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He was baseball's
no-fly zone
Gavvy Cravath's unusual sea gull story might be better suited for an explanation of what may be baseball's most puzzling nickname.
The player who bore the nickname was Bob Ferguson, who played for and managed Hartford in 1876, the very first season of the National League.
Ferguson was a major leaguer for several years afterward, and carried this nickname:
Death to Flying Things.
I assume Ferguson earned the name not with his bat, but rather by making what were regarded as spectacular catches of line drives from his various infield positions. |
'Wild Thing?' He was anything but
In 1932 General Crowder pitched 327 innings over 50 games for Washington and didn't hit a batter or commit a wild pitch.
Thus he set the American League record for most innings pitched without one getting away. He won 26 games that season. |
How much could
one man take?
Nick "Tomato Face" Cullop endured more than his share of tragedy. During the winter that separated the 1929 and 1930 seasons, Cullop lost one child to an accidental fall from an apartment window and another child weeks later to illness. His wife had a breakdown and was ill for several months.
And early in the 1930 season Cullop, playing for the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association, was hit on the head by a pitch. The beaning affected his hitting for several weeks.
Then Cullop went on a tear – and by season's end hit 54 home runs, which at that time was the league record. |
He took a stand – and
wound up in Chicago
Kiki Cuyler was generally a pleasant, easy-going guy, but he had his moments.
In 1927 Pittsburgh Pirates manager Donie Bush wanted Cuyler to bat second, but Cuyler refused, claiming he could help the team more if he remained third in the order.
Bush benched Cuyler for much of the season and didn't use him in the World Series.
Cuyler also was annoyed with Pittsburgh management when they wouldn't – as a matter of team policy – let the player take his wife on a road trip.
A few weeks after the 1927 season, the inevitable happened – the Pirates traded Cuyler to Chicago. |
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| Part 3 |
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| Sandalio Consuegra (1920-2005) |
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| Sandalio Simeon Consuegra broke in with the Washington Senators in 1950. At the time the Senators led the league in Latin American players.
Consuegra's name was the only thing memorable about him until he was dealt to the Chicago White Sox and won 16 games (against only three losses) in 1954.
He was nicknamed Sandy, but I always preferred his given name. You can say Sandalio Consuegra with many inflections. It can be musical, humorous, romantic, even menacing. Makes you feel like you can speak Spanish – even when you can't.
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| Nardi Contreras (1951- ) |
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| Relief pitcher Arnaldo Juan Contreras appeared in eight games for the Chicago White Sox in 1980. His name is a great way to begin a rebuttal: "Nardi contreras, fella. Here's how it really is . . . "
After retiring as a player, Contreras became a pitching coach, working for the Seattle Mariners, Chicago White Sox and (at last report) the New York Yankees. |
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| Gavvy Cravath (1881-1953) |
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| Clifford Carlton Cravath was baseball's home run king until Babe Ruth came along. Cravath led the National League in homers six times between 1912-19, with a high of 24 in 1915. He broke in with the Boston Red Sox in 1908, but didn't impress anyone until, at age 31, he joined the Philadelphia Phillies in 1912.
Cravath also was called Cactus, as though people somehow assumed Gavvy was his real first name. Turns out the story behind Gavvy is almost too weird to believe, but, heck, if a Randy Johnson fastball can kill a bird that flew in front of home plate at the wrong time (it really happened; I've seen the tape), then I suppose a Clifford Cravath line drive could have killed a sea gull in flight. It happened while Cravath was playing with Los Angeles of the Pacific League. Spanish fans started chanting, "Gaviota! Gaviota!" ("Sea gull! Sea gull!") and other fans mistook this as a cheer for the player. Thus Gavvy was born, though Cravath himself always spelled his nickname with one v. I'm with the stubborn majority who insist on rhyming it with savvy, not wavy. |
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| Creepy Crespi (1918-1990) |
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| Frank Angelo Joseph Crespi was an infielder for the St. Louis Cardinals (1938-42), seeing little major league action until 1941 when he played 145 games at second base. However, in 1942 he played just 93 games and in the World Series sat on the bench as Jimmy Brown, formerly the Cardinal third baseman, replaced him at second because Whitey Kurowski had taken over at third. The problem was Crespi's hitting. After posting a fair .270 average the year before, Crespi batted just .243 in 1942, with no home runs and only six extra base hits.
Crespi was considered an excellent fielder. Marty Marion, called by many the outstanding fielding shortstop of his time, said Crespi was the best second baseman he had ever played with.
However, World War II interrupted Crespi's baseball career. He might have gotten a deferment since he provided his mother's sole support, but he chose not to apply. "I don't think I'm too good to fight for the things I've always enjoyed," he said.
Like many players, Crespi spent much of his Army time playing baseball. He might have fared better on the front lines. He broke a leg on the baseball field, then compounded the injury by breaking the leg yet again – in a different spot – during a wheelchair race. Crespi's baseball-playing days were over.
I have seen no explanation for the nickname, but this photo of Crespi (below, right) suggests some thought the player bore a resemblance to actor Rondo Hatten (below, left), best known for creating a movie character called The Creeper. |
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| Creepy Crespi (right) gets card tips from teammate Whitey Kurowski. Crespi's nickname linked him with a movie monster played by Rondo Hatton (left), who had been who disfigured by acromegaly, a disorder of the pituitary gland. |
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| Coco Crisp (1979- ) |
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| Covelli Loyce Crisp is one of the few modern day players whose nickname evokes that oldtimer spirit, even though the cereal that inspired it hasn't been around that long. Crisp is an outfielder who arrived in the major leagues in 2002 with the Cleveland Indians.
Later he played for the Boston Red Sox and Kansas City. He played just 49 games with the Royals in 2009, hitting .228, before his season ended with a shoulder injury that required surgery and kept him out of action for the rest of the summer. |
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| General Crowder (1899-1972) |
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| Alvin Floyd Crowder was nicknamed for Gen. Enoch Crowder, originator of the World War I draft lottery. This pitching General appeared in three consecutive World Series (1933-35) with Washington and Detroit.
He was a 20-game winner three times, first with the St. Louis Browns in 1928 when he was 21-5, leading the American League in won-lost percentage. His 26 wins with Washington in 1932 were tops in the league, as were his 24 wins the following season.
Crowder retired in 1936 with 168 major league victories. |
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| Cookie Cuccurullo (1918-1983) |
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| I'm a sucker for guys nicknamed Cookie. This one was a World War II-era relief pitcher for Pittsburgh. His real name: Arthur Joseph Cuccurullo. |
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| Tomato Face Cullop (1900-1978) |
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Henry Nicholas Cullop also was called Nick, but it's Tomato Face that helps keep Cullop's memory alive. The nickname also helps separate him from another Nick Cullop (no relation) who from 1913-21 pitched for Cleveland, New York and St. Louis of the American League and for Kansas City of the short-lived Federal League.
Tomato Face Cullop had a lucklustre major league career, playing for five teams (the Yankees, Washington, Cleveland, Brooklyn and Cincinnati) in five seasons.
However, like several players on my list, Cullop was a minor league superstar. His 420 career home runs puts him in the top five on the all-time minor league list. His 1,857 runs batted in is a minor league record. |
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| Kiki Cuyler (1899-1950) |
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| Cuyler's nickname is pronounced Ky-Ky (rhymes with bye-bye) and was given him after he nervously stammered the pronunciation of his last name.
Name-wise, he may have been doomed from the start. He was born Hazen Shirley Cuyler.
Hall of Famer Cuyler played mostly with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs and hit .350 or better four times. He also led the National League in stolen bases four times. His lifetime batting average was .321. |
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