BOSTON -- While Darren O'Day's father, Ralph, and one of his two uncles decided to formally change their last name in tribute to their mother, the Orioles' reliever is using the Players Weekend platform to honor her and the family by putting "Odachowski" on the back of his jersey.
It is the O'Day family's original last name, of Polish decent, which has been transformed over the years, leaving many to believe that right-hander has Irish blood in him.
On the contrary, as both O'Day's grandfather, Stanley, and grandmother, Geraldine, were multigenerational Polish living in Chicago, where the two met, married and had three boys together.