Max Muncy will make the opening day roster. So far, so normal. Max Muncy plays for the Sacramento A's. [Monocle pops out of my eye and into my champagne; it is unclear why I was wearing that or drinking that.]
Yes, there's a new Max Muncy in town. This one is a middle infielder, is 22 years old, and was a first-round pick in 2021. He's listed as the organization's No. 7 prospect mostly thanks to his stellar defense, and he's got a little bit of pop in his bat. Max Muncy is not to be confused with Max Muncy, the 34-year-old Dodgers corner infielder. Two totally different guys! Even though both were drafted by the Athletics, and both have August 25 birthdays.
There are a lot of people on Earth. There have been a lot of MLB players—20,790 of them, according to the Baseball Almanac. It still seems highly unlikely that there would be two entirely separate Maxwell Muncys. (Muncies? Maxes Muncy?) It is not among the more common of names; no one bats an eye when there are two Frank Thomases, or two Bill Lees, or two Mike Marshalls. Or even three Randy Johnsons. You do not panic when you hear that NL outfielder Billy Hamilton died, because he died in 1940. When there are two Rougned Odors, we understand it's by design. Guys have the same name sometimes; we can handle it.
But two Max Muncys playing at the same time is a Muncy too far. This will get extremely confusing if I stay up late to watch West Coast games, which I won't. We must fix this, before the Max Muncys multiply. The first option, as I see it, is to institute Screen Actors Guild rules, as Meg Rowley suggested. The original Max Muncy gets to be Max Muncy; Max Muncy is first come, first served. The second Max Muncy must use something different: He could go by his full name of Max Price Muncy, or Max P. Muncy, or MP Muncy, or M. Price Muncy. He's got a lot of options to choose from. This could be excellent for his career; "Michael Fox" would not have been half so beloved a movie star.
His second option is to stop being Max Muncy. When Johan Santana came up, there was already a damn good pitcher by that name, so he changed his name to Ervin. ("I just came up with 'Ervin.' 'Ervin Santana,' that sounds good.") Giancarlo Stanton decided to go by Mike Stanton when he was a kid, but switched back in 2012, no doubt due to constant confusion with the setup guy. Max Muncy must cede Max Munciness to Max Muncy, and make a name for himself. Albert Brooks was born Albert Einstein, after all.
At the end of the day, however, Max Muncy is also Max Muncy, and he gets to remain Max Muncy despite the preexistence of Max Muncy. It's his name, and he's keeping it, and he thinks it's cool that there are two. The Max Muncys met last year, during the first Muncy's rehab stint, and the second Muncy hopes they can hook up again during the A's-Dodgers series in May. "It’ll be cool to see him again," Muncy said. "I can be like, 'Hey, I’m here as well!'"
