Why was the baseball player Clyde Raymond Barfoot nicknamed "Foots"?

October 12, 2013 8:59 PM

I would like to know the origin of major league baseball player Clyde Raymond Barfoot's nickname "Foots". Can you direct me to a source of information (e.g., a book or website)?
posted by kirsti to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (6 answers total)

Without any other information, I'm going to guess it was a play on his last name.
posted by sanka at 9:10 PM on October 12, 2013 [15 favorites]

I wouldn't have any reason to speculate otherwise, myself. Baseball, army, etc. nicknames go for the gimmes, either directly or inverse.

In general, the nickname Foots seems to be given for unusally large feet. I couldn't find Barfoot's shoe size documented online, but at 6' and 170lbs. he could easily have had a large one, but on the other hand he was average or slightly less than average for his era of player.
posted by dhartung at 12:49 AM on October 13, 2013

Response by poster: @Dhurtug: You're on the right track. Perhaps he had large feet or he tapped them a lot or something like that. Or perhaps Foots is just a shortened form of his last name.
posted by kirsti at 5:47 AM on October 13, 2013

Just running through NY Times archive, I came across one of the fine pitching name matchups of all time, in the 1932 Dixie series (when our hero was 41). Clyde Barfoot vs. Red Herring.
posted by sixpack at 8:52 AM on October 13, 2013

If the nickname wasn't a play on his last name, why wouldn't it be "feet"?
posted by humboldt32 at 11:09 AM on October 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Clyde Barfoot vs. Red Herring. Has to be a joke!
posted by kirsti at 3:56 PM on October 13, 2013