The Name Game: Vote for the Minors' best moniker

It's time for some March Madness, of a different sort.

With millions of people nationwide obsessing over the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, we here at MiLB.com thought it would be a good time to use the science of bracketology to determine something of far greater import:

Who has the best name in all of Minor League Baseball?

With over 8,000 players hailing from dozens of countries, the Minor Leagues are bursting at the (baseball) seams with creatively named players. Some are excellent examples of alliteration (Benito Beato, Sam Sime, Yormi Yan). Others bring to mind celebrities in other lines of work (Evan Longoria, Brooks Dunn, Stephen King). And many, due to their exuberant originality, are just plain unforgettable (Winter Polo, Rowdy Hardy, Jorge Poo Tang).

MiLB.com's informal selection committee chose the Top 64 names in the Minor Leagues for Minors Moniker Madness, a grueling and agonizing task if there ever was one. After much debate, players such as Bubba Bell, Greibal Cuevas Novas, Kanekoa Texeira, Wilfeld Weller, Bridger Hunt, Geofrank Parra, Maiko Loyola, and Angelberth Montilla were eliminated from consideration. What remains is the absolute cream of the crop, more than five dozen examples of just how strange, poetic and inspiring one's given name can be.

To begin the tournament, these 64 players have been randomly placed into four regions, each of which memorializes a great -- and creative -- name from Minor League Baseball history. This hallowed quartet consists of:

Natty Nattress: A former International League "slugger", whose seven home runs in 1907 tied him for the league lead.

Icicle Reeder: A 19th-century standout who managed to appear in 26 Major League games in 1884. He later went on to become a manager in the nascent Texas League, where he often found himself pitted against none other than...

Farmer Works: A Texas League player-manager who led the league in average and hits in 1889 and 1890. He's not to be confused with Farmer Weaver, Works' presumed arch-nemesis, who led the Texas League in hits in 1888.

Razor Shines: An extraordinarily popular player during his 10-year Minor League career, playing from 1978-1987. Most recently, Shines served as manager last season for Chicago's Triple-A affiliate, the Charlotte Knights of the International League. In 2007, you'll catch him standing in the third-base coach's box for the Chicago White Sox.

Voting schedule
ROUND Opening: Second: Sweet 16: Elite eight: Final Four: Championship:	DATES March 14-19 March 19-22 March 22-26 March 26-29 March 29 - April 2 April 2-5*
*Opening Day

Now we leave it to you, the fans, to narrow it down. Voting for the first round (32 randomly selected head-to-head matchups) has begun, and subsequent rounds will follow over the next three weeks.

When all is said and done, just one man will remain. His memorable moniker will then forever be known as the greatest name in all of the Minor Leagues -- at least until next season.

So (Will) Startup your computers, (Jacob) Hurry to the polls, and help decide this, the most pressing issue of our day. The future of democracy depends upon it.