10. R-Bar
Among the many things that make my skin crawl regarding Alex Rodriguez is how lazy he made us all in conjuring nicknames for baseball players. First initial of first name, first syllable of last name? That’s so much easier than thinking! A-Rod could also be known as Z-Zzz. Yet I’ve been guilty of it myself, imploring, among others these past few years, P-Lo, C-Bel, C-Del and J-Bay to come through in the C-Lutch. R-Bar doesn’t really work for Rod Barajas, even though he most definitely came through in the clutch Tuesday night with the ninth-inning homer that pre-empted more creeping Red Dread (or R-Dread). Besides, R-Bar puts me in mind of the old Roy Rogers Double R Bar Burger, which might be appropriate in light of the way Rod pulled the Trigger on Francisco Cordero’s two-out delivery before absolutely tasing it, but I’ve never been fully comfortable with the horse/hamburger connection.
9. Old ’Jas Rod Bar
Then again, Rod Barajas has been a horse behind the plate this year, and he’s no spring chicken. If this were the 19th century, we’d be issuing colorful nicknames along the lines of Old Hoss Radbourn, the pitcher who won 59 games for the 1884 Providence Grays (wonder what his pitch count was). By the end of this season, Rod Barajas will likely take part in 59 Met wins. He may even take 84 pitches by then.
8. The Wild ’Jas of the Osage
Gashouse Gang third baseman Pepper Martin was known as the Wild Horse of the Osage. Like it wasn’t enough to be known as Pepper (full name: Johnny Roosevelt Leonard Martin). The wildest thing about Rod Barajas is his idea of the strike zone when he’s batting. Rod’s got two walks in one-sixth of a season. Buddhists will tell you that he’s on pace to be reincarnated as Jeff Francouer.
7. Air Rod
Not that it’s gonna happen anyway, but you don’t want Rod Barajas hitting the ball on the ground. When he does, the earth doesn’t move. Certainly Rod doesn’t. He has one hit on a ground ball thus far this year. Then again, he’s only hit the ball on the ground 13 times. You will, however, find Air Rod has the most daily nonstop flights of any Met. Forty-seven of the 69 balls he’s put in play have, like Harry Chapin in “Taxi,” taken off to find the sky. Seven have found the other side of the fence.
6. Rodney Allen Rip ’Em
Back to burgers for a moment. Does anybody else remember that adorable kid who plugged Jack in the Box in the ’70s? His name was Rodney Allen Rippy. He’s still around. Like Roy Rogers, Jack in the Box doesn’t seem to be around as much, at least in New York. On the other hand, our catcher has ripped nine line drives this season, six of them for hits. Rod Barajas didn’t sign with the Mets until late February. Talk about a fun surprise springing out of a box!
5. Andy Roddick
This is a truly awful nickname, but it would carry on in the tradition of truly awful Mets nicknames. Perhaps you’ve heard Ron and Keith explain the lineage of Howard Johnson’s clubhouse nickname Sheik. Howard Johnson was HoJo to the rest of us. HoJo morphed into Haji, per the Giants placekicker of the day, Ali-Haji Sheikh. Follow that ballplayer logic? Well, Rod Barajas’s full name is Rodrigo Richard Barajas. So you’ve got the Rod, and then you take the formerly respectable shortening of Richard, and you bring an athlete from another sport into it…like I said, this is truly awful, but it would have fit on the 1986 Mets. In The Bad Guys Won, we learn Darryl Strawberry not so affectionately dubbed Timothy Shawn Teufel “Richard Head”. FYI, Darryl — or Straw — is now listed in the Mets Media Guide as a “club ambassador”.
4. ’Raja California
Rod Barajas was born in Ontario, California, well east of L.A. and a little more than a hundred miles north of Baja California. As it happens, his father is from Mexicali, part of the Mexican peninsula just south of San Diego. When Rod Barajas homers for the Mets, he brings great honor to all peoples (save for Francisco Cordero). He brought great honor to the Diamondbacks as a catcher on their eternally beloved 2001 world championship team, but it doesn’t sound like he’s looking to get back to Arizona any time soon.
3. B-Rod
Confession: I’ve been calling him this in front of the TV lately. B-Rod with the winning hit, K-Rod with the save, A-Rod at fault for this total lack of originality (with an assist to my own organic laziness).
2. B-Roll
In a newscast, B-Roll is the footage that runs while the anchor or reporter is nattering away. Thus, when Gary Apple is attempting to lamely tease our interest with “Guess which Met catcher is doing something no Met catcher since Mike Piazza has done!” you’ll probably see B-Roll of B-Rod from last night while you think, “What, lead the team in home runs? Does SNY think I’m an idiot?” If he has enough highlights like the one he filmed last night, Rod Barajas will be the embodiment of power-hitting B-Roll B-fore long.
1. Huggy Bar
On Starsky and Hutch (again with the ’70s references — contemporize man!), Huggy Bear was the streetwise contact who gave the lead detectives the information they needed to make it through another episode. Well, what is a veteran catcher if not a streetwise contact for pitchers in a tight spot? And didn’t you want to just hug the ever-lovin’ stuffin’ out of Rod Barajas when he hit that home run last night? For that matter, is he not, purely on demeanor, the most huggable Met we’ve had since Benny Agbayani? Then again, everybody’s huggable when you win in the ninth.
Greg,
In tribute to an original Met, let’s stick with “Hot” Rod Barajas. Kind of rolls off the tongue phonetically, doesn’t it?
Too easy.
I’m pretty fond of ”Rockin Rod”
OK, I can officially say I’ve seen it all in good ol’ FAFIF!
A Rodney Allen Rippey reference???????
He also did a memorable cameo turn in an Odd Couple episode as the purchaser of O-Mad & F-Ung’s apartment building (IIRC).
PS — Greg, do you remember there used to be a JITB on Long Beach Road back in the aforementioned ’70s?
RAR ended the rent strike.
And yes, I remember the JITB on LBR. I also know, via a guy that dated my sister, what they used to do the French fries. Should you time travel to 1974, don’t order them.
Recalling what Long Beach was like in the ’70s, color me unsurprised…
I, personally, like Rod the Bod.
Hi Greg,
Stick with name number seven (Air Rod). Madrid-Barajas Airport is the main international airport serving the city and the country’s largest and busiest.
And when he becomes exasperated with Ollie Perez, he can be Mad Rod Barajas.
Plus, when pitchers go to the outfield to shag flies, it can be known as an Air Rod Drill.
And when he hits shots into the left field seats it can be called an Air-Raid Rod Drill and duck under the wooden seats for protection.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by You Gotta Believe!, Greg Prince. Greg Prince said: Top 10 Rejected Nicknames for power-hitting #Mets catcher Rod Barajas. http://wp.me/pKvXu-1qe [...]
I’ve been going with BA-RA-HA-HA!!s as per your Feb post, though I add an extra HA. It doesn’t roll off the tongue too well, but it works for me.
Though I have to admit, the more I say “Raja Cali”, the more I like it.
Haji-Sheikh went from All Pro to out-of-the-league in five years, proving that much like Rod Barajas and his .231 batting average, the former Wolverine was a feast or famine kind of dude. He now sells Audis in Birmingham, Michigan, should you be in the market for one.
Barracuda! (insert Heart riff)
The Hojo–Sheik thing made perfect sense to me. But maybe that’s because I knew someone named Dooling, whose nickname was Bucky. (Dooling–Drooling–Drool Bucket–Bucky)
What, no Ram-Rod?
I endorse this.
That homer last night traveled until half past dawn.
The Bar-man? It was worth lining up the drinks after last night’s homer, surely?
Abbott: Remember, everytime you go into a bar, the devil goes inwith you.
Costello: If he does, then he buys his own drinks.
I was just pleased that he hit it out when he did. It was my birthday and since Arroyo was pitching I assumed we’d lose.
But Barajas’ homer made it 5-4 on 5/4 and all was right with the universe.
Well, except maybe the location of the 2011 All-Star Game.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/05/05/2010-05-05_snub_ariz_allstar_game_wfp_urges_yanks__mets.html
Rod “Danger(to left)field” Barajas
If he hits like this, he WILL get respect.
How about Dr. Evil. It’s a long trip, but here it goes:
Barajas calls to mind BA-RA-HA-HA (see above). BA-RA-HA-HA calls to mind Bwah-ha-ha, which is the cliched laugh of the evil mastermind, the archetype of which is Dr. Evil.
Awesome Powers.
When Rod steps up to the plate, Katy Barajas the door!
The “Rod Baron”
What about Lighting Rod, since that’s whats been coming off his Bat and just maybe what we caught in a bottle this year?
I’m going with Rod’s A Bad-Ass until I’m told otherwise.
An e-mail chimes in with B.A. Barajas — and the writer pities the fool who doesn’t use it.
The rest of you quit yo jibber jabber, we have a winner!
But how will he travel? He ain’t getting on no plane, Murdock!
GODDAMN METS!
It was the kind of game that makes you want to swing by Jack in the Box on Long Beach Boulevard for some fries.
I’ve been calling him “The Warm Body Playing Catcher Until Josh Thole is Ready.”
And the masses of Mets fans shall shout: “Give Us Barajas!”
In 524 we’ve been calling him RODBAR !!!!!
“Barrage.” It sounds a little like “Barajas,” and it sounds like firepower.
There used to be a Jack in the Box on Parsonage Road in Edison, across from the Menlo Park Mall. Now, according to their own site, the closest one is in North Carolina. So why are they advertising on New York TV? Do they deliver from Deansmithland?
[...] Top 10 Rejected Nicknames for Rod Barajas » [...]
We have Gag in the Bag (or Junk in the Box, or Jack in the Crack, or…yeah) out west. California, Wash. State, Oregon, lots of ‘em. Some of their commercials (featuring a talking, life-sized version of their antenna ball) have been pretty hilarious too, although I don’t watch a lot of TV anymore so I haven’t seen the latest ones. Actually, as fast food goes they’re not entirely blecherous, although I’m spoiled in PDX by Burgerville.
But yeah…Rodney Allen Rippy? Way to remember stuff most of us had almost forgotten. Again.
The commercials sometimes make it back here on MLBN telecasts and the like, but the franchises been R.I.P. for at least two decades in this area, though they did morph into just Jack’s for a time and had, to this day, the best tacos I ever had.
Young Mr. Rippy was probably more of a West Coast sensation. I think I saw him more on shows that alluded to his commercials than in his actual commercials back in the day. An early example of famous for being famous, though selling hamburgers, even JITB hamburgers, seems like more of a job than anything Paris Hilton has done.
I’m sorry, but Hot-Rod is the obvious choice.
Hot-Rod = HR
He does have sort of an H.R. Pufnstuf quality to him.
Baja Fresh?
Car RAM ROD. Couldn’t resist ;)
I think I’m leaning toward “the Baharajah.”
I’ve personally been calling him “Baraja Fresh” (a little pun on the mexican fast food chain Baja Fresh).
I nominate Barajajajas!
Obviously his nickname should be Monster-Rod
[...] love journeyman catchers who hit game-winning home runs to left, whether it’s remarkably often or once in a very great while. If I were as sturdy and indefatigable as Henry Blanco, I’d [...]
[...] determine something other than your lack of dryness. Dingers dinged in the ninth inning or later by power-packing catchers go here, as do six-run eighth-inning rallies that are put to undeniably good use. But this isn’t [...]
[...] could take the lead at anytime now. Or Rodney Allen Rip ’Em could feel frisky and grab it for a while. Ike has sent 3 out of the Citi and has shown signs more [...]
[...] have another story. For a few months, one of their ongoing stories was Rod Barajas. He homered to beat the Reds. He homered to beat the Giants. He had a large and adorable family, according to Newsday. He [...]