Old Time Family Baseball

When people aren’t merely shortening last names, there remain a few decent nicknames out there, most of them residing on the Giants—the Panda and the Freak are pretty spot on. Still, none of them can compare to the pre-1980s baseball world (known commonly as the modern nickname era). Bruce Markusen takes a look at a few on Chuck Tanner’s White Sox club, with Jay “Moon Man” Johnstone being my personal favorite:

“Some of Johnston’s best moments of clowning occurred in the minor leagues. After being released by the A’s, Johnstone signed on with the Phillies, who assigned him to Toledo of the International League. While with Toledo, Johnston had a run-in with Jim Bunning, at the time the manager of the Mud Hens. During the 1974 season, Bunning ripped into two of his slumping hitters, Dane Iorg and Jerry Martin, by comparing their diminishing batting averages to the sinking of the Titanic. Though a light-hearted humorist first and foremost, Johnstone had his serious side; he couldn’t believe that his manager would publicly belittle his own players that way.

The next day, Johnstone showed up at the ballpark wearing a full-body wet suit with the words “USS Titanic” scribbled across the front of his chest. As Johnstone made his way around the ballpark, he carried an oar with him, pretending to paddle it across the playing field. Not amused by the outfit or the “paddling,” the old-school Bunning, never known for a strong sense of humor, fined Johnstone.

I’d love to block quote more, but that would be unfair to the good men at The Hardball Times. Click through to read more.