Reader challenge: Famous duos, famous names

Saturday, September 04 2010 @ 12:48 AM EDT

Let's play that Hall of Names favorite, Match Name '10! The topic this time around is "questions posed by batter/pitcher, battery and teammate combinations" -- all you have to do is come up with a pair of MLB player names that combine to create a famous non-baseball pairing of words, then ask whatever question that pairing causes to occur.

Last names are preferred, given first names are okay, middle names are acceptable if necessary, nicknames, as always, are right out. Spelling matters, but you are welcome to work your way around that if you can.

Here are a few examples to get you started ..

• When Jim Gott faced Tim Teufel, did every baseball fan in Germany tremble in fear? (To explain, just offer a parenthetocial like this one, wherein you provide the information that "gott" and "teufel" are the German words for "God" and "devil.")
• If Buddy Black faced Steve Decker, which way would the advantage cut? (See, "Black & Decker" ... get the idea?)
• Would there be ...

• ... a sale price if Ken Sears stepped to the plate to face Ed Roebuck? (Sears-Roebuck, the store chain)
• Would Hall of Famer Amos Rusie and All-Star Andy Etchebarren make a funny battery? (Amos & Andy, the old time comedians)
• If Noble Jan Dukes -- yes, that was his given name -- faced off with utilityman Skeeter Barnes, would they write a book about it? (Barnes & Noble)
• What kind of flavor would a Ben Sheets vs. Jerry Coleman matchup have? (Ben & Jerry's ice crream)
• Hey, there's Bert Blyleven pitching to Ernie Lombardi! Are they, you know, "roommates"? (Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street)
• Here's a Hall of Fame battery -- Ted Lyons and Bill Dickey. Isn't that excellent? Or is it totally bogus? (Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey)
• Would Michael Barrett catching Tom Browning prove poetry in motion? (Barrett-Browning, like Elizabeth, the poetess)
• If Randy Bush teamed up with Tom Cheney, would it divite the U.S. politically? (Bush/Cheney '00, '04)
• What if Lance Carter faced off with Dan Ford -- would THAT divide the U.S.? (Ford vs. Carter, 1976)
• Sure, this breaks the nickname rule, but if you had both Chipper Jones and Dale Murphy in the middle of the lineup, wouldn't that be a cartoonish good time? (Chip and Dale)
• Danny Fife would surely stare down Keith Drumright in a military fashion, right? (fife and drum, right? Okay, that's a stretch ...)
• Is it, um, "PC" to try to computer if Gates Brown and Dick Allen would have been good teammates? (Gates and Allen co-founded Microsoft -- but is that cheating? To use one name as both a first and a last? If so, there are several lesser-known players with the surname Gates ..)
• Could Shawn Gilbert and Scott Sullivan have made beautiful music together? (composers Gilbert & Sullivan)
• Would Fred Hatfield and Mike McCoy ever get along? (Legendary feuding families Hatfields and McCoys)
• If Tommy Holmes and Bob Watson were both in the lineup, would Mike Moriarty even be willing to play? (Sherlock Holmes' and Dr. Watson's most famous nemesis was Professor Moriarty)
• Would Mike Mason and Ken Dixon be willing to draw the line somewhere? (Famous Mason/Dixon Line splits U.S. north and south)
• Would Gary Wayne and Garth Iorg declare i"t's party time, excellent?" (Wayne's World co-stars Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar, from Saturday Night Live and later two feature films)

Well, that's enough for one day ... over to you, Bauxites.

We haven't even considered yet Masters & Johnson or Crick & Watson or ... many hundreds (literally) of other possibilities. (And hey, Jay fans, before you suggest "Tom & Jerry" -- better make that Seaver and Koosman. we're looking for players!) Poloticians, fictional characters, movies, famous married couples, brand names, stores, companies, probably dozens of other categories we haven't even considered yet ...

Just don't forget to phrase your contribution in the form of a question!

Maybe we'll check in later this weekend with some more famous pairs and their baseball aliases, but first, what can YOU come up with?

16 comments

https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20100904004805934