Ever since it was coined a few seasons ago, Joakim Soria's "The Mexicutioner" has ranked as one of baseball's most memorable nicknames.
It became something of a phenomenon, really. Hardly any article or blog post about the great Kansas City Royals closer passed without a mention, the team printed up T-shirts with the moniker and even Soria himself said that he liked it.
But after giving it some thought, the two-time All-Star has asked that fans stop labeling him as "The Mexicutioner." Soria's reasoning via Twitter is this: Considering that his home country of Mexico is being stained by a run of execution-style and drug-related killings, he no longer considers the violent-sounding nickname to be appropriate.
"Calling me the Mexicutioner, that's a bad thing," Soria said. "In a baseball way, it's not that bad. Really, it's a great thing. But I want to support my people.
"When people in Mexico watch TV to try to forget about all of the violence — and then they see the nickname ‘Mexicutioner' — that's a bad thing."
It's impossible, of course, to disagree with Soria's stance, no matter how catchy the nickname was. I haven't yet seen a person refusing to budge from "The Mexicutioner" habit and a lot of blogs have sprung to action in search of a new nickname for Soria that's more appropriate.
I'm open to more suggestions from commenters, but the leader in my clubhouse — "El Bombero" — comes via Sam Mellinger's solicitation. It's Spanish for "firefighter" or "fireman" and it would more than suit a pitcher who's already compiled 132 saves and a 2.01 ERA since entering the league in 2007.
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