Jason Benetti shares how former MLB player Champ Summers got his nickname

Cincinnati Reds outfielder Stuart Fairchild showed off his wheels on Friday night against the San Francisco Giants, hitting an inside-the-park home run. That led to a humorous story being told on Friday about another Red to make the fast trip around the bases.

Fairchild’s inside-the-park homer was his team’s second of the season, with Elly De La Cruz supplying the first. But it was Cincinnati’s first pinch-hit inside-the-park homer in nearly 50 years. Champ Summers last pulled it off for the Reds in 1977. Jason Benetti, calling the game for Fox, had quite a story to tell about Summers.

Summers is a name that fans of both the Giants and Reds might know, as he played for both teams (along with the Oakland Athletics, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers and San Diego Padres) in his career. As one would assume, “Champ” was a nickname for Summers. His given name was John Junior Summers. He got the nickname “Champ” because as a baby, he wasn’t much to look at.

“When I was born I was so ugly I looked like I’d been beaten around in the ring,” Benetti said, relaying the story about Summers from his Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) page. “They called me ‘Champ.’ A kid would come up to me and say, ‘What’s your name?’ I’d say ‘Champ.’ He’d say ‘Champ?’ And away we’d go. I got into more than a few fights because of my name.”

[SABR.org]