As we approach Baseball season, I thought it would be great fun to take a look back at what the nicknames of some of the famous baseball players were known by.

Hank Aaron – Hammer
Johnny Bench – Little General
Ty Cobb – The Georgia Peach
Dizzy Dean – The Great Man
Joe DiMaggio – The Yankee Clipper or Joltin Joe
Don Drysdale – Big D
Leo Durocher – The Lip
Lou Gehrig – The Iron Horse
Connie Mack – Mr. Baseball
Mickey Mantle – The Mick
Willie Mays – The Say Hey Kid
Joe McGinnity – Iron Man
Brooks Robinson – Hoover or The Vacuum Cleaner
Cal Ripken – Iron Man
Babe Ruth–King of Swing, The Sultan of Swat
Noland Ryan – The Ryan Express
Tom Seaver – Tom Terrific
George Sister – Gorgeous George
Ozzy Smith – he Wizard of Oz
Casey Stengel – The Old Perfessor
Carl Yaztrzemski – Yaz

Nicknames for Baseball players fall into several different categories.

Color – Michael Higgins, aka Pinky Higgins.
Physical characteristics – Mordecai Brown, aka three Finger Brown
Animals – Greg Madduz, aka Mad Dog Maddux
Ethnic Nicknames – Herman Long,  aka The Flying Dutchman
Titles and Ranks – Duke Snider, aka The Duke of Flatbush
Personality – Joe Knight, aka Quiet Joe
Food – John Candelaria, aka the Candy Man
Mechanical – Roger Clemons,  aka Rocket

Did your favorite player make our list?

Photo Source:  flickr.com  Peter Dindinger