The Low Self-Esteem Club: The Stories Behind Baseball’s Most Unflattering Nicknames

Imagine starting your first job and your co-workers christen you with a new name. You become Creepy, Cuckoo, or Tomato Face. Before long, your nickname spreads from the workplace into the public sphere. Your true first name slowly fades away. Would you have enough self-esteem to repudiate the unflattering nickname before it’s too late? In the first half-century of professional baseball, almost every player in the minor or major leagues had a nickname. A large number of these nicknames served to glorify the skills, personalities and appearance of the owners. A great many players embraced the nicknames given to them during, and importantly, after their careers ended. Some wore their new names to the grave. Many of the nicknames bestowed upon players were unflattering if not downright insulting, such as Fatty, Shorty, Piggy, Pussy, etc. Many players fought to shed their new monikers, but a surprising number of players made little or no effort to reclaim the name their parents gave them. The Low Self-Esteem Club drills down into baseball history to spotlight these individuals. This book identifies over 125 of those players, explains the origins of the names, and presents a brief biography. The nicknames are broken down into categories that attempt to explain how and why the renaming took place: physical appearance, personality, skill sets, racial/ethnic background, etc. Hop in the wayback machine and have some fun.