Name game
Posted by Andy on September 13, 2011
For those who haven't played this game before, here's how it works. If you use the word "the" in the search box, it returns the top result for whatever follows the "the". For example, The Mick returns Mickey Mantle and The George returns George Herman "Babe" Ruth.
See how many of these you can correctly guess:
The Brooks
The Lou
The FrankÂ
The Rafael
The Mel
The Jose
The Jeff
The Juan
The Kal
The Brian
The Joe
The B B
The C C
The G G
The H H
The Q Q
September 13th, 2011 at 8:29 am
As one with a thorough knowledge of baseball players' middle names, I had no trouble with this. I also am not at all confused as to how Juan Uribe is the most searched Juan.
September 13th, 2011 at 9:49 am
The Brooks Robinson
The Lou Gehrig
The Frank Thomas
The Rafael Palmeiro
The Mel Ott
The Jose Canseco
The Jeff Kent
The Juan Marichal
The Kal Daniels
The Brian ?
The Joe Morgan
The B B Barry Bonds
The C C Sabathia
The G G ?
The H H Harry Heilmann
The Q Q Dan Quisenberry
September 13th, 2011 at 9:53 am
I got 2 right! lol
September 13th, 2011 at 10:00 am
Not on the list here, but "The Robinson" is the most surprising to me.
September 13th, 2011 at 10:51 am
put in "the (your first name)"
Andy, Steve, Charles : Hall of famers
Bip - an easy one, but not a HOF
Raphy?
Very Obsure
the one - You might get this one. Hint: it's the start of the last name
the last first name
the end first name
the best last name, of course
the worst last name
September 13th, 2011 at 11:03 am
@5.
'put in "the (your first name)"'
The Doug gets you Bruce Douglas Bochy.
September 13th, 2011 at 11:37 am
Two traditional groups of four:
The Tinker,
The Taylor (I did not expect this one),
The Soldier, and
The Spy
Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin (Daniel 5:25-28).
September 13th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
Most of these make no sense.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:07 pm
They all make sense, as long as you remember that the "the" feature takes you to the B-R page with the most hits for that search. That's why it's oftentimes a middle name or a nickname that wins out.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:56 pm
I was surprised to hit Mickey Mantle. Charles is his middle name.
I typed in the dollar and got art doll. Noticing that ar were the first two letters of his first name dollar(t). I typed in alou and got moises. I typed in alouf got felipe, alouj, alouma gave jesus and matty. It works without the "the" also.
September 13th, 2011 at 1:40 pm
Wow, this is really illuminating.
Most people are not looking at the same players I am looking at.
I cannot believe Mel was not Mel Ott.
September 13th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
@11
A lot of people use this site to check up on how current players are doing. That's problaby why Upton gets more hits.
September 13th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
"The Don" gives me Adam Dunn! (Big Donkey)
"The Donald" yields Don Mattingly. Which was a relief.
September 13th, 2011 at 5:22 pm
@13: Yeah, that gasbag didn't play pro ball. Not even close..he might break a nail and forget about wearing a cap 🙂
September 13th, 2011 at 5:59 pm
@7, Kahuna.
The Sailor gets Bill Posedel, nickname Sailor Bill.
No tailors or candlestick makers.
September 13th, 2011 at 6:48 pm
put in "the (your first name)"
Since I am female with a decidedly feminine first name, I knew I wouldn't get an exact match. However, I had a feeling who would come up, based on male players with similar names, and I was right.
Then again, are the players from the league on which the movie "A League of our Own" was based in this database? I don't know of any with my first name, so I wasn't expecting any to come up when I entered my name just now.
September 13th, 2011 at 6:57 pm
Eri Yoshida
September 13th, 2011 at 7:08 pm
Eri Yoshida and Ila Borders ar in the database.
August 10 this year
Yoshida, a 19-year-old female knuckleball pitcher from Japan, picked up the first win of her two-year career in the Golden Baseball League and its successor, the North American Baseball League, as Na Koa beat the Edmonton Capitals 4-1 on Tuesday at Maehara Stadium.
Yoshida became the third female to play professionally on the Valley Isle - first baseman Julie Croteau and pitcher Lee Anne Ketchum played for the Maui Stingrays in 1994. They are not in the database.
So there's at least 4 .
September 13th, 2011 at 8:06 pm
without searching can anyone guess who the taco links to? I don't think anyone has ever actually used this nickname.
September 13th, 2011 at 8:14 pm
Oh I saw the initial list and thought I would steal the idea for a quiz on Sprocle, but no casual sports fan would get any of these. Thought I was going to be able to plug B-R.
September 13th, 2011 at 8:52 pm
I'm assuming it's Tacoby Bellsbury, and yes, there are a lot of nicknames that somehow get in here which no one has ever used.
September 13th, 2011 at 9:03 pm
Sad that "the big" turns up Donkey rather than Hurt.
September 13th, 2011 at 9:19 pm
the super yields a cool result
September 13th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
the good = Dwight Gooden
the bad = Hank Aaron
the ugly = Johnny Dickshot
the way = Chipper Jones
the truth = James Mutrie
the life = Lifete Jose
September 13th, 2011 at 9:27 pm
"The Only" gives "The Only Nolan" of course. A glance at his record shows where the nickname came from. Nobody wanted another.
"The The" gives Albert Pujols (nickname: The Machine) which is acceptable. However, the response for "The Man" is positively heretical.
September 13th, 2011 at 10:31 pm
The Alabama: Guy Morton (Alabama Blossom)
The Arkansas: Lon Warneke (The Arkansas Hummingbird)
The California: William Brown (Big Bill or California), 1B/C/OF 1887-94
The Colorado: José Colorado (currently in the Red Sox system)
The Delaware: Delaware Willis (1906-07 minors)
The Florida: Cecil Algerton (Red) Causey (The Florida Flamingo), right-handed swingman for the 1918-22 Giants, Phillies and Braves
The Georgia: Ty Cobb, of course
The Hawaii: Shane Victorino (Flyin’ Hawaiian)
The Kansas: Ernie Smith (Kansas City Kid), one month as a reserve shortstop for the 1930 White Sox
The Kentucky: Earle Combs (The Kentucky Colonel)
The Louisiana: Ron Guidry (Louisiana Lightning)
The Maine: Scott Maine, left-hander currently in the Cubs’ system
The Maryland: Maryland Dykes Potter, two games in relief for the 1938 Dodgers
The Michigan: ----- Michigan, 11 decisions in the 1926 Class D Eastern Shore League and the 1927 Class B New England League
The Mississippi: Guy Bush (The Mississippi Mudcat)
The Montana: Joe Poetz (Bull Montana), pitched in two games for the 1926 Giants
The Nebraska: David Nebraska, 1989 Indians’ system
The
NewHampshire: Larry Hampshire, 1951-54 Class C/D outfielder in the Dodgers’ and Giants’ systemsThe
NewJersey: Joe Stripp (Jersey Joe), 3B/1B for 1928-38 Dodgers and RedsThe
NewYork: Rudy YorkThe
NorthDakota: Dakota Freese, 34th-round pick of the White Sox in the 2011 draftThe Rhode
Island: Arthur RhodesThe Texas: Jack Kraus (Texas Jack), pitcher, 1943-46 Phillies and Giants
The Washington: Ron Washington
September 13th, 2011 at 10:33 pm
I searched "the kid"..thought it would bring me to Gary Carter,instead hit Griffey Jr.
September 13th, 2011 at 10:33 pm
Maybe team the Jacob will meet team the Edward in the WS.
September 13th, 2011 at 10:36 pm
Ready for the HOF debate?
September 13th, 2011 at 10:39 pm
I searched "the juice" wondering if i'd get a steroid player lol..it took me to a 19th century player named "Jumbo Latham"..no idea what the juice connection is.
September 13th, 2011 at 11:34 pm
And "the God" yields Sandy Koufax (The Left Arm of God).
September 14th, 2011 at 12:36 am
@30
the juic and the jui get jumbo
the ju gets Ken Griffey, Junior
September 14th, 2011 at 3:21 am
@21, yes, the nickname database seriously needs to be looked at. I've been following Pablo Sandoval since the minors, and I've never heard anybody call him "Fat Ichiro." Half of these nicknames sounds like something Chris Berman came up with. I'm surprised "The Pooh" doesn't lead to Albert "Winnie the Pooh-hols".
This whiny comment will be shortly followed by one where I actually have fun with the name game, as I do every time this gets brought up. Hmmm, ideas...
September 14th, 2011 at 4:00 am
Top 25 Boy's Names for 2010:
1 . The Jacob - Jacoby Ellsbury (Good thing the #1 name wasn't Taco)
2 . The Ethan - Ethan Allen (Great furniture guy!)
3 . The Michael - Mike Piazza (We're doing good so far)
4 . The Jayden - Jayden Lasley (Played for the Tommahawks of the Heartland League (Ind.) in 1998)
5 . The William - Ted Williams (Well of course)
6 . The Alexander - Alex Rodriguez (if you don't have anything nice to say...)
7 . The Noah - Noah Lowry (Miss ya dude, you were awesome!)
8 . The Daniel - Dan Haren (No complaints)
9 . The Aiden - Aiden Villa (Another Indie leaguer, this one current)
10 . The Anthony - J.A. Happ (Wow expected Lazzeri)
11 . The Joshua - Josh Hamilton (No surprise)
12 . The Mason - Phil Garner (Scrap Iron, now that's a term of endearment!)
13 . The Christopher - Chris Carpenter (Not to be confused with Cris Carpenter. Or the Chris Carpenter who had a cup of coffee with the Cubbies in June)
14 . The Andrew - Andre Dawson (See? Misspelling a HOFers name continuously gets him on this list!)
15 . The David - David Ortiz (Jump on his back, fellas!)
16 . The Matthew - Matt Cain (wow, over Kemp, huh? Score one for the Bay!)
17 . The Logan - Logan Morrison (What? And not Nook? What a shame, great name that)
18 . The Elijah - Elijah Dukes (I feel dirty just typing his name)
19 . The James - Jim Thome (This guy needs a nickname)
20 . The Joseph - Joe DiMaggio (Did I really even have to tell you?)
21 . The Gabriel - Gaby Sanchez (Short list for Gabriels in the bigs)
22 . The Benjamin - Bengie Molina (Congrats on getting a 2nd ring, screw you for getting the 1st)
23 . The Ryan - Nolan Ryan (who is NOT the only Nolan)
24 . The Samuel - Ted Williams (That's Theodore Samuel Williams to you)
25 . The Jackson - Reggie Jackson (Too bad Samuel L Jackson never played in the MLB)
September 14th, 2011 at 4:45 am
The Top 25 GIRLS Names for 2010:
1. Isabella - Anthony Isabella (Drafted in 2004 by ARI, then dropped off the face of the earth. I guess he never signed?)
2. Sop(hia) - Hee-Seop Choi (Had to go all the way down to just 3 letters, and it was a misspelling that got me here)
3. Emma - Alex Rodriguez (That just made my day right there)
4. Olivia - Tony Oliva (Won't somebody please stop the misspellings?)
5. Ava - Pedro Alvarez (Including the misspelling of avarez)
6. Emil(y) - Luis Gonzalez (Gonzo, that is, middle name Emilio)
7. Abigail - Abigail Sandoval (Panda's older sister? Never made it above High-A ball)
8. Madison - Madison Bumbarner (Yay MadBum!)
9. Chl(oe) - Bob Chlupsa (Sounds like the yin to chutzpah's yang)
10. Mia - Bart Miadich (Couple weeks of coffee with the Angels in 01 and 03)
11. Addison - Ad Gumbert (Led the PL with 18 HR, as a pitcher)
12. Elizabeth - Elizabeth Stroud (Played in the Atlantic League with the Reading Coal Heavers in 1898. Either this is a man with an unfortunate name, or this girl was heaving coal and playing baseball)
13. Ella - Roy Ellam (There's a story behind a guy who bats .190 as a September callup at age 23, sits in the minors for 9 years, bats .130 as a September callup at age 32, goes back to the minors for another 4 years, leaves baseball at 36, returns at 43 and plays 2 MORE years in the minors.)
14. Natali(e) - Ernie Lombardi (as far as I can tell, his two nicknames are Nose and Mouth. Or maybe he played bocce ball?)
15. Sama(ntha) - Jeff Samardzija (Love this guy, I wanna buy him a vowel)
16. Alexis - Alex Rios (Okay, finally one that makes sense to me)
17. Lily - Ted Lilly (Back to misspellings)
18. Grace - Mark Grace (Obvious, party of 1)
19. Hailey - Freddie Hailey (Never made it out of AA)
20. Aly(ssa) - Brant Alyea (I have run out of statements)
21. Lillian - Lillian Russell (Hm, Oakland Oaks 1915. I should check that one out.)
22. Hannah - Jack Hannahan (Not to be confused with Joel Hanrahan)
23. Avery - Steve Avery (Steve was-- wait, AVERY?)
24. Leah - Gary Thomasson (Interesting...)
25. Neva(eh) - Travis Nevakshonoff (Never got out of Rookie ball, taken 4 rounds before Craig Kimbrel, 5 rounds before Drew Storen)
September 14th, 2011 at 10:09 am
Tacoby Bellsbury explanation:
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2007/10/tacoby_bellsbur.html
September 14th, 2011 at 10:36 am
#35, subparagraph 12 — This quote is from The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, p. 64, "The 1890s in a Box," entry titled "I Don't Know What This Has to Do with Baseball, Either, But I Thought I'd Mention It, Too":
"A woman by the name of Elizabeth Stround [sic], playing under the name of Lizzie Arlington, played briefly in the Atlantic League in 1898."
Here is the B-R Bullpen Arlington/Stroud page.
September 14th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
"The Jason" gets me Jayson Werth, which seems odd since they're not even spelled the same.
September 14th, 2011 at 12:56 pm
It's due to spelling variations provided at the bottom of the page.
September 14th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
The Susan:
Susano Perez
Jacinto Susana
Andrew Susany
John Susany
The Sue:
William Suero
The Mary: a grand old name...
Maryland Dykes Potter
September 14th, 2011 at 1:44 pm
Dykes Potter had a brother named Squire but if you put in "The Squire" you get Herb Pennock (a nickname)
September 14th, 2011 at 2:37 pm
Okay, so we've established that Maryland Dykes Potter, who was known as Dykes Potter, comes up when you search "The Mary" and "The Maryland." Search for "The Dykes," though, and you get Jimmy Dykes. (No need to explain why, Andy; I understand.)
Here's something I don't understand. Jimmy Dykes played from 1919 to 1939, and managed in the 1950s — all periods for which B-R has photos. Yet Dykes's B-R page doesn't have a photo. Neither does his SABR Bio page. Why?
September 14th, 2011 at 5:47 pm
the key thing I think some people don't realize is that this function is *not* doing what you would expect it to do, which would be for "the x" to take you to the page that the most people who searched on 'x' eventually viewed. It simply looks at the entire list of pages that could match a search on 'x', and takes the most viewed. So of course hank aaron beats out Lou Gehrig on "the Lou". People searching for Lou are far more likely to be looking for Lou Gehrig, but Henry Louis Aaron has more total page views, so he gets the nod.
September 14th, 2011 at 7:07 pm
@37
She was alo known as Lizzie Stride. She became Elizabeth Warner when she married her husband George. She lived in the Philadelphia area and from what I can tell she played from 1892 or earlier until 1901 or later for female baseball teams. She was paid to play in various semi-pro male teams in Philadelphia from time to time to draw a bigger crowd. One source has her playing in 12 minor league games. Supposedly she signed a contract with the Phillie Reserves. She was an excellent athlete: roller polo, shotgun shooting (amateur world champion), tennis, horse racing.
Jackie Mitchell signed a contract with AA Chattanooga in 1931 and struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in an exhibition game. A few days later, Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis voided Mitchell's contract, claiming that baseball was "too strenuous" for a woman. MLB formally banned the signing of women to contracts on June 21, 1952.
In 1952, the Harrisburg Senators announced that they were going to sign 24-year-old shortstop Eleanor Engle. Before she could take the field, the league president stepped in and banned the signing of women. On the 21st Commissioner Ford Frick went one step further and formally banned the signing of women on all teams in organized baseball.
September 14th, 2011 at 7:55 pm
@44 - They must have known I was coming along six days later, although I was such a poor athlete that there was no chance I would have tried to play professional baseball!
I just tried "the judy" because I know there was a (male) Negro League Hall of Famer named Judy Johnson (real name: William Julius Johnson). I thought for sure he'd come up, but a player named Josh Judy came up instead. I never heard of him before and figured he was an old-timer, but it's quite the opposite. He's a 2011 debut with the Indians.
September 14th, 2011 at 10:07 pm
Terrible. How can some novice I never heard of already have more hits than Judy Johnson? We need to visit Johnson's page more everyone! Even though there's nothing on it! (I really hope B-R will add NgL stats in the future. I think Sean's said before that he's wary of incomplete or inaccurate numbers, but he's already been adding estimated strikeouts and catcher caught stealing numbers from the early 1900s, so.....)
BTW -- Negro League stats are slowly being compiled at Baseball Gauge. Well, they've been compiled before, and I don't know a lot of about how accurate or complete they have been, but it sounds like BG is breaking new ground (taking their own words for it). Hmm, I guess it's actually Seamheads, powered by BG, whoever they are and whatever that means....
http://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/index.php
September 15th, 2011 at 8:07 pm
the neil - Paul O'Neill
the diamond - Thomas Diamond
There was never a Major Leaguer with the last name of Diamond until last year, and now there have been two (Thomas with the Cubs last year, and Scott with the Twins this year). In fact, there were no Major Leaguers with last names starting with Dia other than Diaz until Thomas Diamond debuted last year.
No surprise that Neil Chrisley, one of the first players to become a New York Met but who never played for them, is not the name that comes up for "the neil". But if you try the first name of the other singer performing on the 1978 hit record "You Don't Bring Me Flowers"
"the barbra", spelled just this way
he comes up. I don't know what his parents were thinking when they named him Barbra O'Neil Chrisley.
"the streisand" doesn't bring up anyone. I had to chop off letters until "the strei" brought up Oscar Streit, who played for the Boston National League in 1899 and the Cleveland AL team in 1902.
But, "the oscar" is the player I expected it to be - Oscar Gamble.
September 15th, 2011 at 9:52 pm
"the oscar"
Get a job, grouch!