Presidents Day: players with presidential names.

Let's start with a list of all 43 presidents.  I count Cleveland only once while most give him two numbers because his two terms were not consecutive.  Only major league players are included.

Presidents

ID	First	Middle	Last	FirstBirth	MiddleBirth	LastBirth
1	George		Washington
2	John		Adams
3	Thomas		Jefferson
4	James		Madison
5	James		Monroe
6	John	Quincy	Adams
7	Andrew		Jackson
8	Martin		Van Buren
9	William	Henry	Harrison
10	John		Tyler
11	James	Knox	Polk
12	Zachary		Taylor
13	Millard		Filmore
14	Franklin		Pierce
15	James		Buchanan
16	Abraham		Lincoln
17	Andrew		Johnson
18	Ulysses	S.	Grant	Hiram	Ulysses	Grant
19	Rutherford	Birchard	Hayes
20	James	Abram	Garfield
21	Chester	Alan	Arthur
22	Grover		Cleveland
23	Benjamin		Harrison
24	William		McKinley
25	Theodore		Roosevelt
26	William	Howard	Taft
27	Woodrow		Wilson	Thomas
28	Warren	Gamaliel	Harding
29	Calvin		Coolidge	John	Calvin	Coolidge
30	Herbert	Clark	Hoover
31	Franklin	Delano	Roosevelt
32	Harry	S.	Truman
33	Dwight	David	Eisenhower	David	Dwight	Eisenhower
34	John	Fitzgerald	Kennedy
35	Lyndon	Baines	Johnson
36	Richard	Milhous	Nixon
37	Gerald	Rudolph	Ford	Leslie	Lynch	King
38	James	Earl	Carter
39	Ronald	Wilson	Reagan
40	George	Herbert Walker	Bush
41	William	Jefferson	Clinton	William	Jefferson	Blythe
42	George	Walker	Bush
43	Barack	Hussein	Obama

1903-2012 397 pitchers have won at least 20 games in a season.  Sixteen of them had the last name of a President.  Click link to see the details.

qry20WinPitchersSince1903Presidents

First	Last
Babe	Adams
Guy	Bush
Joe	Bush
Russ	Ford
Whitey	Ford
Mudcat	Grant
Danny	Jackson
Larry	Jackson
Randy	Johnson
Walter	Johnson
Ian	Kennedy
Vern	Kennedy
Billy	Pierce
Dummy	Taylor
Jack	Taylor
Earl	Wilson

Hall of Famers Whitey Ford and Walter Johnson are the most prominent players.  Three of the names had the advantage of two presidents: Adams, Bush and Johnson.

I found 570 players with a last name that matched that of a president.  This does not include birth last names for Ford and Clinton: King and Blythe.  There are about a dozen for King but zero for Blythe.  Several named Ford.  Lou and Jim Clinton.

For Washington there are Claudell, U.L., Herb, Rico, Ron and even a George who played 128 games for the White Sox in 1935-1936.

Lincoln, all pitchers: Ezra, Mike, Brad.   Ezra Lincoln (1868-1951) was a lefty pitcher who threw 138 innings in 1890.  Mike was a righty pitcher 1999-2010: 376 innings.  Brad righty 2010-2014, 222 innings.  Abe was taller than all three.

Of the eight Grants the aforementioned 20 game winning Mudcat (Jim) was the most prominent.

Eight players named Hayes included Von and Charlie.

Garfield didn't last long in office and perhaps fittingly had only the obscure Bill Garfield.

Cleveland served those two non-consecutive terms interrupted by the second Harrison but had only Reggie and Elmer.  Only six Harrisons played ball.  The one and only Hoover had seven.

John Kennedy had 20 players with his last name, including two named John, one of whom debuted with the Washington Senators while his namesake was still in office: 9/5/1962-6/16/1974; the other John: five games in 1957.  There were also Junior (1974-1983), Ted, Adam (1999-2012).

Many players named Johnson.  Surprisingly six named Nixon: Al, Russ, Donell, Otis, Trot, Willard.

Fifteen named Carter, including Gary and Joe.

Jefferson: Jesse, Reggie, Stan.

Madison: Art, Dave, Scotti.

Monroe: Ed, John, Larry, Zach.

Van Buren: Jermaine, Deacon.

Tyler: Fred, Johnnie, Lefty.

Many named Adams, Taylor, Johnson, Wilson and Jackson (Reggie).

Pierce: 8, including southpaw 20 game winner Billy.

Buchanan: David, Brian, Bob, Jim.

What's in a name: Robinson, Willie, Rosey, Mickey?  Monday, February 24, 2014

Robinson Cano is named after Jackie Robinson.  Why does a parent name a child after someone famous?

Birth Name: Jack Roosevelt Robinson ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson#Family_and_personal_life

Theodore Roosevelt 1903
John Singer Sargent via Wikimedia Commons

(Jackie) Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, into a family of sharecroppers in Cairo, Georgia. He was the youngest of five children born to Jerry and Mallie Robinson, after siblings Edgar, Frank, Matthew (nicknamed "Mack"), and Willa Mae.[7][8] His middle name was in honor of former President Theodore Roosevelt, who died 25 days before Robinson was born.[9][10] After Robinson's father left the family in 1920, they moved to Pasadena, California...

Willie Mays
Birth Name: Willie Howard Mays (Say Hey Kid)
Born: May 6, 1931 in Westfield, AL ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Mays#Early_life

His father ... was named after president William Howard Taft ...

In the early 1960s I became aware of two National Football League (NFL) players with the first name Rosey.

Roosevelt Grier (born July 14, 1932)
New York Giants (1955-1962)
Los Angeles Rams (1963-1966)

Born in Cuthbert, Georgia as one of twelve children, Grier was named after Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was governor of New York at the time of Grier's birth and was elected president of the United States later that year.[2]
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Roosevelt Taylor (born July 4, 1937 in New Orleans, Louisiana)
Chicago Bears 1961-1969
San Francisco 49ers 1969-1971
Washington Redskins 1972

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president from March 1933 to April 1945.
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There are no baseball players with the last name Roosevelt, even though Roosevelt is the name that has had the most days as president.

As mentioned previously Washington and Kennedy are the only presidents with players who match on both first and last names.

Harding: Charlie Harding one game: September 18, 1913 for Detroit; 2 innings, 1 run, earned.

Shutout: Polk, Filmore, Arthur, McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft, Coolidge, Truman, Eisenhower, Reagan, Obama.

Reagan, of course, played Hall of Fame pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander, himself named after a president, in a movie: The Winning Team (1952).