When the Los Angeles Dodgers take on the New York Yankees for a three-game series at Dodger Stadium, the marquee matchup will have a different look as MLB Players Weekend returns for the third straight year.
The annual event will once again allow players to use special alternate jerseys with chosen nicknames in place of their last names on the back. However, the biggest change to Players Weekend in 2019 is that colorful Little League-inspired uniforms have been ditched in favor of a monochromatic white or black look.
The Dodgers, as the home team, had the first selection, and opted to wear white. Thus, the visiting Yankees will wear black.
Many Dodgers players will re-use common nicknames from years prior. For example, Clayton Kershaw kept with “Kersh,” Corey Seager will have “Seags,” Cody Bellinger has “Belli,” and Justin Turner gets “RedTurn2.”
Some new additions include “909,” worn by Joe Kelly to salute the area code of his native Corona, Calif., and “Negron James” for Khristopher Negrón. Speaking of The King, Joc Pederson will have a crown emoji as “King” is a longtime nickname of his.
Rich Hill’s legendary “D. Mountain” will not return, as the veteran instead chose to honor the charity he started to fund research into rare childhood genetic diseases like the one that tragically claimed his infant son Brooks.
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Hill’s jersey will bear the name of the foundation, “Field of Genes.”
Several Yankees stars also have added meaning to their nicknames. Star infielder Gleyber Torres honors his Venezuelan hometown with “De Caracas” while Friday night’s starter James Paxton wears “Big Maple,” a longtime nickname of his stemming from his Canadian heritage and Maple Leaf arm tattoo.
Meanwhile, Aaron Judge wears “BAJ,” an acronym for “Big Aaron Judge” that became a nickname for him in college at Fresno state. Edwin Encarnacion wears “Rivera” to honor his mother by using her maiden name, while Didi Gregorious’s “Sir MJG” pays homage to his knighthood in his native Netherlands and the initials of his given name.
Interestingly enough, the Dodgers and the Yankees will each have player wear “Kiké” on the back of their jersey, with Luis Cessna joining the Dodgers’ Kiké Hernandez. Enrique is Cessna’s middle name, so his family also gave him the nickname Kiké.
Complete list of Dodgers’ Players Weekend Nicknames:
Pedro Baez: LA MULA
Matt Beaty: BATERS TATERS
Cody Bellinger: BELLI
Walker Buehler: BUETANE
JT Chargois: SHAG
David Freese: DAVEHUMAN
Yimi Garcia: VILLA TRINA
Tony Gonsolin: GOOOOSE
Jedd Gyorko: JERK-STORE
Kiké Hernandez: KIKÉ
Rich Hill: FIELD OF GENES
Kenley Jansen: KENLEYFORNIA
Joe Kelly: 909
Clayton Kershaw: KERSH
Adam Kolarek: AK
Kenta Maeda: MAEKEN
Dustin May: BIG RED
Russell Martin: EL (muscle emoji)
Max Muncy: FUNKY MUNCY
Kristopher Negrón: NEGRON JAMES
Joc Pederson: (crown emoji)
A.J. Pollock: POLLO
Hyun-Jin Ryu: 류현진
Casey Sadler: SADS
Corey Seager: SEAGS
Will Smith: SMITTY
Ross Stripling: CHICKEN STRIP
Chris Taylor: CT3
Justin Turner: REDTURN2
Alex Verdugo: DUGIE
Tyler White: WHITEY
Complete list of Yankees’ Players Weekend Nicknames:
Dellin Betances: DELLIN JAY
Zack Britton: WITH A K
Luis Cessa: KIKÉ
Aroldis Chapman: THE MISSILE
Nestor Cortes Jr.: HIALEAH KID
Edwin Encarnacion: RIVERA
Mike Ford: FORD
Brett Gardner: GARDNER
Domingo Germán: SUNDAY
Chad Green: GREENY
Didi Gregorius: SIR MJG
David Hale: DH
J.A. Happ: JDOT ADOT
Aaron Hicks: HICKSIE
Kyle Higashioka: HIGGY
Jonathan Holder: JOHNNY
Aaron Judge: BAJ
Tommy Kahnle: KING KAHN
DJ LeMahieu: BIG FUNDY
Jonathan Loaisiga: LO
Cameron Maybin: SLIM
Adam Ottavino: BROOKLYN
James Paxton: BIG MAPLE
Austin Romine: RO
CC Sabathia: DUB
Gary Sánchez: KRAKEN
Luis Severino: PEÑA
Giancarlo Stanton: PARMIGIANCARLO
Masahiro Tanaka: MA-KUN
Stephen Tarpley: TARP
Mike Tauchman: TAUCH
Gleyber Torres: DE CARACAS
Gio Urshela: GIO
Breyvic Valera: BV
Luke Voit: LOUIE V
