Red Sox Player’s Weekend jersey nicknames are out and they’re wonderful

Major League Baseball is celebrating Player’s Weekend August 25th to 27th and the party has kicked off with unveiling special hats and jerseys. Teams are shaking up their color schemes, allowing nicknames on the back of the uniforms for the first time, and letting each player celebrate an individual in their life who helped them become a big leaguer with a special patch. For Chris Young, this is his mother. For Rick Porcello, his parents.

The Red Sox will be at home that weekend facing the Baltimore Orioles so you’ll get a chance to learn the nicknames of a division rival!

Courtesy of MLB

A lighter shade of blue on a bright red? It’s a little more intense than the traditional red-B on navy.

Courtesy of MLB

We do get a little bit of a graphical treat on the back of the hat: replacing the normal MLB logo is a patch that shows a player transforming and developing from Little League to adulthood.

Announcing the details of the event today, MLB is treating Player’s Weekend as not just a time to have fun but to work for the future of the game via baseball’s Youth Development Foundation.

Along with uniquely colored and designed spikes, batting gloves, wristbands, compression sleeves, catcher's masks and bats, each player will have the opportunity to have their Majestic Athletic jersey custom-made with their choice of a nickname on the back. Players will wear specially designed caps by New Era, and unique socks from Stance. During pregame workouts and postgame interviews, they will wear T-shirts highlighting a charity or cause of their choice.

Replica jerseys and t-shirts are available for purchase but if you want to own a game-worn piece of history and donate to a cause that’s possible too.

After the weekend, the jerseys will be auctioned off, with 100 percent of net proceeds donated to the MLB-MLBPA Youth Development Foundation, a joint effort established in July 2015 by MLB and the MLBPA with an initial commitment of $30 million focused on improving the caliber, effectiveness and availability of amateur baseball and softball programs across the U.S. and Canada.

While alternate color schemes are well and good, let’s get to the nicknames!

Courtesy of MLB

To nobody’s surprise, Dustin Pedroia is donning his Laser Show moniker. Boston fans remember the 2010 comment by the veteran second baseman but the nickname apparently originated back in his Arizona State days.

Courtesy of MLB

Versatile utility player Brock Holt (Brock Holt! \0/) is echoing his Twitter handle by choosing Brock Star.

(Ed. Note: Holt not using \o/ on the back of his jersey is one of the bigger letdowns of my life.)

Courtesy of MLB

Matt Barnes actually went to his bullpen of Twitter followers to choose a nickname for him and Barnicles was the winner! Barnes and Noble maybe?

Sometimes the simple choice is the best one.

Courtesy of MLB

That’s exactly what Xander Bogaerts did. No X-Man or Bogey. Just X. Simple, yet sophisticated.

Courtesy of MLB

Who’s Noah? Sandy Leon of course!

Courtesy of MLB

And here we have the great Chris Sale. For the brilliant lefty, a bat is just a useless stick held by so-called hitters. What’s a hit?

Courtesy of MLB

Speaking of hits, Mitch Moreland sure gets a lot of doubles.

You can read all about the rest of the festivities from J. Scott Bytherus on the Red Sox website.

Go ahead and have some heated debates about your favorite nicknames in the comments.