Check Out The Yankees ‘Players Weekend’ Jersey Names
I'll be honest: I'm not really a fan of the Yankees having names on their jerseys. I know that makes me a curmudgeon, but the simple fact that I grew up with nameless jerseys, and watching my favorite team be the only one who stuck with that tradition (yes, the Red Sox do it sometimes, but not always), it was just cool.
I get that MLB wants to stay fresh and connect with the youths, so for the second year they're celebrating Players' Weekend (Friday, August 24th through Sunday, August 26th) by allowing every player to customize the name on their jersey.
Here's what the Yankees came up with:
Miguel Andujar: "PAPÁ"
-- Andujar was the first-born in his family, so his father called him "Papa," joking that his eldest son would one day take care of him.
Dellin Betances: "EL ACIDO"
-- Betances said: "It's a nickname I had as a kid. My older cousins gave it to me. I was a little feisty as a kid. I was very wired, electric. If a video game was messed up, I was the guy. I think the people in my family, when they see it, they'll get a kick out of it."
Greg Bird: "BIRD"
Zach Britton: "ANGLADA"
Aroldis Chapman: "THE MISSILE"
A.J. Cole: "AJ"
Clint Frazier: "EL ROJO"
Brett Gardner: "GARDNER"
Sonny Gray: "PICKLES"
-- Gray explained: "When we came up with these nicknames [last year], I was in Oakland, and that's just what a few guys called me. I just kind of put it. I don't know. When we did this, everyone was just throwing stuff out there. I don't have a good answer, man. I really don't."
Didi Gregorius: "THE KNIGHT"
-- Gregorius was formally knighted as a member of Order of Orange-Nassau after helping the Netherlands national baseball team to a championship in the 2011 IBAF Baseball World Cup. "Instead of giving us money, they decided to just knight us, all the guys that had a clean record," Gregorius said. "I'm happy to say it out loud every day."
Chad Green: "GREENY"
J.A. Happ: "HAPPER"
Ben Heller: "HELLER"
Aaron Hicks: "HICKSIE"
Jonathan Holder: "HOLDY"
Aaron Judge: "JUDGE"
Lance Lynn: "MIA"
Jordan Montgomery: "MONTY"
David Robertson: "D-ROB"
Austin Romine: "RO"
CC Sabathia: "DUB"
Gary Sanchez: "KRAKEN"
Luis Severino: "SEVY"
Giancarlo Stanton: "G"
Masahiro Tanaka: "TANAKA TIME"
Gleyber Torres: "GT"
Luke Voit: "LOUIS"
Neil Walker: "WALKIE"
I gotta say, most of those are rather uninspired. Bird and Gardner and Judge and Heller didn't even try; Cole, Green, Happ, Hicks, Holder, Montgomery, Voit and Walker were all meh. Chapman used to be known as The Cuban Missile, but I guess that's sort of politically incorrect?
The names I like? Clint Frazier's awesome mane of red hair set up the awesome "El Rojo". "El Acido" just sounds badass. I like "The Knight" better than last year's Sir Didi, and I even like the simplicity of just having a "G" above your jersey number.
What do you think of the Yanks' nicknames?
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