Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Shortest Player Names


A few days ago, I happened across a comment that I left on Night Owl’s 1971 Topps Mets Rookies post last year, where I wondered about how many players had one-syllable first and last names.

I checked through all the 1966-1970 baseball cards, and found just over 100 players, way more than I had expected. I started out with an idea to tile-post all their cards. As the list grew, that changed into just posting a list of the players.

Since it was over 100 names, I'm taking a different approach: Who has the shortest name? (I think 1980s' Pirates' catcher Ed Ott has that claim, but I’m just focusing on players from 1966-1970.)

I found eight people that could get the job done with SIX letters:


Actually, I’m going to disqualify Joey Jay, because nobody other than Topps ever referred to him as "Joe".

Extra credit to Gus Gil for the alliteration!



But wait! With only ONE additional letter, Eli Grba (GUR-ba) managed to squeeze in 2 more syllables.

Friday, October 11, 2013

RIP - Dan Osinski, Bob Chance


1960s relief pitcher Dan Osinski passed away on 9/13/2013 at age 79 in Sun City, AZ.


Osinski pitched in the majors from 1962-1970 for the Athletics, Angels, Braves, Red Sox, White Sox, and Astros, and was a member of the 1967 AL champion Red Sox.

Obituary



Bob Chance passed away on 10/3/2013 from cancer at age 73 in Charleston, WV.


Chance played 1st base for the Indians and Senators from 1963 to 1967, and appeared briefly with the Angels in 1969. He also played in Japan after his major-league career was over.

NJ.com obituary

Charleston, WV obituary