The all-time Mets nickname team

This article written by John Fox

Lets take a a break from savoring the Juan Soto signing for a little fun project, namely a construction of an all-time Mets team based on creative nicknames that the players were called. Players will have had to have played a substantial part of their careers with the Mets to qualify. The main criteria will be a clever nickname.

C…. Clarence “Choo Choo” Coleman was an original Met who played parts of three seasons for the Amazins. He got his nickname as a child because he was fast, fast like a locomotive. Coleman had an unusual frame for a catcher, listed as five foot nine and 165 pounds. His best year for the Mets was his first year in 1962 when he assembled a slash line of .250/.303/.441. He fell off drastically after that. His defense was a little dicey. When reporters asked Manager Casey Stengel what the best part of Coleman’s game was, the Old Professer ruminated a bit and that said that he was pretty good at chasing down passed balls. That was a text book example of damning with faint praise.

1B… Pete “Polar Bear” Alonso, a slugging star (at least as of this writing) of the current Mets. Todd Frazier is credited with coming up with the name after seeing Alonso’s well built frame in the Spring of 2019. The New York Post quoted Frazier as saying in reference to Alonso, “You look like a big damn Polar Bear.” Alonso has been a fixture at first for the Mets since the 2019 season when he was Rookie of the Year and also set a Mets and rookie record for homers with 53 long balls.

2B…Jeff “Squirrel” McNeil got his nickname in college at Long Beach State. In an interview earlier this year teammate Brandon Nimmo explained that his face “looks like a squirrel,” and that although McNeil does not particularly like the name, he does answer to it. McNeil has been a productive, clutch performer for the Mets most seasons since broke in in 2018, he did win the NL batting championship in 2022. He has sometimes been called an alternative version, “Flying Squirrel.”

SS…Derrel “Bud” Harrelson got he nickname from his slighter older brother who had trouble pronouncing the give name, so he called him “brother” which was soon morphed into Bud. Harrelson was not much of a hitter, but he was a key sparkplug for the Mets and was a contributor to the ‘69 and ‘73 pennant winners. Harrelson won a Gold Glove for the ‘71 season.

3B…Howard “HoJo” Johnson. It’s now extinct, but when Johnson was growing up in the ‘70s, the Howard Johnson restaurant chain, (sometimes called HoJo,) was prominent, and his family would sometimes go there to dine. When the manager found out about little Howard’s name, he began giving him a freebie item from the menu when he came. Johnson was a slugging switch-hitter with speed for the Mets, he was a two-time All-star for the team, and he smashed 38 homers in 1991.

OF… William “Mookie” Wilson got his nickname as a child for the word he used for milk. Wilson was a speedy outfielder for the Mets during the ‘80s, he swiped 58 bases in 1982, and had an OPS of .814 in 1987. He was a big contributor for the 1986 WS champs.

Of…Lenny “Nails” Dykstra played the game all-out in his tenure with the Mets in the second half of the ‘80s. That’s how he earned his nickname, as in “tough as nails.” He hit two homers in the 1986 World Series. Dykstra was a fan favorite with the Mets for his hard-charging playing style, but things went downhill after his playing career ended. He was plagued with trouble with the law and bankruptcy.

OF… Daniel Staub, usually called Rusty, but we are going to go with the more interesting nickname he had, “Le Grand Orange”, so named by the Montreal Expo fans, inspired by his vivid red hair. Staub joined the Mets in 1972, and had a great start until he suffered a fracture which cost him most of the season. In the following year of 1973 he had a fine season, including 36 doubles. The Mets won the division and beat the Reds in the NLCS, Staub contributed three homers to be a key part of the upset of the heavily favored Reds. He was adored by fans in both Montreal and New York.

SP…George Thomas Seaver, the greatest pitcher ever for the Mets and one of the best ever in MLB. He of course went by Tom instead of the George, but he was nicknamed “Tom Terrific” for a cartoon character on the Captain Kangaroo program. Seaver was a three-time Cy Young Award winner for the Mets and a first ballot Hall of Famer.

RP… Frank “Tug” McGraw, a lock-down closer for the Mets and an integral part of the 1969 champs and the 1973 pennant-winning squad. McGraw got his nickname early in life from his mother, for, shall we say, his vigorous approach to breast-feeding. The nickname was so ingrained that, on his first day of Kindergarten, he did not answer the roll call. When the teacher asked him if he was Frank McGraw, He replied, “No, that’s my father.” McGraw pitched to a 2.24 ERA in the 1969 season.

I remembered the nicknames from my own recall, then the backstories were fleshed out by checking the SABR Biography Project website.