While many baseball names can be spelled without giving it a second thought, there has been the occasional Dodger whose name causes consternation at the keyboard. Here is a team of Dodgers that gave writer and editors pause, and would give the clubhouse manager fits if they had all been on the same team:
Position Players
C - Mike Scioscia, four vowels and only two syllables.
1B - Doug Mientkiewicz, he wasn't nicknamed "Eye Chart" for nothing.
2B - Jim Lefebvre, before there was Brett Favre, there was this Dodger 1965 ROY. He pronounced his name luh-FEE-ver, but a player called up by the Yankees in 1980 pronounced that same spelling, luh-FAY.
3B - Billy Grabarkewitz, Grabby turned 65 two weeks ago.
SS - Mark Grudzielanek, came to LA in the trade that sent farmhand Ted Lilly away.
OF - Trent Oeltjen, one of only five major leaguers whose family name begins "Oe".
OF - Scott Podsednik, some have trouble remembering both "d"s, some have trouble fathoming him as a Dodger.
OF - Jayson Werth, yes, there is a "y" in there; yes, Werth with an "e".
Honorable Mention - Chris Cannizzaro, Hee-Seop Choi, Jamie Hoffmann (two double letters, as in Timmermann), Trenidad (born Trent!) Hubbard, Garey Ingram, Chad Kreuter, Andy LaRoche (not LaRouche or LaRoach), Len Matuszek, Tom Paciorek, Gary Thomasson, Dick Tracewski, Zoilo Versalles
Pitchers
P - Esteban Loaiza, that's a lot of vowels used to spell "suck".
P - Ismael Valdes/Valdez, first we couldn't remember if it ends in "s" or "z", then he changes the last letter from "s" to "z"??
P - Hong-Chih Kuo, sure we know how to spell it now, but the second "h" in "Chih" got dropped a lot, as did the hyphen. I can't remember if there was ever any controversy about his family name "Kuo" though.
P - Danys Baez, fortunately we didn't have to remember "a" and "y" for all that long.
P - Yhency Brazoban, we got used to it quickly enough ("Ghame Over!"), but "Yh"?
P - Ed Vande Berg, the space goes where?
P - Dennis Lewallyn, maybe it's just me, but I always want to spell it "Llewellyn".
P - Eric Stults, I wouldn't have thought so, but I've seen enough "z" endings and confusion with actor Eric Stoltz to have to list him here.
P - Ray Searage, if it's a monosyllabic last name, why is there a second "a"?
Honorable Mention - Ronald Belisario (only because of TV producer Donald Bellisario), Giovanni Carrara (all "a"s), Bob Giallombardo, Greg Heydeman, Jon Meloan, Tom Niedenfuer, Gregg Olson, Franquelis Osoria, Luke Prokopec, Lance Rautzhan, Dennys Reyes, Travis Schlichting, Tanyon Sturtze, Ricky Trlicek, Pat Zachry
Special Award - Larry's Brother Division:
Derrell Griffith
Daryle Ward
Daryl Spencer
Darryl Strawberry
Derrel Thomas