A look at Phillies nicknames through the years

For the second straight season, big leaguers wore nicknames on their jerseys as part of Players' Weekend. Nicknames have been part of the game since its inception. Those nicknames never appeared on jerseys. Heck, uniform numbers didn't appear until the early 1930s.
Rich Westcott, long time author and baseball historian, wrote a story about Phillies nicknames in my book, "The Fightin' Phillies."
What follows is a short version of Rich's works …
Before the 1900s, there were other colorful nicknames, including Sliding Billy (Billy Hamilton), The Tabasco Kid (Norm Elberfield), Phenomenal (John Smith), Buttermilk (Tom Dowd), Blondie (Bill Purcell), Brewery Jack (John Taylor) and Cannonball (Ledell Titcomb).
The Phillies' 2008 World Series winner had a roster that included The Flyin' Hawaiian (Shane Victorino), Chooch (Carlos Ruiz), J-Roll (Jimmy Rollins), Hollywood (Cole Hamels), the Big Piece (Ryan Howard), Lights Out (Brad Lidge) and Pat the Bat (Pat Burrell). The club has taken the field with the Dude or Nails (Lenny Dykstra), Spike (Randy Ready), Headley (Dave Hollins), Junior (Dave Cash), Vuke (John Vukovich) and Jethro (Tommy Greene). Then, there's such favorites as Crash (Dick Allen), Sarge (Gary Matthews), Charlie Hustle (Pete Rose), Gnat (Larry Bowa) and The Secretary of Defense (Garry Maddox).
Among Phillies pitchers, who can forget Wild Thing (Mitch Williams)? Or to go back a little bit, Losing Pitcher (Hugh Mulcahy)? Or even farther back, Weeping Willie (Claude Willoughby) and Ol' Pete (Grover Cleveland Alexander)? And what does it say about pitchers who had nicknames such as The Rock (Steve Bedrosian), Whirlybird (Bob Walk), Boom-Boom (Walter Beck), Fidgety Phil (Phil Collins) or Doc (Roy Halladay)?
There have also been nicknames that were unimaginative versions of a player's name. Robbie (Robin Roberts), Tugger (Tug McGraw), Schill (Curt Schilling), Eisey (Jim Eisenreich), Inky (Pete Incaviglia), Stocks (Kevin Stocker), Krukker (John Kruk), Lieby (Mike Lieberthal) and Pap (Jonathan Papelbon).
The Phillies have had scores of real down-to-earth nicknames that tell you something about the guy himself. What do you think when you hear such gems as Horse Face (Togie Pittinger), Maje (Robert McDonnell), Sparky (George Anderson), Dutch (Darren Daulton), Puddin' Head (Willie Jones) or Putt-Putt (Richie Ashburn)? Ashburn was also known as Whitey.
Other noteworthy nicknames included Shucks (Hub Pruett), Handle Hit (Milt Stock), What's the Use (Pearce Chiles), Fiddler (Frank Corridon), Dode (George Paskert), Sleuth (Tom Fleming), Stosh (Stan Lopata), Kingfish (Wes Covington), Putsy (Ralph Caballero) and Wagon Tongue (Bill Keister). There was also Schoolboy (Linwood Rowe), Nibbler (Jim Hearn), Beauty (Dave Bancroft), Frosty Bill (Bill Duggleby), Buzz (Russ Arlett), Dirty Jack (John Doyle) and Bubba (Emory Church).
Then, there's Harry the Hat (Harry Walker), Harry the Horse (Harry Anderson) and Harry the K (Harry Kalas). Initials as in LA (Larry Andersen) and LC (Larry Christenson).
The Phillies have been especially partial to food. Cookie (Octavio Rojas), Apples (Andy Lapihuska), Cod (Al Myers), Shad (Flint Rhem), Beans (Harry Keener), Peanuts (Harry Lowrey), Pretzels (John Pezzulo), Spud (Virgil Davis) and Pickles (Bill Dillhoefer).
Animals have also been well represented. Possum (George Whitted), Reindeer Bill (Bill Killefer), Kitten (Harvey Haddix), Kitty (Jim Kaat and Bill Bransfield), Chicken (Nelson Hawks), Bear (Jim Owens), Bull (Greg Luzinski), Tiger (Don Hoak), Squirrel (Roy Sievers), Turkey (Cecil Tyson), Donkey (Frank Thomas), Rabbit (Tom Glaviano), Hawk (Ken Silvestri), Mighty Mouse (Solly Hemus) and Baby Bull (Odubel Herrera).
Geographic references were made by Tioga (George Burns), Bama (Carvel Rowell), Irish (Mike Ryan), Greek (Bobby DelGreco), and Chile (Jose Gomez). The Phillies have also had Cactus (Gavvy Cravath), Palm Tree (Ron Stone), Fireball (Fred Wenz) and Buckshot (Tommy Brown).
Plus Lucky (Jack Lohrke) and Jinx (Jennings Poindexter), Sleepy (Bill Burns) and Nap (John Shea), Coonskin (Curt Davis) and Rawhide (Jim Tabor), Stretch (Howie Schultz), Stumpy (Al Verdel), Iron Hands (Chuck Hiller) and Stone Hands (Dick Stuart), Jumbo (Jim Elliott), Midget (Don Ferrarese), Shorty (Glenn Crawford), Bitsy (Elisha Mott), Runt (Jimmy Walsh), Smiling Al (Al Maul), Mad Monk (Russ Meyer), Swats (Carl Sawatski) and Swish (Bill Nicholson).
Over the years, the Phillies have had at least 15 Leftys, the most notable being Steve Carlton, a dozen or more Reds, and a number of Docs, Chiefs, Dutches and Cys. It all goes to prove, there's no name like a good nickname when it comes to baseball players.