Five facts about Nyjer Morgan

I suppose more or less this is going to become a fun little segment to write about. For those of you who follow us extensively, you’ll know Curt has his Brewers’ Season Outlook posts (which are very good, so I recommend you check them out) so I guess I’ll have my own fun little facts about each of our guys on the Brew Crew. To many, Nyjer Morgan is not a quiet man. He speaks his mind, maybe with the help of Tony Plush, and is quite the character. He’s also a pretty good player if I do say so myself. My last article I did on these facts was about John Axford, to which he even read and posted on his Facebook page. I though it was pretty cool for that to happen, so maybe Nyjer himself will read this.

So here we go, five facts about Nyjer Morgan:

1. He played hockey before baseball

While hockey certainly is not the first choice of sport for many people, for Morgan it’s been his life’s dream to play. He used to play with the Regina Pats in 1999-2000 before coming to baseball. Morgan has said that ever since seeing the 1988 Winter Olympics, his love for hockey arose. Just earlier last month, he got the opportunity to join the NHL’s San Jose Sharks for an on-ice practice. Morgan described the event as a “dream come true” and was even applauded by the Sharks’ Joe Thornton for his skating ability.

2. He has a cat named “Slick Willie”

I remember Lou posted a video before entitled “Sh*t Black Guys Do“, hosted by non other than Nyjer Morgan himself. In the video, Morgan shows his cat, who was adopted. Morgan proclaims that Slick Willie beats him at Connect Four. To show his love to his cat, Morgan has said that he reads Garfield to Slick Willie. In his own words, Morgan describes hanging out with his cat by saying “that is love”.

3.  Tony Plush is his “name on the field”

When Ryan Braun was asked about Morgan’s performance of the field, he responded by saying,

"“I told you, he’s Tony Clutch“"

I must admit I was confused at first when Morgan started making a T-symbol with his hands. Until I realized it stood for his alter ego in Tony Plush, I had only ever seen the sign used to call a timeout. Alongside Tony P, Morgan also started his catchphrase that we’re all very familiar with, “AAAAHHH, GOTTA GO”, to which he even posts on his Twitter account.

4. Morgan has a daughter

While Morgan was playing hockey for Regina Pats  in the Major Junior level, his daughter Niah was born. With his career shifting from hockey to baseball, Morgan did not have much time to see his daughter. Eventually, Morgan had to give up custody of his daughter and sadly no longer has any contact with her. On the positive side of it, Morgan still says that she is his daughter no matter what the papers may say.

5. Morgan went to Walla Walla Community College

To this very day, it still cracks me up that such a place called “Walla Walla” actually exists, but it does in Washington state. Morgan attended classes after receiving his GED. During his time at Walla Walla, Morgan played for their baseball team for two years before being drafted by the Pirates. From the Pirates he went to the Reds and then from there to us. So really, we have Walla Walla Community College to thank for giving us an eventual player that turned out to be Nyjer Morgan.

That about wraps up this discussion on Nyjer Morgan. I hope we can hold onto him for awhile, because not only is his ability as a player great, but his personality is as well. He lightens the mood of the club and is a guy I believe every team needs. As Nyjer would say, “AHHHH GOTTA GO, I GOTTA GO!”