Players’ weekend? Just how ‘Big’ could the Atlanta Braves go?

MLB is planning a ‘Players Weekend’ event, which will allow nicknames on the backs of jerseys as part of a bigger charity event.  This got us thinking…

Would you like to play with a nickname on your back?  The Atlanta Braves have some ‘big’ nicknames and we might very well see them the weekend of August 25-27, according to information obtained from Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan:

"The event, called Players Weekend, is planned for Aug. 25-27 and was negotiated between the league and MLB Players Association. Players long have sought to express their personal style on the field and capitalize on the intersection of fashion and sports in a way other leagues don’t allow, and the result will be a test of boundaries baseball may be inclined to stretch in the future depending on the weekend’s success."

The ‘personal style’ aspects will reported include back-of-the-jersey nicknames and color choices for “spikes, batting gloves, wristbands, compression sleeves and catcher’s masks.”

The color change aspect is a bit peculiar:  these can’t be allowed to interfere with the game, specifically some color that might impact an umpire’s vision when making a call. “White gloves, wristbands and sleeves are prohibited”, as Passan reports.

That rule aqdmittedly seems a bit bizarre since… well, most home uniforms are already predominantly white to begin with.  Additionally, some of these compression sleeves are already well beyond the normal color wheel, as you can see on the photo accompanying this post.

The event is slated to benefit the MLB/MLBPA’s Youth Development Foundation, so there’s at least a decent reason for this latest custom jersey coming to an MLB store near you.

Back to the Nicknames

What of the Braves?  They already have a ‘theme’ kind of going here:

• Rio Ruiz – Big River
• R.A. Dickey – Big Ugly
• Matt Adams – Big City
• Bartolo Colon – Big Sexy

Well – since we had an off-day yesterday – and that’s a terrible thing for an idle mind – we thought we’d help out some of the rest of the team… you know, just in case they had some trouble coming up with nicknames for themselves.

So with apologies to no one… here goes:

• Matt Kemp – Big Stick
• Ender Inciarte – Big Glove
• Nick Markakis – Big Beard; maybe Big Double
• Dansby Swanson – Big Hair
• Brandon Phillips – Big Dude
• Tyler Flowers – Big Daddy…. because of this:

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Kurt Suzuki – Big Suzy

* – why that moniker for Garcia?  Because we expect he’ll be part of one and no longer even with the Braves by then.

Of course that weekend should bring back an old fan favorite:  Andrés Galarraga, the Big Cat. Or maybe acquire Lucas Duda for the weekend – The Big Lebowski.  Adam Dunn is retired now, but he was the Big Donkey.  Ryan Howard was released last month – that’s unfortunate, for he is the ‘Big Piece.’  The Braves were the first team to draft Hall of Famer Randy Johnson – the Big Unit.

You just don’t want to be a pitcher with the handle ‘Big Inning.’  That would not be good.  Besides, maybe the Nationals’ bullpen is passing that one around.

Next: Who are Your All-Stars?

So maybe there should be a Big Reunion that weekend when they host the Colorado Rockies.  There might even be a Big Story to go along with it.