Nicknames have unique stories
‘Players Weekend’ will showcase wacky
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Anybody attending the Miami Marlins’ home series with the San Diego Padres later this month might want to have a copy of the roster with uniform numbers handy.
Major League Baseball and the players’ union announced Wednesday that Aug. 25-27 will be “Players Weekend,” which will include teams wearing colorful, specially designed jerseys that feature nicknames instead of last names on the back. That means Ichiro Suzuki will be Ichi, Marcell Ozuna will be The Big Bear, Brad Ziegler will be Unicorn and J.T. Realmuto will be … JT.
The gimmick is meant to serve as an injection of personality into the game, with the league temporarily loosening their typically strict dress code/equipment rules.
“It’s good. It’s tight. You see I play with a lot of personality, so it’s cool to see Major League Baseball going into guys’ individual personalities a little more,” said Dee Gordon.
The Marlins’ jerseys are a bright blue base with orange sleeves and orange “Marlins” across the chest. The hats are a lighter blue with a large, tri-color “M” Marlins logo.
Some of the Marlins’ monikers are obvious: Christian Yelich as Yeli, Miguel Rojas as Miggy Ro, Junichi Tazawa as Taz and so on.
But several of the nicknames — chosen by the individuals, though sometimes heavily influenced by their teammates — are not obvious. Here are the stories behind several.
Giancarlo Stanton: Cruz. Part of the idea behind Players Weekend is to throw it back to the players’ youth-baseball nicknames. Stanton did that by choosing Cruz — part of his full name, Giancarlo Cruz-Michael Stanton — which his family still calls him.
“I made it simple,” Stanton said.
Brad Ziegler: Unicorn. This one is much newer, assigned to Ziegler by his Marlins teammates — mostly Justin Bour — in spring training this year, his first with Miami.
Ziegler said it stems from his lack of spring training appearances. He talked with the Marlins about a light workload in spring so he could save energy for the regular season, the idea being that as a 37-year-old veteran player he knew what he needed to get ready. The Marlins agreed. He didn’t pitch in a Grapefruit League game until March 12.
“And even then, about half of my games in spring training were backfield games, so the team looked at it like, ‘He’s this mythical creature. We don’t know if he really exists or not,’” Ziegler said. “So they started calling me the Unicorn.”
Dee Gordon: Varis Strange. This is a version of his full name, Devaris Strange-Gordon. “Varis” is a shortened version of his first name, and “Strange” is his late mother’s last name.
“I turn around for Devaris and Varis way before I turn around for Dee,” Gordon said.
Wait, so why did he start going by Dee in baseball circles to begin with?
“We were in Missoula, Montana, in 2008 and the dude [public-address announcer] said, ‘Now batting, Devarias Stronjey Gordone.’ So just call me Dee from now on.”
Justin Bour: Papito. This, too, is a new one for Bour, who is not expected to be back from the disabled list (right oblique strain) in time for Players Weekend. Rojas assigned it to him in spring training.
“I call him Papito to make fun of him. It means ‘Little Daddy,’ ” Rojas said. “He came the next morning calling me Papito. I said, with the Latin community we got here in Miami, I think that nickname is going to be really good for you . ... ”
A.J. Ellis: Dad. As the 36-year-old backup catcher and 10-year major league veteran, Ellis has become the dad of the team in the eyes of teammates.
“He’s making sure everybody is doing what they’re supposed to be doing at all times,” Realmuto said.
Said Gordon: “He talks to us like we’re his kids.”