Sledge, Papo, Bear among nicknames Royals chose for custom Players Weekend jerseys

Just what you want — another excuse to spend money on Royals paraphernalia.

The Royals, in conjunction with Major League Baseball, will debut untraditional jerseys during the inaugural Players Weekend on Aug. 25-27. Instead of wearing last names on their backs, players across the league will don jerseys with nicknames.

The nicknames were revealed Wednesday, and most of the Royals’ choices are obvious ones. As the Royals play in Cleveland that weekend, Mike Moustakas will wear a “Moose” jersey, Lorenzo Cain will be “Lo Cain” and Alex Gordon will just hack off the “n” for a simple “Gordo.”

Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez, however, did not go with “Hos” and “Salvy.”

These are some of the nicknames players chose:

Papo: Hosmer’s chosen nickname is a term of endearment, a play off the Spanish word for father (papá), that teammates use for him.

El Niño: Perez identifies himself on his social media accounts as “El Nino,” a meteorological phenomenon associated with unusually warm ocean waters in the winter and an increase in storms.

Bear: Danny Duffy, naturally, went with a classic.

Sledge: Peter Moylan’s Sledge-iatto will make a public reappearance. “Sledge” is also Australian slang for trash talking, specifically during cricket matches according to the very reputable Urban Dictionary.

The Don: May be tough to justify messing with Drew Butera and his Italian heritage.

Hammer: Jason Hammel, of course.

H: Kelvin Herrera. ’nough said.

Jerseys for all players are available for perusal on MLB.com. A few others: Book (Ryan Buchter), Whit Bird (Merrifield), Big Trev (Trevor Cahill), Melkman (Melky Cabrera).

This story was originally published August 9, 2017 at 1:45 PM with the headline "Sledge, Papo, Bear among nicknames Royals chose for custom Players Weekend jerseys."