A lot in a name for Madness contenders

What's in a name?

A lot, if you're one of the 64 individuals in MiLB.com's annual Minors Moniker Madness contest. This bracket-style tournament, now in its fourth season, seeks to determine the best name in all of Minor League Baseball. Previous winners include Houston Summers (2007), Will Startup (2008) and Dusty Napoleon (2009), but 2010's field is arguably the best yet.

One doesn't need any background info to enjoy the inherent hilarity of these names, which range from Al Alburquerque to Zechry Zincola and include would-be celebrities (Stephen King), the amusingly nicknamed (Gookie Dawkins) and those possessing surnames of extraordinary length (Riann Spanjer-Furstenburg).

Still, it's hard not to be curious regarding the origin stories of these colorful names. This edition of Farm's Almanac goes behind the moniker in order to shed a little light on just what, exactly, their parents were thinking.

Father knows best?

When he was nine years old, Rowdy Hardy was shocked to learn that his real name was not, in fact, Rowdy. There had never been a reason to believe otherwise, as "Rowdy" was all he had ever been called.

"I didn't know that Rowdy wasn't my real name until one of my teachers told me," explained Hardy, now competing in the quarterfinals against Greensboro's Sequoyah Stonecipher. "I don't know why it's not on my birth certificate, honestly."

"Lenny Franklin" is Hardy's given name, but he's never once referred to himself as such. So why Rowdy?

"You'll have to ask my Dad," said Hardy, who was born in Tennessee and grew up in Texas. "I think [the television show] "Rawhide" had something to do with it. Clint Eastwood played a guy called 'Rowdy Yates.'"

Hardy, a soft-tossing left-handed control specialist, is currently a member of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. As he travels throughout the Texas League, he often meets individuals who are confused by his name.

"When I meet people, they often do a double-take, like 'Did I really hear that right?'" said Hardy. "Some might be thrown for a loop, but it's just who I am. I don't think about it, it's not unusual to me."

However, Rowdy admits he's never been all that rowdy of an individual.

"I was typical normal kid, never got into too much trouble," he said. "And now I'm getting a little older, so it's not like I'm out there acting wild all the time. But I'm sticking with Rowdy, absolutely. It would be weird if I switched it now."

Hardy's father would probably get along well with Shooter Hunt's old man, as the Minnesota Twins farmhand was also named after a star of the screen.

"Around the time I was born the movie Hoosiers came out, and in the movie there was a character named Shooter [played by Dennis Hopper]," said Hunt, a Fort Myers Miracle reliever matched up with Bubbie Buzachero in the quarterfinals. "My dad thought that was a cool nickname, like, 'My son's going to be a Shooter. That's what we'll call him!' My mom's the only one who has ever called me Steven."

"Shooter" corresponds very well with the "Hunt" surname, of course, resulting in a truly classic National Pastime moniker.

"It just fits," Hunt said. "It's a perfect baseball name."

Tuffy Gosewisch is yet another player who owes his unique name to his father, although in this case the inspiration was not related to a star of the screen.

"I was a real terror as a baby," said Gosewisch, a catcher for the Reading Phillies. "I'd break the crib, beat everything up, loved to hit things, all sorts of nonsense. When I was maybe six months old my dad said, 'This kid's a Tuffy,' and it just stuck."

Gosewisch's given name is James, but very few people have ever known him as such.

"In middle school some of my teachers would call me 'James", and I started to go by that," said Gosewisch, who lost to the aforementioned Bubbie Buzachero in Round 3. "But I play baseball, and I always have and always will be 'Tuffy' in baseball. Sooner or later the word would get out that I was Tuffy. But I don't mind it at all."

Every name a story

Pittsburgh prospect Gift Ngoepe (pronounced "En-Go-Pay") lost to the surprisingly strong Brett Butts in the third round. Nonetheless, it is indisputable that the native of South Africa has one of the most truly unique names in all of professional baseball.

Gift is in fact the English translation of Ngoepe's given name, which is "Mpho".

"The meaning is straightforward," explains Ngoepe, South Africa's standout player in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. "When my mother was pregnant, a priest told my mother that I should be named 'Mpho.' I know that not a lot of people have such a name. People will look at me, like 'Gift? Are you serious?' I'll just tell them 'Yes, my name is Gift, as in a present.'"

Minors Moniker Madness is now devoid of South Africans, as Gift's countryman Riaan Spanjer-Furstenburg lost to Mark Hamburger in Round 3. Sporting a name almost as long as Riann's hyphenated mouthful is Seth Schwindenhammer, who just barely edged out Beamer Weams in Round 3.

"[Minors Moniker Madness] is pretty cool. I didn't expect to be involved in something like this," said Schwindenhammer, who plays outfield for the Lowell Spinners. "[Schwindenhammer] is German, but mostly I've been known by my nicknames. Playing football I was called 'The Hammer', and "Schwindey" in baseball."

Finally, there's Zelous Wheeler of the Huntsville Stars. Despite the uniqueness of his moniker, the 23-year-old shortstop nonchalantly explains that there's no special story behind it whatsoever.

"My mom liked the way Zelous sounded, that's all it is," said Wheeler, who lost in the third round to Gookie Dawkins. "But growing up people just called me 'Dude.' That was my nickname."

Some might be intrigued and a bit confused by such a name as 'Zelous,' but Wheeler's not about to lose any sleep over it.

"A lot of people can't say it, or spell it," he said. "That bothers my mom, but it doesn't bother me. It's just my name. I can deal with it."