Homophonic opposing pitchers
Posted by Andy on September 22, 2007
In a shocking bit of frivolity, this game between Boston and Baltimore a couple of weeks ago featured opposing pitchers whose names sound the same but are spelled differently.
The starter for the Red Sox was Jon Lester, who has overcome off-season cancer to pitch again in the majors this year. Daniel Cabrera started for the Orioles, but was relieved by Jon Leicester, whose last name is pronounced like "Lester." (Those of you familiar with Leicester Square in London will be familiar with its pronunciation.)
Off the top of my head, I can't think of any other two baseball players with exact homophonic names (except those that are actually spelled the same, such as Chris Young and Chris Young,) much less two players pitching for opposing sides in the same game.
But surely you readers out there can think of some other examples? Please comment.
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Billy Bean and Billy Beane. They both played a few games for the 1988 Tigers, but at different points in the season.
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Bill Mueller has three homophonic namesales:
Bill Miller 1902-1902 William Alexander Miller
Bill Miller 1952-1955 William Paul Miller
Bill Miller 1937-1937 William Francis Miller
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:42 pm
Most databases have a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundex function. If you can query BR's db directly . . . well, even then it'll take a little while.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:48 pm
I can't tell you how much fun I had with this one! Anyway this is what I came up with. Some may be a bit of a stretch.
Larry Andersen 1975-94 Larry Anderson 1974-77
Fred Andrews 1976-77 Fred Andrus 1885
James Edward Bird 1921 James Edward Byrd 1993
William "Dad" Clarke 1888-98 William "Watty" Clark 1924-35
George Ewell 1871 George Uhle 1919-36
Charles Jamerson 1924 Charles Jamieson 1915-32
Joe Kelly 1994-99 Joe Kelley 1891-1908
Mike Kelly 1914-19 Mike Kelley 1899
Tom Kelly 1975 Tom Kelley 1964-75
Fred Osborn 1907-09 Fred Osborne 1890
Buck Rodgers 1961-69 Buck Rogers 1935
Jack
September 23rd, 2007 at 6:10 am
There were Bruce Bochy and Bruce Bochte, but I was never sure how "Bochte" was pronounced.
Technically, Bill Mueller's last name isn't pronounced quite like "Miller"...it's slightly closer to "Muller" (rhymes with duller)...although the lazy Boston media just defaulted to "Miller".
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Vin Scully said Mueller is pronounce as Miller. That's good enough for me.
September 23rd, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Wait, I was only thinking of last names. Grr, I wish you could delete posts... I've heard of both Shawn Green and Sean Green active in the majors right now.
September 23rd, 2007 at 3:28 pm
I deleted your comment.
September 23rd, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Homophonic names: Bill White first baseman for the Giants, Cards and Phillies in the 50's and 60's and Bill Wight who pitched for a number of teams in the 40's and 50's and had a great pick-off move.
September 25th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Nobody remembers when Scott Service pitched to Scott Servais?
September 26th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Bobby Thomson (Robert Brown Thomson) and Robby Thompson (Robert Randall Thompson) both played for the Giants.
September 26th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
The Service/Servais one is good...of course, last year for the Red Sox, Javier Lopez caught a bit for Javier Lopez, until the BoSox realized that Javier Lopez (the catcher) had nothing left in the tank and ditched him.
September 27th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
John Rocker
September 27th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Sorry--it's "homophonic" not "homophobic."