Superior Names, Baseball History: Rambo, Hajduk, Slick

Pete Rambo
Ol’ Rambo pitched in one game, just 3 and 2/3 innings, with the Phillies in 1926. There’s not much more known about Warren Dawson Rambo (somehow “Pete” for short). He pitched for the Cumberland Colts minor league team for a pair of seemingly strong seasons in 1926 and 1927, but never made a significant imprint on the majors.

Here is an artistic rendering of what Pete Rambo may have look liked:

Chet Hajduk
Another one-gamer, Chet lost a huge chunk of his minor league career — and by extension, his career as a whole — to the scourge of World War II. Instead of a long and healthy career, Hajduk got one pinch hit with the 1941 White Sox as a 22 year old. Imagine if a modern first base prospect went from hitting 15 homers as a 22-year-old minor leaguer to being a 27-year-old war veteran? Its impressive he was able to continue in the minors afterwards — and tragic that war intervened.

Most awesome is that his name, Hajduk, means outlaw or freedom fighter in the Baltic regions. Oh, and that he’s from the fine city of Chicago.

Slick Castleman
Ol’ Castleman played a slew of seasons with the New York Giants. He had one above average season as a starter in 1937, but he was out of the majors by age 26 and out of baseball by age 27. Judging by his name, we can only assume Clydell “Slick” Castleman then went on to be the protagonist of a 1980s Saturday morning cartoon.