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former Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Scooter Gennett
Former Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Ryan “Scooter” Gennett grew up in Sarasota, Florida and played high school baseball for the Sarasota Sailors, the same high school that produced fellow Major Leaguers like Ian Desmond and Casey Kelly, golfer Paul Azinger, and the late actor Pee-Wee Herman. It also happens to be my home town and many of my relatives have graduated from Sarasota High School throughout the decades.
With the Milwaukee Brewers in the World Series, playing against Rays’ pitching coach Kyle Snyder who played for crosstown rival Riverview High School here in Sarasota, it came to my attention that many people don’t know how Scooter Gennett got the name ‘Scooter.’
How Did Scooter Gennett Get The Name ‘Scooter’? By Lying To Police
Scooter Gennett’s real first name is Ryan, middle name Joseph. But he has gone by the name ‘Scooter’ since he was a little kid here in Sarasota, Florida.
It all started with the Muppet Babies and the character ‘Scooter’ voiced by actor Greg Berg. In the Muppet Babies, Scooter was a tech-savvy character who was great at fact checking on the Internet and he had a twin sister named Skeeter.
Well, when Ryan Gennett was a little kid he had nothing but disdain for wearing his seatbelt. He would constantly remove his seatbelt much to the chagrin of his mother.
At her wit’s end, Tina Gennett (Scooter’s mom) took him to a local police station to try and scare him straight into wearing a seatbelt. When the cop asked him his name he responded with ‘Scooter’ instead of his real name. She told the story to MLB’s Cut4 back in 2017. Here’s how it went down:
“And I said, ‘Oh my word. tell him your real name,'” Gennett’s mother, Tina said. “And he said ‘Scooter Gennett.’ … That was the first I ever heard it because I was a working mom, and he went to a babysitter, and evidently he watched ‘Muppet Babies’ all the time. It was his favorite Muppet Baby, come to find out. I used to call him Ry-Ry, and he would say ‘I’m not Ry-Ry, I’m Scooter.’ From that point on — relatives, everybody — he would correct and say ‘My name is Scooter.’ And it just kind of stuck.”
One of the golden rules of Bro Code is a bro never gives himself a nickname. So this is a clear violation of the Bro Code Article 91.
That said, it stuck. It works. Scooter Gennett has been known as ‘Scooter’ for more of his life it seems than he has gone by Ryan.
He retired back in 2019 but when asked by the local Sarasota, Florida news stations who he would be rooting for in the World Series, his former team the Milwaukee Brewers or the team he grew up rooting for, the Tampa Bay Rays, Scooter Gennett said he’ll be rooting for The Brewers.
His father gave a non answer and told MySuncoast “their pay roles are literally nothing compared to the rest of the league. To me it’s just exciting and refreshing to have two teams that’s there’s going to be a first here.”