SURPRISE, Ariz. -- The name is one of the best in the game. Maybe it doesn't have the power of Babe Ruth or the descriptiveness of Three Finger Brown or the cool of Cool Papa Bell.

Coco Crisp, though, is a name you remember. It has a certain snap, crackle and pop.

"It's very catchy, especially for the kids," Crisp admitted.

As you might imagine, Coco is not the real first name of the Royals' center fielder even though everyone calls him that. Well, except for his teammate, pitcher Horacio Ramirez.

"I've always known him as Covelli, so I can't get myself to call him Coco," Ramirez said.

Covelli? Yep, that's his real name -- Covelli Loyce Crisp, to be complete. And that's how Ramirez knew him back at Inglewood High School in California. There's another little oddity -- what are the chances of high school teammates ending up as Major League teammates?

Anyway, how did this Coco business come about?

"This is the most asked question -- off-beat question -- I guess," Crisp said.

And he's used to answering the question, quite patiently.

"It's very simple. My name's Covelli and the 'Co' starts that. And when I was a kid, my great grandmother used to call me 'Co,'" Crisp began.

He also had a younger sister and a buddy, and you know how kids throw around nicknames. The Kellogg's cereal Cocoa Krispies had been around since 1958, but along about 1990, the company used a cute character named Coco on the box and in commercials. You could see this coming.

"They get the cereal coming in the house, Cocoa Krispies, and they had the character with the big ears on there and my ears were bigger than they are now," Crisp said. "They still protrude a little bit, but when you're younger, they tend to stick out a little more. They were able to razz me a little bit about that."

Fast forward about 12 years to when Crisp was playing Double-A ball for the St. Louis Cardinals in New Haven, Conn. He was filling out a questionnaire for players that asked: What is your nickname? Crisp reached back in his memory bank and jotted down "Coco." Little did he know that the ballclub would soon be popping "Coco Crisp" on the scoreboard when he came to the plate. And darned if he didn't get hot at the plate, so why not leave it up there?

His average had jumped to .301 when the Cardinals traded him to the Cleveland organization (for pitcher Chuck Finley). So "Coco Crisp" went with him to Akron, Ohio, where he batted a blazing .406 in seven games and was promoted to the Indians.

"When I got called up to the big leagues I had no time to change back to Covelli," he said.

From that time in 2002 until now, the name has became one of the game's most recognizable appellations.

"So there it is. For a month and a half of 'Coco Crisp' in the Minors, now for my entire life I'm going to be known as 'Coco Crisp,'" he said with a smile. "Just another good story about perfect timing."

He hasn't changed

Crisp came from an athletic family. His father, Loyce, was a top amateur boxer called "Sugar Crisp." His mother, Pam, was a California high school track star. His younger sister, Sheileah, became an accomplished figure skater who toured with ice shows.

Little Covelli burned with athletic ambition, particularly in baseball. He played in the RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) program sponsored by Major League Baseball. He went to four different high schools in Los Angeles, once shifting because of dissatisfaction with the baseball program.

Then there was a time he was at St. Bernard High, shortstop Royce Clayton's old school, when there was another problem.

"I ended up getting an 'F' in Spanish class," Crisp said. "I don't think I deserved the 'F'. I was the class clown in that class for some reason. I don't know why. But I had great grades, 'A's' and 'B's' and a nice report card.

Except for this. And the 'F' meant he couldn't play baseball, so for his senior year, he moved to his mother's old high school, Inglewood. And there one of his teammates was Ramirez, now with him on the Royals.

Ramirez likes to tease his friend that he's much younger, born Nov. 24, 1979, to Crisp's Nov. 1, 1979. Anyway, Crisp became the Inglewood Sentinels' third baseman and batted second. Ramirez played first base and batted third. They had a good team and made a run at the California state championship. They graduated in 1997.

"When I got called up to the big leagues I had no time to change back to Covelli."

-- Coco Crisp

"What I remember about him is that on the baseball field he was real aggressive and confident and fun to watch -- the same attributes he has now," Ramirez said.

"He was outgoing, very happy, always had a smile on his face -- same thing he has now. He hasn't changed much at all."

Ramirez was the Inglewood hot shot, drafted in the fifth round in 1997 by the Atlanta Braves to pitch. The undrafted Crisp meantime peddled himself to colleges with his playing tapes and eventually landed a scholarship to Southern (La.) University. Redshirted there, he went home and was offered a contract by the hometown Angels. That deal was voided, Crisp said, because he was signed before completing three years at a four-year college. The resulting hubbub, though, got him noticed around baseball and when he decided to play at Los Angeles' Pierce Junior College, scouts started paying attention.

Finally drafted by the Cardinals in the seventh round of the 1999 First-year Player Draft, Crisp retained his friendship with Ramirez.

"Even after we signed, we worked out together," Ramirez said. "He'd pick me up in the morning and we had this beach workout. And a few blocks away from the beach was a sand dune -- we'd attempt to run it. We could jog it but we couldn't sprint it. It was too steep, it wasn't easy at all."

Those were the days, Crisp recalled.

"We had a lot of energy," Crisp said. "We would start working out at eight in the morning and wouldn't finish till 10 at night it seemed like. We ran all day, we ran the beach, 3.2 miles, ran the sand dunes, did the stairs, lifted weights, went to the basketball courts till the lights went out at the park."

And now, after careers that took them through different routes in the Minor and Major Leagues, the two Inglewood graduates have merged again with Kansas City.

"It's weird seeing him in the clubhouse," Ramirez said. "We've known each other since we were 17 years old so it's crazy. I never thought that was going to happen. But it's fun, though. Sometimes I forget we're close to 30. It brings back memories."

He's at the top

Royals manager Trey Hillman has Crisp playing center field and in the leadoff spot in the batting order. His credentials at Cleveland and Boston have earned him that prominence. Hillman has seen another side of Crisp as well.

"He's a very quiet leader. He had a day when he could have left early -- it was a long game against Texas -- and he stayed there the whole game, sat there with the kids on the bench," Hillman said. "He's outstanding and I've told him this -- the advertisement before he showed up was outstanding. But he blows the advertisement away as far as I'm concerned."

Crisp's place at the top is understandable because he has excellent speed, he's a switch-hitter who does well from both sides and his on-base percentage has increased in the last two seasons.

At 29, with seven big league years behind him, his veteran know-how is allowing him to be more patient at the plate.

"I've been dubbed a more aggressive-type player whether it's offensively or defensively or baserunning," Crisp said. "And I've kind of gotten away from that on the offensive side of it. I think I'm still pretty aggressive on the defensive side of it."

Check it out: In 11 Cactus League games, Crisp has an on-base percentage of .545. His batting average is .391 (9-for-23) and here's the good part -- he's already drawn nine walks with just three strikeouts.

"It's early in the spring and hopefully it can carry over into the remainder of the spring and I'll continue to work on this new approach I've been working with and hopefully it just trickles into the regular-season games," Crisp said.

Crisp had 20 or more stolen bases in each of his three seasons with Boston even though the Red Sox weren't exactly a running team. He's batted leadoff more times (268) than any other spot in his career, although with the Red Sox he generally batted in the bottom three.

One statistic that jumps out is his .303 career mark in 145 games as a No. 2 hitter. That came mostly in his Cleveland days.

"Those were a couple years when I'd been in the league for a little bit," Crisp said. "Grady [Sizemore] had taken over the leadoff spot and in 2004 I was splitting time with Alex Escobar that first month and fortunately I got the nod and put in some good at-bats and hit well. That's why my numbers are better in the second slot, because I was able to learn the pitchers, learn how to play up there, relax a little bit and not let the game speed up on me."

But, for now, Crisp is the leadoff man.

"I certainly like him in that spot," Hillman said.

David DeJesus, who had been the Royals' primary leadoff batter, is moving possibly to the No. 3 spot. DeJesus is also going to left field, yielding center to Crisp because of his exceptional range.

"That's very valuable because of the acreage in our ballpark," Hillman said.

Crisp is also feisty. His celebrated rumble with Tampa Bay pitcher James Shields last season brought roars of approval from the Royals when it was shown the other day on the clubhouse TV.

There's another thing about Crisp that Hillman values -- his playoff and World Series experience with the Red Sox. That includes his memorable clutch hit in the historic comeback from a 7-0 deficit against the Rays in the ALCS.

"He's got playoff and championship experience and I think guys that have that get a little more hungry because they've experienced it before and they know how wonderful that experience can be," Hillman said. "Sometimes they play with a little more focus and a little more edge."