Some Guys You Might Know: Donruss Names Series Finale

Welcome to the final part of the Donruss Names Series, where we look at some of the more interesting names on the back of Donruss baseball cards. This series takes advantage of the fact that from 1981 to 1992, Donruss printed the players full legal name on the back of their cards. If you're new to this series of posts or just want to reminisce, here's what we've covered so far:

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 a unique first name (Part 1)

Part 4: Players with a unique first name (Part 2)

Part 5: Players with a unique middle name

Part 6: Players who went by a nickname (Part 1 - 70s/80s)

All of the previous posts in the Donruss Names Series can be accessed by clicking here.

The final installment of the series today will feature players from the 80s/90s era who went by a nickname. I'm using a quiz format again to spice things up a bit, but if you want to skip ahead to the answers, feel free. The questions and answers are repeated below along with the cards that show the info. 

Let's dive in!

1) Which three-time all-star slugger had the given first/middle name Charles Theodore?
A) Cecil Fielder

B) Chili Davis

C) Danny Tartabull

D) Chet Lemon

2) Which pitcher who spent 13 years as a starter and reliever in the American League (and only played part of one season in the National League), had the given first/middle name George Earl?

A) Storm Davis

B) Goose Gossage

C) Turk Wendell

D) Tug McGraw

3) Which speedy one-time all-star had the given first/middle name Leon Joseph?

A) Otis Nixon

B) Willie Wilson

C) Bip Roberts

D) Mickey Rivers

4) Which long-time reliever had the given first/middle name Richard Michael?

A) Rollie Fingers

B) Goose Gossage

C) Willie Hernandez

D) Sparky Lyle

5) Which athletic outfielder had the given first/middle name Vincent Edward?

A) Kenny Lofton

B) Lonnie Smith

C) Bo Jackson

D) Barry Bonds

6) Which future manager had the given first/middle name Harry Ralston?

A) Bud Black

B) Torey Lovullo

C) Terry Francona

D) Dusty Baker

7) Which star shortstop had the given first/middle name Osborne Earl?

A) Ozzie Guillen

B) Ozzie Canseco

C) Ozzie Virgil

D) Ozzie Smith



Ok, let's see how you did!

1) Which three-time all-star slugger had the given first/middle name Charles Theodore?
A) Cecil Fielder

B) Chili Davis

C) Danny Tartabull

D) Chet Lemon

Chili got his nickname after a particularly bad haircut as a child. Other kids made fun of the haircut by saying it looked like someone had put a chili bowl over his head to cut around.

2) Which pitcher who spent 13 years as a starter and reliever in the American League (and only played part of one season in the National League), had the given first/middle name George Earl?

A) Storm Davis

B) Goose Gossage

C) Turk Wendell

D) Tug McGraw

Storm apparently got his nickname from a book his mother read while pregnant with him.

3) Which speedy one-time all-star had the given first/middle name Leon Joseph?

A) Otis Nixon

B) Willie Wilson

C) Bip Roberts

D) Mickey Rivers

Bip got his nickname from pronouncing certain words incorrectly during childhood, such as "bip" instead of "bit."

4) Which long-time reliever had the given first/middle name Richard Michael?

A) Rollie Fingers

B) Goose Gossage

C) Willie Hernandez

D) Sparky Lyle

A friend thought Rich looked like a goose when he looked in to read the signs from the catcher.

5) Which athletic outfielder had the given first/middle name Vincent Edward?

A) Kenny Lofton

B) Lonnie Smith

C) Bo Jackson

D) Barry Bonds

Bo was short for "boar hog," which Vincent was compared to as a child due to his penchant for getting into trouble.

6) Which future manager had the given first/middle name Harry Ralston?

A) Bud Black

B) Torey Lovullo

C) Terry Francona

D) Dusty Baker

Harry's sister started calling him Bud after the son in the 1950s sitcom Father Knows Best.

7) Which star shortstop had the given first/middle name Osborne Earl?

A) Ozzie Guillen

B) Ozzie Canseco

C) Ozzie Virgil

D) Ozzie Smith

Thanks for reading the final installment of the Donruss Names Series. As a thank you, I'm happy to announce you've stumbled into a "Pick 3" giveaway! 

Anyway, this giveaway is simple. There are three sets of players. Pick one player from each of the groups of names. Enter your names in the comments below. The first 6 people that comment will win and receive a PWE of cards of those three players. I'll try to include some interesting cards if I have them. Also, in the comments, if you want cards of that player from a particular team, you can say so, and I will try to accommodate. No doubling up on names. Once a player is taken by someone, you need to pick someone else in the group.

In subsequent giveaways, players chosen in the previous giveaways will not be available to choose again until some unknown date in the future. (Names with strikethrough below are not available.)

If you win, please provide your name and address via email by accessing my Blogger profile. If I've traded with you or have sent you cards before, you can skip this step. 

Remember, pick one player from each group!

HOF - Group 1

Roberto	Alomar		Whitey	Herzog		Cal	Ripken Jr.
Sparky	Anderson		Trevor	Hoffman		Ivan	Rodriguez
Jeff	Bagwell		Reggie	Jackson		Pete	Rose
Harold	Baines		Randy	Johnson		Babe	Ruth
Craig	Biggio		Chipper	Jones		Nolan	Ryan
Bert	Blyleven		Barry	Larkin		Mike	Schmidt
Wade	Boggs		Tony	LaRussa		Tom	Seaver
George	Brett		Tommy	Lasorda		Lee	Smith
Steve	Carlton		Greg	Maddux		Ozzie	Smith
Gary	Carter		Edgar	Martinez		John	Smoltz
Andre	Dawson		Pedro	Martinez		Bruce	Sutter
Dennis	Eckersley		Paul	Molitor		Don	Sutton
Carlton	Fisk		Jack	Morris		Frank	Thomas
Tom	Glavine		Eddie	Murray		Jim	Thome
Goose	Gossage		Mike	Mussina		Alan	Trammell
Ken	Griffey Jr.		Phil	Niekro		Larry	Walker
Vladimir	Guerrero		Tony	Perez		Dick	Williams
Tony	Gwynn		Mike	Piazza		Dave	Winfield
Rickey	Henderson		Kirby	Puckett		Robin	Yount
			Tim	Raines
			Jim	Rice

Grover	Alexander		Reggie	Jackson
Luke	Appling		Fergie	Jenkins
Earl	Averill		Walter	Johnson
Ernie	Banks		Chuck	Klein
Johnny	Bench		Nap	Lajoie
Jim	Bottomley		Joe	Morgan
Lou	Brock		Stan	Musial
Rod	Carew		Brooks	Robinson
Mickey	Cochrane		Frank	Robinson
Joe	Cronin		Tris	Speaker
Bob	Feller		Willie	Stargell
Rollie	Fingers		Bill	Terry
Jimmie	Foxx		Honus	Wagner
Frankie	Frisch		Paul	Waner
Bob	Gibson		Billy	Williams
Goose	Goslin		Ted	Williams
Lefty	Grove		Carl	Yastrzemski
Gabby	Hartnett
Rogers	Hornsby

Past Stars - Group 2

Mark	McGwire		Curt	Schilling
Kevin	Mitchell		Mike	Scioscia
Raul	Mondesi		Gary	Sheffield
Dale	Murphy		Ruben	Sierra
Graig	Nettles		JT	Snow
John	Olerud		Sammy	Sosa
Paul	O'Neill		Dave	Stewart
Magglio	Ordonez		Darryl	Strawberry
Rafael	Palmeiro		Rick	Sutcliffe
Dave	Parker		Danny	Tartabull
Lance	Parrish		Miguel	Tejada
Larry	Parrish		John	Valentin
Lou	Piniella		Fernando	Valenzuela
Darrell	Porter		Andy	Van Slyke
Aramis	Ramirez		Greg	Vaughn
Manny	Ramirez		Mo	Vaughn
Jeff	Reardon		Robin	Ventura
Edgar	Renteria		Omar	Vizquel
Kenny	Rogers		Tim	Wakefield
Scott	Rolen		Tim	Wallach
Bret	Saberhagen		David	Wells
Tim	Salmon		Vernon	Wells
Deion	Sanders		Lou	Whitaker
Benito	Santiago		Frank	White
Steve	Sax		Bernie	Williams
			Matt	Williams
			Willie	Wilson
			Don	Zimmer

Current/Recent Stars - Group 3

Jose	Abreu		Robinson	Cano
Ronald	Acuna Jr.		Matt	Carpenter
Ozzie	Albies		Starlin	Castro
Jose	Altuve		Matt	Chapman
Elvis	Andrus		Willson	Contreras
Chris	Archer		Carlos	Correa
Nolan	Arenado		Nelson	Cruz
Jake	Arrieta		Yu	Darvish
Josh	Bell		Khris	Davis
Cody	Bellinger		Jacob	deGrom
Andrew	Benintendi		Ian	Desmond
Mookie	Betts		Josh	Donaldson
Charlie	Blackmon		Jacoby	Ellsbury
Michael	Brantley		Freddie	Freeman
Alex	Bregman

Joey	Gallo	Kyle	Schwarber
Paul	Goldschmidt	Chris	Sale
Didi	Gregorius	Carlos	Santana
Zach	Greinke	Max	Scherzer
Bryce	Harper	Jean	Segura
Felix	Hernandez	Luis	Severino
Jason	Heyward	Andrelton	Simmons
Aaron	Judge	George	Springer
Clayton	Kershaw	Giancarlo	Stanton
Dallas	Keuchel	Trevor	Story
Cory	Kluber	Stephen	Strasburg
Jon	Lester	Dansby	Swanson
Francisco	Lindor	Ichiro	Suzuki
Evan	Longoria	Noah	Syndergaard
Manny	Machado	Masahiro	Tanaka
Trey	Mancini	Troy	Tulowitzki
JD	Martinez	Justin	Turner
Andrew	McCutchen	Trea	Turner
Yadier	Molina	Justin	Upton
Matt	Olson	Joey	Votto
Salvador	Perez	Adam	Wainwright
Tommy	Pham	Christian	Yelich
Buster	Posey
David	Price
Jose	Ramirez

A Vegetable, a War Hero, and Julius Caesar: Donruss Names Series Part 5

My middle name is John. Solid saint name, but not particularly exciting. Luckily for us, some baseball players have quite interesting middle names, and I'm going to give you seven of them in today's post.

In the first installment of the Donruss Names Series, Night Owl made me aware of a post he wrote back in the twenty aughts about unique middle names as discovered on the backs of some 1975 Topps cards. The Topps company featured full player names during several different sets in the 70s. Some of those players featured in those sets of course lasted into the Donruss Full Name on the Back of the Card Era, like Jonathan Trumpbour Matlack and Vida Rochelle Blue. So because I am now aware of Night Owl's usual brilliance on the topic and knowing I cannot come near replicating it, I will present to you only new unique middle names not on his list.

This is part five of the Donruss Names Series. Here's a recap of parts one through four, which can be accessed here:

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 a unique first name (Part 1)

Part 4: Players with a unique first name (Part 2)

Let's dive in, looking at these unique middle names in reverse uniqueness order:

7) Mike Huff

1992 Donruss #579, Mike Huff

I don't think of Kale as a name. I think of it as a terrible vegetable.

6) Gary Sheffield

1990 Donruss #501, Gary Sheffield

Antonian seems to come from Anthony and there are some historic references on it, but nothing really stands out. I just thought it seemed unique. Bonus points if you can tell me what the ad on the front of the card is for, because I have no idea.

5) Doyle Alexander

1984 Donruss #439, Doyle Alexander

The historical figure, the Marquis de Lafayette, was a French military officer who came to America to direct American troops in the Revolutionary War against the British. Donruss would have had a hard time getting his full name on a baseball card: Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette. 

Do you think Doyle every felt strange playing for a city in a nation subject to the British? Like he let the ol' namesake down?

4) Tom Candiotti

1990 Donruss #256, Tom Candiotti

Candiotti played 16 years and racked up 151 wins in his career. Tom Caesar sounds a lot like Tom Seaver. That's all I've got.

3) Barbaro Garbey

1985 Donruss #456, Barbaro Garbey

The Garbey Garbey made me think of Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the former U.N. Secretary General. When I think double names, I also always think of the quote "the guy so nice, they named him twice," which I guess is a reference to the eccentric radio station owner Jimmy James (James James) from the sitcom NewsRadio from the 90s. Jimmy James was played by Stephen Root, who you might remember better as Milton from Office Space. Another interesting fact from the card back: Garbey came to the U.S. as a refugee during the Freedom Flotilla from Cuba in 1980. 

2) Cecil Cooper

1981 Donruss #83, Cecil Cooper

Celester likely derives from the Latin caelestis, meaning heavenly. That 1980 stat line was out of this world, so let's say it works. 

1) Mike Lum

1982 Donruss #300, Mike Lum

A unique middle name and an interesting back story. Lum was the first American of Japanese ancestry to play in MLB. His mother was Japanese and his father was an American soldier. They gave him up for adoption, and he was adopted by a Chinese couple who gave him his name. (Source: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/mike-lum/) I

Hope you got a good dose of random from today's post! And were at least moderately entertained. What was your favorite middle name of the bunch?

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. 

Who's the Criminal? Donruss or Classic? (+ Pick 3)

First, a question... The thumbnail pictures for my posts aren't appearing on any blogrolls lately. Any idea why? Google searching has not helped me.

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Recently, I was looking through my various cards sorted by player mainly to see if there were any good Frankenset cards I missed on the first go around. When I made it to Randy Johnson, the following two cards must have been near each other in the stack. Interestingly, the first thing I noticed is that Johnson's pose looked almost identical to a card I had just seen when flipping through the stack. I compared the two faces again. Then again. They looked so similar. And then, duh, I thought to look at the background of each card. And what do you know:

So who copied whom? As far as I can tell the two companies did not collaborate on the 1990 sets and weren't connected in any way. Baseballcardpedia.com indicates that the Classic Yellow set was produced by a company called Game Time, Ltd. The Classic set began its run in 1987 and issued its final MLB set in 1993, most of which were sold with a trivia board game. Donruss began its run in 1981, which makes me think if there is a criminal here, it would be the newbie Classic.

So let's look at the card again. Notice something about the Classic card. At the bottom of the photo, a fence is visible. The Donruss card doesn't have said fence, so Classic couldn't have ripped off the Donruss card. However, the Donruss card has upper deck stands above Randy Johnson's head, while Classic doesn't. So Donruss couldn't have lifted the picture from the Classic card either. But then I got to thinking, it would be very unlikely that a card company would wait until another had released their set to finalize the photos on their own set. (Kind of a DUH moment here.)

So my conclusion is there was possibly a stock photo submitted by the Mariners or appearing in a media guide or something that was fair game for any of the card companies to use. Now that I reason it out, it doesn't seem like there was any ripping off going on here. I clearly didn't think this through before writing this post. Please forgive me for leading you to this exercise in futility. 

But wait a minute... There IS a criminal here! BOTH companies, for uniquely TERRIBLE card designs. Shame on them. 

If you made it this far, you've stumbled into a giveaway! Congratulations. If you visited the blog during the first giveaway, the rules are the same. You are eligible to win again, too.

This isn't an earth-shattering giveaway because my collection isn't earth-shattering, but I wanted to do a small giveaway since it's fun to receive cards of any kind in the mail. Especially if they are free. And they are free - no obligation to send anything back.

Anyway, this giveaway is simple. There are three sets of players. Pick one player from each of the groups of names. Enter your names in the comments below. The first 6 people that comment will win and receive a PWE of cards of those three players. I'll try to include some interesting cards if I have them. Also, in the comments, if you want cards of that player from a particular team, you can say so, and I will try to accommodate. No doubling up on names. Once a player is taken by someone, you need to pick someone else in the group.

In subsequent giveaways, players chosen in the previous giveaways will not be available to choose again until some unknown date in the future.

If you win, please provide your name and address via email by accessing my Blogger profile. If I've traded with you, you can skip this step. 

And Blog Reader Bruce, I still need your address from the last giveaway.

Remember, pick one player from each group!

GROUP 1: (HOF) - don't expect anything too vintage here, but there are some cool cards

Grover	Alexander		Reggie	Jackson
Luke	Appling		Fergie	Jenkins
Earl	Averill		Walter	Johnson
Ernie	Banks		Chuck	Klein
Johnny	Bench		Nap	Lajoie
Jim	Bottomley		Joe	Morgan
Lou	Brock		Stan	Musial
Rod	Carew		Brooks	Robinson
Mickey	Cochrane		Frank	Robinson
Joe	Cronin		Tris	Speaker
Bob	Feller		Willie	Stargell
Rollie	Fingers		Bill	Terry
Jimmie	Foxx		Honus	Wagner
Frankie	Frisch		Paul	Waner
Bob	Gibson		Billy	Williams
Goose	Goslin		Ted	Williams
Lefty	Grove		Carl	Yastrzemski
Gabby	Hartnett
Rogers	Hornsby

GROUP 2: Former All-Stars and such (Galarraga - McGriff)

Andres	Galarraga		Tommy	John
Ron	Gant		Andruw	Jones
Nomar	Garciaparra		Wally	Joyner
Jason	Giambi		David	Justice
Kirk	Gibson		Eric	Karros
Joe	Girardi		Jeff	Kent
Troy	Glaus		Jimmy	Key
Juan	Gonzalez		Paul	Konerko
Luis	Gonzalez		John	Kruk
Dwight	Gooden		Mark	Langston
Shawn	Green		Derrek	Lee
Mike	Greenwell		Travis	Lee
Marquis	Grissom		Al	Leiter
Pedro	Guerrero		Jim	Leyland
Ron	Guidry		Mike	Lieberthal
Ozzie	Guillen		Javy	Lopez
Josh	Hamilton		Greg	Luzinski
Todd	Helton		Fred	Lynn
Dave	Henderson		Billy	Martin
Keith	Hernandez		Dennis	Martinez
Orel	Hershiser		Ramon	Martinez
Charlie	Hough		Tino	Martinez
Bo	Jackson		Willie	McGee
Gregg	Jefferies		Fred	McGriff

GROUP 3: Current/Recent All-Stars and such (G - Z)

Joey	Gallo	Kyle	Schwarber
Paul	Goldschmidt	Chris	Sale
Didi	Gregorius	Carlos	Santana
Zach	Greinke	Max	Scherzer
Bryce	Harper	Jean	Segura
Felix	Hernandez	Luis	Severino
Jason	Heyward	Andrelton	Simmons
Aaron	Judge	George	Springer
Clayton	Kershaw	Giancarlo	Stanton
Dallas	Keuchel	Trevor	Story
Cory	Kluber	Stephen	Strasburg
Jon	Lester	Dansby	Swanson
Francisco	Lindor	Ichiro	Suzuki
Evan	Longoria	Noah	Syndergaard
Manny	Machado	Masahiro	Tanaka
Trey	Mancini	Troy	Tulowitzki
JD	Martinez	Justin	Turner
Andrew	McCutchen	Trea	Turner
Yadier	Molina	Justin	Upton
Matt	Olson	Joey	Votto
Salvador	Perez	Adam	Wainwright
Tommy	Pham	Christian	Yelich
Buster	Posey
David	Price
Jose	Ramirez