If you asked most fans what longtime Braves catcher Brian McCann's nickname was, they'd almost certainly respond with "B-Mac". Some fans might go with the lesser-used nickname "Heap."
If you consulted Baseball-Reference, however, the popular baseball statistics site would agree with fans on Heap, but wouldn't mention "B-Mac". One is "Heap," another is "Uno Seis" which is one-six in Spanish, the number McCann wore for the Braves and Astros.
But the third nickname is the most interesting, and hilariously stems from one of the strangest bench-clearing incidents in baseball history.
Why Brian McCann's nickname is "Fun Police" on Baseball-Reference
On September 25, 2013, Carlos Gomez of the Milwaukee Brewers hit a first-inning homer off of Atlanta Braves starter, Paul Maholm.
Typically, this would be an unremarkable homer that would be forgotten by now, a decade after this game was played.
But Gomez had a bone to pick with the Braves.
Five years after the incident, Gomez explained to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he came up that game with a massive chip on his shoulder.
"But he knows why I did it because I told him before that at-bat. I told him this is going to be hot. 'What do you mean, Carlos, this is going to be hot?' Because, you know why. (He said), 'Don't do something stupid, please."Carlos Gomez
Gomez didn't state the exact reason, but the author of the article, JR Radcliffe, did note that Paul Maholm had hit Gomez with a pitch earlier that season.
On the second pitch of the AB, the Brewers OF got a pitch to crush and did not miss, and as soon as the ball left the bat, the fireworks began.
Gomez started jawing with Paul Maholm and Freddie Freeman as he rounded first, he started jawing with Paul Maholm again as he rounded third, but then he met Brian McCann, who stopped him before he got home.
After the five-minute spat dispersed, Gomez, who never touched home, was ejected, as were Freddie Freeman and Gerald Laird. Brian McCann stayed in the game. A Twitter apology was not enough to save Gomez from a suspension, as MLB barred him and Braves OF Reed Johnson a day later for a game.
This spat started a dialogue within the baseball community. ESPN took the middle ground, assigning blame to all parties involved, but you could find fans who sided heavily with Gomez and others who sided heavily with McCann.
Those who felt McCann was out of line pointed to McCann blocking Jose Fernandez at the plate after the phenom pitcher admired his first homer.
The Anti-McCann crowd believed the B-Mac and the Braves were uptight, and started referring to McCann as the Fun Police. The memes started soon after.
But the 2013 memes wasn't the end of the story.