Weekend brings out club’s colorful side
Baseball’s inaugural event offers chance for players to show nicknames on jerseys
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Dallas Keuchel thought he had submitted his request for his players’ weekend uniform in time. The back of the jersey hanging in his locker stall in the visitors’ clubhouse at Angel Stadium on Friday indicated otherwise.
Instead of his nickname, “Kid Keuchy,” Keuchel was one of the few Astros whose last name was lettered across the back of his jersey for Friday night’s series opener against the Los Angeles Angels. The rest featured nicknames as part of baseball’s inaugural players weekend, three days geared toward letting major leaguers display their personalities via monikers, colorful bats, batting gloves and cleats.
“I think it’s really cool,” said Keuchel, who joked he would use a sharpie to pen his nickname on the back of his baby blue and bright orange alternate Astros jersey.
“I don’t know about the colors. I thought the Yankees and some of the teams are pretty close to spot on with colors. But I think it’s a great way to kind of express yourself, where you grew up, be thankful for some people who made it possible. All in all, I think it’s a really cool idea, and hopefully it can just get better and better each year.”
Naturally, certain Astros had more fun with it than others. Josh Reddick, who went with the nickname of “Red Dawg” on his uniform, swung an American flagthemed bat with a red handle and a blue barrel and stars in between. Carlos Beltran was sent three red, white and blue Rawlings bats that featured the Puerto Rican flag and his hometown’s 787 area code.
Memories of home
Joe Musgrove and Chris Devenski sported custom-designed cleats commemorating where they grew up. Musgrove’s featured a depiction of a San Diego sunset, a logo of his travel team as a kid, the San Diego stars, and his high school nickname, which was also featured on the back his uniform: “Moose.”
Devenski’s cleats featured a map of his hometown of Santa Ana, Calif. On one foot he had inscribed “Dr. Junk,” the nickname of his father, Mike, who has long owned a moving business. On the other was his nickname, “Devo,” next to the likeness of his mother, Shirley.
“It gives everyone a chance to kind of express themselves a little bit in their own special way or however they want to,” Musgrove said. “There’s not a whole lot of marketing that goes on for the players. It’s more so for the teams and major league baseball, and then each individual team does a little bit of their own. But it’s kind of a chance for us to get whatever we want to put out there out there.”
Not all are that interested in celebrating the unique weekend, though. George Springer, Brian McCann and Derek Fisher were other nickname-less Astros, though Fisher’s lack of participation stemmed from the fact the players submitted their monikers while he was still in Class AAA. (“I wasn’t so much worried about what was going to be on my jersey,” he quipped. “I just wanted to be here.”)
Springer admittedly “wasn’t really into it.”
“I guess they want it, what, for us to be able to express ourselves? I feel like we should be able to express ourselves all the time, not just three days a year,” he said. “But hey, it will be fun. It will be a good time for some of the guys.”
More than a few players, a contingent that included those who did participate, weren’t huge fans of the color scheme selected for the Astros. Springer described the color of the hats as “Skittle blue.”
“I like eating Skittles,” Springer said. “I don’t like to look like a Skittle.”
Paying special tribute
A perhaps underrated wrinkle to the weekend is a patch the players are wearing on their right sleeves. Each features the name of a person or people that players would like to thank for helping him reach this point in his career.
Many players, Springer included, used the patch to thank his parents. James Hoyt thanked late major leaguer Tony Phillips, who took him under his wing in 2011 when they were teammates with the independent league Yuma Scorpions. Collin McHugh thanked his college pitching coach, Josh Hopper. Alex Bregman had on his patch the name of his 3-year-old godson, Brady, who has autism.
Keuchel used his patch to thank his late grandfather, Joseph Keuchel, who died in 2014 after battling Alzheimer’s.
“He pretty much helped fund a lot of the tournaments I went to growing up as a kid,” Keuchel said. “I definitely owe him a lot. He was an OBGYN for the longest time in Tulsa. He said he always knew that I was going to make the big leagues.”
Of the players whose jerseys featured a nickname, Jake Marisnick’s “Big Fudge” might’ve garnered the most attention around the Astros’ clubhouse. Marisnick got the nickname a few years ago when while with Miami he returned from a disabled list stint a few pounds heavier than he had been.
“It wasn’t bad, but the guys were giving me a hard time and ‘Big Fudge’ just stuck,” he said. “A lot of those guys still call me ‘Fudge.’ ”
Now-Marlins star Christian Yelich is among those responsible for the nickname.
“He got a kick out of it. He was laughing,” Marisnick said of when Yelich learned of his players’ weekend nickname. “Maybe I’ll get the jersey and send it over to him after.”