I'm already going through baseball withdrawal, so much so that I found myself half-watching Arizona Fall League games on TV this weekend. That's how I learned that the Athletics have a minor league outfielder named Boog Powell. Well, he goes by "Boog", anyway, but his given name is Hershel Mack Powell IV. He's no relation to the 1970 American League MVP and pit beef maven, and at 5'10" and 10 pounds, he doesn't bear much resemblance to #26 either. But his grandfather went by Hershel, his father went by Mack, and the family began calling the younger Powell "Boog". It stuck. Whether the 21-year-old sticks in the big leagues remains to be seen. Through 177 pro games, he's batted a strong .317/.412/.384, but so far he's untested at the AA level or higher. The younger Boog also served a 50-game suspension in 2014 for amphetamine use, and he's certainly not the first to make that mistake. If Powell does land in Oakland some day, I don't know that I'll ever get used to hearing the announcers talk about "Boog Powell".
1 comment:
I never called Ivan Rodriguez 'Pudge' and I will never call this kid "Boog" - some nicknames are just too perfect to appropriate for yourself.
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