Friday, April 24, 2009

Player Name Pronounciations

A few months ago, I was watching an 1978 Angels-Yankees broadcast on ESPN Classic. The announcer made note of Angels' first base coach, Bobby Knoop, and pronounced the last name "kuh-NOPP". Bobby's playing career preceded my baseball memories so this pronunciation was news to me. I thought the pronunciation was more with a silent K. Anyhow, this created a discussion on the Delphi Diamond Mind forum Later, I was listening to a radio broadcast of the 1969 World Series and the announcer mentioned Detroit pitcher Hank Aguirre. I had to rewind because I did not recognize the pronunciation, "ah-GEAR-ee". I was pronouncing the name like Mark Aguirre, DePaul and NBA basketball player in the 1980's. His last name was pronounced a-GWIRE. So now I'm wondering how many other player names am I mispronouncing in my replay. So here goes a brief list of correct pronunciation of some players names from 1967. Please feel free to add your own, either from 1967 or otherwise.


Bobby Knoop .............Kuh-NOPP
Hank Aguirre ..............ah-GEAR-ee
Chico Salmon.............sa-MONE
Mike Cuellar...............kweyar
Marv Staehle...............STAY-lee
Dick Tracewski...........Tra-sooz-ski
Paul Schaal................SHAWL


Schaal is one of a few big leaguers whose first and last names rhyme. Others are Don Hahn and Greg Legg.

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