Major League Baseball has a rich history of nicknames, but not all nicknames are created equally. The league is currently flooded with lazy, uninspired nicknames that are, more accurately, abbreviations that hold no real meaning.
Some, for instance A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez) and Arm-Ram (Aramis Ramirez) are better left without meaning. Both monikers are better suited to something you would find in the adult section of the video store. Other nicknames are stretches or just sound ridiculous. Jimmy "J-Roll" Rollins comes to mind.
To set some basic ground rules, this list is limited to players that have adopted their nicknames as their first names. This eliminates guys like "Big Hurt" Frank Thomas and "Big Unit" Randy Johnson
Our second rule is the "Topps Test". If the player in question has their nickname printed on the front of a baseball card, they pass the "Topps Test".
All players must have played the majority of their career after 1985, ruling out classics that I may touch on at a later date (maybe in a Nickname Hall of Fame).
All nicknames that are variations of a given players actual name are ruled out. This rule prohibits the new standard nickname, as well as Trot Nixon (his real name is Christopher Trotman Nixon).
Without further ado, here are the greatest true nicknames in baseball over the past 25 years.
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