Cardinals rookie hurler Michael Wacha is impressing America through his dominant performance in the playoffs. He’s also gotten the attention of fans through his last name, which is a homophone of the catch-phrase of Fozzie Bear, a character on The Muppet Show”, as seen here:
Fans are bringing “Fozzie Bear Wacha Wacha” signs to the ballpark and MLB is even selling a shirt with the catch-phrase on it. Wacha himself has acknowledged the link of his name and the Muppet, but he’s got other things on his mind right now.
So, we’ll pay tribute to Michael Wacha . . . and “The Muppet Show” by presenting the VORG “Muppet Show” team. These are names of Muppet Show characters that are matches or similar to names/nicknames of minor or major leaguers:
| Muppet | Players |
| Kermit the Frog | Bill Hands (Froggy), Kermit Wahl |
| Miss Piggy | Piggy Ward, Pat Paige (Piggy), Walt French (Piggy) |
| Fozzie Bear | Ray Fosse, Robert Fazekas (minor leaguer), Danny Frisella (Bear), Don Gile (Bear), Jim Owens (Bear), Barney White (Bear) |
| Gonzo the Great | Luis Gonzalez (Gonzo), Gonzalo Galastica (minors) |
| Scooter | Scooter Gennett, Phil Rizzuto (Scooter), Clem Koshorek (Scooter), Eddie Tucker (Scooter) |
| Rowlf | Red Rolfe |
| Sam the Eagle | Bill Eagle, Tris Speaker (The Grey Eagle) |
| Dr. Bunsen Honeydew | Stan Bahnsen (Bahnsen Burner), James Honeyman (minors) |
| Beaker | Danny Kravitz (Beak) |
| The Swedish Chef | Charlie Hallstrom (Swedish Wonder), Tyler Cheff |
| Statler | Elwood Statler (minors) |
| Waldorf | Rufus Waldorf (minors) |
| Dr. Teeth | Dwight Gooden (Doc), Jason Molar (minors), Juan Molar (minors) |
| Animal | Brad Lesley (the Animal) |
| Floyd Pepper | Bob Pepper, Don Pepper, Laurin Pepper, Laurin Pepper, Ray Pepper, Pepper Martin, Pepper Peploski |
| Janice | John Janice (minors) |
| Rizzo the Rat | Anthony Rizzo, Todd Rizzo, Johnny Rizzo, Gary Gaetti (The Rat) |
| Crazy Harry | Crazy Schmit |
| Beauregard | Josh Beauregard (minors), Keith Beauregard (minors), Vincent Beauregard (minors) |
| Link Hogthrob | Link Wasem, George Hogriever, Tjerk Hogevorst (minors) |
| Dr. Julius Strangepork | Julius Streib (minors) |
| Camilla the Chicken | Dolph Camilli, Doug Camilli, Lou Camilli, Chicken Hawks, Phil Routcliffe (Chicken), Fred Stanley (Chicken), Chicken Wolf, George Chicken (minors) |