names

Best Prospect Names for 2018

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Armed with my already well-worn copy of the 2018 Baseball America Prospect Handbook, here are some of my favorite player names of future stars: Arizona Diamondbacks: Jazz Chisholm, Daulton Varsho, Socrates Brito Atlanta Braves: Touki Toussaint, Huascar Ynoa Baltimore Orioles: Ryan Mountcastle, Chance Sisco, Ofelky Peralta, Jimmy Yacabonis, Boston Red Sox: Darwinzon Hernandez, Josh Ockimey … Read more

Players with Names Matching U.S. State Capitals

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Andrew Baggarly was watching the Giants play this past Thursday, and stumbled upon this factoid: Austin Jackson lines out in his first at-bat of the spring. I actually spent 20 minutes on this, and could not find another MLB player whose name is two state capitals. — Andrew Baggarly March 1, 2018 . . … Read more

“Celebrity” Pitching Matchups

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Various sports outlets and Twitter folks are noting tonight’s “Ray-Romano” pitching matchup in the Arizona-Cincinnati game. Here are some more “celebrity” pitching matchups that have taken place (thanks to the gamelogs at Retrosheet): DATE VIS HOME VIS P HOME P 19340522 SLN NY1 Dean Smith 19340719 SLN BSN Dean Smith 19360521 SLN NY1 Dean Smith … Read more

Get the Leb Out

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Recently, the VORG came across a ballplayer in the Blue Jays system named Jason Leblebijian. He’s currently an infielder (mainly second base) at Triple-A. and there was some chatter about a possible call-up to the majors. If he DOES get there, he’ll join this wondrous list of players whose last name takes the form of … Read more

Last Name Full of Alternating “A”s

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Gets a referral fee for forwarding this request: where is the alternating A-team. need Bobby Ayala, Rich Amaral, and John Halama — Zonino September 19, 2016 attention — High Heat Stats September 19, 2016 Using the historical player list through 2015 from the Lahman Baseball Database, I found all … Read more

The VORG’s “Hard to Spell” List

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Tonight will be the conclusion of the Final Round of the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee. In honor of this, the VORG presents some of our favorite hard-to-spell player names: Adam Hyzdu Al Hargesheimer Andy Lapihuska Andy Stankiewicz Archi Cianfrocco Arquimedez Pozo Aurelio Monteagudo Bevo LeBourveau Biggs Wehde Bill Nahorodny Bill Wambsganss Billy Grabarkewitz Bob … Read more

If “Baseball Player” is ever a “Wheel of Fortune” Category

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Loyal VORG reader Jeff Gelman emailed me recently:

A short time after his call-up to the majors I read that Andy Pettitte had become just the second major leaguer with 4 t’s in his last name, joining Mickey Tettleton. I don’t know if anyone else has since joined this club . . .

Anyhow, I thought that perhaps you’d research which player last names contain the most of each letter. In the event of a mega-tie, perhaps an indication of the number of players and which one made the most recent major league debut?

In the interest of being thorough, I compiled the record-holders for first, last and combined names, using the Lahman Baseball Database as a name/spelling source (we’re going by how they were referred to in their careers, not necessarily their given name). Each table below lists the letter tallied, the “record” for most of that letter in the name, the number of players sharing that record, and the most recent debut of any such player.

In the first name group, we’ve previously written about Atahualpa Severino. Severino is one of only three players to have a “letter record” all to himself. Meanwhile, no “2 V” player has suited up since Gavvy Cravath in 1908:

First

Most

Players

Most recent debut
A

4

1

 Atahualpa Severino

9/6/2011
B

3

120

 Bobby LaFromboise

4/10/2013
C

2

171

 C.C. Lee

7/14/2013
D

2

304

 David Hale

9/13/2013
E

4

2

 Pee Wee Reese

4/23/1940
F

2

209

 Tuffy Gosewisch

8/1/2013
G

3

3

 Gregg Zaun

6/24/1995
H

3

1

 Hung-Chih Kuo

9/2/2005
I

3

1

 Keiichi Yabu

4/9/2005
J

2

12

 J.J. Hoover

4/25/2012
K

2

19

 Kensuke Tanaka

7/9/2013
L

3

7

 Glenallen Hill

7/31/1989
M

2

199

 Tommy Medica

9/11/2013
N

3

7

 Brennan Boesch

4/23/2010
O

4

2

 Choo-Choo Coleman

4/16/1961
P

3

3

 Phillippe Aumont

8/23/2012
Q

1

26

 Arquimedes Caminero

8/16/2013
R

2

734

 Roger Kieschnick

7/31/2013
S

2

142

 Jesus Sucre

5/24/2013
T

2

330

 Matt Shoemaker

9/20/2013
U

2

8

 Julius Matos

5/31/2002
V

2

2

 Gavvy Cravath

4/18/1908
W

1

651

 Wilfredo Tovar

9/22/2013
X

1

184

 Xander Bogaerts

8/20/2013
Max Stassi

8/20/2013
Y

2

8

 Yunesky Maya

9/7/2010
Z

2

29

 Gonzalez Germen

7/12/2013

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The All-Left (or Right) Side of the Typewriter Roster

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Its pretty slow at the Winter Meetings so far, with most of the big deals happening in the days PRIOR to the actual gathering. So the VORG is passing the time presenting you with the list of players whose names can be typed with only the left or right hand on a standard QWERTY keyboard: … Read more

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