So I'm listening to spring training baseball this morning, thanks to the awesome MLB At Bat app for my iPhone. There is nothing better for keeping track of my teams or baseball in general. At any rate, I was listening to the only game available, the Washington Nationals versus the newly re-christened Miami Marlins. But that wasn't the only name change in the stadium.

Listening to the lineups, I noticed the announcer didn't call the Marlins' left fielder "Mike." Instead, he announced Giancarlo Stanton. Although, with the sound of the final syllable of the first name and the initial syllable of the last name, at first it sounded like John Carlos Stanton. But still, when did this happen?

It turns out that Mr. Stanton has always been name Giancarlo, but started using Mike, one of his middle names, in high school for ease of pronounciation. That I can totally understand - I went to high school with a guy whose first name is Bilal, but who we all called Mike (now that he's an adult, he reverted back to his real name, too).

But what I don't understand is, when there were already two other Mike Stantons in the big leagues, why Giancarlo didn't start going by his first name sooner. Because not only is he the first Giancarlo Stanton in the big leagues, he's the first Giancarlo, period. Talk about branding!

Oh, and one more thing. Mike Stanton, the former Braves reliever and All-Star? His first name is William.