This is the twenty-sixth in a series of examinations of baseball-related legends and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of all the previous baseball legends.

Let’s begin!

BASEBALL LEGEND: Catfish Hunter gained the nickname “Catfish” due to his fishing exploits as a youth.

STATUS: False

Jim “Catfish” Hunter was one of the best pitchers of the 1960s and 1970s, making the All-Star Team eight times during his fourteen season career.

Despite his relatively short career (hampered by injuries), Hunter won 222 games! He pitched for the Athletics and the Yankees, winning FIVE World Series rings during his career (three with the A’s and two with the Yankees).

After retiring in 1979, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987. Sadly, later in life he began to suffer from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (the affliction commonly known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease), and died in 1999 at the age of 53.

When he in high school, Hunter was injured in a hunting accident – due to this injury, a lot of teams stayed away from the previously can’t miss prospect. Charles O. Finley and the Kansas City Athletics did not and signed him to a contract.

Soon before introducing the young Hunter to the media at a press conference, Finley asked the young man about his background. What he liked to do for fun, etc. Hunter told him that he liked fishing and hunting back home in North Carolina. Finley determined that the name “Jim Hunter” was not catchy enough, so when he introduced Hunter to the press, he decided to make up a story based on what Hunter had just told him. So since he had just been told that Hunter liked fishing for catfish, he made up a story that Hunter had gotten the name “Catfish” due to a time when he was a boy and caught a large catfish.

The press loved it and from then on, that was Hunter’s nickname.

Bob Dylan even wrote a song about him (“Catfish”)!

Pretty funny way to gain a nickname….

BASEBALL LEGEND: Danny Goodwin was drafted with the first overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft…TWICE!!

STATUS: True

The Major League Amateur Draft is one of the biggest rolls of the dice when it comes to actually finding great talent.

Unlike the other major American sports, #1 draft picks do not nearly have the same rate of success in baseball, partially because players are rarely drafted “good to go” – you’re mostly drafting on POTENTIAL. And obviously, that potential is often never realized.

The Amateur Draft was instituted in 1965. Not until 1987, over TWENTY YEARS into the draft, was a future Hall of Famer drafted #1 overall (Ken Griffey, Jr.). Now, the results have improved a bit since then, with two other future Hall of Famers drafted #1 since Griffey (Chipper Jones and Alex Rodriguez) with a couple of other players who at least look like they have a chance (Adrian Gonzalez and Joe Mauer).

A problem with the draft is that if you choose to go for a high school player, the player has a great deal of leverage with the team. He can simply say he will go to college (where he undoubtedly has a scholarship waiting for him) and the team will lose his rights. So this has lead to situations where teams with not a lot of money will actually shy away from drafting top-rated high school prospects, figuring that they will cost too much to sign, choosing to go for college graduates, who have a lot less leeway (as few college graduates will take the chance to take a year off from professional baseball, although there have been some notable exceptions).

Never has this been more evident than with the case of Danny Goodwin.

Danny Goodwin was an outstanding catching prospect as Peoria High School in the late 60s/early 1970s. When he graduated high school in 1971, he was chosen #1 overall by the Chicago White Sox, who knew a lot about Goodwin, as he was a bit of a local legend at the time (Peoria and Chicago both being in Illinois). Goodwin once hit a 400 foot home run in a high school game! 400 feet!!! For a high school batter!! Back when they used wood bats!!!

The White Sox offered him $60,000. Goodwin already had a scholarship offer from Southern University, and he felt that that outstripped the White Sox offer, so he went to school instead (Goodwin was a good student).

Four years later, now a college graduate, Goodwin was STILL a top-rated prospect, so once again, he was drafted first in the draft – this time by the California Angels, becoming the first and only player ever to be drafted first overall TWICE!

The Angels signed him for $125,000.

Sadly (well, “sadly” is a bit of a stretch), Goodwin hurt his shoulder soon into his professional career, keeping him from being able to catch. Since he could not really play any other position well (they tried him at first base), he ended up being a very young Designated Hitter.

Players who are DHs at a young age typically don’t have a long shelf life, and Goodwin was out of baseball by 1982 (after playing for a number of teams, including the Twins, who also tried to see if he could play first base)…

However, in his case, his choice of getting educated seems to have paid off, as he has become a successful baseball executive in the years since, becoming a public relations coordinator for the Atlanta Braves. Over the years, he has risen in the ranks to the point where he is currently in charge of the Braves’ foundation, a public service organization designed to help under-privileged children.

Good for you, Mr. Goodwin!

BASEBALL LEGEND: For a second straight season, a baseball jersey had a misspelling on the front of the jersey!

STATUS: True

I wrote in a past installment of Baseball Legends Revealed about how last year, Majestic Sporting Goods (the official jersey suppliers to Major League Baseball) made a mistake with two Washington Nationals jerseys, leaving the “O” out of the name on the front of two players’ jerseys.

Well, in the early days of the 2010 baseball seasons, it happened AGAIN!

This time, it was San Francisco Giants reserve player Eugenio Velez who was caught in an embarrassing jersey.

When Velez entered a game in a double switch on Wednesday night, April 7th, he did so wearing the following jersey…

Last year, they left off an “O” – so at least this time all of the letters were there – just not in the right place!

Thanks to reader Grum for suggesting this one!

Okay, that’s it for this week!

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com

Tags: Atlanta Braves, California Angels, Catfish Hunter, Charles O. Finley, Chicago White Sox, Danny Goodwin, Eugenio Velez, Jim Hunter, Kansas City Athletics, Majestic Sporting Goods, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants, Washington Nationals