Taylor Tankersley
Taylor Mark Tankersley (1983 - )

The Missoula, MT, native is a graduate of the University of Alabama and a relief pitcher for the Florida Marlins who selected Tankersley in the first round of the 2004 draft. In 2007 Tankersley made 67 appearances for the Marlins, posting a 6-1 won-lost record with a 3.99 earned run average.

El Tappe
Elwin Walter Tappe (1927-1998)

Tappe was a catcher whose 145 games for the Chicago Cubs covered six seasons and eight years. To say he was a light-hitting catcher is putting it mildly. His batting average was .207. His 63 hits included 53 singles and 10 doubles. He was, however, a difficult man to strike out.

His name reminded me of a character you might find in a Zorro film. His claim to fame, however, is his part in an interesting experiment conducted by the Cubs in the 1961 season when the team had revolving managers. The media jokingly referred to this experiment as the Cubs' College of Coaches.

Tappe, Vedie Himsl*, Harry Craft and Lou Klein rotated during the season, Tappe taking over during three different periods and managing more games than the others combined. The Cubs finished seventh in an eight-team league.

In 1962 Tappe began the season as the only Cubs manager, but was removed after the team lost 16 of their first 20 games. They would have finished in last place, but that was the season the New York Mets were born. So the Cubs, with a final record of 59-103, still were 18 games better than the Mets (40-120).

Tappe continued on as a Cub coach, then in 1964 became a scout. He also ran a sporting goods store with his twin brother, Melvin, and the two of them did play-by-play baseball broadcasts on a Quincy, IL, radio station.

Birdie Tebbetts
George Robert Tebbetts (1912-1999)

A catcher (1936-52) with the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians, this Providence College graduate later managed for 11 seasons in Cincinnati, Milwaukee and Cleveland. He also spent 28 years working as a big league scout.

He received his nickname as a youngster when one of his aunts commented, "He chirps like a bird."

As an adult, Tebbetts' chirping often upset people because of his harsh candor. In 1950 he referred to some of his Boston Red Sox teammates as "moronic malcontents" and "juvenile delinquents." At the time the Red Sox were widely regarded as spoiled underachievers whose clubhouse had a decidedly country club air about it. Tebbetts' remarks may have been apt, but in December Boston sold the catcher to Detroit.

As a Cincinnati scout, Tebbetts once said this about a pitching prospect: "Major league stuff and a great arm. Screwy in the head. Eliminate head and I recommend him. Get good surgeon."

No doubt Tebbetts knew baseball, but as a manager he had more bad seasons than good. In 1956, his third as leader of the Cincinnati Redlegs, he was the Associated Press choice as National League Manager of the Year when his team finished third. It was all downhill after that, though his lifetime record was 748-705, for a winning percentage of .515.

Likewise, his best seasons as a player were relatively early in his career. In 1940 he batted .296 for the Detroit Tigers, who won the American League pennant. In the World Series against Cincinnati, Tebbetts went hitless in 11 at bats as he split catching duties with Billy Sullivan.

Tebbetts' lifetime batting average was .270. He had just 38 home runs, 19 of them coming during his four seasons with the Red Sox in cozy Fenway Park. He was on the American League All-Star team four times. His final hit, with Cleveland in 1952, was number 1,000.

For more than you'd probably ever want to know about the man, track down his book, 'Birdie: Confessions of a Baseball Nomad' that Tebbetts wrote with James Morrison.

Finally, for all would-be managers, these sage words from Tebbetts:

"If you want to be a good manager, get good ballplayers."

White Wings Tebeau
George E. Tebeau (1861-1923)

Also nicknamed Hard Call, Tebeau was an outfielder in the late 1800s who occasionally played other positions. He spent two seasons with the National League Cleveland Spiders managed by his brother Oliver "Patsy" Tebeau, who, tragically, took his own life in 1918.

As for White Wings Tebeau, I'm still looking for the source of that unusual nickname. Upon retirement as a player, he bought a minor league team in Kansas City.

Adonis Terry
William H. Terry (1864-1915)

Terry was so nicknamed because of his looks. One website said he brought more women to the ballpark than free admission of Ladies Day, though I'm not sure there was such a thing as Ladies Day in Terry's time.

He spent 14 seasons in the major leagues (1884-97), the first six with Brooklyn of the American Association. (The team was known as the Trolley-Dodgers, then the Bridegrooms.) He went with the Bridegrooms to the National League in 1890. Later he played for Pittsburgh and Chicago after one game with Baltimore in 1892.

Terry was primarily a pitcher with a lifetime record of 197-195. Those were different times, obviously, but it's interesting to note Terry pitched 485 innings in 1884, winning 20 games and losing 35.

Like many pitchers of the time, Terry played other positions as well. He logged 216 games in the outfield, plus another 32 at infield positioins. Which is why another Terry statistic jumps off the page – in 1890 he won 26 games and stole 32 bases.

Wayne Terwilliger
Willard Wayne Terwilliger (1925- )

His name attracted my attenion soon after he joined the Chicago Cubs in 1949. It's probably my all-time favorite name; I don't know why.

I was delighted to learn the former second baseman was still active in 2005, managing the Fort Worth Cats. At 80, Terwilliger was named manager of the year in the Central Baseball League.

Nicknamed Twig, he also played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Washington Senators, New York Giants and Kansas City Athletics and coached for the Senators, Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins.

The photo (below) is typical of 1950s press photos of athletes. This one was taken while Terwilliger played for Washington (1953-54).

Buck Thrasher
Frank Edward Thrasher (1889-1938)

Buck Thrasher was –

A. The screen name of a 1990s porn star.
B. Leader of Oklahoma's notorious Thrasher outlaw gang in the 1880s; he rode with his brothers, Brick, Bevis and Butthead.
C. Hero of a classic, 15-episode 1939 sci-fi movie serial called 'Zombies From Planet X.'
D. An intrepid African explorer whose motto was, "Bring 'em back in one piece."

Well, actually Thrasher was an outfielder who played 30 games and batted .235 for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1916-17, an infamous period for manager-owner Connie Mack who sold off many of the players who had helped his team win four American League pennants and three World Series during a five-year stretch (1910-14). The A's finished in eighth place during both of Thrasher's seasons.

Sloppy Thurston
Hollis John Thurston (1899-1973)

Thurston pitched (1923-33) with the St. Louis Browns, Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators and Brooklyn Dodgers, winning 89 games, 20 of them in 1924, when, at one point, he won 10 straight games.

His nickname had nothing to do with habits or appearance. Thurston's father owned a restaurant and operated a soup kitchen for the poor. In this case, "Slop" referred to the food or the manner in which it was served. As for Thurston himself, he was almost excessively neat, which added a new wrinkle to his nickname. One website described him as "a meticulous and dandy Jazz Age dresser."

It was also mentioned that in the 12th inning of an August 22, 1923 game against the Philadelphia Athletics, he struck out the side on nine pitches.

Nine years later, on Aug. 13, 1932, Thurston etched his name in the record books with another oddity: Pitching for Brooklyn, he gave up six home runs against the New York Giants – and still won the game, 18-9. This remained a unique accomplishment until 2004 when Tim Wakefield of the Boston Red Sox also won a game despite giving up six home runs to the Detroit Tigers.

Thurston often was used as a pinch hitter and played one game in the outfield. His lifetime batting average (.270) was one of the best among pitchers.

Later he became a scout. One of his prize signings was Ralph Kiner, who joined the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1946 and led the National League in home runs seven years in a row.

Verle Tiefenthaler
Verle Matthew Tiefenthaler (1937-)

Tiefenthaler was signed by the (then) New York Giants in 1955 and remained in the Giants minor league system until November 30, 1961 when he and pitchers Eddie Fisher and Dom Zanni, plus first baseman Bob Farley, were traded to the Chicago White Sox for pitchers Don Larsen and Billy Pierce.

Tiefenthaler made three relief appearances for the White Sox in 1962, and that was the extent of his major league career. He had no wins, no losses, walked seven and gave up six hits in three and two-thirds innings.

He rubbed elbows – or at least had a few meals – with fame when he roomed with pitcher Gaylord Perry when they were teammates in the minor leagues. Perry wound up in Cooperstown. Perhaps Tiefenthaler returned to his birthplace, Breda, Iowa.

The Chicago Cub shortstop might well have the weakest credentials of any Hall of Famer – a .263 lifetime batting average and only 1,695 hits in 15 seasons. But how could you ignore the first name in one of baseball's most memorable lines: "From Tinker to Evers to Chance."

The poem that made the line famous gave the impression these infielders formed a deadly double play combination, which wasn't necessarily so. Tinker and Company never led the league in double plays, but all three infielders are enshrined in Cooperstown. However, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance put up better stats.

Pie Traynor
Harold Joseph Traynor (1899-1972)

Traynor set the standard by which third basemen are measured. The Hall of Famer had a lifetime batting average of .320, routinely drove in more than 100 runs and was so aggressive in the field that one of his first basemen, Charlie Grimm, said, "Pie would scoop everything off the field – grass, dust and gravel – and fling it over to first with the ball. It was like a sandstorm."

Traynor also managed the Pittsburgh Pirates, later worked on radio, covering Pirate games.

As a boy in Somerville, Massachusetts, Traynor and his friends used to frequent a store run by a clergyman named Father John Nangle. Every day, so the story goes, Father Nangle would ask the boys what they wanted, and Traynor would say, "Pie." Father Nangle took to calling the boy "Pie Face", which later was shorted to Pie.

Overton Tremper
Carlton Overton Tremper (1906-1996)

If I said Carlton Overton Tremper was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, you'd probably believe me. Which is good ... because he was. He played baseball for four years at Penn, then went directly to Brooklyn of the National League. This was during the period the team was known as the Robins, not the Dodgers.

Tremper obviously was in over his head, batting .233 in 60 at bats, which is not what a team wanted from an outfielder. He played only 10 games for Brooklyn in 1928, batted .194, and was sent to play for Macon (GA) of the Sally League (or Southern Atlantic League).

He retired from professional baseball and became a high school mathematics teacher in Freeport, NY. He also coached the high school baseball, football and basketball teams. In the summers he played semi-pro baseball.

Eventually he retired to Clearwater, FL, where he died in 1996. He was 89.

Ken Trinkle
Kenneth Wayne Trinkle (1919-1976)

A right-handed pitcher – primarily in relief – Trinkle played with the New York Giants (1943, 1946-48) and the Philadelphia Phillies (1949).

"Twinkle" Trinkle seems an obvous nickname, and I actually saw one such reference – but only one.

This outfielder, who turned 30 just after WW2 started, wasn't taken by the military. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies (1941-45), batting .256.

In 1946 he returned to the minors and I remember him as one of the stars of the Buffalo Bisons of the International League. He remained with the Bisons through 1951 when he spent one season as the team's manager. In 1948 he led the International League in hitting with a .353 average.

Dizzy Trout
Paul Howard Trout (1915-1972)

Trout spent most of his 15-year career pitching for the Detroit Tigers. He won 170 games, but his reputation may have suffered because his best seasons came during World War II when most of the top-flight players were in the service. Still, it's hard to overlook a 27-12 season like the one Trout enjoyed in 1943.

His nickname reflected his reputation. Reportedly he once hauled a heckler out of the stands and punched him until police arrived.

However, Tommy Henrich, the late New York Yankee outfielder, wouldn't say a word against Trout, who was on the mound when Henrich took his last at bat before going into the Coast Guard in 1942. Henrich said the public address announcer made a big deal about it, and he just wanted to get it over with, but Trout delayed pitching, as if telling Henrich, "This is special, enjoy it."

Henrich says Trout knew he was a fastball hitter – and that's all Trout threw until Henrich lined one into the outfield for a single.

Apparently Trout was the pitcher to face in such situations. So Ted Williams found out in his last at bat before returning to military service during the Korean War. Trout threw, Williams swung – and hit a home run.

Upon retirement, Trout went into broadcasting.

His son, Steve (Rainbow) Trout was a major league pitcher for 12 seasons (1978-1989) with both Chicago teams, the Yankees and Seattle, winning 88 games.

Troy Tulowitzki
Troy Trevor Tulowitzki (1984 - )

Tulowitzki is a highly regarded shortstop who was born in Santa Clara, CA, and starred at Long Beach State University before joining the Colorado Rockies organization in 2005. He moved up to the major leagues quickly, joining the Rockies during the 2006 season. On April 29, 2007 he became the 13th player in major league history to turn an unassisted triple play when he did it at Coors Field against the Atlanta Braves. In 2007 he battled .291 with 24 home runs and 99 runs batted in and was considered a major reason the Rockies came out of nowhere to make the National League playoffs.

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