This list was developed from the following criteria: creativity, humor, and how well-known/familiar the nickname is. Also, if you fell into the Magic Johnson Rule you were automatically eliminated (Magic Johnson Rule: If your nickname has become your name, and no longer holds any significance as a nickname). This eliminates such players as Chipper Jones and Woody Williams, but allows players such as Coco Crisp and Boof Bonser to stay because of humor reasons.
TOP 30 Nicknames in Recent Major League Baseball History
By ,
August 29, 2010 at 4:56 pm
Ryan Braun has had a very impressive first four years of his career, but they played baseball during the 1930s, too, and a future Hall-of-Famer named Hank Greenberg was skipping games during Yom Kippur then. Braun has a ways to go before he catches Greenberg.
Before this season, Pujols requested that people no longer refer to him as "El Hombre." He said there's only one "Man" and that's Stan Musial.
I'd be ok with Harangotan for Aaron Harang. I think Hank Greenberg is still better than Braun (WWII service being the unfair tie-breaker). For Youkilis I go with "pumpy buns" after his oddly-pumpy batting stance.