Dim Dom Dallessandro
Nicholas Dominic Dallessandro (1913-1988)

Outfielder Dallessandro played 68 games with the Boston Red Sox in 1937 (hitting .237), then resurfaced in 1940 with the Chicago Cubs. Gone in 1945 for World War II service, Dallessandro returned for two more seasons with the Cubs. His best year: 1944 when he batted .304 with eight home runs in 117 games.

Later he played in the Pacific Coast League. The photo (right) is from 1949 when Dallesandro was with the PCL Los Angeles Angels.

Being called Dom was obvious, but why Dim Dom? I've seen no explanation for the nickname that put Dallessandro on this list.

Clay Dalrymple
Clayton Errol Dalrymple (1936- )

He was a catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies (1960-68) and the Baltimore Orioles (1969-71). There also was a third baseman named Bill Dalrymple who played two games for the St. Louis Browns in 1915 and Abner Dalrymple, a good-hitting outfielder (1878-1888, 1891). But Clay's the only one who came along in my lifetime. As far as I know, the Dalrymples were not related.

Hooks Dauss
George August Dauss (1889-1963)

Hard to explain why I like this name so much. Maybe it's because I picture Hooks Dauss as a villain in a James Bond movie. His nickname derives from his wicked curve ball.

Nickname aside, Dauss was quite a pitcher, winning 222 games, all of them in a Detroit uniform, making him the Tigers' all-time winner. He spent 15 seaons with the Detroit (1912-26) and was a 20-game winner three times. His best season was 1915 when he won 24 games.

Yo-Yo Davalillo
Pompeyo Antonio Davalillo (1931- )

A shortstop, he played 19 games for Washington in 1953, hit .293, but never again played in a major league game. Later he became the most famous manager in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. His brother was Vic Davalillo, an outfielder who enjoyed a 16-season major league career.

Cot Deal
Ellis Ferguson Deal, (1923- )

Deal was a pitcher who made only 12 appearances in his first three seaons (1947-48 with the Boston Red Sox, 1950 with the St. Louis Cardinals). In 1954 with the Cardinals he made 33 relief appearances in his final round as a major league pitcher.

Deal actually was signed as an outfielder-third baseman, but switched to pitching in the minors. At Rochester of the International League he pitched and played outfield, even catching on one occasion. He's in the Rochester Red Wing Hall of Fame. With another Cardinal farm team, Columbus, in 1949, Deal pitched 20 innings in one game. After retirement as a player, Deal managed in the minor leagues.

As a toddler he was called Cotton Top because of his mop of very light hair; the nickname eventually was shortened to Cot.

Daffy Dean
Paul Dee Dean (1913-1981)

On Sept. 21, 1934, in the first game of a double-header, Dizzy Dean threw a three-hit shutout against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

In the second game, Paul Dean, a St. Louis Cardinals rookie, did something unusual – he upstaged his more famous brother by throwing a no-hitter.

Dizzy Dean's reaction: "If I know'd Paul was going to throw a no-hitter, I would have, too."

The Dean brothers were all the rage in 1934. Paul won 19 games, his brother 30. Their combined total of 49 topped Dizzy Dean's pre-season prediction of 45, a number many thought was ridiculously high. The brothers then won two games apiece in the World Series as St. Louis beat Detroit in seven games.

Paul Dean won 19 more games in 1935, but injuries shortened his career and he only had 12 victories thereafter. Paul Dean was an excellent pitcher, but was not the zany character his nickname (Daffy) implies. Paul mostly was an appreciative audience of one for his brother's antics.

Dizzy Dean
Jay Hanna Dean (1911-1974)

Dizzy Dean, on the other hand, earned his nickname. He was a man whose mouth always seemed to be moving, which made him a sportswriter's dream – just so long as you didn't believe too much of what he was saying. He'd tell his life story a bit differently every time.

He regarded himself as baseball's best pitcher, but had no qualms about sharing the spotlight with others, as he did with Satchel Paige on post-season barnstorming tours that Dean organized. These tours gave people a chance to see white and black baseball players compete. Dean's teams, stocked with minor leaguers, perhaps selected because they didn't care what they were being paid, often lost, but nothing shook Dizzy's confidence that when it really mattered, he could outpitch anyone, though he did say Satchel Paige was the best pitcher he had ever seen. But, of course, Dean hadn't ever seen himself pitch.

When it came to skill and showmanship, Dizzy Dean was the white Satchel Paige, but while Paige continued to go on, seemingly forever, Dean's career was, for all practical purposes, ended in 1937 by an Earl Averill line-drive in the All-Star game. The ball broke one of Dean's toes; Dizzy's efforts to pitch through the injury started a chain of events that ruined his arm. Though just 26 in 1937, Dean won only 16 games in the years that followed.

Until then, however, Dean might well have been a good as he thought he was. He won 30 game in 1933, followed that with 28 the next season. By age 25, he'd already won 120 games.

Later he went into broadcasting where his folksy style proved popular with everyone but teachers who were upset by Dean's disregard for proper grammar. Hollywood went a bit overboard in dramatizing this episode of Dean's life in the 1952 biographical film, The Pride of St. Louis. (Dan Dailey played Dizzy, Richard Crenna played Daffy.) The English language survived, so did the youth of America, and Dean went on to have a long career in broadcasting.

Flame Delhi
Lee William Delhi (1890-1966)

Called Arizona's first major leaguer, Delhi pitched three innings of relief for the Chicago White Sox in 1912 and gave up seven hits, three walks and three runs, struck out two, and was not involved in the decision. Google him sometime, you'll be amazed at the results.

Bucky Dent
Russell Earl O'Dey (1951- )

Dent was a shortstop with the Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals. Later he managed the Yankees for the last 40 games of the 1989 season.

His claim to fame is the home run that gave the Yankees the 1978 American League East championship over the Boston Red Sox, which is why you do not mention Bucky Dent's name in Boston. Ever.

The shortstop arrived in the majors in 1973, though with his catchy, almost 1920s-style baseball name, it seemed as though Bucky Dent had been around forever.

On the other hand, maybe Dent should have skipped baseball and gone into movies. Then all you'd ever hear about Tom Cruise is, "Poor guy. He thought he'd be the next Bucky Dent."

Buttercup Dickerson
Louis Pessano Dickerson (1858-1920)

The 5-foot-6, 140-pound Dickerson was an outfielder in early days of professional baseball. Judging by his uniform, the accompanying photo must have been taken in 1880 when he played 30 games for the Troy (NY) Trojans of the National League. He batted .199, was either traded or released, and joined the Worcester (MA) Ruby Legs (yes), another National League team. As a Ruby Leg, Dickerson batted .293 in 31 games.

He played for eight teams in seven major league seasons, spending time in the American Association and the short-lived Union Association along the way.

Dickerson is considered the first Italian-American to play big league baseball, breaking in with Cincinnati in 1878. His best day was June 16, 1881 when he had six hits in six at bats, leading those Worcester Ruby Legs to a 15-6 win over the Buffalo Bisons.

Unfortunately, I've found nothing that explains his nickname.

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