Put on your baseball thinking caps!
I believe that Xander Bogaerts and Eppa Rixey hold a non-statistical rarefied position in the MLB world. While players like Waite Hoyt have a unique first name, from what I can tell, Xander and Eppa have
both unique first
and last names
What other players that played MLB have had both unique first and last names? Given names only. Nicknames don't count.
I'm sure there are some obvious ones I've missed, so let's find out.
I've gone through the names and here is the updated list:
Tier 1 - Totally unique given first name and last name (neither exist):
Eppa Rixey (HOF)
Xander Bogaerts
Lerrin Lagrow
Jurickson Profar
Arquimedez Pozo
Ugueth Urtain Urbina (the trifecta... tip 'o the cap to Frank)
Kosuke Fukudome
Daisuke Matsuzaka
Masanori Murakami
Quinton McCracken
Quincy Trouppe (totally surprised that there was no other Quincy)
Rik Aalbert Blyleven (no Rik, but a Rikkert Faneyte)
Yoenis Céspedes
Rougned Odor
Shin-Soo Choo
Kenshin Kawakami
Werner "Babe" Birrer
Edinson Volquez
Ledell "Cannon Ball" Titcomb
Wonderful Terrific Monds III
Sebastian "Sibby" Sisti (surprised no other Sebastians)
Ender Inciarte
Shawon Dunston
Rawlins "Rawly" Eastwick
Debs Garms
Hobart "Hobie" Landrith
Vada Pinson
Carey Selph
Scipio Spinks
Allyn Stout
So Taguchi
Kolten Wong
Sugar Ray Marimon
Lastings Milledge
Orel Hershiser
Hideo Nomo
Tier 2 - The Killebrew rule (unique first/last name position, meaning no other MLB with Harmon as a first name or Killebrew as a last name, though first could be last or last could be first)
Harmon Killebrew (HOF) (Terry Harmon)
Winford Ansley Kellum (Jim Winford)
Ferris Fain (Bob Ferris)
Miller Huggins (Killebrew rule, lots of Millers)
Gibson Alba
Mays Copeland
Ennis "Rebel" Oakes
Freeman "Ossee" Shreckengost
Questionable, in that the player went by that name their career even though it wasn't their given name (this gets into nickname territory though)
Nomar Garciaparra (given name as Anthony Nomar)
Kila Ka'aihue (given name as Micah Kila, and a few Micahs)
Urban Shocker (Urban Clarence "Red" Faber and Urban John "Johnny" Hodapp)
No Dice-K, try again
Covelli Loyce "Coco" Crisp (Joe Crisp)
Arismendy Alcántara (Israel Alcántara)
Phillip Bedgood (a few Phillips)
Garland Buckeye (Garland "Jake" Stahl and a few others)
Fabian Gaffke (Fabian Kowalik)
Blas Monaco (Blas Minor)
Rance Mulliniks (Rance Pless that played for KC in '56 and Mulliniks given name was Steven Rance)
Garth Iorg (Dane Iorg, Garth Mann)
Ten Million (Minor Leaguer, and also a Douglas and Robert, both Minor Leaguers as well)
Rusty Kuntz (given name is Russell, and Rusty Staub, given name Daniel)
Vida Rochelle Blue (Luzerne Blue)
Sixto Lezcano (Carlos Lezcano)
Joaquin Andujar (Joaquin Benoit)
Carmen Fanzone (Carmen Hill, among others)
Chicken Hawks (given name Nelson, and if not, then there was a Chicken Wolf)
Benny Agbayani (given name Benny, but so was Benny Joe Edelen)
Van Lingle Mungo (Van Kelly, Van Snider)
Woodson "Woodie" Held (Melvin Held)
Heathcliff Slocumb (given name listed as Heath, and there are a few others)
Chalmer "Bill" Cissell (sorry, Chalmer "Lum" Harris)
Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish (Calvin Ripken, Calvin Eldred, Calvin "Pokey" Reese, and a few other "Cals", but one of the coolest and longest names though)