup...Phil.

Thigpen is also underrated in NFL minds though, as he had a pretty solid career, albeit with a very short peak.  He was a 4th round pick out of tiny Winston-Salem State by the Chargers, and only got into 4 games in his rookie year.  He then moved to the Steelers, and spent two years as a special teamer before breaking out in 1994 with 36 catches for 546 yards in only 6 starts.  The next three years featured two Pro Bowl, 1,300 yard years with an IR year in between, and Thigpen was able to parlay those stats (plus a Super Bowl touchdown against Deion Sanders) into the then highest contract in WR history with the Tennessee Oilers - Five years, $21 million.  Thigpen's final three years with the Oilers/Titans saw him hampered by injury, so he never shone quite as bright as in his Steelers years, but he did help the 1999 Titans get to the Super Bowl, which was no small feat.

All things told, Thigpen did a lot with his career for a guy who came out of such a small school and barely saw an NFL lineup during his first three years in the league.  His persistence and fight allowed to him to eventually succeed in the NFL, and here's the hoping that his name rises as meteorically in the next round of balloting here at the GSNHOF!

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.

Great Sports Name Hall of Fame Nominee - Arquimedez Pozo

Arquimedez Pozo, whose spent all of 80 career plate appearances in the major leagues, has a straight up awesome name.  I don't know if it's the first name that brings to mind the great Greek Mathematician or the last name that brings to mind a famous clown, but regardless the whole thing works together really great.  Clearly a guy who needed to be mentioned on this site at some point.

As for Pozo's career exploits, he was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mariners in 1990 as an 18 year old.  He slowly worked his way up the organizational ladder, peaking with a 1993 Minor League All Star nod with the Riverside Pilots, who were in the first year of their three year existence as a team (they later became the Lancaster JetHawks).  Pozo made his MLB debut two years later in a single 1995 at bat, but was later traded straight up for Jeff Manto (who was 9 years Pozo's elder but more seasoned) to the Red Sox.

He slashed .192/.218/.315 in the majors with the Sox in a mostly unremarkable sample size between 1996 and 1997, but was relegated to the minors in 1998 and ended up spending time in Mexican baseball and the Korean league thereafter.  He's kind of the definition of a AAAA player/guy who never got a legitimate shot, as his lifetime minors slash of .299/.360/.477 and AAA slash of .291/.349/.471 (over four seasons) seem to suggest a guy who was capable of quite a bit more.

All that being said, Pozo did have one great moment in the Sun on July 28, 1996.  The Sox were facing the Twins, in an Aaron Sele vs. Rick Aguilera matchup, and Pozo was set to bat leadoff and play 2B.  His first four at bats were all outs, but in his final at bat, with the bases loaded and no outs in the 9th inning, he hit a grand slam off "Easy" Eddie Guardado to pull the Red Sox within a single run.  It wasn't enough as Dan Naulty came in and finished the Sox off for his 4th save of the year, but it was the only homerun of Pozo's career, so it's impressive that it came in such a dramatic moment off a reliever who three years later would lead the league in saves.

Best of luck to Pozo in the voting, and welcome back to the GSNHOF!

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.

GSNHOF Nominee - Co-Eric Riley

I‘m a sucker for names with hyphens in them, so this name should come as no surprise.  Today I bring you - Co-Eric Riley, college football WR

Riley played two seasons for Mississippi State in college where, in 23 games, he notched 19 catches for 177 yards.  He also added one rush and six kick returns in that time.  Now that's not much - Scout.com ranked him 171 out of 30 WR in 2009 - but a decent pro day led to Co-Eric seeing some training camp time with the Buccaneers.  He didn't end up sticking around, but that's still pretty impressive for such a small college career statswise.

These days Co-Eric is all over Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/etc.  So Mr. Riley, if you read this, I hope you agree that your name is awesome and I wish you the best of luck in entering the Great Sports Name Hall of Fame!

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.

GSNHOF Nominee - Frostee Rucker (And a question)

First the question - should I include nicknames in future GSNHOF nominations?  My policy since day one has been only birth names, but that knocks out so many great options.  Stubby Clapp, Sloppy Thurston, Foxxy Grandpa Bannon - just a lot of really good nicknames out there.  I figured I'd ask you guys what you thought - would that tarnish the hall, or just make it more awesome?

But we're here today to talk about Frostee Rucker

Rucker was a third round pick of the Bengals in the 2006 draft.  He played in Cincy from 2006-2011 with 19 games started, seven sacks, and an interception.  Since then he spent a year in Cleveland (16 starts, four sacks) and last year in Arizona (one start, one sack).  He's still hanging around in Arizona, and this next season will mark his ninth in the league.

What's great about these great names is when there's a nice story behind it.  And Rucker has a great story behind his too, which he explained in a Cleveland.com article during his time with the Browns.

Turns out his Dad was not only in the military, but that, while there, he was also a D.J.  They called him D.J. Frost because he was "cold on the spins," and so Dad figured that Frostee was going to get a chilly nickname no matter what he did given his Dad's success.  So rather than have others dub the kid "Ice Cold" or "Little Frost" or something similar, they beat the public to the punch and named their kid Frostee.  Since then Dad has also changed his name to Frostee (from Len) which would technically make the NFL player a Junior.  And additionally, Rucker says if he has a son someday, he may name that son Frostee as well - so we could have a Wonderful Terrific Monds the Third situation brewing in the Rucker lineage.

So good luck to Frostee Rucker on Ballot 8 of the GSNHOF.  And I don't know about you guys, but I'm kind of hungry for some Wendy's now.

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.

GSNHOF Nominee - Odrisamer Despaigne, Or when I surf the net Eyebrows

School starts next Tuesday, so this week I've been busy with trainings and inservices to get us up to speed.  That's why there was no fantasy update on Wednesday this week.  But no matter how busy I am, I can no longer neglect the GSNHOF now that I've restarted it, so today I bring you Odrisamer Despaigne, starting pitcher for the San Diego Padres.

Despaigne made his MLB debut this year after defecting from Cuba in a somewhat roundabout day.  He played for Cuba in the 2013 World Port Tournament, and while in Europe for the tournament he defected and stuck around.  He became a legal resident of Spain while there, and later traveled to Mexico before putting on a showcase for major league teams.  San Diego was interested and signed him to a minor league deal, and after his first seven inning, four hit game, he seemed like a nice catch for the team.

He wasn't even in ESPN Fantasy Baseball yet as a possible add because he was so unknown, but then he followed up that first start with four more starts allowing just six runs total.  So after five games he had an ERA of just 1.31.  He also, of course, had just 17 strikeouts to 11 walks...so it seemed debatable his stuff could last...but nevertheless he was a hot waiver wire add in fantasy back in July for a bit.

Since then he has given up 20 runs (17 earned) in five games, to balloon his ERA up to 3.28.  And for you advanced stat guys, his FIP is actually 4.16, so even more of a correction could be in order.

That being said though, he has a few awesome things going for him:
1. His crazy change up grip, which Fangraphs nicely detailed.
2. His unibrow, which is a thing to be marveled.
3. And of course, his name, which puts him on ballot 8 of the GSNHOF!

Bonus Padres fun fact for the day: After yesterday's games, Jedd Gyorko is now the all-time leader in Padres homeruns by a second basemen with 31.  Second place is Mark Loretta with 30, then Robbie Alomar with 22.

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.

GSNHOF Nominee - Pat Urckfitz, Duck Caller Extrordinaire

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.

HOF Friday - The Newest GSNHOF Nominee is Napoleon Einstein

Napoleon Einstein is an Indian cricketer.  I think he's still active, but it's really hard to tell given that I know nothing about Cricket...so these stats just confuse me.  Some things I learned about Napoleon Einstein (and life in writing this post include):

-  The Einstein part is named after Albert Einstein - according to Napoleon Science runs in their family and his Grandfather once wrote a letter to Einstein (with a reply!) so Einstein meant a lot to them.

- The Napoleon part comes from his Dad...so it's not actually a direct reference to Napoleon Bonaparte (or any other Napoleon) like I originally figured.

- Per Wikipedia regarding both names, "In this Indian name, the name Napoleon is a patronymic, not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Einstein."  So I guess his first name is Einstein...neat.

Some things I did not learn for this post:

- Anything about Cricket.

I also found two videos.  The first one is a video explaining where the name came from (a rehash of what I wrote, or rather what I wrote was a rehash of the video).  The second is a rap battle between Einstein and Napoleon Bonaparte done with xtranormal.  It's xtraweird.

Video 1

Video 2

Einstein will join Seth Schwindenhammer on the Current Voting Ballot (more than two years after Seth was first nominated.

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.

Truly Great Names - The Best of the Best

By being named on 55% or more of their given ballot, these names have become part of the names whose excellence is agreed on by all of the blogosphere. There aren't many of them (55% of the vote in a totally arbitrary voting process is a lot harder than you'd imagine), and so the fact that these names garnered so much support shows you that they are, in fact, the Greatest Names in our Great Sports Name Hall of Fame.

Rusty Kuntz - Nominated on Ballot One, elected on Ballot One (61%). Played 8 years of MLB (1979-1985), reaching a peak with a sacrifice fly in Game 5 of the 1984 World Series. One of the truly excellent names in the sports world, Rusty had garnered the highest percent of ballot nominations in a single ballot at the time of his entrance, as he was on 61% of the ballots from Ballot One. Great Names are sort of like children, as you really shouldn't pick favorites, but you always do. Ours is Rusty, and it's not even really close.  He's the Godfather of the GSNHOF, and I think that's a position he'll likely hold for all time.


God Shammgod - Nominated on Ballot One, elected on Ballot One (55.6%). God Shammgod was nominated for and elected on ballot one, with 55% of the vote.  20 games in the NBA were all God Shammgod ever saw, but it was enough to get him noticed by sportscasters and allow his name the true exposure it needed to be truly great.  Other fun facts about God Shammgod are that he had his own move, "The Shammgod," and that he changed his name to Shammgod Wells a few years ago (sort of a reverse Boof Bonser, but we knew your birth given name Shammgod, and we knew that it belonged here)

Dick Trickle - Nominated on Ballot One, elected on Ballot Two (50%, 55.3%) Easily the happiest man among our Elected, Dick Trickle was an auto racing lifer who won zero Nascar (Sprint Cup? Pfffft) races but smoked in his car during cautions, making him totally cool. His run to the Truly Great mirrored his time in Nascar, as he was nominated for Ballot One but did not make it in despite his truly excellent name. On Ballot Two, however, without the stiff competition of Rusty Kuntz and God Shammgod, Dick Trickle received a slight boost in voting and ended up with 55%, enough to make him the third member of our Truly Great portion of the GSNHOF.


Fair Hooker - Nominated on Ballot Four, elected on Ballot Four (58%). This selection may make me happier than anyone else's so far. Why? Because Fair did what almost no Brown has done since the 50's - he accomplished something. Fair was the only name elected from Ballot Four, and did it with flair, earning 58% of the total vote, second at the time only to the immortal Rusty Kuntz. Fair Hooker also was the first reader nominated name to make it in to the Truly Great Names portion of our Hall, and so we've got to give him (and the dude who nominated him, named Matt) kudos for that.


Wonderful Terrific Monds the Third - Nominated on Ballot One, elected on Ballot Seven (44%, 36%, 43%, 42%, 42%, 40%, 65%). Well it's about time! Without WTM3, there likely wouldn't be a GSNHOF, let alone a blog writing about that Hall. Yet Monds, after being the first nomination ever to the Hall, sat and watched as Ballot after Ballot passed by without him being elected. Finally on his 7th and final try, Monds garnered enough support to not only make it in, but to do so with flair, setting an enshrinee record with 65% of the Ballots. Monds was never on less than 36% of the Ballot, so it was always just a matter of getting enough support. And finally, he did.

Razor Shines - Nominated on Ballot Five, elected on Ballot Seven (25%, 37%, 55%). Shines only scored 25% of the vote on Ballot Five, his first time appearing as a nomination. Yet much like during his playing career, he quietly kept plugging away - first with a 37% on Ballot Six, and then with a 55% on Ballot Seven. And that's all she wrote, at 55% is the minimum needed for enshrinement. Was it the flashiest entry into the Hall? No. But Razor is all smiles, and I don't blame him!

Pete LaCock - Nominated on Ballot Six, elected on Ballot Eight (25.7%, 40%, 55.6%).  Like Razor Shines before him, Pete LaCock started slow on his first Ballot with barely a quarter of the vote.  But two Ballots later, LaCock showed he belonged with a solid 55.6% on a 65 vote ballot.  His 36 votes is an all-time ballot for a HOF entrant, and may stand as a record for the rest of the GSNHOF's days.  As such, I'd say Pete LaCock truly belongs among the great named elite.



Feel free to look up some names that missed making the Hall on our Good Names page, or check out Ballot Eight to see who is up for voting next time around!

GSNHOF Nominee - Seth Schwindenhammer

This one's for Adam!

Adam has long been calling for me to nominate Seth Schwindenhammer to the GSNHOF, and today I finally am. So buy up some of his cards, friend the guy on Facebook - it's time to celebrate the man with the longest last name in baseball!

Now part of why I was hesitant to put Seth on the Ballot earlier is because he was already kind of a big deal in other great name circles, especially Minors Moniker Madness where he was bracket champion in 2011. I wanted to give at least a little pause between his win and his introduction to my list, and I think I've waited long enough now!

As for the player behind the name, Schwindenhammer is a Red Sox minor leaguer who spent 2011 with the Lowell Spinners. Soxprospects.com does a great job summing up Seth, noting that he has "above average raw power" but that he "does not project into higher levels without extensive work eliminating holes in (his) swing." In other words, Schwindenhammer does indeed bring the hammer, but he hasn't mastered it yet. Here's to hoping that he brings it all together with some minor league seasoning so that we see Jarrod Saltalamacchia unseated as the longest last name in baseball!

So success may or may not come for Mr. Schwindenhammer at the major league level, but that doesn't mean it can't come at the great name level. He already won Minors Moniker Madness - with some votes he'll be enshrined as a truly great name here as well, making him the first player to achieve that honor! Best of luck to you Seth Schwindenhammer!

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.