August 25-27 will officially be known as “Players Weekend” in MLB, but let’s be real—no one will ever think of it as anything besides Nickname Weekend.
Players were allowed to choose the names that will appear on the back of their uniforms that weekend, and let us give credit where credit is due: This is a really cool thing. It’s fun, it’s informal, it allows players’ personalities to shine—it is, in short, so un-MLBlike. I can’t wait until Daddy gets ejected for bumping an ump, and Free Love throws a no-hitter and his jersey is sent to Cooperstown.
All the nicknames haven’t yet been collected in one place, though SI.com has a good gateway to each team’s. But I’ve seen enough to have opinion. Here are a handful of my favorite, and below that, my least favorite nicknames, in no particular order.