Know Thyself & Thy Name

The origin of “Mookie” and how it has influenced my sense of self

People often ask me the origin of “Mookie,” a nickname with cross-cultural echoes from baseball players Mookie Blaylock and Mookie Wilson, to Mookie from Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, to the scene in Scorsese’s Mean Streets where young Al Pacino’s character goes apeshit in a pool hall after somebody calls him a…