No. 25: The Penguin (Ron Cey)
Well, he did walk like a Penguin. Cey, by the way, is one of the most underrated players in baseball history. He smashed 316 homers, walked 1,000 times and put up more career WAR (53.5) than several Hall of Famers. Louis Reqeuna/MLB Photos
Best Baseball Nicknames in History
No. 24: Scrabble (Marc Rzepczynski)
An homage to two players named Doug (Gwosdz and Mientkiewicz), who were both called "Eye Chart." Rzepczynski is worth 31 points in Scrabble, plus whatever you can get for double- and triple-letter score. Rich Lam/Getty Images
No. 23: The Human Rain Delay (Mike Hargrove)
Hargrove got the nickname for the many time-consuming adjustments he would make between pitches. National Baseball Hall of Fame Library/MLB Photos
No. 22: Joey Bats (Jose Bautista)
Bautista once did a very funny sketch that was a version of the baseball bat scene in "The Untouchables." This nickname has gotten better and better as Bautista has embraced his role as one of baseball's tough guys. Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos
No. 21: Oil Can Boyd (Dennis Boyd)
He might have been Oil Can because he drank a lot of brew at one time -- beer being called "oil" in Merdian, Miss. Whatever the reason, he was as reliable for miles and miles, like a beloved vehicle. Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
No. 20: The Big Hurt (Frank Thomas)
It was probably Chicago's boisterous announcer Hawk Harrelson who came up with this marvelous nickname, which needs no explanation. Eliot J. Schechter/Getty Images
No. 19: Kung Fu Panda (Pablo Sandoval)
It hasn't been great for Sandoval the last three years with injuries and struggles, but the nickname is still there as a reminder of his fun and happy days hitting like mad and winning World Series with the Giants. Joe Sargent/MLB Photos
No. 18: The Secretary of Defense (Garry Maddox)
He was sometimes called "The Minister of Defense." Maddox's magnificent center-field defense inspired awe and overwhelming tributes, my favorite being Harry Kalas' "Two thirds of the Earth is covered by water, the other third is covered by Garry Maddox." AP
No. 17: Turkey Stearnes (Norman Stearnes)
Stearnes is in the Hall of Fame for his astonishing play in the Negro Leagues; records show he hit more official homers than any other Negro Leaguer, including Josh Gibson. They called him Turkey for the way he ran with his arms flapping. National Baseball Hall of Fame Library/MLB Photos
No. 16: The Say Hey Kid (Willie Mays)
The question with Secretariat has always been, "Is Secretariat a great horse name or was he just such a great thoroughbred that it seems that way?" Same thing with "The Say Hey Kid" -- the nickname is fine (it comes from Mays' habit of saying "Say Hey!"), but it is Mays' brilliance that infuses it with life. National Baseball Hall of Fame Library/MLB Photos
No. 15: Thor (Noah Syndergaard)
It looked like Matt Harvey's "The Dark Knight" nickname would become a classic, but his injury woes have left the great Mets nickname to Snydergaard, who does indeed control lightning and is the only one who can lift the hammer of Thor. Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos
No. 14: Sandman (Mariano Rivera)
To be honest, more people simply called him "Mo," but the combination of the nickname Sandman and his perfect entry song of "Enter Sandman" is breathtaking. And Sandman did put teams to sleep for 19 years. Rich Pilling/MLB Photos
No. 13: Double Duty Radcliffe (Ted Radcliffe)
Double Duty got his name from a 1932 Negro Leagues World Series doubleheader. He caught the first game, then threw a shutout in the second. "He is worth the price of two admissions," the writer Damon Runyon wrote when he coined the legendary nickname. National Baseball Hall of Fame Library/MLB Photos
No. 12: Corey's Brother (Kyle Seager)
It's not quite a nickname, but this is what Kyle is wearing on the back of his jersey for Players Weekend, and it is fantastic. Kyle is a terrific player, an All-Star, a Gold Glove winner, a slugger who has hit 30 homers in a season. And by choosing to pay homage to his younger brother, Corey Seager, he also shows he's funny and charming. Rob Tringali/MLB Photos
No. 11: Toy Cannon (Jimmy Wynn)
It is probably the perfect baseball nickname, because in two words it captures Wynn's diminutive stature (he was listed at 5-foot-10) and his great power (he hit 291 home runs despite playing in pitcher's parks almost his whole career). And it's so much fun. Louis Requena/MLB Photos
No. 10: All Rise (Aaron Judge)
"All Rise" is not exactly a nickname -- nobody calls Aaron Judge "All Rise." But "All Rise" has become the clarion call of the 2017 baseball season. It's rare that things come together so sweetly. You get a charismatic baseball player who hits monster home runs, and his name happens to be Judge. Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos
No. 9: Mr. October (Reggie Jackson)
Reggie Jackson slugged .755 with 10 home runs in five World Series appearances. That's impressive for anyone, but Reggie did it with the style and boldness and arrogance that marked his whole career. He loved the big stage. If Twitter had been around in Reggie's time, he would have blown it up numerous times. National Baseball Hall of Fame Library/MLB Photos
No 8: The Wizard (Ozzie Smith)
It is not the most original of nicknames -- Ozzie Newsome was also called "The Wizard of Oz" -- but it perfectly describes the way Ozzie Smith played defense. He didn't just make great plays, he made magical ones. Jeff Carlick/MLB Photos
No. 7: Shoeless Joe Jackson
He took his shoes off his before an at-bat in Greenville, S.C., because the cleats he had been wearing were giving him blisters, and that was that. "Shoeless Joe" remains very much alive in the minds of baseball fans, in part because of the 1919 Black Sox Scandal that cost him his career, and in part because of that indelible nickname. National Baseball Hall of Fame Library/MLB Photos
No. 6: Satchel Paige (Leroy Paige)
The nickname may have come from his job of carrying people's satchels at a train station (he supposedly fashioned some invention that allowed him to carry several at once, inspiring someone to yell, "You look like a walking satchel tree!"). It also might have been that he tried to steal a bag, got caught and was teased relentlessly as "Satchel Paige" forever after. Either way, the nickname is so fitting that you probably didn't even know his first name was Leroy. National Baseball Hall of Fame Library/MLB Photos
No. 5: Charlie Hustle (Pete Rose)
It was an insult. Mickey Mantle saw the young Pete Rose playing like the Tasmanian Devil, and he shouted, "Oh, look at Charlie Hustle over there running around." Rose wore it as a badge of honor, sometimes running to first on walks, often diving headfirst into bases for no apparent reason, smashing into catcher Ray Fosse to score the winning run in an All-Star Game. Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
No. 4: Yogi Berra (Lawrence Berra)
He was given the nickname as a child when a friend said he looked like a Yogi as he sat around and moped after his baseball team lost a game. He was indeed baseball's Yogi, for the brilliant way he played catcher, his astonishing hitting prowess, and, of course, for the countless bits of wisdom he bestowed on the world such as: "You can observe a lot by watching." National Baseball Hall of Fame Library/MLB Photos
No. 3: Big Papi (David Ortiz)
People often complain that baseball nicknames ain't what they used to be, and that's probably so. But there are a few great ones of recent vintage, and Big Papi is right there. Ortiz got the nickname for his habit of calling everybody Papi, but over time, as Ortiz established himself as a one-of-a-kind ballplayer and leader, "Big Papi" began to take on a whole new meaning. Rob Tringali/MLB Photos
No. 2: Cool Papa Bell (James Bell)
It's the most musical nickname in baseball history, and sports history. People would sometimes ask Buck O'Neil, the great Negro Leagues player and manager who was Bell's friend, "What does Cool Papa mean?" Buck would shrug. "If you have to ask what it means," he told me once, "then you will never know what it means." National Baseball Hall of Fame Library/MLB Photos
No. 1: Babe Ruth (George Ruth)
What if he had gone by George Ruth? It's hard to even imagine. He was called Babe as a young player when he was all naiveté -- he was like a babe in the woods. Over the years, he was called many other things -- "Bambino," "The Sultan of Swat," "The Big Bam" and "Jidge" -- but at heart, he was always Babe, and 100 years after he began, everyone still knows him that way. National Baseball Hall of Fame Library/MLB Photos
Honorable Mention: The Commerce Comet (Mickey Mantle)
This sort of nickname, where you use a player's hometown as a jumping-off point, has sort of disappeared. Bob Feller was the "Heater from Van Meter." Amos Rusie was "The Hoosier Thunderbolt." Spec Shea was "The Nagatuck Nugget." Louis Requena /MLB Photos
Honorable Mention: The Millville Meteor (Mike Trout)
Another example of a player's hometown inspiring their nickname. And "The Millville Meteor" does have a ring. Bob Levey/Getty Images
Honorable mention: Crime Dog (Fred McGriff)
The reason people of our generation love this nickname so so so so much is that you could wind yourself into a pretzel trying to explain to someone how he got it. You see, there was a cartoon dog named McGruff who was constantly reminding us to "take a bite out of crime." and McGriff sounds something like McGruff, and there was a guy named Chris Berman who came up with funny nicknames for players and … well, what's the point? Theories pass. The nickname remains. Rich Pilling/MLB Photos
Honorable mention: The Splendid Splinter (Ted Williams)
It is clever and has nice alliteration. But it never seemed to fit Williams' difficult and uncompromising personality. It would have better fit Stan Musial, though he already had "Stan the Man." National Baseball Hall of Fame Library/MLB Photos
Honorable mention: Mr. Cub (Ernie Banks)
It's a really good nickname for Banks, but it is provincial. Tony Gwynn was sometimes called Mr. Padre, Al Kaline is Mr. Tiger, Tim Salmon is Mr. Angel, Jeff Conine is Mr. Marlin. Louis Requena/MLB Photos
Honorable mention: The Big Unit (Randy Johnson)
There's only limited room for "The Big" nicknames … and we have two on the list. Too bad, because Big Unit was a fantastic description of Johnson at work. John Grieshop/MLB Photos
Honorable mention: Mr. Smile (Francisco Lindor)
It's close to a great nickname because it does reflect the joy of Lindor. But it's a little bit awkward. Joe Sargent/MLB Photos