History of baseball team nicknames
Encyclopedia
This is a summary of the evolution of nicknames of the current Major League Baseball
teams, and also of selected former major and minor league teams whose nicknames were influential, long-lasting, or both. The sources of the nicknames included club names, team colors, and city symbols. The nicknames have sometimes been dubbed by the media, other times through conscious marketing by the team, or sometimes a little of both.
, the military
, and the flag
s of nations.
Baseball teams began to acquire nicknames early in the development of the sport. Not all teams felt the need for a nickname. The supposed first recorded game of baseball took place between two teams called "New York" and "Knickerbocker", in the mid-1840s. Both teams were actually based in New York City
.
After the American Civil War, interest in highly skilled games of baseball resulted in many organized clubs springing up, with names that were the club's official name, now often erroneously retrofitted as the "nickname". However, all of these club names had the words "Base Ball Club" after them. Examples:
New York
Brooklyn
Philadelphia
Cleveland
Although many of the players on these clubs were de facto professionals, the first openly professional team was the Cincinnati Red Stockings
, an amateur team that turned professional and began a successful barnstorming tour in 1869. The fame of this team spelled the end of the high-level "amateur" version of the game. It also inspired the use of team colors serving a dual role as the team nickname. Examples:
Suggesting an awareness of the significance of colors, in 1882 the National League
passed a rule requiring specific colors for each team (Frank G. Menke
, The Encyclopedia of Sports, A.S. Barnes & Company
, 1955, p.30):
As the news media (primarily newspapers) began covering games extensively and assigning specialists to write about them, the inventive scribes might use the established names, or they might invent some new ones. Initially, they often referred to a club in the plural form, either by its city name or by its club name. Examples:
As the writers became more inventive, they began to refer to teams by some characteristic that made the team or the city unique. Examples:
When two or more major leagues existed simultaneously in one city, the writers often appended the league name, which had the chance of evolving into a team nickname. (The Encyclopedia of Sports, p.32) Examples:
In some cases, such as the Cleveland Indians, the team actually solicited help from the media in inventing a new nickname.
Some of those nicknames changed over time or died with the team, while some are still in use today. Nearly all of the nicknames of the "classic 16" MLB teams were originally unofficial. But once an unofficial nickname became popular enough, it might be adopted by the team and become official. Some teams stuck with a nickname for many years and then changed it to something else. Other teams have never changed their nicknames. Some teams have had two popular nicknames simultaneously for many years. Examples:
In the modern era of sports franchise expansion, nicknames are no longer assigned in a haphazard way by the news media, but rather are chosen by the teams for marketing purposes. The names are chosen in order to establish a strong team identity, and to have an attractive logo to encourage sales of merchandise to fans, such as caps and shirts.
.
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves moved from Milwaukee in 1966, and from Boston in 1953. The Braves nickname originated in Boston (see Boston).
Baltimore Orioles
The team's nickname is taken from the Baltimore Oriole
(Icterus galbula), a small blackbird of the passerine
family. The bird received its name in about 1808 from the fact that the male's colors resembled those on the coat of arms of George Calvert
, Lord Baltimore, who was part of the Calvert family that established the Maryland colony in the 17th century. The Baltimore Oriole is also the state bird of Maryland.
Most of the professional baseball teams in Baltimore have been dubbed the "Orioles", with a few exceptions.
The earliest Baltimore teams, in the early 1870s, were called "Lord Baltimore" and "Maryland" respectively. These clubs were short-lived. The "Lord Baltimore" team chose the unusual team color of yellow, and was often called the Canaries
or the Yellow Stockings. The Maryland
club was simply called the "Marylands", in the pluralized style of the day.
The first club to be called the Baltimore Orioles
was a charter member of the American Association
in 1882. When the AA folded after the 1891 season, four of its teams were brought into the expanded National League, including the Orioles. These Orioles became a dominant team in the league during the 1890s, in part because of their innovations and their tough, relentless play. The term "Old Oriole" is sometimes used to describe a player whose aggressive style fits the legacy of those 1890s teams. The team's fortunes took a downturn in 1899 when many of its stars were transferred to the Brooklyn Dodgers, and Baltimore was one of four teams contracted out of existence in 1900.
The newly-formed American League
was quick to place a new team in Baltimore in 1901. Their "Orioles" nickname was acknowledged in an unusual way that year, with an orange letter "O" on their uniform shirts, probably the only major league team ever to sport a symbol that looked like a "zero". The 1902 shirts substituted a more conventional "B". In 1903 the club was transferred to New York City and is now known as the New York Yankees
.
A top-level minor league version of the Baltimore Orioles
replaced the departed major league club, and it would be a force in the minors for 50 years, winning a number of International League
championships and also providing local boy Babe Ruth
to the major leagues.
Another Baltimore team was the Federal League
entry of 1914-1915, which called itself the Baltimore Terrapins, after the diamondback terrapin
, the state reptile of Maryland now primarily associated with the University of Maryland, College Park
sports teams
. The Federal League Terrapins opened Terrapin Park
across the street from the minor league club's own ballpark, which was acquired by the Orioles after the Fed folded. That began a chain of events which led to Baltimore's return to major league status, a story covered in more detail in the article on Memorial Stadium
.
In 1954, the St. Louis Browns
moved to Baltimore, and the team adopted the city's old traditional baseball nickname.
Many fans, and the team itself, also refer to the team as the "O's" or the "Birds".
Boston / Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves
Four players from the Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869-1870 regrouped in Boston in 1871 (Robert Smith, Baseball in America, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1961, p.36), which they would call home for the next 83 seasons. In the newly formed National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, the Boston Red Stockings would continue to dominate as they had in Cincinnati, winning 4 of the league's 5 pennants and joining the new National League in 1876.
Some sources (such as BBG) say they were renamed the "Red Caps", presumably in deference to the revived Red Stockings entry in Cincinnati. In any case, by the 1880s they were called the Beaneaters more often than anything, a term used for Bostonians in general due to the prevalence of the staple dish baked beans
. Boston itself is often called "Beantown". The media-invented nickname "Beaneaters" was still in use in the early 1900s, and was even applied to the newly formed American League entry from time to time. The National Leaguers continued to include red trim in their uniforms until 1907, when they temporarily switched to an all-white uniform. The press promptly labeled them the Doves, reinforced by their owner being named Dovey.
In 1908, the Americans adopted those colors and became the Red Sox. The Nationals reverted to their red trim and slowly looked for a nickname of their own. They found one when James Gaffney bought the club.
The Tammany Hall political organization was named after an American Indian chief and used an Indian image as its symbol, hence the "Braves". Over the years that name has stuck, despite occasional controversy about its stereotyping of Native Americans, and has followed the team through two moves — to Milwaukee in 1953, and to Atlanta in 1966.
While still in Boston, the Braves fell into severe doldrums in the 1930s, and were looking for ways to reinvent themselves.
The name "Bees" did nothing to improve the team's fortunes, and was abandoned by the end of World War II
. In 1935 the uniform shirts had read "BRAVES" and in 1936 they merely said "BOSTON" on the home as well as the road version. They switched to a block "B" on home shirts the next year, which remained the pattern most years until the block-letter "BRAVES" reappeared in 1945. At no point did they wear anything on their uniforms which suggested an actual bee other than the homonym of the letter "B". In 1946, the script version of "Braves", complete with tomahawk
, made its first appearance and has been on most of the uniform shirts since then. (Okkonen)
The Washington Redskins
of the NFL
began in 1932 as the Boston Braves. They renamed themselves the Redskins the next year, having moved from Braves Field
to the Red Sox' Fenway Park, serving the dual purpose of sounding similar to their new baseball co-tenants while allowing them to keep the Native American-logoed uniforms they had worn as the Braves, and in 1937 they moved to Washington, D.C.
, bringing the nickname with them.
Boston Red Sox
For years many sources have called the early Boston AL teams "Pilgrims" or "Puritans" or "Plymouth Rocks" or "Somersets" for owner Charles Somers
or even the "Speed Boys". (BBG) Research by SABR
writer Bill Nowlin demonstrated that none of those names was used very often and that "Pilgrims", the most popular revisionist nickname today, was barely used at all.
In 1901, the American League
led by Ban Johnson
declared itself equal to the National League and established a competing club in Boston. For seven seasons, the AL team wore dark blue stockings and had no official nickname. They were simply "Boston" or "the Bostons"; or the "Americans" or "Boston Americans" as in "American Leaguers", Boston being a two-team city. Their 1901-1907 shirts, both home and road, simply read "Boston", except for 1902 when they sported large letters "B" and "A" denoting "Boston" and "American" (Okkonen).
The temporary decision by the Boston National Leaguers to drop the color red from their uniforms led to a history-making decision:
The problem with part of that story is that the "Doves" went through the entire 1907 season wearing white (except for a red old-English "B" on their shirts) while the American Leaguers continued to wear their dark blue during the 1907 season. (Okkonen)
On December 18, 1907, owner Taylor announced that the club had officially adopted red as its new team color. The name Red Sox is non-standard English for "Red Socks", short for "Red Stockings". For the 1908 season, the AL team shirts featured a red stocking across the front labeled "BOSTON". They also wore red stockings, along with white caps. Meanwhile, for 1908, the NL team returned to wearing red stockings as well as red caps, while retaining the old-English "B". So the primary visual difference between the two team's uniforms in 1908 were the caps and the shirt fronts. (Okkonen)
The red stocking on the shirt front was a one-year innovation before returning to the plain "BOSTON". The familiar "RED SOX" first appeared in 1912, coincident with the opening of Fenway Park
. Through the years, the Red Sox have continued to wear red somewhere in their uniforms. By the 1930s, the color blue was added back to the mix. (Okkonen)
Headline writers often call the team "Bosox", to contrast with the Chicago White Sox or "Chisox". As with Chicago, when the team's fans are talking about their own team, they are apt to call them simply "The Sox".
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago is unique in Major League Baseball in that both of its charter member clubs have remained in their original cities. Various other clubs had brief lifespans in the Windy City also.
The entry in the one-year wonder called the Union Association
was called the Chicago Browns
by some writers. The club lasted half a season and then transferred to Pittsburgh where, continuing their color scheme, they were called the Stogies
.
The Players' League
was a one-year rebellion by players. The entry in the Windy City, called the Chicago Pirates
, were led by Charles Comiskey
, who would return to the South Side nine years later, as an owner, and with a decidedly more conservative attitude toward player salaries.
When the Federal League
began its two-year experiment, it placed a team in Chicago. Although the Fed was known for colorful nicknames, the best anyone could come up with for the Chicago Federals' first year, 1914, was the Chi-Feds. For the second and final Fed season, which proved to be a pennant winner for the Chi-Feds, the name Chicago Whales was used, despite the lack of any known whales in Lake Michigan
. The uniforms featured a whale icon inside a large round "C", suggestive of the Cubs' logo of that time, a large round "C" encircling a bear cub. (Okkonen)
Chicago Cubs
In 1870, the first openly professional team in Chicago was called the Chicago White Stockings, in reference to the team colors and in contrast to the Cincinnati Red Stockings. The team carried that nickname along to the NA in 1871 and into the NL in 1876.
After the team's successes in the first half of the 1880s, the club began trading away its stars, and by the end of the decade the team was populated by young players, with the exception of long-time player–manager Cap Anson
. By the late 1880s, local newspapers had started to call the team "Anson's Colts", or just "Colts". With the advent of the Players' League in 1890, what little talent the club still had was drained away, and the nickname, though never "official", became standard. (The Golden Era Cubs: 1876-1940, Eddie Gold and Art Ahrens, Bonus Books, 1985, p.2) and http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=l&bid=1257&pid=305
In any case, 1890 is the usual date given for the replacement of "White Stockings" with "Colts" as the club's predominant nickname.
The Colts name would stick around, off and on, for the next 15 years. It was reinforced by a squad of many young players, contrasting with the veteran Anson, who had become known as "Pop" by the 1890s. Anson left the team after the 1897 season, and the local papers called the team the Orphans for a while, because they had lost their "Pop". They apparently still had some "pop" in their bats, finishing fourth in a twelve-team league.
The 2007 Arcadia book called Chicago Cubs: Tinker to Evers to Chance, by Art Ahrens, contains a series of facts in various places on pages 9–56 that add up to an explanation of the gradual transition from "Colts" to "Cubs":
By the time the Chicago National Leaguers played their cross-town World Series
with the White Sox in 1906, the "Chicago Cubs" nickname was well established. An editorial cartoon after the Series showed a cabin with an unknown figure inside, with only his white socks visible, up on a footrest, with the skin of a bear nailed to the wall outside, and six more white socks hanging on a clothesline (the Sox had beaten the Cubs in six games). (John Devaney and Burt Goldblatt, The World Series: A Complete Pictorial History, Rand McNally, 1975, p.27)
By 1907, the name "Cubs" was appearing on the team's scorecards. (Ahrens) The first uniform acknowledgment of the nickname came in 1908, when a bear cub holding a bat was placed inside the round "C" that was already on the uniform shirt. The familiar "C" encircling "UBS" first appeared the following year, on the road shirts. With this official acknowledgment, the old nickname of "Colts" was gone for good. Either a bear cub symbol or the word "CUBS" has appeared on home and/or road shirts ever since then. (Okkonen)
Despite the best efforts of the MLB Promotion Corporation, which began in the late 1960s, the Cubs did not trademark this iconic circle-C-UBS logo (which has been a steady fixture on uniforms and publications since 1937) until the late 1970s.
The nickname "Cubbies", a diminutive of something already small or young, gained favor in large part due to Harry Caray
's famous rendering of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game
". Instead of drawing out the single-syllable "Cubs" into two syllables in place of "home team", Caray used "Cubbies" to make the line flow better.
The Chicago Bears
of the National Football League
played their games at the Cubs' Wrigley Field from 1921–1970, and were renamed (from "Staleys") in honor of their hosts.
Chicago White Sox
"Anson's National Leaguers had been known as the White Stockings, and when Charles Comiskey
brought his St. Paul Saints
team into the city of his birth in 1900, Carl Green of Detroit and Irving E. (Si) Sanborn, covering baseball in the Windy City, revived the name White Stockings." (BBG)
The new American League entry adopted the abandoned colors and nickname of their National League rivals. They were initially called the "White Stockings", a nickname quickly shortened to White Sox by the press. In 1912, the team started wearing the first incarnation of its "SOX" logo on the shirts. (Okkonen)
The team is often called the "Chisox" by headline writers, to distinguish from "Bosox". The synonym "Pale Hose" is also used. Within the city, as with Boston, the team is often just plain "Sox".
Cincinnati Red Stockings
The first openly all-professional team was the famous Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869-1870. They began as an amateur organization in the National Association of Base Ball Players
in 1866, as interest in baseball grew substantially after the American Civil War
. Interest in the Red Stockings themselves grew as they compiled an impressive winning streak while mostly on a road tour or "barnstorming".
The Red Stockings went through 1869 and partway into 1870 undefeated, their streak finally ending on June 14, 1870. Interest in the team waned after that, and while the club gained much fame and acclaim, the team's profit margin was slim. The club's executives decided to disband the team for 1871. But the influence of this team was substantial. By 1870, professionalism was wide open, spelling the end of the "amateur era", and paving the way to the first professional league, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players
, which began operating in 1871.
With the Cincinnati Red Stockings dissolved, four of its players regrouped in Boston to join the new National Association (often called the NA for short, by modern historians). Manager Harry Wright
and his brother George Wright (baseball's version of the "Wright brothers
") brought along Cal McVey
and Charlie Gould
to form the Boston Red Stockings, which eventually evolved into the Atlanta Braves (q.v.)
Cincinnati Reds
Due to the influence of the Red Stockings, nearly every professional team in Cincinnati since then has worn red as their primary trim color. The Cincinnati teams have also tended to associate themselves with the 1869-70 club, but there is no direct connection other than the name.
When the NA folded, the best teams, and some new ones, regrouped to form the National League
in 1876. One of the new teams was called the Cincinnati Red Stockings, reclaiming their old name. The team was expelled from the National League in 1880 for selling beer at games and playing games on Sundays.
In 1882 a new league formed to challenge the established NL: The American Association
. The AA appealed to a different, rowdier market than the stoic NL, by offering cheaper admission prices as well as alcoholic beverages, which at that time were forbidden in the NL ballparks. Ironically, this "AA" became known as "The Beer and Whisky League", and was criticized by the NL leadership for placing so many of its teams in "river towns", characterizing the AA cities as being populated by low-class citizens: Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville and St. Louis.
The new version of the Cincinnati Red Stockings (later shortened to Cincinnati Reds) became prosperous. The team won the first American Association pennant, and survived the first eight of the Association's ten-year existence. In 1890, the Reds were readmitted to the National League, and continue to play in Cincinnati to this day.
The team first used the single "C" on its uniforms in 1905. The word "Reds" was placed inside the "C" for the first time in 1911. Variants on that style have been used in most years since then. (Okkonen)
Having shortened their name brought them some trouble in the 1950s, or more accurately the fear of trouble. The term "Reds" in the political arena had long been a synonym for "Communist
". During the McCarthy era
, even though there was no connection between professional baseball and Communism, the team was concerned that their traditional club nickname would associate them with the Communist Threat and the Cold War, so they officially changed their name to the "Cincinnati Redlegs". From 1956 to 1960, the club's logo was altered to remove the term "REDS" from the inside of the "wishbone C" symbol. The "REDS" reappeared on the 1961 uniforms, although habits being what they were, by then they were often called "Redlegs", and that name took a few years to totally fade out. (Okkonen)
An NFL
entry that played briefly in the early 1930s was called the Cincinnati Reds
.
The nickname "Red Stockings" and its descendants reflect one of the oldest nicknames in baseball, topped only by the Athletics, originally of Philadelphia, and now in Oakland.
or just the "Forest Citys", in the style of the day.
The National League entry of the 1890s was dubbed the Cleveland Spiders
by the press, supposedly because of its long-limbed players. One player during 1897-1899 was Louis Sockalexis
, a Native American.
Cleveland Indians
After the 1899 debacle of 20 wins and 134 losses, in which the once-proud Spiders were redubbed the "Wanderers" and the "Exiles" due to being relegated to a road franchise, the NL contracted the Cleveland club out of existence. A new team formed the very next year in the young American League. The uniforms featured dark blue, and the team was labeled the "Blues" by the media, among other short-lived nicknames.
Once the club began to be led by player and sometimes-manager Nap Lajoie, the team quickly became known as the Cleveland Naps. During the tenure of manager Deacon McGuire
, the team was also sometimes facetiously called the "Molly Maguires
". (BBG)
The team was strong in the early 1900s, but lapsed in the 1910s and "Naps" began to be taken as a joke equated to "sleeping". When Lajoie was traded to the Philadelphia Athletics
at the end of the 1914 season, owner Charles Somers
asked the local newspapers to come up with a new name for the team. The fact that he would go to the papers is a reflection of where most of the team nicknames of that era came from.
Legend has it that the team honored Louis Sockalexis when it assumed its current name in 1915. On the contrary, the media and the team chose Cleveland Indians as a play on the name of the Boston Braves
, then known as the "Miracle Braves" after going from last place on July 4 to a sweep in the 1914 World Series
. Proponents of the name also acknowledged that the late-1890s club had sometimes been informally called the "Indians" during Sockalexis' short career there, a fact which merely reinforced the new name.
With the artificial connection to Native Americans, the Cleveland Indians are also often called "The Tribe".
In the movie Major League
, the Cleveland Indians are referred to as, "The Sons of Geronimo."
Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, Texas
There have been minor league clubs in the Dallas - Fort Worth area since at least 1888. One was the Dallas Rangers
of the Pacific Coast League
, and the other was the Fort Worth Cats
/Panthers of the Texas League
. In 1965, the Dallas club left the city, and the Fort Worth club moved to Arlington, a city about halfway in between the two major cities. The renamed Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs
operated for seven year in Arlington before the majors came knocking.
Texas Rangers
The 1961 expansion version of the Washington Senators moved to Arlington, Texas, in 1972 and took on the nickname Texas Rangers. The name refers to the famous Texas Ranger Division
, the law enforcement agency that was created by Stephen F. Austin
in 1823. Up until the end of the 2008 season, the team bore the word "RANGERS" on their home jerseys and "TEXAS" on their road jerseys. Since then, the team has worn "TEXAS" at home and on the road.
Colorado Rockies
The Colorado Rockies became a new franchise into Major League Baseball
in 1993. The nickname "Rockies" alludes to the Rocky Mountains
which cover much of the western half of Colorado. The name Colorado Rockies had been used by a National Hockey League
team
that lasted from 1976-1982, before the team relocated and became the New Jersey Devils
.
, who contended in the National League during 1881-1888. The nickname, which is now primarily associated with the University of Michigan
teams, came from Michigan
's nickname, "The Wolverine State".
The Wolverines' ownership, in a precursor to the New York Yankees
, spent a great deal of money to bring a championship team to Detroit. As such, the team won an early World Series
in 1887. However, Detroit was not yet the Motor City, and did not have a large enough population to sustain a major league franchise, so the team folded after one more season.
Several minor league clubs came and went over the next few years, most of them called the "Wolverines".
Detroit Tigers
The new minor league entry in the Western League was also called the Wolverines. This club came to stay. The league was renamed the American League in 1900, and the Detroit franchise is still in the league, the one Western League franchise still in its original city, nurtured as it was by the growth of the auto industry in the 20th Century.
There are various legends about how the Tigers got their nickname
. One involves the orange stripes they wore on their black stockings:
Another legend concerns a sportswriter equating the 1901 team's opening day victory with the ferocity of his alma mater, the Princeton Tigers
.
The earliest known use of the name Detroit Tigers in the news was in the Detroit Free Press
on April 16, 1895.
Richard Bak's 1998 book
, A Place for Summer: A Narrative History of Tiger Stadium has the full story. In the 19th century, the city of Detroit had a military unit called the Detroit Light Guard, who were known as "The Tigers". They had played significant roles in certain Civil War
battles and in the Spanish-American War
. The baseball team was called both the "Wolverines" and the "Tigers" in the newspapers. Upon entry into the major leagues in 1901, the ballclub sought and received formal permission from the Light Guard to use its trademark, and from that day forth the team has been officially the "Tigers".
In short, the Tigers most likely wore stripes because they were already Tigers, rather than the other way around which was the conventional story. In fact, the Tigers wore a red stripe on their socks in 1901, and generally avoided stripes after that until beginning to wear orange stripes for a while in the 1920s. (Okkonen)
The Detroit Lions
of the NFL
were named in reference to their then-landlords, the Tigers.
The Detroit Red Wings
of the NHL
were originally called the "Cougars", but that referred to their point of origin as the Victoria Cougars
. Their early name's apparent relationship to the Tigers and/or Lions was coincidental.
and then the American Association
were primarily known as the Houston Buffaloes
, or often just "Buffs".
Houston Astros
Houston joined Major League Baseball in 1962 when the National League expanded and placed a franchise in Texas for the first time. The team's original nickname was the Houston Colt .45s, a reference to the famous Colt
firearms company. The team itself used a Colt .45s logo, but was most often called just the "Colts", a somewhat ambiguous term as it also applies to young horses
and skirted the legal issues that eventually influenced the name's abandonment by the club.
In 1965 the team changed its nickname to Houston Astros, a name that had more futuristic overtones (astro is Greek
for "star") as since 1961 Houston was the city where NASA
trained (and continues to train) all the American
astronaut
s. The team also used the nickname as part of its new home, the Astrodome
, which opened in 1965.
This name change was driven in part by legal considerations. The Sporting News Official Baseball Guide for 1965 explained why the team was renamed: "Late in the year 1964 the Harris County Domed Stadium was officially named the Astrodome after the Houston club changed its nickname, December 1, from Colt .45s to Astros. The move resulted from objections by the Colt Firearms Company to the club's sales of novelties bearing the old nickname."
The nickname 'Stros is often used as a familiar name.
Kansas City, Missouri
Being at the fringe of the old west, and thus connected with cowboys and cattle, several of Kansas City's teams have had nicknames reflecting that culture.
There were three different short-lived major league teams called the Kansas City Cowboys in the 1800s, the Kansas City Cowboys
of the Union Association
in 1884, the National League
Cowboys
in 1886, and the American Association
Cowboys
in 1888 and 1889.
The minor league entry in the Western League (original) in the late 1890s was the first to use the name Kansas City Blues, presumably from their team colors. The Western League became the American League in 1900, still a minor league. When the American went major in 1901, the Kansas City entry was dropped.
A revived minor league club also called the Kansas City Blues
operated in the American Association
during the first half of the 20th Century. The team became a New York Yankees
farm team in the 1930s. The team transferred to Denver in 1955 when the Philadelphia Athletics came to town as the Kansas City Athletics. Ironically, that "Yankees Kansas City farm club" situation continued, as the A's ownership fed numerous quality players to the Yankees until the 1960s when Charles O. Finley
acquired the team. Finley soon incurred the wrath of Kansas City fans also, and transferred the team to Oakland in 1968.
Perhaps the most famous team in Kansas City was the Kansas City Monarchs
, the longest-running of the various Negro League baseball
teams that operated as an apartheid culture until major league baseball was integrated in 1947 by one-time Monarch Jackie Robinson
. Continuing the dubious Kansas City tradition, the Monarchs effectively served as a "farm club" for all of the major leagues in their waning years, supplying a number of star black players to the majors before folding in the 1960s.
Kansas City Royals
The American League expanded in 1969, and made good on a pledge to return the majors to Kansas City, by creating the Kansas City Royals. Pharmaceutical executive Ewing Kauffman
won the bidding for the new Kansas City team, which was named the Royals after the American Royal
Livestock Show held in Kansas City every year since 1899. Some sources have incorrectly reported that the team was named in honor of the Kansas City Monarchs. Apparently it is just a happy coincidence. Also, in an unspoken and possibly coincidental continuation of tradition, the Royals' uniforms carry blue trim.
Los Angeles, California
The minor league teams had been known as the Los Angeles Angels
since the founding of the Pacific Coast League
in 1903, named after the city itself. That team name contained a built-in redundancy if fully translated into English: "The The Angels Angels".
Los Angeles Dodgers
The minor league team and the nickname were displaced when the Brooklyn Dodgers
of the National League moved from coast-to-coast in 1958. The Los Angeles Dodgers carried their successful ways, and there were no trolleys to be dodged in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
When major league baseball expanded in 1961, a new entry in the American League revived the old nickname. The team was renamed the California Angels in 1965, anticipating their move to Anaheim
.
After 32 years as "California", the team became the "Anaheim Angels" starting with the 1997 season, as a result of a contractual agreement connected with renovations to their stadium.
Starting with the 2005 season, the club again changed its name for what it decided were good marketing reasons, to the wordy "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim". This caused many legal problems with the city of Anaheim, and the geographic location has been removed from the team's jerseys.
, a popular sport fish. There were the Miami Marlins
of the International League (1956-1960) and the Miami
club of the Florida State League
starting in 1962, who were known as the Miami Marlins during 1962-1970 and then again in 1982-1988.
When the major leagues expanded to the Miami area in 1993, the old nickname was revived, but the team was initially known as the Florida Marlins. By identifying with the entire state instead of the city, the name's alliterative quality was lost. However, the team officially adopted the Miami Marlins name on November 11, 2011. This was part of a funding agreement between the team and the city of Miami for the team's new stadium set to open in 2012.
, and Miller Beer, the latter being the sponsor of the current stadium.
There was a short-lived major league entry, sometimes called the Milwaukee Grays
, which operated in the National League in 1878.
Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers of the minor Western League of the 1890s were retained during the league's inaugural major league season as the American League in 1901, before being moved to become the St. Louis Browns
.
The revived minor league club in the American Association
was then called the Milwaukee Brewers
for some 50 years before being displaced by the transplanted Boston Braves
in 1953. The major league club retained their traditional nickname as the Milwaukee Braves during their stay in Milwaukee, before moving on to Atlanta in 1966.
The city was mostly without professional baseball for a few years. Future team owner and later Commissioner Bud Selig
began a lobbying group originally called "Team, Inc." and then renamed "Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, Inc." The Chicago White Sox
played some home games in Milwaukee in that interval.
The current Milwaukee Brewers began as the Seattle Pilots
, a 1969 expansion team in the American League. After one year of significant financial losses, the team was transplanted to Milwaukee, under the new ownership of Selig, whereupon they revived the traditional name "Brewers". The team was switched to the National League in 1998 as part of the expansion and reorganization of the major leagues.
for the better part of five decades. The Minneapolis clubs were usually called the Minneapolis Millers
, Minneapolis being known as the "Mill City". St. Paul, as the state capital, avoided the usual stereotype of teams called "Senators", "Solons" or "Capitals", and instead went for a more direct stereotype. The city's early teams were typically called the St. Paul Saints or Apostles, including the city's short lived Union Association
entry in 1884. Later the city's minor league clubs adopted the St. Paul Saints
nickname, a self-contained redundancy. The Western League club from the 1890s moved to Chicago in 1900 and became the Chicago White Sox
. The revived minor league Saints joined their cross-river rivals in the American Association
for much of the first half of the 1900s. The Saints name was revived by an independent minor league club in 1993.
Minnesota Twins
Minneapolis - St. Paul is commonly known as the "Twin Cities". The formal name of the team, which transferred from Washington, D.C., in 1961, was initially the Twin Cities Baseball Club, now known as Twins Sports, Inc. The Millers caps had featured an "M" and the Saints caps an interlaced "StP". The newly-transferred Minnesota Twins club wore a cap featuring "TC" for "Twin Cities" to honor both St. Paul and Minneapolis. The shirts included a sleeve patch with an outline of the state and two ballplayers shaking hands across the Mississippi River
.
By 1987 the Twins were regionally established, and a cap featuring an "M" for "Minnesota" was adopted. The "TC" logo migrated to the sleeve in place of the previous patch. The team won the World Series
that year, so the "M" cap became a symbol of success and continued to be used exclusively for a number of years afterward. The "TC" cap reappeared in the late 1990s, and is now switched off with the "M" cap. (Okkonen) "TC" is usually used as the team's home cap, with "M" as the road cap, though the cap, as with other elements of the team's uniform, is chosen at the whim of the starting pitcher
.
Another nickname used by fans and writers, but not by the team, is "Twinkies", though that name is used more as an insult by the fans of competing teams.
Montreal, Quebec
Before Major League Baseball expanded to Montreal in 1969, minor league teams in Montreal were usually named the "Royals", in reference to Mount Royal
, a volcanic plug immediately west of today's downtown after which the city was named.
Montreal Expos
The Expos were named in honor of Expo '67, a World's Fair
held two years before the Expos began play. The Expos moved to Washington in 2005, and the "Expos" name was retired.
New York City
As the "cradle" of organized baseball, New York City had many clubs in the "amateur" era leading up to 1869-1870, and the "professional" era after that. The teams called Mutual
, Atlantic
and Eckford
were some of the stronger ones.
The short-lived Federal League
entry in New York was the Brooklyn Tip-Tops
. The Fed teams had some innovative names, and this was probably the only major league team ever named for a loaf of bread.
Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers have had a number of nicknames through the years.
This team began as the Brooklyn Atlantics in the American Association
of the 1880s, its name a reference to a once-renowned amateur team of the 1860s, the Atlantic Base Ball Club
. Atlantic had turned pro in 1869 and became nationally famous by ending the Cincinnati Red Stockings' winning streak in 1870.
In 1888, six members of the team were married during the season, and the press tagged the club as the Bridegrooms or just the Grooms. (BBG)
In the early 1890s, the club had switched to the National League. The city of Brooklyn installed the transportation innovation called the trolley
system. Its citizens thus became "trolley dodgers" to the newswriters. By association, the team itself acquired that nickname, as the honeymoon for the "Grooms" was over after several years. (BBG)
Brooklyn was a separate city from New York until 1898, and its teams retained the name "Brooklyn".
During the late 1890s, when Ned Hanlon was the manager and the Dodgers won the pennant (thanks in part to raiding the Baltimore Orioles roster), there happened to be a stage or circus act called "Hanlon's Superbas". The New York press, in their usual creative way, began calling Ned Hanlon's Dodgers the Superbas. (BBG)
Around 1910, the club was briefly tagged as the Infants, from a remark by president Charles Ebbets
, who had declared in a speech that "Baseball is in its infancy." In the words of the BBG, "The monicker clung until Thomas J. Lynch, then president of the National League, asked baseball writers to accept waivers on it."
Once Wilbert Robinson
was well established and beloved as the Dodgers manager, the team was called the Robins as often as anything. The nickname "Dodgers" continued to be used also. After Robby retired, the team became just the "Dodgers" again. The club finally acknowledged its own nickname in 1933, putting the word "Dodgers" on their shirts for the first time, in block letters. The famous script "Dodgers" first appeared in 1938. (Okkonen)
When the club moved to the west coast in 1958, they brought their nickname with them, although it had no particular meaning in Los Angeles.
The "Bums" nickname arose due to the cartoons of Willard Mullin
, characterizing the citizenry of Brooklyn in an unflattering but humorous way.
New York Mets
The original Metropolitan
Baseball Club was a member of the 19th Century American Association
, a club which lasted until 1887 but could not compete with the Giants. They were normally listed as "Metropolitan" in the standings, and writers would sometimes use the pluralized "Metropolitans" in the style of the day, to distinguish them from the "New Yorks", their next-door neighbors.
When major league baseball expanded in 1962, the old name was revived in the form of the Metropolitan Baseball Club of New York, otherwise known as the New York Mets. "Met" is a common short form of "Metropolitan", as in "The Met" for the Metropolitan Opera
; "MetLife" for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
; and so on.
The New York Jets
of the NFL
, originally known as the New York Titans, were the first of several New York area teams whose names rhymed with "Mets". Others included the New York Nets
of the NBA
(now the New Jersey Nets, and to become the Brooklyn Nets in 2012), and the New York Sets of the short-lived Team Tennis league.
New York / San Francisco Giants
The early entry of this team in 1883 was simply the New Yorks, also sometimes called the Gothams, "Gotham" being a synonym for New York City. According to legend, manager Jim Mutrie
was bragging to newspaper reporters about the stature of his players, "My big fellows! My giants!" and by about 1885 the name was stuck on the team for good.
Although the "Giants" nickname was well established by 1900, the prosaic "NEW YORK" or simple block letters "NY" were used on uniform shirts until 1918 when "GIANTS" first appeared. (Okkonen)
Eventually the alternate nickname "Jints" (rhymes with "pints") was picked up as a colloquial pronunciation of the team name. It followed them, along with their real nickname "Giants", when they moved to the west coast in 1958.
The popularity of the Giants inspired several Negro League baseball
clubs to adopt a variation of that name, such as the Baltimore Elite Giants
and the Chicago American Giants
.
The New York Giants
of the NFL
were named for the baseball team which was once their landlord.
New York Yankees
Modern writers tend to refer to the New York AL club as the "Highlanders" for its 1903-1912 era and as the "Yankees" from 1913 onward. The two nicknames actually developed in parallel starting around 1904, with "Highlanders" initially more often used, and "Yankees" becoming the predominant nickname before "Highlanders" was fully dropped in 1913.
Initially the team was simply the "Greater New York Baseball Club", a designation imposed on them as part of the "deal" allowing the Baltimore club to transfer to New York. Giants fans considered them to be "Invaders", and publisher William Randolph Hearst
's New York Evening Journal initially referred to the new club by that name in 1903.
Both "Highlanders" and "Yankees" were also initially inventions of the press. The first president of the new New York American League entry was Joseph Gordon, who served from 1903-1906. There was a noted British military unit called The Gordon Highlanders
. The new team built its new ballpark on a high point of Manhattan called "The Hilltop" (hence the informal nickname "Hilltop Park
" for the American League Park), which contrasted especially with the altitude of the Giants, whose Polo Grounds
was in the bottomland under Coogan's Bluff. Creative members of the press, who liked to make artificial connections between disparate elements of popular culture, dubbed the team the "Highlanders", and the name stuck with them for the better part of a decade.
There is no evidence that "Highlanders" was ever officially adopted by the team itself. The uniforms only sported a large block "N Y", which eventually evolved into the well-known curving NY logo of the Yankees. (Okkonen)
The alternate nickname "Yankees" first verifiably appeared in the press in 1904. The term "Yankee
" or "Yank" is a synonym for "American
". The new team was in the American League, and the papers for cities with two teams (such as Boston) would often call their teams "Nationals" or "Americans" to distinguish them. The term "Yankee" was also in the news frequently at that time, especially with the success of George M. Cohan
's Broadway musical, Little Johnny Jones, and its centerpiece number, "Yankee Doodle Dandy". To the creative writers of the New York press, the connection was easy to make.
On April 7, , a spring training story from Richmond, Virginia
carried the headline "Yankees Will Start Home From South To-Day." The New York Evening Journal screamed: "YANKEES BEAT BOSTON".
The Sporting Life for a game of April 4, 1905, discussing the acquisition of Hal Chase
, referred to the team as the "Americans" and the "Highlanders" in the same writeup.
As the decade progressed, the nickname "Yankees" began to be used more and more often. The New York Times
writeup about Cy Young
's no-hitter of June 30, 1908, referred to the club exclusively as "Yankees" or "Yanks" throughout the article, with no mention at all of "Highlanders". The Times also consistently referred to the Hilltop by its formal name, "the American League Park". (The Complete Book of Baseball: A New York Times Scrapbook History, Arno Press, Bobbs-Merrill, 1980, p.8)
The Philadelphia Inquirer for a game of April 21, 1912, an exhibition between the two New York clubs, was headlined "Giants wallop Yanks", while in the article the teams were referred to as the "Nationals" and the "Giants"; and "the American League team", "Americans", and "Highlanders"; respectively.
The New York Times for opening day 1912 reported that "The Yankees presented a natty appearance in their new uniforms of white with black pin stripes."
In 1913, the American Leaguers left the Hilltop after ten years, and began what would become a ten-year sub-lease with the Giants at the Polo Grounds. At that point the term "Highlanders" made no logical sense, and was dropped by the press. The club was exclusively the "Yankees" from then onward.
It is uncertain exactly when the Yankees began referring to themselves by their popular nickname. By the time of Babe Ruth
's arrival in 1920, the "Yankees" nickname was well established, but the name still did not appear on the uniforms. In fact, the Yankees have seldom carried their nickname on their uniforms. The only time was during 1927-1930, when the word "YANKEES" first appeared, in lieu of "NEW YORK" - on the road shirts. This was continued through the 1930 season, and then "NEW YORK" was restored to the road uniforms. (Okkonen)
The popular and successful Yankees have acquired many other unofficial nicknames through the years, such as the "Pinstripers" for obvious reasons, and jokingly as the "Evil Empire", a term originally applied to the Soviet Union
by President Ronald Reagan
. Probably the longest-lasting unofficial nickname has been the "Bronx Bombers", which was applied many decades ago in reference to the Yankees' power hitting, dating back to the Ruth era.
Oakland, California
The Pacific Coast League
entry was typically called the Oakland Oaks (PCL)
and sometimes the Acorns as an unofficial variant.
, who began in Philadelphia and resided in Kansas City for a few years, settled on the west coast in 1968. The nickname "Athletics" is the oldest in baseball, dating to the early 1860s.
(also sometimes called the "Pearls" or even the "Phillies", who played in the National Association
in the early 1870s in direct competition with the A's; and the Keystone
club of the one-year Union Association
experiment in 1884.
Philadelphia / Kansas City / Oakland Athletics
In the peak of the amateur era of baseball in the 1860s, the strongest team in the Quaker State was the Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia, or just "Athletic" for short. Prior to the early 1900s, this club was typically always listed in standings as "Athletic" rather than "Philadelphia". When called the "Athletics" it was the pluralized style of the day, just as the National League entry would have been called the "Philadelphias".
As early as 1866, the Athletics uniform shirts featured the stylized letter "A" that is still used by the team's nominal descendants today. The team had turned professional by the late 1860s, and continued playing through the first year of the National League in 1876, before disbanding.
The team name "Athletic" was revived by the American Association
, and again by the charter Philadelphia entry in the American League in 1901.
The AL team was originally listed in the standings in the traditional way, "Athletic", but soon evolved into the "Philadelphia Athletics". Another enduring symbol of the team soon emerged:
That characterization, first written about 1940, was from a time when the A's were still thought of as winners. The team's decline, from the mid-1930s clear into the mid-1960s, would result in the franchise being transferred twice. The elephant logo evolved into a circus elephant of varying colors, depending on the trim chosen for the uniform in a given year.
As the team typically wore a stylized "A" on both their home and road shirts, and eventually on their caps, the nickname "A's" also arose. The first break with the "A" tradition came in 1920, when the team featured the elephant logo on shirts for the first time, displacing the "A", albeit in a dark blue. The elephant, worn as a badge of defiance following McGraw's remarks, had previously appeared on just the warmup weathers and then on the uniform sleeve. The elephant was changed to its titular white in 1924, and in 1928 the team went back to the traditional "A". (Okkonen)
In 1954, the club's last year in Philadelphia, the "A" was replaced for the first time with the word "Athletics", on both home and road shirts. At no time in their 54-year tenure in Philadelphia did the word "Philadelphia" appear on their shirts. The team transferred to Kansas City in 1955 and continued to wear "Athletics" on both home and road shirts. The city name finally appeared on road shirts for the first time in 1961, after Charles O. Finley had acquired the team. Finley began a well-documented series of influential uniform innovations that are beyond the scope of this article. He moved the A's to Oakland in 1968, where they have remained to this day. (Okkonen)
Philadelphia Phillies
"They've been the Phillies ever since the team entered the National League in 1883." (BBG)
"Phillies" or "Phils" is a short form of "Philadelphias", in the style of the 19th Century, when a city would be referred to by writers that way ("Bostons", "Chicagos", etc.) The city itself is often called "Philly" for short. Other uses of that term include the Philly Cheesesteak
and the popular Phillies Blunt cigar.
Bob Carpenter
acquired the Phillies in the late fall of 1943. The following spring, a new name, "Blue Jays", was selected in a fans' contest. (BBG) This change never caught on with the general public, especially as the uniform shirts continued to say "Phillies", albeit with a blue jay shoulder patch. That experiment was dropped after a couple of years.
In 1900, the team's road shirts said "PHILA", a common abbreviation of "Philadelphia". The Phillies' uniforms otherwise carried only a simple block or stylized letter "P" for several decades. The first time the word "Phillies" appeared was 1933, in a script-style that has appeared frequently in the decades since then. 1942, the word "Phils" appeared on the road shirts and the block letter "P" re-appeared on the home shirts, just for the one season. The script "Phillies" continued until 1970 when, in anticipation of the move to Veterans Stadium
, the team returned to a stylized letter "P" on their shirts. In 1992, the script "Phillies" was restored to the shirts. (Okkonen)
Arizona Diamondbacks
A Diamondback, specifically Crotalus atrox
, is a rattlesnake
which is a very common sight in the Arizona desert and a fearsome symbol. The club adopted the symbol upon its formation in 1998. A baseball field
is also called a "diamond". The team is often called the "D-backs" for short, and as of 2007 the team is wearing shirts that read "D-backs". On the left sleeve is a stylized "db" which forms the head of a snake.
Pittsburgh Pirates
The original Pittsburgh club, formed in 1882, was in the then-separate city of Allegheny, Pennsylvania
, across the Allegheny River northwest of downtown Pittsburgh. Thus the club was called "Allegheny" in the standings, and in the style of the day, the "Alleghenys" (note that it was not "Alleghenies"). The Alleghenys played in the American Association
during 1882-1886, then transferred to the National League in 1887. The team restyled itself as "Pittsburgh" (then often spelled "Pittsburg") around 1890, although Allegheny remained a separate city until it was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907.
The club was accused of "pirating" Lou Bierbauer
in the Players' League
settlement following the 1890 season, which led to their nickname. This fact is a detail of the larger story of what was happening in professional baseball around that time.
In 1888, baseball owners established rules to categorize players and pay them according to rank. Since the owners set the categories themselves, their new system at first lowered, and then eventually froze players salaries. Shortly before this, in 1885, John Montgomery Ward
, a current Major League pitcher and Columbia Law School
graduate, had founded the "Brotherhood of Base Ball Players" an association to protect and promote players interests. Baseball owners had instituted their new rules in the off-season without talking with the players, and this led to a rift between them and the players. Despite yearlong efforts to negotiate with the owners over these new restrictions on players, Ward could not get them to bargain or even recognize the Brotherhood. Players revolted and in 1890 they started a new league called the Players' League. The Players' League was spearheaded by Ward, who not only gained financial backers, but he also solicited star players to jump from the National League and American Association to the new league.
With three professional leagues competing, many in the same cities, there was not enough revenue to go around, and each league lost money. Although the Players' League's attendance was the best of the three leagues, it folded after one year. The financially hemorrhaging American Association folded one year later, and the National League absorbed four of its teams.
In 1890, Philadelphia Athletics
players Lou Bierbauer and Harry Stovey had jumped to the Players' League. After the Players' League collapsed, through a clerical error the Athletics had failed to reserve Bierbauer's and Stovey's services. Pittsburgh signed Bierbauer and Stovey to contracts. The Athletics protested losing these players, and this led to an impartial Arbitration Board, which included American Association President Allan W. Thurman
. The board ruled in Pittsburgh's favor. Despite the ruling, the Athletics still grumbled at the decision, and ridiculed their cross-state rivals by calling them "Pirates" for "stealing" their players. The "Pirates" tag stuck and the alliterative name was eventually adopted as Pittsburgh's official team nickname. By the time of the 1903 World Series
, the team was commonly known as "Pirates", although the club did not acknowledge it on their uniforms until 1912.
Alternate nicknames such as "Bucs" or "Buccos", short for "buccaneer
", have been used through the years. "Buccaneer" is typically used synonymously with "pirate", although historically "buccaneer" is a more specific term that refers to pirates who operated in the Caribbean Sea
, especially along the Spanish Main
coast.
The Pittsburgh Steelers
of the NFL
began as the Pittsburgh Pirates, in reference to the baseball team from which they rented Forbes Field
in their early years. There was also a short-lived NHL
entry in the 1920s-1930s called the Pittsburgh Pirates
.
St. Louis, Missouri
In the National Association of 1875, St. Louis fielded two entries, called the St. Louis Brown Stockings
(or Browns); and the St. Louis Red Stockings
, (or Reds). The Reds did not survive the season. The Browns were better organized and were carried forward into the new National League in 1876. The club abandoned professional ball after the 1877 season due to a betting scandal.
The St. Louis Maroons of the Union Association
in 1884, and the NL in 1885-1886, continued the reddish color scheme during their brief tenure. The St. Louis Terriers
of the Federal League
of 1914-1915 were the only major league club in St. Louis that eschewed being named for a color.
St. Louis Cardinals
A new professional team formed in 1882 and was a charter member of the American Association
. The team revived the nickname St. Louis Brown Stockings, which again was soon shortened to St. Louis Browns. The team was one of the most successful in the AA's ten-year existence, under the leadership of Charles Comiskey
, and was carried forward into the NL in 1892.
In 1899, the club decided it was time for a makeover. They rebuild the stands at Robison Field
after a fire; they stripped the Cleveland Spiders
of their star players, hoping to take a major leap in the standings; and, according to most sources, changed their uniform color that year, from brown to red. The refreshed team was labeled the Perfectos by a perhaps over-optimistic press. The team jumped from twelfth to fifth, rather short of its lofty goal.
The team was also being called Cardinals by season's end. According to BBG, it was William McHale, baseball writer for the St. Louis Republic, who dubbed the red-trimmed team the St. Louis Cardinals. By 1900, that name was in universal usage, and they have been known by that nickname to this day.
The term "Cardinal" for both the bird and the color originated from the traditional vestments of the Cardinal
s of the Roman Catholic Church
.
The red-trimmed uniforms at first were only labeled "ST. LOUIS", on both home and road shirts, later replaced by the familiar interlocking "StL" logo. The word "Cardinals" first appeared on both home and road shirts in 1918. The term went from just being a color to also being a symbol in 1922, with the first incarnation of the two Cardinal
birds perched on a bat across the word "Cardinals". (Okkonen)
The synonym "Redbirds" and the abbreviation "Cards" are also in broad usage today.
The St. Louis Cardinals
of the NFL
transferred from Chicago to St. Louis in 1960, and from St. Louis to Phoenix in 1988. The Football Cardinals were not named after the Baseball Cardinals, but for the same reason that the Baseball Cardinals acquired their name — from the color of their jerseys, which were originally hand-me-downs from the University of Chicago Maroons
.
St. Louis Browns
The nickname St. Louis Browns was revived in 1902 by the AL entry that transferred from Milwaukee. Moving from one major brewing city to another, they could have retained the nickname "Brewers", but for marketing reasons they chose to adopt the recently-abandoned colors of their established rival.
The Browns were the better team in the Mound City for the first 25 years or so of their co-existence, but the Cardinals returned to winning form in the mid-1920s and the Browns struggled after that. The club was looking for a city to transfer to in the early 1950s. They considered coincidentally returning to their roots in Milwaukee, but the Braves beat them to it. They settled for a move to Baltimore in 1954, where they were renamed the "Orioles", ending the life of the "Browns" nickname.
Although known from the beginning as the "Browns", and wearing brown trim most of the time (except for 1906 when they experimented with all-black trim), the club did not wear the word "BROWNS" on their shirts until 1934. (Okkonen) The team had various logos. In the early years they had an interlaced "StL", as with the Cardinals. In the 1930s, they began wearing a patch featuring an illustration of the famous statue of the personification of the Saint. In 1952 they began wearing a sleeve patch with a cartoon face of a "Brownie".
The Cleveland Browns
of the NFL
were named for their original coach, Paul Brown
. They have no connection to the St. Louis Browns, although their color scheme (orange and brown) and their use of a "Brownie" coincide.
San Diego Padres
The minor league team called the San Diego Padres
of the Pacific Coast League
operated during 1936-1968. The name Padre was taken from the Spanish
word for "Father", a term of respect used for Spanish missionaries. When Major League Baseball
expanded to San Diego in 1969, the old nickname was retained for the new team.
The team is frequently called the "Pods" in the media, which rhymes with the first syllable of "PAHD-rays".
in 1903 through 1957.
A second, shorter-lived club was the Mission Reds
, who played in San Francisco during 1925-1937. They were sometimes called the "Missions".
San Francisco Giants
The well-established Seals, which had once been Joe DiMaggio
's team, moved after the 1957 season to make way for the arrival of the New York Giants
, who followed the Dodgers from the east coast. The San Francisco Giants have lived up to their name, with sluggers like Willie Mays
, Willie McCovey
and Barry Bonds
rocketing baseballs out of the San Francisco ballparks just as Mays and Mel Ott
did in New York.
minor league club in Seattle was initially called the Indians, due to the Native American
legacy of the area. The team was later named the Seattle Rainiers, directly in reference to the Rainier Brewing Company
, and indirectly in reference to Mount Rainier
, for which the brewery was named. The Rainiers operated through 1968, when the major leagues expanded. After the one-year major league experiment, a new Rainiers ball club was formed and played during 1972-1976, when the majors were ready to try Seattle again. Since 1995, the Rainiers name has been used by the Seattle Mariners' Triple-A affiliate
in nearby Tacoma
.
Seattle Pilots
The AL expansion team in 1969 was named in reference to the prominence of marine activities in the Puget Sound
area, such as fishing, both industrial and recreational. The caps even featured the "scrambled eggs" golden-leaf symbol of a ship's captain. The ambitious but underfunded club sank in a sea of red ink, and became the first major league club since the 1901 Milwaukee Brewers
to switch cities after one year. Ironically, the Pilots moved to Milwaukee, and became the new Milwaukee Brewers
.
Seattle Mariners
The AL again expanded to Seattle, in 1977, with the formation of the Seattle Mariners. The nickname again alluded to fishing and other marine activities. The Mariners have been in Seattle of over 30 years with no indications of leaving anytime soon.
Tampa Bay Devil Rays/Rays
The club was an expansion franchise in the American League in 1998. The team's logo included an illustration of a manta ray
, also called a devilfish or devil ray. The team was also called the D-rays or the Rays for short. As of 2007, one version of their home uniforms said "Rays", and no version said "Devil Rays", although a patch illustrating a manta ray was used. On November 8, 2007, the club announced that they were dropping the "Devil" part in order to identify themselves primarily with the rays of the sun, Florida
being the Sunshine State, and their redesigned logo reflects that theme. As noted in the MLB article http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071107&content_id=2295403&vkey=news_tb&fext=.jsp&c_id=tb the club stated that they would continue using the manta ray patch as an acknowledgment of their previous identity - a feature easily visible on their uniforms in the super-closeups used by television in the 2008 World Series
, as the former league doormats turned into the American League's champion team in 2008. The club would also retain its furry mascot, called "Raymond", strictly for humorous reasons, as that name has no etymological connection to either the old or the new usage of "ray".
Toronto, Ontario
The original minor league club in Toronto was the Toronto Maple Leafs, which operated from 1896 through 1967 in the International League
.
The National Hockey League
club renamed itself the Toronto Maple Leafs
in 1927 and has been known by that name ever since.
Toronto Blue Jays
By the time the American League
expanded to Toronto in 1977, the NHL club's strong identification as the Maple Leafs precluded any chance of reviving that name for the baseball team.
The Toronto franchise was originally owned by Labatt Breweries, with Imperial Trust and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
as minority owners. The name Toronto Blue Jays came about when former Ontario Premier John Robarts
, a member of the team's board of directors, started talking about a morning routine: "I was shaving this morning and I saw a blue jay out my window."
"Blue" was also the top-selling brand of beer sold by Labatt's, providing an on-air opportunity for TV commentators to take a microscopic pause when saying "You're watching Labatt's Blue...Jays baseball on CBC."
The short form "Jays" has been used extensively for much of the team's history.
Coincidentally, the nickname "Blue Jays" was used briefly by the Philadelphia Phillies
(the team that Toronto beat in the 1993 World Series
), from 1944 to 1945.
Washington, D.C.
Baseball clubs in Washington, D.C. have been known by a variety of nicknames since the first professional teams appeared in 1870. One team was called the "Olympics", another was called the "Nationals". Both of those names persisted through the 1870s. Later teams in the 19th Century were called the "Nationals" and also obvious other Capital City nicknames such as "Statesmen" and "Senators". By the 1890s, "Senators" was commonly used in the media for the National League entry.
Washington Nationals/Senators
The "Senators" nickname carried over to the new American League entry in 1901. The team was generally called the Senators from 1901-04, as the old National League club had been. Washington Star newspaper owner Thomas C. Noyes, along with an ownership group of Benjamin Minor, Harry Rapley and others bought the team in 1905.
Before the 1905 season, Noyes solicited fans and writers for a new nickname. In an effort to remarket the team Noyes decided to officially name the club the "Nationals", reverting to the older nickname.
During 1905 and 1906, the team wore "Nationals" on their new shirts, the first team to do so. Otherwise, the shirts either read "Washington" or carried a plain block "W". (Okkonen)
Some reluctance could have been due to the inherent ambiguity of the name. Writers frequently referred to individual major league teams as "Americans" or "Nationals" in reference to their league affiliation -- and the Washington Nationals were in the American League.
Newspaper articles for decades used the names "Senators" and "Nationals" (or "Nats") interchangeably, often within the same article. Baseball guides even said "Nationals or Senators" when listing the nickname. This was long before teams made nicknames registered trademarks for marketing purposes.
Thus the Washington ballclub was known by two nicknames for most of its history prior to moving to Minnesota. Although there have been other teams with dual nicknames, such as the Brooklyn "Robins"/"Dodgers"
, or the New York "Highlanders"/"Yankees"
, the longevity of this dual nickname was unique.
The nickname "Senators" was kept alive especially by out-of-town writers. World Series
programs in the same year referred to the team by different names: In 1933, the programs for the games played in New York City
advertised "Giants vs. Senators", while programs for the games played in Washington included a photo of Washington manager Joe Cronin
with the caption "Nationals' Manager".
Although "Nationals" or "Nats" was still used on baseball card
s issued by Topps
as late as 1956, by the 1950s, the name "Nationals" was pretty much passé. For example, the popular 1955 Broadway musical Damn Yankees
referred to the club primarily, if not exclusively, as the "Senators".
Following the 1956
season, owner Calvin Griffith decided to officially change the name to Senators, but it wasn't until 1959
that the word "Senators" finally appeared on their shirts. (Okkonen) They and their expansion-replacement in 1961
would remain officially the "Senators" for good, although space-saving headline writers continued to refer to them as "Nats" frequently.
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals of the National League, transplanted from the Montreal Expos
in 2005, revived the old Nationals name, and with modern marketing techniques it appears the name will stick this time. The time-honored headline abbreviation "Nats" has also been revived. Any possibility of using the name "Washington Senators" was inhibited by the Texas Rangers
still owning the rights to that trademark.
These books about baseball parks also contain a lot of information about the minor league teams:
Reference books specific to one team's history are embedded.
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
teams, and also of selected former major and minor league teams whose nicknames were influential, long-lasting, or both. The sources of the nicknames included club names, team colors, and city symbols. The nicknames have sometimes been dubbed by the media, other times through conscious marketing by the team, or sometimes a little of both.
Overview
Athletic teams have long used colors and nicknames as a form of team identity. This echoes the use of colors and nicknames in other activities such as heraldryHeraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
, the military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
, and the flag
Flag
A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is usually rectangular and used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.The first flags were used to assist...
s of nations.
Baseball teams began to acquire nicknames early in the development of the sport. Not all teams felt the need for a nickname. The supposed first recorded game of baseball took place between two teams called "New York" and "Knickerbocker", in the mid-1840s. Both teams were actually based in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
After the American Civil War, interest in highly skilled games of baseball resulted in many organized clubs springing up, with names that were the club's official name, now often erroneously retrofitted as the "nickname". However, all of these club names had the words "Base Ball Club" after them. Examples:
New York
- Knickerbocker B.B.C.
- MutualNew York MutualsThe Mutual Base Ball Club of New York was a leading American baseball club almost throughout its 20-year history. It was established during 1857, the year of the first baseball convention, just too late to be a founding member of the National Association of Base Ball Players. It was a charter...
B.B.C.
Brooklyn
- AtlanticBrooklyn AtlanticsThe Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn was baseball's first champion and its first dynasty.Established in 1855, Atlantic was a founding member of the National Association of Base Ball Players in 1857. In 1859, with a record of 11 wins and 1 loss, Atlantic emerged as the recognized champions of...
B.B.C. - EckfordEckford of BrooklynEckford of Brooklyn, or simply Eckford, was an American baseball club from 1855 to 1872. When the pioneering Union Grounds opened for baseball in 1862, the Eckfords must have been the most important tenant, for they played more games than any other club that year and won the "national"...
B.B.C.
Philadelphia
- Athletic B.B.C.
Cleveland
- Forest CityCleveland Forest CitysThe Forest Citys were a short lived professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio in the early 1870s. The actual name of the team, as shown in standings, was Forest City, not "Cleveland". The name "Forest Citys" was used in the same generic style of the day in which the team from Chicago,...
B.B.C.
Although many of the players on these clubs were de facto professionals, the first openly professional team was the Cincinnati Red Stockings
Cincinnati Red Stockings
The Cincinnati Red Stockings of were baseball's first fully professional team, with ten salaried players. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club formed in 1866 and fielded competitive teams in the National Association of Base Ball Players 1867–1870, a time of a transition that ambitious Cincinnati,...
, an amateur team that turned professional and began a successful barnstorming tour in 1869. The fame of this team spelled the end of the high-level "amateur" version of the game. It also inspired the use of team colors serving a dual role as the team nickname. Examples:
- Boston Red Stockings and Red Sox
- Chicago White Stockings and White Sox
- Cincinnati Red Stockings / Reds
- Mutual Green Stockings
- St. Louis Brown Stockings / Browns
- St. Louis Red Stockings
Suggesting an awareness of the significance of colors, in 1882 the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
passed a rule requiring specific colors for each team (Frank G. Menke
Frank G. Menke
Frank Grant Menke was an American newspaper reporter, author, and sports historian. He wrote for the Hearst Newspapers from 1912 to 1932 and his articles appeared daily in 300 newspapers across the country. He was billed by the Hearst syndicate as "America's Foremost Sport Writer"...
, The Encyclopedia of Sports, A.S. Barnes & Company
Alfred Smith Barnes
__notoc__Alfred Smith Barnes was an American publisher and philanthropist. He was known as "the General".-Life and career:...
, 1955, p.30):
- Boston: Red
- Buffalo: Gray
- Chicago: White
- Cleveland: Navy blue
- Detroit: Old Gold
- Providence: Light Blue
- Troy: Green
- Worcester: Brown
As the news media (primarily newspapers) began covering games extensively and assigning specialists to write about them, the inventive scribes might use the established names, or they might invent some new ones. Initially, they often referred to a club in the plural form, either by its city name or by its club name. Examples:
- Athletics
- Bostons
- Chicagos
- Mutuals
As the writers became more inventive, they began to refer to teams by some characteristic that made the team or the city unique. Examples:
- Beaneaters (Boston)
- Colts (Chicago)
- Giants (New York)
- Spiders (Cleveland)
- Trolley Dodgers (Brooklyn)
When two or more major leagues existed simultaneously in one city, the writers often appended the league name, which had the chance of evolving into a team nickname. (The Encyclopedia of Sports, p.32) Examples:
- Boston Nationals (later "Braves"), Boston Americans (later "Red Sox")
- New York Nationals (better known as "Giants"), New York Americans (evolved into "Yankees")
In some cases, such as the Cleveland Indians, the team actually solicited help from the media in inventing a new nickname.
Some of those nicknames changed over time or died with the team, while some are still in use today. Nearly all of the nicknames of the "classic 16" MLB teams were originally unofficial. But once an unofficial nickname became popular enough, it might be adopted by the team and become official. Some teams stuck with a nickname for many years and then changed it to something else. Other teams have never changed their nicknames. Some teams have had two popular nicknames simultaneously for many years. Examples:
- Brooklyn Dodgers/Robins
- Washington Senators/Nationals
In the modern era of sports franchise expansion, nicknames are no longer assigned in a haphazard way by the news media, but rather are chosen by the teams for marketing purposes. The names are chosen in order to establish a strong team identity, and to have an attractive logo to encourage sales of merchandise to fans, such as caps and shirts.
Atlanta, Georgia
For years the minor league team in Atlanta was called the CrackersAtlanta Crackers
The Atlanta Crackers were minor league baseball teams based in Atlanta, Georgia, between 1901 and 1965. The Crackers were Atlanta's home team until the Atlanta Braves moved from Milwaukee in 1966....
.
Atlanta BravesAtlanta BravesThe Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
The Atlanta Braves moved from Milwaukee in 1966, and from Boston in 1953. The Braves nickname originated in Boston (see Boston).Baltimore OriolesBaltimore OriolesThe Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
The team's nickname is taken from the Baltimore OrioleBaltimore Oriole
The Baltimore Oriole is a small icterid blackbird that averages 18 cm long and weighs 34 g. This bird received its name from the fact that the male's colors resemble those on the coat-of-arms of Lord Baltimore...
(Icterus galbula), a small blackbird of the passerine
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
family. The bird received its name in about 1808 from the fact that the male's colors resembled those on the coat of arms of George Calvert
George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore
Sir George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, 8th Proprietary Governor of Newfoundland was an English politician and colonizer. He achieved domestic political success as a Member of Parliament and later Secretary of State under King James I...
, Lord Baltimore, who was part of the Calvert family that established the Maryland colony in the 17th century. The Baltimore Oriole is also the state bird of Maryland.
Most of the professional baseball teams in Baltimore have been dubbed the "Orioles", with a few exceptions.
The earliest Baltimore teams, in the early 1870s, were called "Lord Baltimore" and "Maryland" respectively. These clubs were short-lived. The "Lord Baltimore" team chose the unusual team color of yellow, and was often called the Canaries
Baltimore Canaries
The Baltimore Canaries were a professional baseball club in the National Association from 1872 to 1874.-History:The team was usually listed as Lord Baltimore in the box scores of the day, and were also referred to as the Yellow Stockings...
or the Yellow Stockings. The Maryland
Baltimore Marylands
The Baltimore Marylands were a short-lived professional baseball team that existed in the National Association season. Their existence consisted of a six games from April 14 to July 11, and finished with a win–loss record of 0-6...
club was simply called the "Marylands", in the pluralized style of the day.
The first club to be called the Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles (19th century)
The Baltimore Orioles were a 19th-century American Association and National League team from 1882 to 1899. The club, which featured numerous future Hall of Famers, finished in first place three consecutive years and won the Temple Cup championship in 1896 and 1897...
was a charter member of the American Association
American Association (19th century)
The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
in 1882. When the AA folded after the 1891 season, four of its teams were brought into the expanded National League, including the Orioles. These Orioles became a dominant team in the league during the 1890s, in part because of their innovations and their tough, relentless play. The term "Old Oriole" is sometimes used to describe a player whose aggressive style fits the legacy of those 1890s teams. The team's fortunes took a downturn in 1899 when many of its stars were transferred to the Brooklyn Dodgers, and Baltimore was one of four teams contracted out of existence in 1900.
The newly-formed American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
was quick to place a new team in Baltimore in 1901. Their "Orioles" nickname was acknowledged in an unusual way that year, with an orange letter "O" on their uniform shirts, probably the only major league team ever to sport a symbol that looked like a "zero". The 1902 shirts substituted a more conventional "B". In 1903 the club was transferred to New York City and is now known as the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
.
A top-level minor league version of the Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles (minor league)
The city of Baltimore, Maryland has been home to two minor league baseball teams called the Baltimore Orioles.-Name history:"Orioles" is a traditional name for baseball clubs in Baltimore . It was used by major league teams from 1882 through 1899 in the American Association/National League and by...
replaced the departed major league club, and it would be a force in the minors for 50 years, winning a number of International League
International League
The International League is a minor league baseball league that operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It was so named because it had teams in both the United States...
championships and also providing local boy Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
to the major leagues.
Another Baltimore team was the Federal League
Federal League
The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that operated as a "third major league", in competition with the established National and American Leagues, from to...
entry of 1914-1915, which called itself the Baltimore Terrapins, after the diamondback terrapin
Diamondback terrapin
The diamondback terrapin or simply terrapin, is a species of turtle native to the brackish coastal swamps of the eastern and southern United States. It belongs to the monotypic genus, Malaclemys...
, the state reptile of Maryland now primarily associated with the University of Maryland, College Park
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
sports teams
Maryland Terrapins
The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 27 men's and women's athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I competition...
. The Federal League Terrapins opened Terrapin Park
Oriole Park
Oriole Park is the name of several former major league and minor league baseball parks in Baltimore, Maryland.It is also half the name of the current home of the Baltimore Orioles of the American League, its full name being Oriole Park at Camden Yards....
across the street from the minor league club's own ballpark, which was acquired by the Orioles after the Fed folded. That began a chain of events which led to Baltimore's return to major league status, a story covered in more detail in the article on Memorial Stadium
Memorial Stadium (Baltimore)
Memorial Stadium was a sports stadium in Baltimore, Maryland, that formerly stood on 33rd Street on an over-sized block also bounded by Ellerslie Avenue , 36th Street , and Ednor Road...
.
In 1954, the St. Louis Browns
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
moved to Baltimore, and the team adopted the city's old traditional baseball nickname.
Many fans, and the team itself, also refer to the team as the "O's" or the "Birds".
Boston / Milwaukee / Atlanta BravesAtlanta BravesThe Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
Four players from the Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869-1870 regrouped in Boston in 1871 (Robert Smith, Baseball in America, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1961, p.36), which they would call home for the next 83 seasons. In the newly formed National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, the Boston Red Stockings would continue to dominate as they had in Cincinnati, winning 4 of the league's 5 pennants and joining the new National League in 1876.Some sources (such as BBG) say they were renamed the "Red Caps", presumably in deference to the revived Red Stockings entry in Cincinnati. In any case, by the 1880s they were called the Beaneaters more often than anything, a term used for Bostonians in general due to the prevalence of the staple dish baked beans
Baked beans
Baked beans is a dish containing beans, sometimes baked but, despite the name, usually stewed, in a sauce. Most commercial canned baked beans are made from haricot beans, also known as navy beans – a variety of Phaseolus vulgaris – in a sauce. In Ireland and the United Kingdom, a tomato...
. Boston itself is often called "Beantown". The media-invented nickname "Beaneaters" was still in use in the early 1900s, and was even applied to the newly formed American League entry from time to time. The National Leaguers continued to include red trim in their uniforms until 1907, when they temporarily switched to an all-white uniform. The press promptly labeled them the Doves, reinforced by their owner being named Dovey.
In 1908, the Americans adopted those colors and became the Red Sox. The Nationals reverted to their red trim and slowly looked for a nickname of their own. They found one when James Gaffney bought the club.
- "The nickname of Braves was first given the club at the suggestion of John Montgomery WardJohn Montgomery WardJohn Montgomery Ward , known as Monte Ward, was an American Major League Baseball pitcher, shortstop and manager. Ward was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Renovo, Pennsylvania...
, when James E. Gaffney, from Tammany HallTammany HallTammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
, became club president in 1912. Previously, the club had been known as the Doves, a name bestowed on the team when George B. and John E. C. Dovey became its owners; and also the Red Caps and Beaneaters." (BBG)
The Tammany Hall political organization was named after an American Indian chief and used an Indian image as its symbol, hence the "Braves". Over the years that name has stuck, despite occasional controversy about its stereotyping of Native Americans, and has followed the team through two moves — to Milwaukee in 1953, and to Atlanta in 1966.
While still in Boston, the Braves fell into severe doldrums in the 1930s, and were looking for ways to reinvent themselves.
- "In 1936, when James A. Robert Quinn became president, the name of Bees was selected by a vote of scribes and fans. However, after a new syndicate, including Quinn, took charge in April, 1941, the stockholders re-adopted the nickname of Braves." (BBG)
The name "Bees" did nothing to improve the team's fortunes, and was abandoned by the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In 1935 the uniform shirts had read "BRAVES" and in 1936 they merely said "BOSTON" on the home as well as the road version. They switched to a block "B" on home shirts the next year, which remained the pattern most years until the block-letter "BRAVES" reappeared in 1945. At no point did they wear anything on their uniforms which suggested an actual bee other than the homonym of the letter "B". In 1946, the script version of "Braves", complete with tomahawk
Tomahawk (axe)
A tomahawk is a type of axe native to North America, traditionally resembling a hatchet with a straight shaft. The name came into the English language in the 17th century as a transliteration of the Powhatan word.Tomahawks were general purpose tools used by Native Americans and European Colonials...
, made its first appearance and has been on most of the uniform shirts since then. (Okkonen)
The Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
of the NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
began in 1932 as the Boston Braves. They renamed themselves the Redskins the next year, having moved from Braves Field
Braves Field
Braves Field was a baseball park that formerly stood on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts. The stadium was home to the Boston Braves National League franchise from 1915–1952, when the team moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin...
to the Red Sox' Fenway Park, serving the dual purpose of sounding similar to their new baseball co-tenants while allowing them to keep the Native American-logoed uniforms they had worn as the Braves, and in 1937 they moved to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, bringing the nickname with them.
Boston Red SoxBoston Red SoxThe Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
For years many sources have called the early Boston AL teams "Pilgrims" or "Puritans" or "Plymouth Rocks" or "Somersets" for owner Charles SomersCharles Somers
Charles Somers aka Charles W. Somers, was an American executive in Cleveland, Ohio's coal industry who also achieved prominence in Major League Baseball...
or even the "Speed Boys". (BBG) Research by SABR
Society for American Baseball Research
The Society for American Baseball Research was established in Cooperstown, New York, in August 1971 by Bob Davids of Washington, D.C. The Society's mission is to foster the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball, while generating interest in the game...
writer Bill Nowlin demonstrated that none of those names was used very often and that "Pilgrims", the most popular revisionist nickname today, was barely used at all.
In 1901, the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
led by Ban Johnson
Ban Johnson
Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson , was an American executive in professional baseball who served as the founder and first president of the American League ....
declared itself equal to the National League and established a competing club in Boston. For seven seasons, the AL team wore dark blue stockings and had no official nickname. They were simply "Boston" or "the Bostons"; or the "Americans" or "Boston Americans" as in "American Leaguers", Boston being a two-team city. Their 1901-1907 shirts, both home and road, simply read "Boston", except for 1902 when they sported large letters "B" and "A" denoting "Boston" and "American" (Okkonen).
The temporary decision by the Boston National Leaguers to drop the color red from their uniforms led to a history-making decision:
- "Red Stockings had been part of all Boston National League teams up to 1907, but Fred TenneyFred TenneyFrederick Tenney was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Beaneaters/Doves/Rustlers and New York Giants .-See also:...
, manager in that year, told Peter F. Kelley, the Boston Journal's baseball writer, he would abandon the red stockings tradition in favor of white stockings, because of the danger that colored stockings might cause leg injuries to become infected. Kelley wrote a story condemning Tenney for parting with the Boston National League club's tradition. The next day, John Irving Taylor, Boston American League club president, told the Boston Journal writer, 'Here's a scoop for you. I am going to grab the name Red Sox, and the Boston American League club will wear red stockings." (BBG)
The problem with part of that story is that the "Doves" went through the entire 1907 season wearing white (except for a red old-English "B" on their shirts) while the American Leaguers continued to wear their dark blue during the 1907 season. (Okkonen)
On December 18, 1907, owner Taylor announced that the club had officially adopted red as its new team color. The name Red Sox is non-standard English for "Red Socks", short for "Red Stockings". For the 1908 season, the AL team shirts featured a red stocking across the front labeled "BOSTON". They also wore red stockings, along with white caps. Meanwhile, for 1908, the NL team returned to wearing red stockings as well as red caps, while retaining the old-English "B". So the primary visual difference between the two team's uniforms in 1908 were the caps and the shirt fronts. (Okkonen)
The red stocking on the shirt front was a one-year innovation before returning to the plain "BOSTON". The familiar "RED SOX" first appeared in 1912, coincident with the opening of Fenway Park
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a baseball park near Kenmore Square in Boston, Massachusetts. Located at 4 Yawkey Way, it has served as the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox baseball club since it opened in 1912, and is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium currently in use. It is one of two "classic"...
. Through the years, the Red Sox have continued to wear red somewhere in their uniforms. By the 1930s, the color blue was added back to the mix. (Okkonen)
Headline writers often call the team "Bosox", to contrast with the Chicago White Sox or "Chisox". As with Chicago, when the team's fans are talking about their own team, they are apt to call them simply "The Sox".
Chicago, IllinoisChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
Chicago is unique in Major League Baseball in that both of its charter member clubs have remained in their original cities. Various other clubs had brief lifespans in the Windy City also.The entry in the one-year wonder called the Union Association
Union Association
The Union Association was a league in Major League Baseball which lasted for only one season in 1884. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season...
was called the Chicago Browns
Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies
The Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies were a short-lived professional baseball team in the Union Association of 1884. They were to battle the Chicago White Stockings, of the National League, for the Chicago baseball market, however the Browns lost that battle to the White Stockings...
by some writers. The club lasted half a season and then transferred to Pittsburgh where, continuing their color scheme, they were called the Stogies
Cheroot
The cheroot or stogie is a cylindrical cigar with both ends clipped during manufacture. Since cheroots do not taper, they are inexpensive to roll mechanically, and their low cost makes them particularly popular. Typically, stogies have a length of 3.5 to 6.5 inches, and a ring gauge of 34 to...
.
The Players' League
Players League
The Players' National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, popularly known as the Players' League , was a short-lived but star-studded professional American baseball league of the 19th century...
was a one-year rebellion by players. The entry in the Windy City, called the Chicago Pirates
Chicago Pirates
The Chicago Pirates were a baseball team in the Players' League for a single season in 1890. The team played their home games at South Side Park . Their powerful National League rivals were the Chicago White Stockings. The Pirates recruited most of the White Stocking's players, and for this reason...
, were led by Charles Comiskey
Charles Comiskey
Charles Albert "The Old Roman" Comiskey was a Major League Baseball player, manager and team owner. He was a key person in the formation of the American League and later owned the Chicago White Sox...
, who would return to the South Side nine years later, as an owner, and with a decidedly more conservative attitude toward player salaries.
When the Federal League
Federal League
The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that operated as a "third major league", in competition with the established National and American Leagues, from to...
began its two-year experiment, it placed a team in Chicago. Although the Fed was known for colorful nicknames, the best anyone could come up with for the Chicago Federals' first year, 1914, was the Chi-Feds. For the second and final Fed season, which proved to be a pennant winner for the Chi-Feds, the name Chicago Whales was used, despite the lack of any known whales in Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
. The uniforms featured a whale icon inside a large round "C", suggestive of the Cubs' logo of that time, a large round "C" encircling a bear cub. (Okkonen)
Chicago CubsChicago CubsThe Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
In 1870, the first openly professional team in Chicago was called the Chicago White Stockings, in reference to the team colors and in contrast to the Cincinnati Red Stockings. The team carried that nickname along to the NA in 1871 and into the NL in 1876.After the team's successes in the first half of the 1880s, the club began trading away its stars, and by the end of the decade the team was populated by young players, with the exception of long-time player–manager Cap Anson
Cap Anson
Adrian Constantine Anson , nicknamed "Cap" and "Pop", was a National Association and Major League Baseball first baseman...
. By the late 1880s, local newspapers had started to call the team "Anson's Colts", or just "Colts". With the advent of the Players' League in 1890, what little talent the club still had was drained away, and the nickname, though never "official", became standard. (The Golden Era Cubs: 1876-1940, Eddie Gold and Art Ahrens, Bonus Books, 1985, p.2) and http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=l&bid=1257&pid=305
- "Charley Hoyt wrote a play for Cap AnsonCap AnsonAdrian Constantine Anson , nicknamed "Cap" and "Pop", was a National Association and Major League Baseball first baseman...
, manager of the team, called 'The Runaway Colt', and subsequently the team was called Anson's Colts."(BBG) Actually, it was the other way around. The play was written and produced late in 1895, and its name was inspired by the club's nickname. (The National Pastime, Number 25, SABR, 2005, "Anson on Broadway", p.74-81.
In any case, 1890 is the usual date given for the replacement of "White Stockings" with "Colts" as the club's predominant nickname.
The Colts name would stick around, off and on, for the next 15 years. It was reinforced by a squad of many young players, contrasting with the veteran Anson, who had become known as "Pop" by the 1890s. Anson left the team after the 1897 season, and the local papers called the team the Orphans for a while, because they had lost their "Pop". They apparently still had some "pop" in their bats, finishing fourth in a twelve-team league.
- "A Chicago newspaper held a contest to select a new name. The term Cubs was chosen, but as other newspapers ignored the name at first, it was some time before the new nickname came into general use. Fred Hayner, sports editor of the Chicago Daily News, was among the first to use the name of Cubs." (BBG)
The 2007 Arcadia book called Chicago Cubs: Tinker to Evers to Chance, by Art Ahrens, contains a series of facts in various places on pages 9–56 that add up to an explanation of the gradual transition from "Colts" to "Cubs":
- The newspapers predominantly called the club the "Orphans" during 1898–1900.
- The few promising players on the club jumped to the new American League in 1901, including several to the White Sox. The erstwhile "Orphans" had so few good players left that the papers called them the "Remnants", as the 53–86 team's percentage would stand as the club's record low for the next 60 years.
- When Frank SeleeFrank SeleeFrank Gibson Selee was an American Major League Baseball manager in the National League . In his 16 year Major League career, he managed the Boston Beaneaters for 12 seasons, and the Chicago Orphans for four.He was noted for his ability to assess and utilize talent, which gave his teams a great...
took over the managerial reinReinReins are items of horse tack, used to direct a horse or other animal used for riding or driving. Reins can be made of leather, nylon, metal, or other materials, and attach to a bridle via either its bit or its noseband.-Use for riding:...
s in 1902, his youth program revived the older nickname, and the team was again called the "Colts" in the papers frequently. - At that same time, also referencing the team's youthful squad, some writers starting calling the team the "Cubs".
- The "Cubs" nickname took hold over the next four seasons. Sporting Life leaned toward "Cubs", while The Sporting News favored "Colts", as did the Chicago TribuneChicago TribuneThe Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
. During 1905, "Colts" was still more common, as Selee preferred that name. But Selee retired due to ill health in mid-season 1905, and Frank ChanceFrank ChanceFrank Leroy Chance was a Major League Baseball player at the turn of the 20th century. Performing the roles of first baseman and manager, Chance led the Chicago Cubs to four National League championships in the span of five years and earned the nickname "The Peerless Leader".Chance was elected to...
was elevated to the managing job. With new management and an emerging dynasty, by 1906 the old "Colts" was largely passé and "Cubs" was the primary nickname. - Among various short-lived and little-remembered nicknames laid on the team by the media around 1906, perhaps the funniest was "Murphy's Spuds" or just "Spuds", a reference to Irish-American team owner Charles Murphy, and the stereotype connecting Irish people with potatoes (Irish potatoes were colloquially called "Murphy spuds" or just "Murphys").
By the time the Chicago National Leaguers played their cross-town World Series
1906 World Series
- Game 1 :Tuesday, October 9, 1906 at West Side Grounds in Chicago, IllinoisCubs hurler Mordecai Brown was sent to continue the dominance against Nick Altrock. Both pitchers pitched a perfect game through three innings. The Cubs had a runner at second, but couldn't score in the fourth...
with the White Sox in 1906, the "Chicago Cubs" nickname was well established. An editorial cartoon after the Series showed a cabin with an unknown figure inside, with only his white socks visible, up on a footrest, with the skin of a bear nailed to the wall outside, and six more white socks hanging on a clothesline (the Sox had beaten the Cubs in six games). (John Devaney and Burt Goldblatt, The World Series: A Complete Pictorial History, Rand McNally, 1975, p.27)
By 1907, the name "Cubs" was appearing on the team's scorecards. (Ahrens) The first uniform acknowledgment of the nickname came in 1908, when a bear cub holding a bat was placed inside the round "C" that was already on the uniform shirt. The familiar "C" encircling "UBS" first appeared the following year, on the road shirts. With this official acknowledgment, the old nickname of "Colts" was gone for good. Either a bear cub symbol or the word "CUBS" has appeared on home and/or road shirts ever since then. (Okkonen)
Despite the best efforts of the MLB Promotion Corporation, which began in the late 1960s, the Cubs did not trademark this iconic circle-C-UBS logo (which has been a steady fixture on uniforms and publications since 1937) until the late 1970s.
The nickname "Cubbies", a diminutive of something already small or young, gained favor in large part due to Harry Caray
Harry Caray
Harry Caray, born Harry Christopher Carabina, was an American baseball broadcaster on radio and television. He covered four Major League Baseball teams, beginning with a long tenure calling the games of the St...
's famous rendering of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is a 1908 Tin Pan Alley song by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer which has become the unofficial anthem of baseball, although neither of its authors had attended a game prior to writing the song. The song is traditionally sung during the seventh-inning stretch of...
". Instead of drawing out the single-syllable "Cubs" into two syllables in place of "home team", Caray used "Cubbies" to make the line flow better.
The Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
played their games at the Cubs' Wrigley Field from 1921–1970, and were renamed (from "Staleys") in honor of their hosts.
Chicago White SoxChicago White SoxThe Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
"Anson's National Leaguers had been known as the White Stockings, and when Charles ComiskeyCharles Comiskey
Charles Albert "The Old Roman" Comiskey was a Major League Baseball player, manager and team owner. He was a key person in the formation of the American League and later owned the Chicago White Sox...
brought his St. Paul Saints
St. Paul Saints
The St. Paul Saints are a professional baseball team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in the United States. The Saints are a member of the North Division of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball...
team into the city of his birth in 1900, Carl Green of Detroit and Irving E. (Si) Sanborn, covering baseball in the Windy City, revived the name White Stockings." (BBG)
The new American League entry adopted the abandoned colors and nickname of their National League rivals. They were initially called the "White Stockings", a nickname quickly shortened to White Sox by the press. In 1912, the team started wearing the first incarnation of its "SOX" logo on the shirts. (Okkonen)
The team is often called the "Chisox" by headline writers, to distinguish from "Bosox". The synonym "Pale Hose" is also used. Within the city, as with Boston, the team is often just plain "Sox".
Cincinnati Red StockingsCincinnati Red StockingsThe Cincinnati Red Stockings of were baseball's first fully professional team, with ten salaried players. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club formed in 1866 and fielded competitive teams in the National Association of Base Ball Players 1867–1870, a time of a transition that ambitious Cincinnati,...
The first openly all-professional team was the famous Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869-1870. They began as an amateur organization in the National Association of Base Ball PlayersNational Association of Base Ball Players
The National Association of Base Ball Players was the first organization governing American baseball. The first, 1857 convention of sixteen New York City clubs...
in 1866, as interest in baseball grew substantially after the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Interest in the Red Stockings themselves grew as they compiled an impressive winning streak while mostly on a road tour or "barnstorming".
The Red Stockings went through 1869 and partway into 1870 undefeated, their streak finally ending on June 14, 1870. Interest in the team waned after that, and while the club gained much fame and acclaim, the team's profit margin was slim. The club's executives decided to disband the team for 1871. But the influence of this team was substantial. By 1870, professionalism was wide open, spelling the end of the "amateur era", and paving the way to the first professional league, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players
National Association of Professional Base Ball Players
The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players , or simply the National Association , was founded in 1871 and continued through the 1875 season...
, which began operating in 1871.
With the Cincinnati Red Stockings dissolved, four of its players regrouped in Boston to join the new National Association (often called the NA for short, by modern historians). Manager Harry Wright
Harry Wright
William Henry "Harry" Wright was an English-born American professional baseball player, manager, and developer. He assembled, managed, and played center field for baseball's first fully professional team, the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings...
and his brother George Wright (baseball's version of the "Wright brothers
Wright brothers
The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...
") brought along Cal McVey
Cal McVey
Calvin Alexander McVey was a professional baseball player during the 1860s and 1870s. McVey's importance to the game stems from his play on two of the earliest professional baseball teams, the original Cincinnati Red Stockings and the National Association Boston Red Stockings...
and Charlie Gould
Charlie Gould
Charles Harvey Gould , nicknamed "The Bushel Basket", was an American Major League Baseball player during the 1860s and 1870s. He was the first baseman for the original Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869 and 1870, the first team consisting entirely of professional players...
to form the Boston Red Stockings, which eventually evolved into the Atlanta Braves (q.v.)
Cincinnati RedsCincinnati RedsThe Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
Due to the influence of the Red Stockings, nearly every professional team in Cincinnati since then has worn red as their primary trim color. The Cincinnati teams have also tended to associate themselves with the 1869-70 club, but there is no direct connection other than the name.When the NA folded, the best teams, and some new ones, regrouped to form the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
in 1876. One of the new teams was called the Cincinnati Red Stockings, reclaiming their old name. The team was expelled from the National League in 1880 for selling beer at games and playing games on Sundays.
In 1882 a new league formed to challenge the established NL: The American Association
American Association (19th century)
The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
. The AA appealed to a different, rowdier market than the stoic NL, by offering cheaper admission prices as well as alcoholic beverages, which at that time were forbidden in the NL ballparks. Ironically, this "AA" became known as "The Beer and Whisky League", and was criticized by the NL leadership for placing so many of its teams in "river towns", characterizing the AA cities as being populated by low-class citizens: Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville and St. Louis.
The new version of the Cincinnati Red Stockings (later shortened to Cincinnati Reds) became prosperous. The team won the first American Association pennant, and survived the first eight of the Association's ten-year existence. In 1890, the Reds were readmitted to the National League, and continue to play in Cincinnati to this day.
The team first used the single "C" on its uniforms in 1905. The word "Reds" was placed inside the "C" for the first time in 1911. Variants on that style have been used in most years since then. (Okkonen)
Having shortened their name brought them some trouble in the 1950s, or more accurately the fear of trouble. The term "Reds" in the political arena had long been a synonym for "Communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
". During the McCarthy era
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
, even though there was no connection between professional baseball and Communism, the team was concerned that their traditional club nickname would associate them with the Communist Threat and the Cold War, so they officially changed their name to the "Cincinnati Redlegs". From 1956 to 1960, the club's logo was altered to remove the term "REDS" from the inside of the "wishbone C" symbol. The "REDS" reappeared on the 1961 uniforms, although habits being what they were, by then they were often called "Redlegs", and that name took a few years to totally fade out. (Okkonen)
An NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
entry that played briefly in the early 1930s was called the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds (NFL)
The Cincinnati Reds were a National Football League team that played the 1933 season and the first eight games of the 1934 season. The football Reds played most of their home games at Crosley Field...
.
The nickname "Red Stockings" and its descendants reflect one of the oldest nicknames in baseball, topped only by the Athletics, originally of Philadelphia, and now in Oakland.
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is known as "The Forest City", and its early-1870s pro team was called the Forest City Base Ball ClubCleveland Forest Citys
The Forest Citys were a short lived professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio in the early 1870s. The actual name of the team, as shown in standings, was Forest City, not "Cleveland". The name "Forest Citys" was used in the same generic style of the day in which the team from Chicago,...
or just the "Forest Citys", in the style of the day.
The National League entry of the 1890s was dubbed the Cleveland Spiders
Cleveland Spiders
The Cleveland Spiders were a Major League Baseball team which played between 1887 and 1899 in Cleveland, Ohio. The team played at National League Park from 1889 to 1890 and at League Park from 1891 to 1899.- 1887-1891 :...
by the press, supposedly because of its long-limbed players. One player during 1897-1899 was Louis Sockalexis
Louis Sockalexis
Louis Francis "Chief" Sockalexis , nicknamed The Deerfoot of the Diamond, was an American baseball player...
, a Native American.
Cleveland IndiansCleveland IndiansThe Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
After the 1899 debacle of 20 wins and 134 losses, in which the once-proud Spiders were redubbed the "Wanderers" and the "Exiles" due to being relegated to a road franchise, the NL contracted the Cleveland club out of existence. A new team formed the very next year in the young American League. The uniforms featured dark blue, and the team was labeled the "Blues" by the media, among other short-lived nicknames.Once the club began to be led by player and sometimes-manager Nap Lajoie, the team quickly became known as the Cleveland Naps. During the tenure of manager Deacon McGuire
Deacon McGuire
James Thomas "Deacon" McGuire was a catcher, manager and coach in Major League Baseball who spent over a quarter of a century playing professional baseball in a much-traveled career which saw him set several records for durability...
, the team was also sometimes facetiously called the "Molly Maguires
Molly Maguires
The Molly Maguires were members of an Irish-American secret society, whose members consisted mainly of coal miners. Many historians believe the "Mollies" were present in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania in the United States from approximately the time of the American Civil War until a...
". (BBG)
The team was strong in the early 1900s, but lapsed in the 1910s and "Naps" began to be taken as a joke equated to "sleeping". When Lajoie was traded to the Philadelphia Athletics
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
at the end of the 1914 season, owner Charles Somers
Charles Somers
Charles Somers aka Charles W. Somers, was an American executive in Cleveland, Ohio's coal industry who also achieved prominence in Major League Baseball...
asked the local newspapers to come up with a new name for the team. The fact that he would go to the papers is a reflection of where most of the team nicknames of that era came from.
Legend has it that the team honored Louis Sockalexis when it assumed its current name in 1915. On the contrary, the media and the team chose Cleveland Indians as a play on the name of the Boston Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
, then known as the "Miracle Braves" after going from last place on July 4 to a sweep in the 1914 World Series
1914 World Series
In the 1914 World Series, the Boston Braves beat the Philadelphia Athletics in a four-game sweep.A contender for greatest upset of all time, the "Miracle Braves" were in last place on July 4, then roared on to win the National League pennant by games and sweep the stunned Athletics...
. Proponents of the name also acknowledged that the late-1890s club had sometimes been informally called the "Indians" during Sockalexis' short career there, a fact which merely reinforced the new name.
With the artificial connection to Native Americans, the Cleveland Indians are also often called "The Tribe".
In the movie Major League
Major League (film)
Major League is a 1989 American satire comedy film written and directed by David S. Ward, starring Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes, James Gammon, and Corbin Bernsen. Made for US$11 million, Major League grossed nearly US$50 million in domestic release...
, the Cleveland Indians are referred to as, "The Sons of Geronimo."
Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, TexasDallas–Fort Worth metroplexThe Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area, a title designated by the U.S. Census as of 2003, encompasses 12 counties within the U.S. state of Texas. The area is divided into two metropolitan divisions: Dallas–Plano–Irving and Fort Worth–Arlington. Residents of the area...
There have been minor league clubs in the Dallas - Fort Worth area since at least 1888. One was the Dallas RangersDallas Rangers
The Dallas Rangers were a high-level minor league baseball team located in Dallas, Texas, from 1958-64. The team was known by the Dallas Rangers name in 1958-59 and 1964 and as the Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers from 1960-63...
of the Pacific Coast League
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
, and the other was the Fort Worth Cats
Fort Worth Cats
The Fort Worth Cats are a professional baseball team based in Fort Worth, Texas, in the United States. The Cats are a member of the South Division of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. Since the 2002 season the Cats...
/Panthers of the Texas League
Texas League
The Texas League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the South Central United States. It is classified a Double-A league. The league was founded in 1888 and ran through 1892...
. In 1965, the Dallas club left the city, and the Fort Worth club moved to Arlington, a city about halfway in between the two major cities. The renamed Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs
Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs
The Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs were an American minor league baseball team in the Texas League from 1965 to 1971. The team played in Turnpike Stadium in Arlington, Texas....
operated for seven year in Arlington before the majors came knocking.
Texas RangersTexas Rangers (baseball)The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...
The 1961 expansion version of the Washington Senators moved to Arlington, Texas, in 1972 and took on the nickname Texas Rangers. The name refers to the famous Texas Ranger DivisionTexas Ranger Division
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
, the law enforcement agency that was created by Stephen F. Austin
Stephen F. Austin
Stephen Fuller Austin was born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. He was known as the Father of Texas, led the second, but first legal and ultimately successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States. The capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County,...
in 1823. Up until the end of the 2008 season, the team bore the word "RANGERS" on their home jerseys and "TEXAS" on their road jerseys. Since then, the team has worn "TEXAS" at home and on the road.
Colorado RockiesColorado RockiesThe Colorado Rockies are a Major League Baseball team based in Denver, Colorado. Established in 1991, they started play in 1993 and are in the West Division of the National League. The team is named after the Rocky Mountains...
The Colorado Rockies became a new franchise into Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
in 1993. The nickname "Rockies" alludes to the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
which cover much of the western half of Colorado. The name Colorado Rockies had been used by a National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
team
Colorado Rockies (NHL)
The Colorado Rockies were an American professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League that played in Denver, Colorado, from 1976 to 1982. They were a relocation of the Kansas City Scouts, a 1974 expansion team. The franchise moved to East Rutherford, New Jersey, in 1982 and was...
that lasted from 1976-1982, before the team relocated and became the New Jersey Devils
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey, United States. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
.
Detroit, Michigan
The first major league team in the city was the Detroit WolverinesDetroit Wolverines
The Detroit Wolverines were a 19th century baseball team that played in the National League from 1881 to 1888 in the city of Detroit, Michigan. In total, they won 426 games and lost 437, taking their lone pennant in 1887. The team was disbanded following the 1888 season.-Franchise...
, who contended in the National League during 1881-1888. The nickname, which is now primarily associated with the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
teams, came from Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
's nickname, "The Wolverine State".
The Wolverines' ownership, in a precursor to the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
, spent a great deal of money to bring a championship team to Detroit. As such, the team won an early World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
in 1887. However, Detroit was not yet the Motor City, and did not have a large enough population to sustain a major league franchise, so the team folded after one more season.
Several minor league clubs came and went over the next few years, most of them called the "Wolverines".
Detroit TigersDetroit TigersThe Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
The new minor league entry in the Western League was also called the Wolverines. This club came to stay. The league was renamed the American League in 1900, and the Detroit franchise is still in the league, the one Western League franchise still in its original city, nurtured as it was by the growth of the auto industry in the 20th Century.There are various legends about how the Tigers got their nickname
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
. One involves the orange stripes they wore on their black stockings:
- "Philip J. Reid, a Detroit city editor, tagged the players as Tigers before the turn of the century. George StallingsGeorge StallingsGeorge Tweedy Stallings was an American manager and player in Major League Baseball. His most famous achievement – leading the Boston Braves from last place in mid-July to the National League championship and a World Series sweep of the powerful Philadelphia Athletics – resulted in a nickname he...
, manager at Detroit during 1899-1901, always claimed the nickname came after he put striped stockings on his players, but they have always been Tigers in the American League." (BBG)
Another legend concerns a sportswriter equating the 1901 team's opening day victory with the ferocity of his alma mater, the Princeton Tigers
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
.
The earliest known use of the name Detroit Tigers in the news was in the Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
on April 16, 1895.
Richard Bak's 1998 book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
, A Place for Summer: A Narrative History of Tiger Stadium has the full story. In the 19th century, the city of Detroit had a military unit called the Detroit Light Guard, who were known as "The Tigers". They had played significant roles in certain Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
battles and in the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
. The baseball team was called both the "Wolverines" and the "Tigers" in the newspapers. Upon entry into the major leagues in 1901, the ballclub sought and received formal permission from the Light Guard to use its trademark, and from that day forth the team has been officially the "Tigers".
In short, the Tigers most likely wore stripes because they were already Tigers, rather than the other way around which was the conventional story. In fact, the Tigers wore a red stripe on their socks in 1901, and generally avoided stripes after that until beginning to wear orange stripes for a while in the 1920s. (Okkonen)
The Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...
of the NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
were named in reference to their then-landlords, the Tigers.
The Detroit Red Wings
Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...
of the NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
were originally called the "Cougars", but that referred to their point of origin as the Victoria Cougars
Victoria Cougars
The Victoria Cougars were a major league professional ice hockey team that played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association from 1922 to 1924, and in the Western Hockey League from 1924 to 1926...
. Their early name's apparent relationship to the Tigers and/or Lions was coincidental.
Houston, Texas
The minor league teams of first the Texas LeagueTexas League
The Texas League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the South Central United States. It is classified a Double-A league. The league was founded in 1888 and ran through 1892...
and then the American Association
American Association (20th century)
The American Association was a minor league baseball league at the Triple-A level of baseball in the United States from to and to . Together with the International League, it contested the Junior World Series which determined the championship team in minor league baseball, at least for the...
were primarily known as the Houston Buffaloes
Houston Buffaloes
The Houston Buffaloes or Buffs were an American minor league baseball team that was founded in 1888, played in the Texas League in the years 1888-90, 1892, 1895-99, and 1907-1958 ; in the South Texas League in the years 1903-06; and in the American Association from 1959-61...
, or often just "Buffs".
Houston AstrosHouston AstrosThe Houston Astros are a Major League Baseball team located in Houston, Texas. They are a member of the National League Central division. The Astros are expected to join the American League West division in 2013. Since , they have played their home games at Minute Maid Park, known as Enron Field...
Houston joined Major League Baseball in 1962 when the National League expanded and placed a franchise in Texas for the first time. The team's original nickname was the Houston Colt .45s, a reference to the famous ColtColt's Manufacturing Company
Colt's Manufacturing Company is a United States firearms manufacturer, whose first predecessor corporation was founded in 1836 by Sam Colt. Colt is best known for the engineering, production, and marketing of firearms over the later half of the 19th and the 20th century...
firearms company. The team itself used a Colt .45s logo, but was most often called just the "Colts", a somewhat ambiguous term as it also applies to young horses
Colt (horse)
A colt is a young male horse, under the age of four. The term "colt" is often confused with foal, which refers to a horse of either sex under one year of age....
and skirted the legal issues that eventually influenced the name's abandonment by the club.
In 1965 the team changed its nickname to Houston Astros, a name that had more futuristic overtones (astro is Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
for "star") as since 1961 Houston was the city where NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
trained (and continues to train) all the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
s. The team also used the nickname as part of its new home, the Astrodome
Reliant Astrodome
Reliant Astrodome, also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, is the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas, USA. The stadium is part of the Reliant Park complex...
, which opened in 1965.
This name change was driven in part by legal considerations. The Sporting News Official Baseball Guide for 1965 explained why the team was renamed: "Late in the year 1964 the Harris County Domed Stadium was officially named the Astrodome after the Houston club changed its nickname, December 1, from Colt .45s to Astros. The move resulted from objections by the Colt Firearms Company to the club's sales of novelties bearing the old nickname."
The nickname 'Stros is often used as a familiar name.
Kansas City, MissouriKansas City, MissouriKansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
Being at the fringe of the old west, and thus connected with cowboys and cattle, several of Kansas City's teams have had nicknames reflecting that culture.There were three different short-lived major league teams called the Kansas City Cowboys in the 1800s, the Kansas City Cowboys
Kansas City Cowboys (Union Association)
The Kansas City Cowboys were a team in the Union Association during its only season, . Referred to as the "Cowboys" mostly by historians, they had no official nickname during their short life and were most frequently referred to by local press of the day as the "Unions" and by the press of other...
of the Union Association
Union Association
The Union Association was a league in Major League Baseball which lasted for only one season in 1884. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season...
in 1884, the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
Cowboys
Kansas City Cowboys (National League)
The Kansas City Cowboys were a National League that played one season, . They played at Association Park and finished with a 30-91 record. They finished in seventh place, ahead of another new team, the Washington Nationals. They were not connected to the Union Association Cowboys.The Cowboys were...
in 1886, and the American Association
American Association (19th century)
The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
Cowboys
Kansas City Cowboys (American Association)
The Kansas City Cowboys were a professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri for two seasons from to in the American Association. They were the third, and last incarnation of this franchise name, following the Kansas City Cowboys of the Union Association in and the Kansas City...
in 1888 and 1889.
The minor league entry in the Western League (original) in the late 1890s was the first to use the name Kansas City Blues, presumably from their team colors. The Western League became the American League in 1900, still a minor league. When the American went major in 1901, the Kansas City entry was dropped.
A revived minor league club also called the Kansas City Blues
Kansas City Blues (American Association)
The Kansas City Blues are a former minor league baseball team located in Kansas City, Missouri, in the Midwestern United States. The team was one of the eight founding members of the American Association....
operated in the American Association
American Association (20th century)
The American Association was a minor league baseball league at the Triple-A level of baseball in the United States from to and to . Together with the International League, it contested the Junior World Series which determined the championship team in minor league baseball, at least for the...
during the first half of the 20th Century. The team became a New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
farm team in the 1930s. The team transferred to Denver in 1955 when the Philadelphia Athletics came to town as the Kansas City Athletics. Ironically, that "Yankees Kansas City farm club" situation continued, as the A's ownership fed numerous quality players to the Yankees until the 1960s when Charles O. Finley
Charles O. Finley
Charles Oscar Finley , nicknamed Charlie O or Charley O, was an American businessman who is best remembered for his tenure as the owner of the Oakland Athletics Major League Baseball team. Finley purchased the franchise while it was located in Kansas City, moving it to Oakland in 1968...
acquired the team. Finley soon incurred the wrath of Kansas City fans also, and transferred the team to Oakland in 1968.
Perhaps the most famous team in Kansas City was the Kansas City Monarchs
Kansas City Monarchs
The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro Leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri and owned by J.L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 1930. J.L. Wilkinson was the first Caucasian owner at the time...
, the longest-running of the various Negro League baseball
Negro league baseball
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in...
teams that operated as an apartheid culture until major league baseball was integrated in 1947 by one-time Monarch Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
. Continuing the dubious Kansas City tradition, the Monarchs effectively served as a "farm club" for all of the major leagues in their waning years, supplying a number of star black players to the majors before folding in the 1960s.
Kansas City RoyalsKansas City RoyalsThe Kansas City Royals are a Major League Baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From 1973 to the present, the Royals have played in Kauffman Stadium...
The American League expanded in 1969, and made good on a pledge to return the majors to Kansas City, by creating the Kansas City Royals. Pharmaceutical executive Ewing KauffmanEwing Kauffman
Ewing Marion Kauffman was an American pharmaceutical magnate, philanthropist, and Major League Baseball owner....
won the bidding for the new Kansas City team, which was named the Royals after the American Royal
American Royal
The American Royal in Kansas City, Missouri is a livestock show, horse show and rodeo held each year in October and November at Kemper Arena. The Future Farmers of America was founded during the Royal and Kansas City's professional baseball team the Kansas City Royals derive their name from the...
Livestock Show held in Kansas City every year since 1899. Some sources have incorrectly reported that the team was named in honor of the Kansas City Monarchs. Apparently it is just a happy coincidence. Also, in an unspoken and possibly coincidental continuation of tradition, the Royals' uniforms carry blue trim.
Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
area
The minor league teams had been known as the Los Angeles AngelsLos Angeles Angels (PCL)
The Los Angeles Angels were a team based in Los Angeles, California that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 through 1957, after which they transferred to Spokane, Washington to become the Spokane Indians. Los Angeles would later become the host city to a Major League Baseball team, the...
since the founding of the Pacific Coast League
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
in 1903, named after the city itself. That team name contained a built-in redundancy if fully translated into English: "The The Angels Angels".
Los Angeles DodgersLos Angeles DodgersThe Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
The minor league team and the nickname were displaced when the Brooklyn DodgersHistory of the Brooklyn Dodgers
-Early Brooklyn baseball:Brooklyn was home to numerous baseball clubs in the mid-1850s. Eight of 16 participants in the first convention were from Brooklyn, including the Atlantic, Eckford, and Excelsior clubs that combined to dominate play for most of the 1860s...
of the National League moved from coast-to-coast in 1958. The Los Angeles Dodgers carried their successful ways, and there were no trolleys to be dodged in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Angels of AnaheimLos Angeles Angels of AnaheimThe Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are a professional baseball team based in Anaheim, California, United States. The Angels are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The "Angels" name originates from the city in which the team started, Los Angeles...
When major league baseball expanded in 1961, a new entry in the American League revived the old nickname. The team was renamed the California Angels in 1965, anticipating their move to AnaheimAnaheim, California
Anaheim is a city in Orange County, California. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was about 365,463, making it the most populated city in Orange County, the 10th most-populated city in California, and ranked 54th in the United States...
.
After 32 years as "California", the team became the "Anaheim Angels" starting with the 1997 season, as a result of a contractual agreement connected with renovations to their stadium.
Starting with the 2005 season, the club again changed its name for what it decided were good marketing reasons, to the wordy "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim". This caused many legal problems with the city of Anaheim, and the geographic location has been removed from the team's jerseys.
Miami Marlins
Minor league teams had been known as the Miami Marlins for several decades, referencing the marlinMarlin
Marlin, family Istiophoridae, are fish with an elongated body, a spear-like snout or bill, and a long rigid dorsal fin, which extends forward to form a crest. Its common name is thought to derive from its resemblance to a sailor's marlinspike...
, a popular sport fish. There were the Miami Marlins
Miami Marlins (IL)
The Miami Marlins was the name of a Class AAA American minor league baseball franchise based in Miami, Florida, that played in the International League from 1956 through 1960.The Marlins were a transplanted version of the original Syracuse Chiefs...
of the International League (1956-1960) and the Miami
Fort Myers Miracle
The Fort Myers Miracle is the Class A Advanced minor league baseball affiliate of the Minnesota Twins Major League Baseball club, currently managed by Jake Mauer. Home games are played at the Lee County Sports Complex in Hammond Stadium, which has a capacity of 7,500, and opened in...
club of the Florida State League
Florida State League
The Florida State League is a Class A-Advanced minor league baseball league operating in the state of Florida. They are one of three leagues currently operating in Class A-Advanced, the third highest of six classifications of minor leagues...
starting in 1962, who were known as the Miami Marlins during 1962-1970 and then again in 1982-1988.
When the major leagues expanded to the Miami area in 1993, the old nickname was revived, but the team was initially known as the Florida Marlins. By identifying with the entire state instead of the city, the name's alliterative quality was lost. However, the team officially adopted the Miami Marlins name on November 11, 2011. This was part of a funding agreement between the team and the city of Miami for the team's new stadium set to open in 2012.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee's various professional teams, going back to the 1870s, had names like the Cream Citys and the Brewers, in reference to the local unique cream brick industry and brewing industry respectively. In particular, some famous breweries included Schlitz ("The beer that made Milwaukee famous"), PabstPabst Brewing Company
Pabst Brewing Company is an American company that dates its origins to a brewing company founded in 1844 by Jacob Best and by 1889 named after Frederick Pabst. It is currently the holding company contracting for the brewing of over two dozen brands of beer and malt liquor from defunct companies...
, and Miller Beer, the latter being the sponsor of the current stadium.
There was a short-lived major league entry, sometimes called the Milwaukee Grays
Milwaukee Grays
The Milwaukee Grays were a short-lived baseball team that spent one year, 1878, in the National League.The team was part of the League Alliance, loosely affiliated with the National League, in 1877. It won 19 games and lost 13 , ending up in fourth place...
, which operated in the National League in 1878.
Milwaukee BrewersMilwaukee BrewersThe Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
The Brewers of the minor Western League of the 1890s were retained during the league's inaugural major league season as the American League in 1901, before being moved to become the St. Louis BrownsBaltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
.
The revived minor league club in the American Association
American Association (20th century)
The American Association was a minor league baseball league at the Triple-A level of baseball in the United States from to and to . Together with the International League, it contested the Junior World Series which determined the championship team in minor league baseball, at least for the...
was then called the Milwaukee Brewers
Milwaukee Brewers (minor league baseball team)
The Milwaukee Brewers were a Minor League Baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They played in the American Association from 1902 through 1952.-A Milwaukee Tradition:...
for some 50 years before being displaced by the transplanted Boston Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
in 1953. The major league club retained their traditional nickname as the Milwaukee Braves during their stay in Milwaukee, before moving on to Atlanta in 1966.
The city was mostly without professional baseball for a few years. Future team owner and later Commissioner Bud Selig
Bud Selig
Allan Huber "Bud" Selig is the ninth and current Commissioner of Major League Baseball, having served in that capacity since 1992 as the acting commissioner, and as the official commissioner since 1998...
began a lobbying group originally called "Team, Inc." and then renamed "Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, Inc." The Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
played some home games in Milwaukee in that interval.
The current Milwaukee Brewers began as the Seattle Pilots
Seattle Pilots
The Seattle Pilots were an American professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington for one season, . The Pilots played home games at Sick's Stadium and were a member of the West Division of Major League Baseball's American League...
, a 1969 expansion team in the American League. After one year of significant financial losses, the team was transplanted to Milwaukee, under the new ownership of Selig, whereupon they revived the traditional name "Brewers". The team was switched to the National League in 1998 as part of the expansion and reorganization of the major leagues.
Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Minnesota
The two adjacent cities have had a long-standing, mostly-friendly rivalry, and each city had high-level minor league clubs, including teams in the American AssociationAmerican Association (20th century)
The American Association was a minor league baseball league at the Triple-A level of baseball in the United States from to and to . Together with the International League, it contested the Junior World Series which determined the championship team in minor league baseball, at least for the...
for the better part of five decades. The Minneapolis clubs were usually called the Minneapolis Millers
Minneapolis Millers
The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, until 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League.The team played first in Athletic Park and later Nicollet Park.The name Minneapolis...
, Minneapolis being known as the "Mill City". St. Paul, as the state capital, avoided the usual stereotype of teams called "Senators", "Solons" or "Capitals", and instead went for a more direct stereotype. The city's early teams were typically called the St. Paul Saints or Apostles, including the city's short lived Union Association
Union Association
The Union Association was a league in Major League Baseball which lasted for only one season in 1884. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season...
entry in 1884. Later the city's minor league clubs adopted the St. Paul Saints
St. Paul Saints
The St. Paul Saints are a professional baseball team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in the United States. The Saints are a member of the North Division of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball...
nickname, a self-contained redundancy. The Western League club from the 1890s moved to Chicago in 1900 and became the Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
. The revived minor league Saints joined their cross-river rivals in the American Association
American Association (20th century)
The American Association was a minor league baseball league at the Triple-A level of baseball in the United States from to and to . Together with the International League, it contested the Junior World Series which determined the championship team in minor league baseball, at least for the...
for much of the first half of the 1900s. The Saints name was revived by an independent minor league club in 1993.
Minnesota TwinsMinnesota TwinsThe Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
Minneapolis - St. Paul is commonly known as the "Twin Cities". The formal name of the team, which transferred from Washington, D.C., in 1961, was initially the Twin Cities Baseball Club, now known as Twins Sports, Inc. The Millers caps had featured an "M" and the Saints caps an interlaced "StP". The newly-transferred Minnesota Twins club wore a cap featuring "TC" for "Twin Cities" to honor both St. Paul and Minneapolis. The shirts included a sleeve patch with an outline of the state and two ballplayers shaking hands across the Mississippi RiverMississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
.
By 1987 the Twins were regionally established, and a cap featuring an "M" for "Minnesota" was adopted. The "TC" logo migrated to the sleeve in place of the previous patch. The team won the World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
that year, so the "M" cap became a symbol of success and continued to be used exclusively for a number of years afterward. The "TC" cap reappeared in the late 1990s, and is now switched off with the "M" cap. (Okkonen) "TC" is usually used as the team's home cap, with "M" as the road cap, though the cap, as with other elements of the team's uniform, is chosen at the whim of the starting pitcher
Starting pitcher
In baseball or softball, a starting pitcher is the pitcher who delivers the first pitch to the first batter of a game. A pitcher who enters the game after the first pitch of the game is a relief pitcher....
.
Another nickname used by fans and writers, but not by the team, is "Twinkies", though that name is used more as an insult by the fans of competing teams.
Montreal, QuebecMontrealMontreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
Before Major League Baseball expanded to Montreal in 1969, minor league teams in Montreal were usually named the "Royals", in reference to Mount RoyalMount Royal
Mount Royal is a mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately west of downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the city to which it gave its name.The mountain is part of the Monteregian Hills situated between the Laurentians and the Appalachians...
, a volcanic plug immediately west of today's downtown after which the city was named.
Montreal ExposMontreal ExposThe Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
The Expos were named in honor of Expo '67, a World's FairWorld's Fair
World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...
held two years before the Expos began play. The Expos moved to Washington in 2005, and the "Expos" name was retired.
New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
including Brooklyn, New YorkBrooklynBrooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
As the "cradle" of organized baseball, New York City had many clubs in the "amateur" era leading up to 1869-1870, and the "professional" era after that. The teams called MutualNew York Mutuals
The Mutual Base Ball Club of New York was a leading American baseball club almost throughout its 20-year history. It was established during 1857, the year of the first baseball convention, just too late to be a founding member of the National Association of Base Ball Players. It was a charter...
, Atlantic
Brooklyn Atlantics
The Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn was baseball's first champion and its first dynasty.Established in 1855, Atlantic was a founding member of the National Association of Base Ball Players in 1857. In 1859, with a record of 11 wins and 1 loss, Atlantic emerged as the recognized champions of...
and Eckford
Eckford of Brooklyn
Eckford of Brooklyn, or simply Eckford, was an American baseball club from 1855 to 1872. When the pioneering Union Grounds opened for baseball in 1862, the Eckfords must have been the most important tenant, for they played more games than any other club that year and won the "national"...
were some of the stronger ones.
The short-lived Federal League
Federal League
The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that operated as a "third major league", in competition with the established National and American Leagues, from to...
entry in New York was the Brooklyn Tip-Tops
Brooklyn Tip-Tops
The Brooklyn Tip-Tops were a team in the short-lived Federal League of professional baseball from 1914 to 1915. The team was named by owner Robert Ward, who owned the Tip Top Bakery. They were sometimes informally called the Brooklyn Feds or BrookFeds due to being the Brooklyn team of the Federal...
. The Fed teams had some innovative names, and this was probably the only major league team ever named for a loaf of bread.
Brooklyn / Los Angeles DodgersHistory of the Brooklyn Dodgers-Early Brooklyn baseball:Brooklyn was home to numerous baseball clubs in the mid-1850s. Eight of 16 participants in the first convention were from Brooklyn, including the Atlantic, Eckford, and Excelsior clubs that combined to dominate play for most of the 1860s...
The Dodgers have had a number of nicknames through the years.This team began as the Brooklyn Atlantics in the American Association
American Association (19th century)
The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
of the 1880s, its name a reference to a once-renowned amateur team of the 1860s, the Atlantic Base Ball Club
Brooklyn Atlantics
The Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn was baseball's first champion and its first dynasty.Established in 1855, Atlantic was a founding member of the National Association of Base Ball Players in 1857. In 1859, with a record of 11 wins and 1 loss, Atlantic emerged as the recognized champions of...
. Atlantic had turned pro in 1869 and became nationally famous by ending the Cincinnati Red Stockings' winning streak in 1870.
In 1888, six members of the team were married during the season, and the press tagged the club as the Bridegrooms or just the Grooms. (BBG)
In the early 1890s, the club had switched to the National League. The city of Brooklyn installed the transportation innovation called the trolley
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
system. Its citizens thus became "trolley dodgers" to the newswriters. By association, the team itself acquired that nickname, as the honeymoon for the "Grooms" was over after several years. (BBG)
Brooklyn was a separate city from New York until 1898, and its teams retained the name "Brooklyn".
During the late 1890s, when Ned Hanlon was the manager and the Dodgers won the pennant (thanks in part to raiding the Baltimore Orioles roster), there happened to be a stage or circus act called "Hanlon's Superbas". The New York press, in their usual creative way, began calling Ned Hanlon's Dodgers the Superbas. (BBG)
Around 1910, the club was briefly tagged as the Infants, from a remark by president Charles Ebbets
Charles Ebbets
Charles Hercules Ebbets, Sr. was an American sports executive who owned the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1902 to 1925.-Biography:...
, who had declared in a speech that "Baseball is in its infancy." In the words of the BBG, "The monicker clung until Thomas J. Lynch, then president of the National League, asked baseball writers to accept waivers on it."
Once Wilbert Robinson
Wilbert Robinson
Wilbert Robinson , nicknamed "Uncle Robbie", was an American catcher, coach and manager in Major League Baseball...
was well established and beloved as the Dodgers manager, the team was called the Robins as often as anything. The nickname "Dodgers" continued to be used also. After Robby retired, the team became just the "Dodgers" again. The club finally acknowledged its own nickname in 1933, putting the word "Dodgers" on their shirts for the first time, in block letters. The famous script "Dodgers" first appeared in 1938. (Okkonen)
When the club moved to the west coast in 1958, they brought their nickname with them, although it had no particular meaning in Los Angeles.
The "Bums" nickname arose due to the cartoons of Willard Mullin
Willard Mullin
Willard Mullin was an American sports cartoonist. He is most famous for his creation of the "Brooklyn Bum", the personification of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team...
, characterizing the citizenry of Brooklyn in an unflattering but humorous way.
New York MetsNew York MetsThe New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
The original MetropolitanNew York Metropolitans
The Metropolitan Club was a 19th-century professional baseball team that played in New York City from 1880 to 1887...
Baseball Club was a member of the 19th Century American Association
American Association (19th century)
The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
, a club which lasted until 1887 but could not compete with the Giants. They were normally listed as "Metropolitan" in the standings, and writers would sometimes use the pluralized "Metropolitans" in the style of the day, to distinguish them from the "New Yorks", their next-door neighbors.
When major league baseball expanded in 1962, the old name was revived in the form of the Metropolitan Baseball Club of New York, otherwise known as the New York Mets. "Met" is a common short form of "Metropolitan", as in "The Met" for the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
; "MetLife" for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, or MetLife, for short, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, with 90 million customers in over 60 countries...
; and so on.
The New York Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
of the NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
, originally known as the New York Titans, were the first of several New York area teams whose names rhymed with "Mets". Others included the New York Nets
New Jersey Nets
The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
of the NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
(now the New Jersey Nets, and to become the Brooklyn Nets in 2012), and the New York Sets of the short-lived Team Tennis league.
New York / San Francisco GiantsHistory of the New York Giants (NL)The history of the New York Giants, before the franchise moved to San Francisco, lasted from 1883 to 1957. It featured five of the franchise's six World Series wins and 17 of its 21 National League pennants...
The early entry of this team in 1883 was simply the New Yorks, also sometimes called the Gothams, "Gotham" being a synonym for New York City. According to legend, manager Jim MutrieJim Mutrie
James J. Mutrie was an American baseball pioneer who was the co-founder and first manager of both the original New York Metropolitans and the New York Giants...
was bragging to newspaper reporters about the stature of his players, "My big fellows! My giants!" and by about 1885 the name was stuck on the team for good.
- "The club was first called the Giants about 1885. P.J. Donohue, New York World baseball writer, probably picked up a chance to get into a type argument with Harry Palmer] of Chicago and Charles F. Mathison of Detroit. All three scribes followed teams that had big men, were proud of that fact, and stressed the poundage and height of their athletes. The New York Nationals, after playing an exhibition game with Newark in 1886, were called Giants; and when they appeared in St. Louis later the same year, Joe Pritchard, Mound City expert at that time, alluded to them as the Gotham Giants." (BBG)
Although the "Giants" nickname was well established by 1900, the prosaic "NEW YORK" or simple block letters "NY" were used on uniform shirts until 1918 when "GIANTS" first appeared. (Okkonen)
Eventually the alternate nickname "Jints" (rhymes with "pints") was picked up as a colloquial pronunciation of the team name. It followed them, along with their real nickname "Giants", when they moved to the west coast in 1958.
The popularity of the Giants inspired several Negro League baseball
Negro league baseball
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in...
clubs to adopt a variation of that name, such as the Baltimore Elite Giants
Baltimore Elite Giants
The Baltimore Elite Giants were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro leagues from to . The team was established by Thomas T. Wilson, in Nashville, Tennessee as the semi-pro Nashville Standard Giants on March 26, 1920. The team was renamed the Elite Giants in , and would move to...
and the Chicago American Giants
Chicago American Giants
Chicago American Giants were a Chicago-based Negro league baseball team, owned and managed from 1911 to 1926 by player-manager Andrew "Rube" Foster. From 1910 until the mid-1930s, the American Giants were the most dominant team in black baseball...
.
The New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
of the NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
were named for the baseball team which was once their landlord.
New York YankeesNew York YankeesThe New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
Modern writers tend to refer to the New York AL club as the "Highlanders" for its 1903-1912 era and as the "Yankees" from 1913 onward. The two nicknames actually developed in parallel starting around 1904, with "Highlanders" initially more often used, and "Yankees" becoming the predominant nickname before "Highlanders" was fully dropped in 1913.Initially the team was simply the "Greater New York Baseball Club", a designation imposed on them as part of the "deal" allowing the Baltimore club to transfer to New York. Giants fans considered them to be "Invaders", and publisher William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
's New York Evening Journal initially referred to the new club by that name in 1903.
Both "Highlanders" and "Yankees" were also initially inventions of the press. The first president of the new New York American League entry was Joseph Gordon, who served from 1903-1906. There was a noted British military unit called The Gordon Highlanders
The Gordon Highlanders
The Gordon Highlanders was a British Army infantry regiment from 1794 until 1994. The regiment took its name from the Clan Gordon and recruited principally from Aberdeen and the North-East of Scotland.-History:...
. The new team built its new ballpark on a high point of Manhattan called "The Hilltop" (hence the informal nickname "Hilltop Park
Hilltop Park
Hilltop Park was the nickname of a baseball park that formerly stood in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. It was the home of the New York Yankees Major League Baseball club during 1903-1912 when they were known more often as the "Highlanders"...
" for the American League Park), which contrasted especially with the altitude of the Giants, whose Polo Grounds
Polo Grounds
The Polo Grounds was the name given to four different stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used by many professional teams in both baseball and American football from 1880 until 1963...
was in the bottomland under Coogan's Bluff. Creative members of the press, who liked to make artificial connections between disparate elements of popular culture, dubbed the team the "Highlanders", and the name stuck with them for the better part of a decade.
There is no evidence that "Highlanders" was ever officially adopted by the team itself. The uniforms only sported a large block "N Y", which eventually evolved into the well-known curving NY logo of the Yankees. (Okkonen)
The alternate nickname "Yankees" first verifiably appeared in the press in 1904. The term "Yankee
Yankee
The term Yankee has several interrelated and often pejorative meanings, usually referring to people originating in the northeastern United States, or still more narrowly New England, where application of the term is largely restricted to descendants of the English settlers of the region.The...
" or "Yank" is a synonym for "American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
". The new team was in the American League, and the papers for cities with two teams (such as Boston) would often call their teams "Nationals" or "Americans" to distinguish them. The term "Yankee" was also in the news frequently at that time, especially with the success of George M. Cohan
George M. Cohan
George Michael Cohan , known professionally as George M. Cohan, was a major American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, and producer....
's Broadway musical, Little Johnny Jones, and its centerpiece number, "Yankee Doodle Dandy". To the creative writers of the New York press, the connection was easy to make.
On April 7, , a spring training story from Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
carried the headline "Yankees Will Start Home From South To-Day." The New York Evening Journal screamed: "YANKEES BEAT BOSTON".
The Sporting Life for a game of April 4, 1905, discussing the acquisition of Hal Chase
Hal Chase
Harold Homer Chase , nicknamed "Prince Hal", was a first baseman in Major League Baseball, widely viewed as the best fielder at his position...
, referred to the team as the "Americans" and the "Highlanders" in the same writeup.
As the decade progressed, the nickname "Yankees" began to be used more and more often. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
writeup about Cy Young
Cy Young
Denton True "Cy" Young was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. During his 22-year baseball career , he pitched for five different teams. Young was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937...
's no-hitter of June 30, 1908, referred to the club exclusively as "Yankees" or "Yanks" throughout the article, with no mention at all of "Highlanders". The Times also consistently referred to the Hilltop by its formal name, "the American League Park". (The Complete Book of Baseball: A New York Times Scrapbook History, Arno Press, Bobbs-Merrill, 1980, p.8)
The Philadelphia Inquirer for a game of April 21, 1912, an exhibition between the two New York clubs, was headlined "Giants wallop Yanks", while in the article the teams were referred to as the "Nationals" and the "Giants"; and "the American League team", "Americans", and "Highlanders"; respectively.
The New York Times for opening day 1912 reported that "The Yankees presented a natty appearance in their new uniforms of white with black pin stripes."
In 1913, the American Leaguers left the Hilltop after ten years, and began what would become a ten-year sub-lease with the Giants at the Polo Grounds. At that point the term "Highlanders" made no logical sense, and was dropped by the press. The club was exclusively the "Yankees" from then onward.
It is uncertain exactly when the Yankees began referring to themselves by their popular nickname. By the time of Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
's arrival in 1920, the "Yankees" nickname was well established, but the name still did not appear on the uniforms. In fact, the Yankees have seldom carried their nickname on their uniforms. The only time was during 1927-1930, when the word "YANKEES" first appeared, in lieu of "NEW YORK" - on the road shirts. This was continued through the 1930 season, and then "NEW YORK" was restored to the road uniforms. (Okkonen)
The popular and successful Yankees have acquired many other unofficial nicknames through the years, such as the "Pinstripers" for obvious reasons, and jokingly as the "Evil Empire", a term originally applied to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
by President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. Probably the longest-lasting unofficial nickname has been the "Bronx Bombers", which was applied many decades ago in reference to the Yankees' power hitting, dating back to the Ruth era.
Oakland, CaliforniaOakland, CaliforniaOakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
The Pacific Coast LeaguePacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
entry was typically called the Oakland Oaks (PCL)
Oakland Oaks (PCL)
The Oakland Oaks were a minor league baseball team in Oakland, California that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 through 1955, after which the club transferred to Vancouver, British Columbia...
and sometimes the Acorns as an unofficial variant.
Oakland A's
The Oakland AthleticsOakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
, who began in Philadelphia and resided in Kansas City for a few years, settled on the west coast in 1968. The nickname "Athletics" is the oldest in baseball, dating to the early 1860s.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Aside from the enduring teams called the "Athletics" and the "Phillies", other professional teams in Philadelphia over the years included the Philadelphia White StockingsPhiladelphia White Stockings
The Philadelphia White Stockings were an early professional baseball team. They were a member of the National Association from 1873 to 1875. Their home games were played at the Jefferson Street Grounds...
(also sometimes called the "Pearls" or even the "Phillies", who played in the National Association
National Association of Professional Base Ball Players
The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players , or simply the National Association , was founded in 1871 and continued through the 1875 season...
in the early 1870s in direct competition with the A's; and the Keystone
Philadelphia Keystones
The Philadelphia Keystones was a professional baseball franchise. In 1884, they were a member of the short-lived Union Association. The team was owned by former player Tom Pratt....
club of the one-year Union Association
Union Association
The Union Association was a league in Major League Baseball which lasted for only one season in 1884. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season...
experiment in 1884.
Philadelphia / Kansas City / Oakland AthleticsOakland AthleticsThe Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
In the peak of the amateur era of baseball in the 1860s, the strongest team in the Quaker State was the Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia, or just "Athletic" for short. Prior to the early 1900s, this club was typically always listed in standings as "Athletic" rather than "Philadelphia". When called the "Athletics" it was the pluralized style of the day, just as the National League entry would have been called the "Philadelphias".As early as 1866, the Athletics uniform shirts featured the stylized letter "A" that is still used by the team's nominal descendants today. The team had turned professional by the late 1860s, and continued playing through the first year of the National League in 1876, before disbanding.
The team name "Athletic" was revived by the American Association
American Association (19th century)
The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
, and again by the charter Philadelphia entry in the American League in 1901.
The AL team was originally listed in the standings in the traditional way, "Athletic", but soon evolved into the "Philadelphia Athletics". Another enduring symbol of the team soon emerged:
- "In 1902, John McGraw, then manager of the New York Giants, and bitter enemy of American League president Ban JohnsonBan JohnsonByron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson , was an American executive in professional baseball who served as the founder and first president of the American League ....
, gave out an interview belittling the entry of the American League in Philadelphia, and sarcastically referred to Ben ShibeBen ShibeBenjamin Franklin Shibe was an American sporting goods and baseball executive who, along with his sons John and Tom, was half-owner of the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League from 1901 until his death. He is credited with the invention of the automated stitching machinery to make...
and Connie MackConnie Mack (baseball)Cornelius McGillicuddy, Sr. , better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball player, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds records for wins , losses , and games managed , with his victory total being almost 1,000 more...
's club as a 'white elephantWhite elephantA white elephant is an idiom for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth...
'. A Philadelphia newspaperman labeled the Athletics the White Elephants, and they went on to win the first of many flags." (BBG)
That characterization, first written about 1940, was from a time when the A's were still thought of as winners. The team's decline, from the mid-1930s clear into the mid-1960s, would result in the franchise being transferred twice. The elephant logo evolved into a circus elephant of varying colors, depending on the trim chosen for the uniform in a given year.
As the team typically wore a stylized "A" on both their home and road shirts, and eventually on their caps, the nickname "A's" also arose. The first break with the "A" tradition came in 1920, when the team featured the elephant logo on shirts for the first time, displacing the "A", albeit in a dark blue. The elephant, worn as a badge of defiance following McGraw's remarks, had previously appeared on just the warmup weathers and then on the uniform sleeve. The elephant was changed to its titular white in 1924, and in 1928 the team went back to the traditional "A". (Okkonen)
In 1954, the club's last year in Philadelphia, the "A" was replaced for the first time with the word "Athletics", on both home and road shirts. At no time in their 54-year tenure in Philadelphia did the word "Philadelphia" appear on their shirts. The team transferred to Kansas City in 1955 and continued to wear "Athletics" on both home and road shirts. The city name finally appeared on road shirts for the first time in 1961, after Charles O. Finley had acquired the team. Finley began a well-documented series of influential uniform innovations that are beyond the scope of this article. He moved the A's to Oakland in 1968, where they have remained to this day. (Okkonen)
Philadelphia PhilliesPhiladelphia PhilliesThe Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
"They've been the Phillies ever since the team entered the National League in 1883." (BBG)"Phillies" or "Phils" is a short form of "Philadelphias", in the style of the 19th Century, when a city would be referred to by writers that way ("Bostons", "Chicagos", etc.) The city itself is often called "Philly" for short. Other uses of that term include the Philly Cheesesteak
Cheesesteak
A cheesesteak, also known as a Philadelphia cheesesteak, Philly cheesesteak, cheese steak, or steak and cheese, is a sandwich made from thinly-sliced pieces of steak and melted cheese in a long roll...
and the popular Phillies Blunt cigar.
Bob Carpenter
R. R. M. Carpenter, Jr.
Robert Ruliph Morgan Carpenter Jr. was an owner and club president of the Philadelphia Phillies of American Major League Baseball. When he took command of the Phils, in November 1943 after his father purchased the franchise, Carpenter became the youngest club president in baseball history, and he...
acquired the Phillies in the late fall of 1943. The following spring, a new name, "Blue Jays", was selected in a fans' contest. (BBG) This change never caught on with the general public, especially as the uniform shirts continued to say "Phillies", albeit with a blue jay shoulder patch. That experiment was dropped after a couple of years.
In 1900, the team's road shirts said "PHILA", a common abbreviation of "Philadelphia". The Phillies' uniforms otherwise carried only a simple block or stylized letter "P" for several decades. The first time the word "Phillies" appeared was 1933, in a script-style that has appeared frequently in the decades since then. 1942, the word "Phils" appeared on the road shirts and the block letter "P" re-appeared on the home shirts, just for the one season. The script "Phillies" continued until 1970 when, in anticipation of the move to Veterans Stadium
Veterans Stadium
Philadelphia Veterans Stadium was a professional-sports, multi-purpose stadium, located at the northeast corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex...
, the team returned to a stylized letter "P" on their shirts. In 1992, the script "Phillies" was restored to the shirts. (Okkonen)
Arizona DiamondbacksArizona DiamondbacksThe Arizona Diamondbacks are a professional baseball team based in Phoenix. They play in the West Division of Major League Baseball's National League. From 1998 to the present, they have played in Chase Field...
A Diamondback, specifically Crotalus atroxCrotalus atrox
Crotalus atrox, the "western diamondback rattlesnake", is a venomous rattlesnake species found in the United States and Mexico. It is likely responsible for the majority of snakebite fatalities in northern Mexico and the second greatest number in the USA after C. adamanteus. No subspecies are...
, is a rattlesnake
Rattlesnake
Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous snakes of the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus of the subfamily Crotalinae . There are 32 known species of rattlesnake, with between 65-70 subspecies, all native to the Americas, ranging from southern Alberta and southern British Columbia in Canada to Central...
which is a very common sight in the Arizona desert and a fearsome symbol. The club adopted the symbol upon its formation in 1998. A baseball field
Baseball field
A baseball field, also called a ball field or a baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The terms "baseball field" and "ball field" are also often used as synonyms for ballpark.-Specifications:...
is also called a "diamond". The team is often called the "D-backs" for short, and as of 2007 the team is wearing shirts that read "D-backs". On the left sleeve is a stylized "db" which forms the head of a snake.
Pittsburgh PiratesPittsburgh PiratesThe Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
The original Pittsburgh club, formed in 1882, was in the then-separate city of Allegheny, PennsylvaniaAllegheny, Pennsylvania
Allegheny City was a Pennsylvania municipality located on the north side of the junction of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, across from downtown Pittsburgh. It was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907...
, across the Allegheny River northwest of downtown Pittsburgh. Thus the club was called "Allegheny" in the standings, and in the style of the day, the "Alleghenys" (note that it was not "Alleghenies"). The Alleghenys played in the American Association
American Association (19th century)
The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
during 1882-1886, then transferred to the National League in 1887. The team restyled itself as "Pittsburgh" (then often spelled "Pittsburg") around 1890, although Allegheny remained a separate city until it was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907.
The club was accused of "pirating" Lou Bierbauer
Lou Bierbauer
Louis W. Bierbauer was a German-American professional baseball player who was a second baseman in Major League Baseball during the late 1880s and 1890s...
in the Players' League
Players League
The Players' National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, popularly known as the Players' League , was a short-lived but star-studded professional American baseball league of the 19th century...
settlement following the 1890 season, which led to their nickname. This fact is a detail of the larger story of what was happening in professional baseball around that time.
In 1888, baseball owners established rules to categorize players and pay them according to rank. Since the owners set the categories themselves, their new system at first lowered, and then eventually froze players salaries. Shortly before this, in 1885, John Montgomery Ward
John Montgomery Ward
John Montgomery Ward , known as Monte Ward, was an American Major League Baseball pitcher, shortstop and manager. Ward was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Renovo, Pennsylvania...
, a current Major League pitcher and Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...
graduate, had founded the "Brotherhood of Base Ball Players" an association to protect and promote players interests. Baseball owners had instituted their new rules in the off-season without talking with the players, and this led to a rift between them and the players. Despite yearlong efforts to negotiate with the owners over these new restrictions on players, Ward could not get them to bargain or even recognize the Brotherhood. Players revolted and in 1890 they started a new league called the Players' League. The Players' League was spearheaded by Ward, who not only gained financial backers, but he also solicited star players to jump from the National League and American Association to the new league.
With three professional leagues competing, many in the same cities, there was not enough revenue to go around, and each league lost money. Although the Players' League's attendance was the best of the three leagues, it folded after one year. The financially hemorrhaging American Association folded one year later, and the National League absorbed four of its teams.
In 1890, Philadelphia Athletics
Philadelphia Athletics (American Association)
The Philadelphia Athletics were a professional baseball team, one of six charter members of the American Association, a 19th-century major league, which began play in 1882 as a rival to the National League. The other teams were the Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Red Stockings, Eclipse of...
players Lou Bierbauer and Harry Stovey had jumped to the Players' League. After the Players' League collapsed, through a clerical error the Athletics had failed to reserve Bierbauer's and Stovey's services. Pittsburgh signed Bierbauer and Stovey to contracts. The Athletics protested losing these players, and this led to an impartial Arbitration Board, which included American Association President Allan W. Thurman
Allan W. Thurman
Allan W. Thurman was President of the Ohio Board of Administration in 1912. He was president of the American Association in 1890 and 1891 where he was known as "The White Winged Angel of Peace"...
. The board ruled in Pittsburgh's favor. Despite the ruling, the Athletics still grumbled at the decision, and ridiculed their cross-state rivals by calling them "Pirates" for "stealing" their players. The "Pirates" tag stuck and the alliterative name was eventually adopted as Pittsburgh's official team nickname. By the time of the 1903 World Series
1903 World Series
The 1903 World Series was the first modern World Series to be played in Major League Baseball. It matched the Boston Americans of the American League against the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League in a best-of-nine series, with Boston prevailing five games to three, winning the last...
, the team was commonly known as "Pirates", although the club did not acknowledge it on their uniforms until 1912.
Alternate nicknames such as "Bucs" or "Buccos", short for "buccaneer
Buccaneer
The buccaneers were privateers who attacked Spanish shipping in the Caribbean Sea during the late 17th century.The term buccaneer is now used generally as a synonym for pirate...
", have been used through the years. "Buccaneer" is typically used synonymously with "pirate", although historically "buccaneer" is a more specific term that refers to pirates who operated in the Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
, especially along the Spanish Main
Spanish Main
In the days of the Spanish New World Empire, the mainland of the American continent enclosing the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico was referred to as the Spanish Main. It included present-day Florida, the east shore of the Gulf of Mexico in Texas, Mexico, Central America and the north coast of...
coast.
- "No Smoky City club ever had a nickname until 1890. Then the team, which lost 113 games while winning only 23, was tagged the Innocents — apparently being innocent of victorious aspirations. In 1890, during the off-season, Pittsburgh owners signed second baseman Louis Bierbauer, whom the bankrupt Athletic club of Philadelphia had forgotten to reserve. The Pittsburgh club became known as the Pirates, in reference to so-called "pirating" of players." (BBG)
The Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
of the NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
began as the Pittsburgh Pirates, in reference to the baseball team from which they rented Forbes Field
Forbes Field
Forbes Field was a baseball park in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1909 to 1971. It was the third home of the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball team, and the first home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the city's National Football League franchise...
in their early years. There was also a short-lived NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
entry in the 1920s-1930s called the Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates (NHL)
The Pittsburgh Pirates were an American professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League , based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1925–26 to 1929–30. The nickname comes from the baseball team also based in the city...
.
St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
In the National Association of 1875, St. Louis fielded two entries, called the St. Louis Brown StockingsSt. Louis Brown Stockings
The St. Louis Brown Stockings were a professional baseball club based in St. Louis, Missouri from 1875 to 1877.-History:Joining the National Association in the final season of that league, the Brown Stockings were the first team to represent St. Louis in a professional baseball association . The...
(or Browns); and the St. Louis Red Stockings
St. Louis (NA)
In the standard short format for identifying professional baseball clubs in the U.S., St. Louis means the "St. Louis" club in the "NA" league...
, (or Reds). The Reds did not survive the season. The Browns were better organized and were carried forward into the new National League in 1876. The club abandoned professional ball after the 1877 season due to a betting scandal.
The St. Louis Maroons of the Union Association
Union Association
The Union Association was a league in Major League Baseball which lasted for only one season in 1884. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season...
in 1884, and the NL in 1885-1886, continued the reddish color scheme during their brief tenure. The St. Louis Terriers
St. Louis Terriers
The St. Louis Terriers were a baseball club that played in the short-lived Federal League in and . They played their home games at Handlan's Park. The St. Louis Chapter of SABR placed a marker at the site of Handland's Park, now on the campus of St. Louis University, on October 17, 2007. The team...
of the Federal League
Federal League
The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that operated as a "third major league", in competition with the established National and American Leagues, from to...
of 1914-1915 were the only major league club in St. Louis that eschewed being named for a color.
St. Louis CardinalsSt. Louis CardinalsThe St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
A new professional team formed in 1882 and was a charter member of the American AssociationAmerican Association (19th century)
The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
. The team revived the nickname St. Louis Brown Stockings, which again was soon shortened to St. Louis Browns. The team was one of the most successful in the AA's ten-year existence, under the leadership of Charles Comiskey
Charles Comiskey
Charles Albert "The Old Roman" Comiskey was a Major League Baseball player, manager and team owner. He was a key person in the formation of the American League and later owned the Chicago White Sox...
, and was carried forward into the NL in 1892.
In 1899, the club decided it was time for a makeover. They rebuild the stands at Robison Field
Robison Field
Robison Field is the best-known of several names given to a former Major League Baseball park in St. Louis, Missouri. It was the home of the St. Louis Cardinals of the National League from April 27, 1893 until June 6, 1920.-History:...
after a fire; they stripped the Cleveland Spiders
Cleveland Spiders
The Cleveland Spiders were a Major League Baseball team which played between 1887 and 1899 in Cleveland, Ohio. The team played at National League Park from 1889 to 1890 and at League Park from 1891 to 1899.- 1887-1891 :...
of their star players, hoping to take a major leap in the standings; and, according to most sources, changed their uniform color that year, from brown to red. The refreshed team was labeled the Perfectos by a perhaps over-optimistic press. The team jumped from twelfth to fifth, rather short of its lofty goal.
The team was also being called Cardinals by season's end. According to BBG, it was William McHale, baseball writer for the St. Louis Republic, who dubbed the red-trimmed team the St. Louis Cardinals. By 1900, that name was in universal usage, and they have been known by that nickname to this day.
The term "Cardinal" for both the bird and the color originated from the traditional vestments of the Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
s of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
.
The red-trimmed uniforms at first were only labeled "ST. LOUIS", on both home and road shirts, later replaced by the familiar interlocking "StL" logo. The word "Cardinals" first appeared on both home and road shirts in 1918. The term went from just being a color to also being a symbol in 1922, with the first incarnation of the two Cardinal
Cardinal (bird)
The Cardinals or Cardinalidae are a family of passerine birds found in North and South America. The South American cardinals in the genus Paroaria are placed in another family, the Thraupidae ....
birds perched on a bat across the word "Cardinals". (Okkonen)
The synonym "Redbirds" and the abbreviation "Cards" are also in broad usage today.
The St. Louis Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
of the NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
transferred from Chicago to St. Louis in 1960, and from St. Louis to Phoenix in 1988. The Football Cardinals were not named after the Baseball Cardinals, but for the same reason that the Baseball Cardinals acquired their name — from the color of their jerseys, which were originally hand-me-downs from the University of Chicago Maroons
Chicago Maroons football
The Chicago Maroons are the college football team representing the University of Chicago. The Maroons play in NCAA Division III as a member of the University Athletic Association. From 1892 to 1939, the Maroons were a major college football power...
.
St. Louis BrownsBaltimore OriolesThe Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
The nickname St. Louis Browns was revived in 1902 by the AL entry that transferred from Milwaukee. Moving from one major brewing city to another, they could have retained the nickname "Brewers", but for marketing reasons they chose to adopt the recently-abandoned colors of their established rival.The Browns were the better team in the Mound City for the first 25 years or so of their co-existence, but the Cardinals returned to winning form in the mid-1920s and the Browns struggled after that. The club was looking for a city to transfer to in the early 1950s. They considered coincidentally returning to their roots in Milwaukee, but the Braves beat them to it. They settled for a move to Baltimore in 1954, where they were renamed the "Orioles", ending the life of the "Browns" nickname.
Although known from the beginning as the "Browns", and wearing brown trim most of the time (except for 1906 when they experimented with all-black trim), the club did not wear the word "BROWNS" on their shirts until 1934. (Okkonen) The team had various logos. In the early years they had an interlaced "StL", as with the Cardinals. In the 1930s, they began wearing a patch featuring an illustration of the famous statue of the personification of the Saint. In 1952 they began wearing a sleeve patch with a cartoon face of a "Brownie".
The Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
of the NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
were named for their original coach, Paul Brown
Paul Brown
Paul Eugene Brown was a coach in American football and a major figure in the development of the National Football League...
. They have no connection to the St. Louis Browns, although their color scheme (orange and brown) and their use of a "Brownie" coincide.
San Diego PadresSan Diego PadresThe San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball team based in San Diego, California. They play in the National League Western Division. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the National League Pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both times...
The minor league team called the San Diego PadresSan Diego Padres (PCL)
The San Diego Padres were a minor league baseball team which played in the Pacific Coast League from 1936 through 1968. The team that would eventually become the Padres was well traveled prior to moving to San Diego. It began its existence in 1903 as the Sacramento Solons, a charter member of the PCL...
of the Pacific Coast League
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
operated during 1936-1968. The name Padre was taken from the Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
word for "Father", a term of respect used for Spanish missionaries. When Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
expanded to San Diego in 1969, the old nickname was retained for the new team.
The team is frequently called the "Pods" in the media, which rhymes with the first syllable of "PAHD-rays".
San Francisco, California
The San Francisco Seals operated from the inception of the Pacific Coast LeaguePacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
in 1903 through 1957.
A second, shorter-lived club was the Mission Reds
Mission Reds
The Mission Reds were a minor league baseball team located in San Francisco, California, that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1926 through 1937.-Original Missions:...
, who played in San Francisco during 1925-1937. They were sometimes called the "Missions".
San Francisco GiantsSan Francisco GiantsThe San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
The well-established Seals, which had once been Joe DiMaggioJoe DiMaggio
Joseph Paul "Joe" DiMaggio , nicknamed "Joltin' Joe" and "The Yankee Clipper," was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career for the New York Yankees. He is perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak , a record that still stands...
's team, moved after the 1957 season to make way for the arrival of the New York Giants
History of the New York Giants (NL)
The history of the New York Giants, before the franchise moved to San Francisco, lasted from 1883 to 1957. It featured five of the franchise's six World Series wins and 17 of its 21 National League pennants...
, who followed the Dodgers from the east coast. The San Francisco Giants have lived up to their name, with sluggers like Willie Mays
Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays, Jr. is a retired American professional baseball player who played the majority of his major league career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his...
, Willie McCovey
Willie McCovey
Willie Lee McCovey , nicknamed "Mac", "Big Mac", and "Stretch", is a former Major League Baseball first baseman. He played nineteen seasons for the San Francisco Giants, and three more for the San Diego Padres and Oakland Athletics, between and...
and Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds
Barry Lamar Bonds is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. Bonds played from 1986 to 2007, for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. He is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds...
rocketing baseballs out of the San Francisco ballparks just as Mays and Mel Ott
Mel Ott
Melvin Thomas Ott , nicknamed "Master Melvin", was a Major League Baseball right fielder. He played his entire career for the New York Giants . Ott was born in Gretna, Louisiana. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed...
did in New York.
Seattle, Washington
The original Pacific Coast LeaguePacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
minor league club in Seattle was initially called the Indians, due to the Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
legacy of the area. The team was later named the Seattle Rainiers, directly in reference to the Rainier Brewing Company
Rainier Brewing Company
Rainier Brewing Company was a Seattle, Washington, company that brewed Rainier Beer, a popular brand in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Although Rainier was founded in 1884, the Seattle site had been brewing beer since 1878. While the beer enjoys near iconic status, it is no longer...
, and indirectly in reference to Mount Rainier
Mount Rainier
Mount Rainier is a massive stratovolcano located southeast of Seattle in the state of Washington, United States. It is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States and the Cascade Volcanic Arc, with a summit elevation of . Mt. Rainier is considered one of the most...
, for which the brewery was named. The Rainiers operated through 1968, when the major leagues expanded. After the one-year major league experiment, a new Rainiers ball club was formed and played during 1972-1976, when the majors were ready to try Seattle again. Since 1995, the Rainiers name has been used by the Seattle Mariners' Triple-A affiliate
Tacoma Rainiers
The Tacoma Rainiers are a minor league baseball team that plays in the Pacific Coast League , and are the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners...
in nearby Tacoma
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
.
Seattle PilotsSeattle PilotsThe Seattle Pilots were an American professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington for one season, . The Pilots played home games at Sick's Stadium and were a member of the West Division of Major League Baseball's American League...
The AL expansion team in 1969 was named in reference to the prominence of marine activities in the Puget SoundPuget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
area, such as fishing, both industrial and recreational. The caps even featured the "scrambled eggs" golden-leaf symbol of a ship's captain. The ambitious but underfunded club sank in a sea of red ink, and became the first major league club since the 1901 Milwaukee Brewers
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
to switch cities after one year. Ironically, the Pilots moved to Milwaukee, and became the new Milwaukee Brewers
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
.
Seattle MarinersSeattle MarinersThe Seattle Mariners are a professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. Enfranchised in , the Mariners are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Safeco Field has been the Mariners' home ballpark since July...
The AL again expanded to Seattle, in 1977, with the formation of the Seattle Mariners. The nickname again alluded to fishing and other marine activities. The Mariners have been in Seattle of over 30 years with no indications of leaving anytime soon.Tampa Bay Devil Rays/RaysTampa Bay RaysThe Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of MLB's American League. Since their inception in , the club has played at Tropicana Field...
The club was an expansion franchise in the American League in 1998. The team's logo included an illustration of a manta rayManta ray
The manta ray is the largest species of the rays. The largest known specimen was more than across, with a weight of about . It ranges throughout waters of the world, typically around coral reefs...
, also called a devilfish or devil ray. The team was also called the D-rays or the Rays for short. As of 2007, one version of their home uniforms said "Rays", and no version said "Devil Rays", although a patch illustrating a manta ray was used. On November 8, 2007, the club announced that they were dropping the "Devil" part in order to identify themselves primarily with the rays of the sun, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
being the Sunshine State, and their redesigned logo reflects that theme. As noted in the MLB article http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071107&content_id=2295403&vkey=news_tb&fext=.jsp&c_id=tb the club stated that they would continue using the manta ray patch as an acknowledgment of their previous identity - a feature easily visible on their uniforms in the super-closeups used by television in the 2008 World Series
2008 World Series
The 2008 World Series was the 104th World Series between the American and National Leagues for the championship of Major League Baseball. The Philadelphia Phillies as champions of the National League and the Tampa Bay Rays, as American League champions, competed to win four games out of a possible...
, as the former league doormats turned into the American League's champion team in 2008. The club would also retain its furry mascot, called "Raymond", strictly for humorous reasons, as that name has no etymological connection to either the old or the new usage of "ray".
Toronto, OntarioTorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
The original minor league club in Toronto was the Toronto Maple Leafs, which operated from 1896 through 1967 in the International LeagueInternational League
The International League is a minor league baseball league that operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It was so named because it had teams in both the United States...
.
The National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
club renamed itself the Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
in 1927 and has been known by that name ever since.
Toronto Blue JaysToronto Blue JaysThe Toronto Blue Jays are a professional baseball team located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball 's American League ....
By the time the American LeagueAmerican League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
expanded to Toronto in 1977, the NHL club's strong identification as the Maple Leafs precluded any chance of reviving that name for the baseball team.
The Toronto franchise was originally owned by Labatt Breweries, with Imperial Trust and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is one of Canada's chartered banks, fifth largest by deposits. The bank is headquartered at Commerce Court in Toronto, Ontario. CIBC's Institution Number is 010, and its SWIFT code is CIBCCATT....
as minority owners. The name Toronto Blue Jays came about when former Ontario Premier John Robarts
John Robarts
John Parmenter Robarts, PC, CC, QC was a Canadian lawyer and statesman, and the 17th Premier of Ontario.-Early life:...
, a member of the team's board of directors, started talking about a morning routine: "I was shaving this morning and I saw a blue jay out my window."
"Blue" was also the top-selling brand of beer sold by Labatt's, providing an on-air opportunity for TV commentators to take a microscopic pause when saying "You're watching Labatt's Blue...Jays baseball on CBC."
The short form "Jays" has been used extensively for much of the team's history.
Coincidentally, the nickname "Blue Jays" was used briefly by the Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
(the team that Toronto beat in the 1993 World Series
1993 World Series
-Game 1:Saturday, October 16, 1993 at SkyDome in Toronto, OntarioThe Series' first game sent two staff aces—Curt Schilling for Philadelphia and Juan Guzman for Toronto—against one another. The result was less than a pitcher's duel, however, as both teams scored early and often.The deciding plays...
), from 1944 to 1945.
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Baseball clubs in Washington, D.C. have been known by a variety of nicknames since the first professional teams appeared in 1870. One team was called the "Olympics", another was called the "Nationals". Both of those names persisted through the 1870s. Later teams in the 19th Century were called the "Nationals" and also obvious other Capital City nicknames such as "Statesmen" and "Senators". By the 1890s, "Senators" was commonly used in the media for the National League entry.Washington Nationals/SenatorsMinnesota TwinsThe Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
The "Senators" nickname carried over to the new American League entry in 1901. The team was generally called the Senators from 1901-04, as the old National League club had been. Washington Star newspaper owner Thomas C. Noyes, along with an ownership group of Benjamin Minor, Harry Rapley and others bought the team in 1905.Before the 1905 season, Noyes solicited fans and writers for a new nickname. In an effort to remarket the team Noyes decided to officially name the club the "Nationals", reverting to the older nickname.
- "The new owners desire to get as far away as possible from the old regime and start the coming season without any barnacles to hinder its move toward prosperity. With that end in view it is proposed to bury the moss-covered title of Senators and secure a nickname that may be lucky and popular." - Tom Noyes, 1905
During 1905 and 1906, the team wore "Nationals" on their new shirts, the first team to do so. Otherwise, the shirts either read "Washington" or carried a plain block "W". (Okkonen)
- "Fans, by ballot, decided their club was to be called the Nationals, instead of the Senators. The only trouble with the vote was that its result was not binding on headline writers. Therefore, the Washington club still is often called Senators, as well as the Nats and Griffs, the latter nickname being derived from the name of owner Clark Calvin GriffithClark GriffithClark Calvin Griffith , nicknamed "the Old Fox", was a Major League Baseball pitcher, manager and team owner.-Biography:...
." (BBG)
Some reluctance could have been due to the inherent ambiguity of the name. Writers frequently referred to individual major league teams as "Americans" or "Nationals" in reference to their league affiliation -- and the Washington Nationals were in the American League.
Newspaper articles for decades used the names "Senators" and "Nationals" (or "Nats") interchangeably, often within the same article. Baseball guides even said "Nationals or Senators" when listing the nickname. This was long before teams made nicknames registered trademarks for marketing purposes.
Thus the Washington ballclub was known by two nicknames for most of its history prior to moving to Minnesota. Although there have been other teams with dual nicknames, such as the Brooklyn "Robins"/"Dodgers"
History of the Brooklyn Dodgers
-Early Brooklyn baseball:Brooklyn was home to numerous baseball clubs in the mid-1850s. Eight of 16 participants in the first convention were from Brooklyn, including the Atlantic, Eckford, and Excelsior clubs that combined to dominate play for most of the 1860s...
, or the New York "Highlanders"/"Yankees"
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
, the longevity of this dual nickname was unique.
The nickname "Senators" was kept alive especially by out-of-town writers. World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
programs in the same year referred to the team by different names: In 1933, the programs for the games played in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
advertised "Giants vs. Senators", while programs for the games played in Washington included a photo of Washington manager Joe Cronin
Joe Cronin
Joseph Edward Cronin was a Major League Baseball shortstop and manager.During a 20-year playing career, he played from 1926–45 for three different teams, primarily for the Boston Red Sox. Cronin was a major league manager from 1933–47...
with the caption "Nationals' Manager".
Although "Nationals" or "Nats" was still used on baseball card
Baseball card
A baseball card is a type of trading card relating to baseball, usually printed on some type of paper stock or card stock. A card will usually feature one or more baseball players or other baseball-related sports figures...
s issued by Topps
Topps
The Topps Company, Inc., manufactures chewing gum, candy and collectibles. Based in New York, New York, Topps is best known as a leading producer of baseball cards, football cards, basketball cards, hockey cards and other sports and non-sports themed trading cards.-Company history:Topps itself was...
as late as 1956, by the 1950s, the name "Nationals" was pretty much passé. For example, the popular 1955 Broadway musical Damn Yankees
Damn Yankees
Damn Yankees is a musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League...
referred to the club primarily, if not exclusively, as the "Senators".
Following the 1956
1956 in baseball
-Major League Baseball:*World Series: New York Yankees over Brooklyn Dodgers ; Don Larsen, MVP*All-Star Game, July 10 at Griffith Stadium: National League, 7-3-Other champions:*Caribbean World Series: Cienfuegos *College World Series: Minnesota...
season, owner Calvin Griffith decided to officially change the name to Senators, but it wasn't until 1959
1959 in baseball
-Major League Baseball:*World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers over Chicago White Sox ; Larry Sherry, MVP*All-Star Game , July 7 at Forbes Field: National League, 5-4*All-Star Game , August 3 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: American League, 5-3...
that the word "Senators" finally appeared on their shirts. (Okkonen) They and their expansion-replacement in 1961
1961 in baseball
-Major League Baseball:*World Series: New York Yankees over Cincinnati Reds ; Whitey Ford, MVP*All-Star Game , July 11 at Candlestick Park: National League, 5-4 *All-Star Game , July 31 at Fenway Park: 1–1 tie...
would remain officially the "Senators" for good, although space-saving headline writers continued to refer to them as "Nats" frequently.
Washington NationalsWashington NationalsThe Washington Nationals are a professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals are a member of the Eastern Division of the National League of Major League Baseball . The team moved into the newly built Nationals Park in 2008, after playing their first three seasons in RFK Stadium...
The Washington Nationals of the National League, transplanted from the Montreal ExposMontreal Expos
The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
in 2005, revived the old Nationals name, and with modern marketing techniques it appears the name will stick this time. The time-honored headline abbreviation "Nats" has also been revived. Any possibility of using the name "Washington Senators" was inhibited by the Texas Rangers
Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...
still owning the rights to that trademark.
General references
- The Sporting News Baseball Guides through the years, especially during the 1940s when a history of each team's nickname was included. Reference as (BBG) in this article.
- Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century: The Official Major League Baseball Guide, by Marc Okkonen, 1991, Steling Publishing, Co. Referenced as (Okkonen) in this article.
These books about baseball parks also contain a lot of information about the minor league teams:
- Green Cathedrals, Philip J. Lowry, 1986, SABR, with revised editions in later years.
- Ballparks of North America, Michael Benson, 1989, McFarland.
Reference books specific to one team's history are embedded.