Sometimes called Duster the Great, pitcher John Walter Mails won but 32 games in seven big league seasons. One senses there may be more to his story than can be read in the statistics.

He broke in with Brooklyn in 1915, losing his only decision. Same thing in 1916. He was out of the majors until 1920 when he joined pennant-bound Cleveland in time to win seven games with no losses. He faced his old team, the Dodgers, in the World Series, pitched 6-2/3 innings of scoreless ball in relief in a losing cause in Game Two, then pitched a shutout in Game Six.

He went 14-8 in 1921 ... and suddenly didn't have it anymore. He had one last shot, with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1925, when he split 14 decisions and had a 4.60 earned run average, which wasn't good, though it was only slightly higher than the team ERA. He made just one more appearance in the majors, with the Cardinals in 1926, walking a batter and giving up two hits in one inning of relief, though the run that lost the game for him was unearned.

He was called Duster for his tendency to brush back hitters. And he was Duster the Great in the minor leagues, winning 226 games in 17 seasons.

Outfielder Maldonado played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants in the 1980s, putting up unimpressive stats. His full name: Candido Maldonado y Guadarrama.

My fondness for his name is srictly due to memories of a voice-changing musician-comedian named Candy Candido who was featured on Jimmy Durante's radio show and popularlized the line, "I'm feeling mighty low," delivered in a voice so deep it didn't seem humanly possible.

Henry Emmett Manush was a Hall of Fame outfielder for the Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Browns and Washington Senators who also made brief stops in Boston, Pittsburgh and Booklyn near the end of his career.

He had a lifetime batting average of.330; was the American League batting champ in 1926 (.378); in 1928 had 241 base hits (and another .378 average).

His older brother, Frank, played 23 games with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1908.

It's difficult to explain my fondness for the name Heinie Manush; I guess it's because Manush played in one of the leagues I conducted with my Ethan Allen All-Star Baseball Game. Or maybe because his name sounds like one of my wife's favorite foods: baba ghanoush.

This tiny (5-foot-4 ... 5-foot-5, tops) shortstop-second baseman was one of baseball's most popular players for 23 seasons. Walter James Vincent Maranville broke in with the Boston Braves in 1912, played for the Miracle Braves that won the 1914 pennant and swept the favored Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series. He later played in Pittsburgh, Chicago, Brooklyn and St. Louis, before returning to Boston. His entire career was in the National League.

He was called Rabbit because he had big ears and he was fast on his feet. He also was a very animated guy who enjoyed practical jokes which he often took to extremes, like the time he convinced a teammate to chase him through New York City's Times Square, yelling, "Stop, thief!"

After the 1914 World Series, he and some of his teammates on the team that was called "The Miracle Braves" did what a lot of baseball players did in those days – they formed a vaudeville act and went on tour during the winter. During a stop in Lewiston, Maine, Maranville demonstrated how he stole second base in the Series and in so doing he slid off the stage and into the orchestra pit, breaking a leg.

Despite his wacky ways, he was named manager of the Chicago Cubs for part of the 1925 season and later managed minor league teams, occasionally playing until he was nearly 50 years old. As manager of the Cubs he is best remembered for the night he went through a Pullman car, pouring water on the heads of his sleeping players, yelling "No sleeping under Maranville management." He was fired shortly thereafter.

He is credited with originating the basket catch that many years later was a Willie Mays trademark. Maranville reportedly kept his arms at his sides until the last second before letting the ball drop into his glove, about waist high.

Frederick Marberry is regarded as the first great relief pitcher, appearing in 45-or-more games in eight different seasons. He played for the Washington Senators (1923-32) and later the Detroit Tigers.

Marberry got his nickname because Senator teammates thought he resembled Argentine heavyweight Luis Firpo who had attracted attention in 1923 when he fought champion Jack Dempsey in one of the craziest title fights ever. Firpo knocked Dempsey down early in the first round, but Dempsey got up and knocked Firpo down seven times – that's right, seven times. Firpo not only got up each time, but knocked Dempsey down again, this time out of the ring. Sportswriters helped Dempsey back into the ring, or else Firpo might have become champion. As it was, Dempsey ended the fight in the second round by knocking Firpo down for good.

As for Firpo Marberry, he won 147 games (against 89 losses) in his 14-year major league career. Most of those decisions were in games he started. His best season was 1929 when he had a 19-12 record. He started 26 games that season, with 23 relief appearances.

Clarence Westly Marshall was dubbed Cuddles while he was a 21-year-old rookie with the 1946 New York Yankees. He got stuck with the name because people said he looked like a movie star (he was often compared to Tyrone Power, though no such likeness is apparent in the above photo of the teenaged Marshall) and because he was the youngest player on the team. Hey, what was he going to do ... complain? Marshall certainly didn't look like a Cuddles because he stood six-foot-three and weighed 200 pounds.

His looks were impressive, but his pitching wasn't. He posted a 3-4 record with a 5.33 earned run average. The highlight came May 28 when he started th first night game ever played at Yankee Stadium.

He went back to the minors in 1947 and remained there most of the next season. He won all three of his decisions in 1949, but walked 48 batters in 49 innings, and indication of the control problems that plagued him throughout his short major league career which ended with the St. Louis Browns in 1950. His lifetime won-lost record was 7-7.

He didn't pitch in the 1949 World Series, but his team membership earned him a World Series championship ring. The ring was later stolen by workers in his home, but 20 years later one of his two daughters had it recast.

He was born John Leonard Roosevelt Martin, but his teammate and (later) manager Frankie Frisch was one of the few people to call him by his first name; everyone else called him Pepper, a nickname given him by Blake Harper, a minor league general manager who liked Martin's pep-filled attitude and excitement.

In the fall he played professional football for the Hominy Indians in Oklahoma's Osage County. His running style earned him another nickname: The Wild Hoss of the Osage.

Martin spent his entire playing career with the St. Louis Cardinal organization. He was a lightly regarded minor leaguer until he became a Cardinal outfielder in 1931, hitting .300. But it was the '31 World Series that made Pepper Martin a household name. He had 12 hits, stole five bases, drove in five runs and led the Cards to victory in seven games over the Philadelphia Athletics.

Martin was one of baseball's most colorful characters, a fellow who toyed awhile with midget racing cars. It was said he believed the only way God intended man to travel was in a pickup truck with a shotgun hung crosswise behind the driver's head and a brace of bird dogs in the rear.

The Cardinals of the 1930s were known as The Gas House Gang, and Martin was the acknowledged leader, also organizing a musical group called Pepper Martin's Mudcat Band comprised of several teammates.

An outfielder (1973-82) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phils and, finally, the Cleveland Indians, McBride, broke in with five straight .300-plus seasons and finished his 11-year career with a lifetime .299 average.

He was born Arnold Ray McBride, but he and his nickname were a good fit. Bake is short for Shake and Bake, which reflected McBride's personality and playing style. His Afro seemed to explode from his cap, which earned him a place on everyone's all-hair baseball team.

Back in the 1960s there was a TV series about a modern day cowboy called Stony Burke. It starred Jack Lord, who later became famous as Steve McGarrett of "Hawaii Five-O." Many critics loved it, but the show flopped. Maybe they should have called it Stoney McGlynn.

I don't know where the nickname came from. The pitcher was born Ulysses Simpson Grant McGlynn in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His major league career consisted of three seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals (1906-08). His lifetime record was 17-33, with most of those decisions coming in 1907 when he won 14 games and lost 25. He started 39 games that season, completed 33 of them, made six relief appearances and pitched 352 innings. which was a lot of work for a pitcher, but nothing compared to the load he would carry when he returned to the minor leagues in 1909. That season, with the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association, McGlynn won 27 games, lost 21, appeared in 64 games and pitched 446 innings. He also threw 14 shutouts, which remains the AA record for shutouts in one season.

McGlynn's finest day in the majors came during the 1906 season when he threw a no-hitter in a game that was called after seven innings. Because it did not go the full nine innings, McGlynn's performance was not considered an official no-hitter.

Oh, I'd mentioned that Cuddles Marshall supposedly looked like actor Tyrone Power, but I don't have any photographic evidence. However, as I look at Stoney McGlynn I'm thinking that if his biography were turned into a movie I'd get Kyle MacLachlan to play the title role.

McGraw was one of baseball's top relief pitchers for the New York Mets (1965-74) and the Philadelphia Phillies (1975-84). Long after he retired it was revealed that he had had an affair and fathered a son who went on to become a country music superstar – Tim McGraw.

The pitcher was born Frank Edwin McGraw, but he received his nickname shortly thereafter. It was coined by his mother who said he tugged when she breast-fed him.

McGraw was a fan favorite in New York and Philadelphia. He is credited with coining the phrase "You gotta believe" to describe the New York Mets on their way to the 1973 National League championship.

Like Yogi Berra, McGraw said a lot of things that became popular baseball quotes. Among them: "I have no trouble with the twelve inches between my elbow and my palm. It's the seven inches between my ears that's bent." And "Kids should practice autographing baseballs. This is a skill that's often overlooked in Little League."

McInnis was a first baseman in what was dubbed "The $100,000 Infield" that remained intact four years (1911-1914) and helped make the Philadelphia Athletics the American League pennant winners three times during that period (with two World Series victories). The other members were Eddie Collins at second base, Jack Barry at shortstop and Frank "Home Run" Baker at third base. That's at least $100 million in talent in today's market.

Team owner and manager Connie Mack was notorious for selling off players who'd become too expensive, so that infield was broken up in 1915, though McInnis wasn't sold until 1918 when he wound up with the Boston Red Sox. He retired in 1926, returning the next year for a token appearance with the Philadelphia Phils. He had a lifetime batting average of .308 with 2,406 hits. As first basemen go, McInnis was rather small (5-foot-9), and, typical of players in the dead ball era, rarely hit a home run, having just 20 for his career.

He was born John Phalen McInnis, but I've always seen him referred to by his nickname.

He was born Frank Gordon McKenry in Piney Flats, Tennessee. There's got to be a story behind his nickname. Actually he had two nicknames. The other was "Big Pete." I get the big part – McKenry stood six-feet-four and weighed 205 pounds – but I don't know where the Pete came from.

He pitched a bit for the Cincinnati Reds during the 1915 and 1916 seasons. He won six games, lost six.

Later he moved to California and played semi-pro baseball, occasionally teamed with controversial Hal Chase, a former major league first baseman suspected of fixing games throughout his long major league career which ended when he was suspended after the 1919 season.

Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish is one of the longest names in major league baseball history, three letters short of the 44 it takes to complete the given name of another player on my list, Bruno Betzel.

Frankly, it's that full McLish name that's interesting, but it takes awhile to commit it to memory. He was a pitcher who had 15 major league seasons, recording a modest 92 career wins against the same number of losses. His best season was with Cleveland in 1959 when he finished with a 19-8 record.

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Part 2