Baseball fans would hardly be surprised to learn that Scooter Gennett’s first name is not actually Scooter. Of course, many may be stumped guessing that his first name is Ryan.
So how did the 2018 All-Star hopeful end up with the name Scooter?
According to an old story from the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, Gennett gave the nickname to himself after finding himself in some trouble as a five-year-old who refused to wear his seatbelt.
Gennett’s mother took the youngster to the police station and when asked, he gave the officers a fake first name.
“I told the cops Scooter Gennett because that was my favorite Muppet Babies character. I kind of just used it as an alias, I thought I would get in trouble if I told them my real name.”
It’s doubtful his mother or the officers expected an alias.
“She was shocked, she didn’t know that that was my favorite character. It kind of surprised her. She gave me a nudge to tell them my real name and I still didn’t. I just rolled with it.”
From there Gennett began only responding to the name Scooter while at home. The name has followed him all the way to the majors.
