Friday, January 9, 2009

Players With Unusual Names Includes Browns

After the Cubs signed Milton Bradley to a three-year contract, I started thinking about other baseball players with hilarious names.

Tim Spooneybarger: Spooneybarger, a relief pitcher with the Florida Marlins, started pitching with the Atlanta Braves. He hasn't gotten much playing time. However, with a name like Spooneybarger, he certainly makes my list.

Coco Crisp: Crisp, who's full name is Covelli Loyce Crisp, did take his name from the cereal, although Covelli isn't that much better. He has spent time with both the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, and Kansas City Royals. He is best known for the brawl that he got in with Rays pitcher James Shields after getting hit by a pitch.

Seem Studley: Studley, a pitcher for the Washington Nationals...err...the 1872 Washington Nationals, had a .095 batting average and only played five out of the 11 games in the season (imagine if the season was that short now!)

Rusty Kuntz: Russel Jay Kuntz, was drafted by the White Sox. He had a .236 overall batting average and played for the White Sox, Twins, and finished up his career with the Tigers.

Urban Shocker: A pitcher, who played from 1916-1928, had a 187-117 W/L record. He spent time with the New York Yankees and St. Louis Browns.

Pete LaCock: Not going to even touch that, but his fathers name was Peter (LaCock) Marshall, the original host of Hollywood Squares. LaCock, played for the Cubs (picked 20th in the first round), and finished his career with the Kansas City Royals.

Harry Colliflower: Colliflower, pitched in 1899. He pitched for the Cleveland Spiders, a team that won 20 games and lost 134. He only won one game and lost 11. It's no wonder he only pitched one year. He does have a cool name though.

Heinie Meine: Meine, who was also referred to as the Count of Luxembourg, played most of his career for the late 1920's Pittsburgh Pirates, although in his first year he played for the St. Louis Browns. Meine, won 66 games in his career and had an ERA of 3.99.

Orval Overall: Overall, got drafted by the Reds, but played most of his career with the Cubs. He is the famous pitcher who got the last win to clinch a Cubs World Series Championship back in 1908. (Another interesting statistic? He got traded from the Reds to the Cubs for 2000 dollars and Bob Wicker!)

Creepy Crespi: Crespi, played for five years with the St. Louis Cardinals. He played shortstop and second base. Crespi had a .263 batting average, and helped the Cardinals to their 1942 World Series win.

Interesting huh? Most of these I had never heard of! I know there are plenty I left off the list. I had fun working on this little project though. Lots of interesting names. Special thanks to http://www.baseball-reference.com/ and Leroy Kleimora for help!