Unraveling the Mystery of Zack Britton’s Confusing Name Changes: Did the Retired Pitcher Use a False Moniker?

Zack Britton used to be referred to as “Zach”. The newly retired star had an admittedly confusing journey with his name, which is short for Zackary. Sometimes it’s spelled that way and other times, it’s “Zachary”. Either spelling can and often is ultimately shortened to one spelling or the other, but the pitcher had an interesting history with his name and how it was spelled.

For the first eight seasons of his MLB career, Zack Britton went by “Zach”. His legal name was spelt with a “K”, but he went by “H” to make things easier.

When he signed a long-term contract with the New York Yankees, the relief pitcher’s name was spelt incorrectly. Legal documents like contracts have to be correct, so even though the sentiment was the same, the document had to be changed.

At that point, Britton decided to officially retire the stage name, as he referred to it. Thus, he was technically using a false moniker during his time with the Baltimore Orioles, largely because no one bothered to correct the world on its spelling. Despite that, his contracts with Baltimore had the correct spelling.

Zack Britton spells it with a K

This all came to a head while he was a member of the New York Yankees. Fans of the sport might recall when MLB had Player’s Weekend, which allowed teams to have special jerseys.

Those special jerseys had names on the back that were custom nicknames. For example, Aaron Judge wore “BAJ” on the back, which stood for Big Aaron Judge. Zack Britton’s “nickname” was succinct.

On the back of the reliever’s jersey was the phrase “With a K” to solidify for everyone how he spelt his name.