The Main Event

  • May 27, 1935 – Pretzel Pezzullo makes his first major league start and earns the victory in a 4-2 win over Pittsburgh. He also starts the next day, but loses.

Baseball has always been fertile ground for colorful nicknames, and the Phillies have produced more than their share of memorable monikers over the decades. From food-inspired handles to ones born of pure circumstance, these names tell stories that the box scores never could.

Food for Thought

John “Pretzel” Pezzullo is the undisputed king of Phillies food nicknames — and perhaps of baseball’s entire pretzel-themed pantheon. The Connecticut-born lefthander pitched parts of two seasons in Philadelphia (1935–36), compiling a 3–5 record and a 6.36 ERA. Those numbers were bad, but his nickname was anything but forgettable. Pezzullo earned the moniker “Pretzel” because of his strange, twisty windup and pitching delivery. He began the motion with a high leg kick, then dropped down to a sidearm release — a contorted sequence that left hitters thoroughly confused. The nickname was so well-regarded in baseball circles that Joe Garagiola invoked it on his Baseball World broadcast before the 1973 World Series when discussing the game’s great nicknames.

Whiz Kid third baseman Willie “Puddin’ Head” Jones carries one of the most beloved nicknames in franchise history, and its origin is just as charming as the name itself. Jones was given the nickname “Puddin’ Head” at a young age, drawn from a popular 1930s song called “Woodenhead, Puddin’ Head Jones,” though his own family simply called him Ed or Edward, his middle name. A two-time All-Star, Jones anchored third base for the pennant-winning 1950 Phillies and wore the nickname with such pride that he signed it on his 1952 Bowman baseball card.

Harsh Truths

Not every nickname is a badge of honor. Few in all of professional sports are as bluntly cruel as the one pinned on pitcher Hugh “Losing Pitcher” Mulcahy. Mulcahy was given that moniker by journalists who noted that seemingly every time he took the mound, the box score read “LP” next to his name. It was brutal but mathematically defensible: Mulcahy lost 20 games in 1938 and 22 in 1940, and never had a full season in the majors in which he recorded more wins than losses. What the nickname obscured was the larger context. In his main years with the Phillies, 1937–1940, the team lost 92, 105, 106, and 103 games — a club Sports Illustrated called a “no-hit, no field, no anything” outfit. Mulcahy privately preferred another nickname teammates used for him: “Workhorse.” He was also, notably, the first big leaguer drafted into the military during World War II, and earned a Bronze Star in the South Pacific — but he never managed to shake the nickname.

Playing Games with Names

Ralph “Putsy” Caballero holds the distinction of being the youngest third baseman in major league history, debuting at age 16 for the Phillies in 1944. His nickname, however, had nothing to do with baseball. Caballero got his nickname simply because everybody who grew up in New Orleans in the 1930s had one. It was a regional custom as natural as a second-line parade — every kid on the block had a handle, and his happened to be “Putsy.”

The One That Stuck in School

Pitcher Lynwood “Schoolboy” Rowe arrived in Philadelphia late in his career (1943, 1946–49), but he brought one of baseball’s most storied nicknames with him. The precise origin has a few competing versions. The most dramatic account comes from the Encyclopedia of Arkansas: while playing in a men’s league as a fifteen-year-old, Rowe overwhelmed a team that included former professional players, and one of them remarked that they had been “beaten by a schoolboy.” The name stuck for the rest of his life. A simpler version holds that his adult teammates just called him Schoolboy because he was still in high school. Either way, the nickname followed Rowe from Arkansas sandlots all the way to three World Series with the Detroit Tigers — and finally to Philadelphia, where he closed out a Hall-worthy career.

Philadelphia Baseball Events for May 27

  • May 27, 1904 – Shortstop Rudy Hulswitt is called out for being hit by a ball in play — twice in the same game.
  • May 27, ,1923 – The Giants’ Casey Stengel is led off the Baker Bowl field by police for charging the mound and attacking Phil Weinert. Stengel, who had been hit by a pitch then nearly hit again in his next at-bat, was suspended for 10 games. In the game, the Phils’ Cy Williams hit a home run off of Rosy Ryan, setting a new league record of 15 in May, as well as a mark for most total home runs before the end of May (18).
  • May 27, 1973 – Pitcher Wayne Twitchell strikes out in his first at bat, extending his streak to nine consecutive strikeouts, a team record. In each of his previous two starts, he went 0-for-4 at the plate with four strikeouts.
  • May 27, 1997 – Signed free agent Billy Brewer (not to be confused with the Brewers’ Billy Brewer, who goes down a large sliding board in the outfield after a Brewers’ home run.) This Billy Brewer pitched in 52 games with the Phillies from 1997-1999 with a combined 2-4 record and 6.00 ERA.
  • May 27, 2014 – Ben Revere hit a home run in the seventh inning of a 6-2 loss to Colorado. It was the first dinger of his 1,566 at bat career.

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Philadelphia Baseball Birthdays for May 27

  • Euel Moore (born 1908) – Pitched in 55 games (29 starts) for the Phillies between 1934 and 1936. Went 8-16, 5.47 over that time.
  • Hal Spindel (born 1918) – A catcher who hit .233 in two seasons with the Phillies in the mid-’40s. Played 37 games with the Phillies and 48 with the St. Louis Browns in 1939.
  • Jim Vatcher (born 1966) – Drafted by the Phillies in the 20th round of the 1987 Draft, Vatcher made his MLB debut with the Phillies in 1990 and hit .261 in 36 games before being dealt to Atlanta in the deal that brought Dale Murphy to Philadelphia.

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