Ebba St. Claire
Edward Joseph St. Claire (1921-1982)

He was a catcher who was a 29-year-old rookie in 1951, which turned out to be the best of his four major league seasons. He hit .282 in 72 games with the Boston Braves. His son, Randy St. Claire was a relief pitcher for Montreal, Cincinnati, Minnesota, Atlanta and Toronto (1984-94).

Wally Schang
Walter Henry Schang (1889-1965)

Remember the Woody Allen movie, 'Zelig'? That's the one about a guy who kept turning up at important moments in history.

Schang was baseball's Zelig. He was an American League catcher for 19 years, and when he was around, good things happened. He joined the Philadelphia Athletics in 1913 and they won the World Series. He went to the Boston Red Sox in 1918, same thing. Babe Ruth went to the New York Yankees in 1920, but they finished third. Enter Schang a year later – and the Yankees go to the World Series.

Schang had a lifetime .284 batting average, hitting better than .300 six times. He was a switch hitter who made major league history in 1916 when he became the first player to home runs from both sides of the plate in the same game. Not that he was a slugger. For his career he had just 59 homers.

Skippy Schiappacasse
Louis Joseph Schiappacasse (1881-1910)

I may be cheating here. Well, hey, it wouldn't be the first time. The Baseball Encyclopedia did list his nickname as "Skippy", but almost as an afterthought. He seems to have been better known as Joe, though he didn't stick around the majors long enough to make an impression, playing outfield in two games for Detroit in 1902. Tragically, Schiappacasse was dead at 29.

Ossee Schreckengost
Ossee Freeman Schreckengost (1875-1914)

The catcher with the unique first name played for five teams in his 11-season career, but most of his games were in a Philadelphia Athletics uniform, including three in the 1905 World Series, which the A's lost to the New York Giants.

On the road, Schreckengost roomed with colorful pitching star Rube Waddell. And in those days hotel rooms almost always had just one bed for two players. And this is where Schreckengost had a problem with Waddell.

The catcher actually held out one season until the Athletics put a clause in Waddell's contract forbidding the pitcher from eating any more crackers in bed.

Wildfire Schulte
Frank M. Schulte (1882-1949)

Schulte was a major lelague outfielder for 15 seasons (1904-1918), most of them with the Chicago Cubs. As far as I know, Schulte is the only player in major league history to accomplish this in a single season (which he did in 1911):

Hit .300 or more, with at least 30 doubles, 20 triples, 20 home runs, 20 stolen bases, score and drive in at least 100 runs. (Willie Mays was close in 1957, matching or exceeding every number except RBI; he fell three short of the 100 mark. In 1979 George Brett nearly matched Schulte, but fell three stolen bases short of 20. And in 1899 Buck Freeman of the Washington Senators of the National League had an even more impressive season than Schulte – except for his 19 doubles. Incredibly, Freeman hit 25 home runs AND 25 triples.)

Schulte's icing on the cake were the four grand slam home runs he hit in 1911, the first major leaguer to do so. He also was second in the league in sacrifice hits with 31. Sluggers just don't do that. Oh, yes, he also got married that season.

Schulte played in four World Series. And, as was typical of the times, he went back to the minor leagues after he was finished in the majors, rejoining the Syracuse Stars. He had played in Syracuse three seasons on his way up to the majors.

So why was he called Wildfire? Seems Schulte was a big fan of actress Lillian Russell. He saw her perform in a play called Wildfire. He owned trotting horses and named one of them Wildfire. Chicago sportswriters got hold of that tidbit and hung the nickname on Schulte.

Pius Schwert
Pius Louis Schwert (1892-1941)

Schwert was a catcher, playing ever so briefly with the New York Yankees, two games in 1914, nine more in 1915. When he died, at age 49, he was a United States Congressman from Buffalo, New York.

Socks Seibold
Harry Seibold (1896-1965)

Near as I can tell, Seibold got stuck with the nickname Socks because of the similarity between his last name and the man a bit further down on this list.

Socks II started his career with the Philadelphia Athletics seven seasons after Socks I finished his. Socks II began as a first baseman, but became a pitcher. He happened to join the Athletics after Connie Mack broke up the team that had dominated the American League for several years. Seibold's first full season was 1917 when the Athletics were buried in last place, which helps explain the pitcher's 4-16 record. A year later a sore arm ended his season after only 14 appearances.

Seibold tried to pitch his way back from the minors, but opted for retirement. Then he unretired ... and retired again. Finally, in the late 1920s he gave it one more shot, earning a spot with another bad team, the National League Boston Braves. In 1929 he won 12 games for the Braves, losing 17. A year later he had his best season, winning 15 games, losing 16. He pitched three more seasons, and in 1933 finally retired for good.

Twinkletoes Selkirk
George Alexander Selkirk (1908-1987)

The Canadian-born outfielder for the New York Yankees (1934-42) had another distinction, beyond his unusual nickname. He inherited the uniform number 3 (since retired) that had been worn by Babe Ruth.

Selkirk put up decent numbers, though only four times in his nine-year major league career did he play more than 100 games. Twice he drove in more than 100 runs, but was never more than a cog in a machine driven by such stars as Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Bill Dickey.

Twinkletoes? He got that nickname for the way he ran not on his toes, but on the balls of his feet.

Count Sensenderfer
John Phillips Jenkins Sensenderfer (1847-1903)

I had to go into the National Association section of The Baseball Encyclopedia to find Sensenderfer who played outfield for the Philadelphia Athletics (1871-74). He hit .301 in the 49 games he played.

Socks Seybold
Ralph Orlando Seybold (1870-1921)

Seybold was an outfielder who prior to 1901 had played only 22 major league games – in 1899 with the National League Chicago Orphans (later the Cubs). Seybold then spent 1900 in the Western Association, which turned out to be a great move on his part because that league was run by Ban Johnson, a former Cincinnati sportswriter who had big big plans that were quickly realized.

In 1901 Johnson outwitted National League owners and turned the Western Association into the American League. The 30-year-old Seybold became a member of Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics and in the American League's first season had a 27-game hitting streak on his way to a .333 batting average.

A year later Seybold hit 16 home runs, which would remain the American League record until 1919 (when Babe Ruth hit 29).

Thereafter Seybold was solid, but not spectacular, playing until 1908 when an injury prompted him to retire at age 37 with a lifetime batting average of .294.

Urban Shocker
Urbain Jacques Shookcor (1890-1928)

Urban Shocker was at the end of his career when he won 18 games for the powerful 1927 New York Yankees. He was one of 17 pitchers allowed to continue using the spitball when it was outlawed after the 1920 season, but he usually went with his fastball or curve.

He began and ended his career in New York, but most of his 187 victories were in a St. Louis Browns uniform. He had four straight 20-win seasons, going 27-12 in 1921.

Shocker simplified the spelling of his name for the benefit of sports writers. A heart problem prompted him to retire at the end of the 1927 season, but he changed his mind and signed a 1928 Yankee contract. He made one appearance but it was apparent his health was failing. He died that September.

Shotgun Shuba
George Thomas Shuba (1924- )

Shuba was an outfielder-pinch hitter whose .259 lifetime average doesn't reflect the hitting reputation he established in the minor leagues. He was one of those guys – Rocky Nelson was another – who never lived up to their promise. Shuba remained with the Brooklyn Dodger organization and played at least parts of seven seasons in the majors. He did hit .305 in 1953 (in 256 at bats) and was 11-for-29 (.379) as a pinch hitter in 1955.

Suitcase Simpson
Harry Leon Simpson (1925-1979)

Outfielder-first baseman Simpson played in the Negro leagues (1946-48), then the minors before joining the Cleveland Indians in 1951. He already was well-traveled, thus the nickname.

Cleveland gave up on Simpson in 1955 and sold him to Kansas City; Simpson got revenge by hitting .300 that season, his career-best average. The next year he hit 21 home runs and drove in 105 runs. In 1957 he was traded to the New York Yankees and was rewarded with a World Series appearance that October.

The Yankees sent him back to Kansas City in 1958. He really needed his suitcase the next season, his last, when he went from Kansas City to the Chicago White Sox to Pittsburgh.

Simpson played spoiler on April 26, 1952 when he ended a no-hit bid by Detroit pitcher Art Houtteman with two outs in the ninth inning.

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