Friday, July 3, 2020

Chico, Tino, Torey, and Ty: Donruss Names Series Part 4

Back for another installment of the Donruss Names Series. This series takes advantage of the fact that Donruss printed the player's full name on the back of their cards from 1981 to 1992. So far, this is what we've seen:

Part 1: Famous players who went by their middle name
Part 2: Players who you thought had a nickname, but their nickname was their real name
Part 3: Players with unique first names


Part 4 is another set of players with unique first names. There are some surprises here from a few all-star caliber players, along with some names I've never heard of before or since. Again, we'll proceed in what I arbitrarily deem to be reverse uniqueness order.

7) Torey Lovullo


1989 Donruss The Rookies #17 Torey Lovullo

The current manager of the Diamondbacks goes by a derivation of his first name, but instead of Sal, he opted for Torey.


6) Tino Martinez


1992 Donruss #410, Tino Martinez

His given name just doesn't have the same ring to it as Tino Martinez. 



5) Danny Tartabull


1990 Donruss #322, Danny Tartabull


There's currently a Brazilian soccer player named Danilo apparently who might be really popular. I'm not sure as soccer does not hold my interest. Danilo Gallinari is a solid NBA player from Italy. Danny Tartabull's parents are of Cuban heritage. His father, Jose, played 9 seasons in MLB.

4) Al Leiter


1990 Donruss #543, Al Leiter


The most famous Alois was probably Hitler's dad. With that in mind, Al was a very good choice. I might have even gone with Lois before Alois.  

3) Toby Harrah


1986 Donruss #159, Toby Harrah


When I typed in Colbert first name on Google to try to find the most famous Colbert, I just got a bunch of results for Stephen Colbert so I gave up. So let's call Toby Harrah the most famous Colbert.

2) Chico Walker


1992 Donruss #439, Chico Walker


Cleotha Staples, a female soul and gospel singer, is probably the most famous Cleotha. Chico was a good choice for Mr. Walker.

1) Ty Gainey


1986 Donruss #31, Ty Gainey

Tyler? Tyrus? Tyrone? Nope.


I couldn't find anyone else named Telmanch. Anyone. In fact, searching for that name brings up pretty much exclusively results of Ty Gainey, with the exception of what looked like a German site for one of the results. I typed in Telmanch in the German to English translator and struck out there, so this first name wins the uniqueness title in my book. 

3 comments:

  1. Yeah, Hitler connections aren't good.

    I think Bert would have made more sense than Toby.

    Constantino because his mother had Greek ancestry. Martinez because his father was Cuban, with Spanish roots.

    There was a wide receiver named Torrey Smith. Two 'r's though.

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  2. Wikipedia shows 6 notable people with the first name "Colbert", the most famous of whom is probably Colbert Coldwell, co-founder of the real estate company Coldwell Banker. I mean, I've never heard of him, exactly, but I've certainly heard of the company which bears his name.

    In sports, there's a French soccer coach and former player named Colbert Marlot, and one Colbert Searles was the head football coach at the University of Arkansas for two seasons: 1899 and 1900. He was also a professor of Romance languages at the school; it was a very different time!

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  3. Great stuff. Cleotha and Telmanch are two names I've never heard before.

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