The best nicknames in Major League Baseball today

The Flying Dutchman, the Splendid Splinter, the Wizard, Charlie Hustle. Baseball history is full of great nicknames. These nicknames have been attached to the legacy of the players they represent and, in many cases, could never be used again. In a couple words, they tell a story, represent a player’s legacy, or are just fun.

“They don’t make ‘em like they used to” is a phrase that gets passed around about the players of yesteryear and, in general, I find it hard to believe that great players of the past are better than the guys out there today. The heyday of nicknames, however, is in the past. Names like The Heater from Van Meter, the Sultan of Swat, Hammerin’ Hank, and the Left Arm of God are hard to beat.

Like those great nicknames of the past, the goal was to find names that said something about the player with bonus points for those using some creativity. Apologies to “Meansy” and “A-Breg” in advance, you didn’t make the cut. Same goes for anyone nicknamed Kid or El Nino. Using Baseball Reference’s collection of nicknames, I found that there are a lot of good and some great nicknames in modern-day Major League Baseball.

After compiling the nicknames of every player on each team’s 40-man roster and the top remaining free agents, I grouped baseball nicknames into five categories. There are Alliterative Nicknames, Nicknames that Come with a Story, Character Nicknames, and two types of Play on Word Nicknames.

Let’s dive into the best nicknames in Major League Baseball today.

Alliterative Nicknames

Babe Ruth falls into this category over and over again with names like The Colossus of Clout or the King of Crash, but there are many other excellent examples in the eras of baseball. Names like The Mechanical Man (Charlie Gehringer), Everyday Eddie (Eddie Guardado), The Tall Tactician (Connie Mack), The Commerce Comet (Mickey Mantle), The Dominican Dandy (Juan Marichal), or the Sheriff of Swattingham (Mark Reynolds) are some of the best from the past. These kinds of nicknames are rare in today’s game, but there are a few good ones.

Best Alliterative Nicknames

• Honorable Mention:
  • The Mississauga Masher – Josh Naylor
  • The Millville Meteor – Mike Trout
• Winner:
  • The Hawaiian Hustler – Isiah Kiner-Falefa

Nicknames that Come with a Story

Some nicknames are earned from such a specific event that there must be a story attached to get the complete picture. Yogi, Satchel, Shoeless Joe, and Nancy (for Buck O’Neil) all have backstories that are worth knowing. Other names like Old Aches and Pains (Luke Appling), Big Time Timmy Jim (Tim Lincecum), or the many players with the nickname of Death to Flying Things all require some explanation.

For modern day players, there are a few that seem to fit this category, most of the which come from Players’ Weekend jerseys.

Best Nicknames that Come With a Story

• Honorable Mention:
  • Chubbs Senior – Kirby Yates
  • Field of Genes – Rich Hill
  • Swipe Right – Chad Pinder
  • Butters – Trent Thornton
  • Tony Two Chains – Anthony Rizzo
• Winner:
  • In Flanders Fields – Joey Votto (more on this here)

Character Nicknames

Perhaps the most common nicknames are the character names. The greatest of these is a toss up between the Man of Steal (Rickey Henderson) or The Capital Punisher (Frank Howard), but names like The Cobra (Dave Parker), The Hawk (Andre Dawson), The Iron Horse (Lou Gehrig), Wild Thing (Mitch Williams), Mild Thing (Doug Jones), or The Big Hurt (Frank Thomas) are iconic as well.

Best Character Nicknames

• Honorable Mention:
  • The Entertainer – Cedric Mullins
  • The Professor – Kyle Hendricks
  • Dr. Smooth – Michael Brantley
  • El Ciclon – Raisel Iglesias
  • The Raptor – Brent Suter
  • The Pebble – Kolten Wong
  • Polar bear – Pete Alonso
  • El Ministro de Defense – Manny Machado
  • Childish Bambino – Juan Soto
• Runner-up:
  • Bringer of Rain – Josh Donaldson
• Winner:
  • El Mago – Javy Baez