Baseball Team Names

Origins of MLB Names

The Atlanta Braves

The name originates from the Boston Braves who moved to Milwaukee and

then to Atlanta the name has stayed threw out.

The Arizona Diamondbacks

Refers to the many rattle snakes of Arizona.

The Baltimore Orioles

The Baltimore Oriole refers to the bird witch 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 Boston Red Sox

Boston first called the Braves from their owner James Gaffney. The

nickname of Braves was first given the club at the suggestion of John

Montgomery Ward, when James E. Gaffney, from Tammany Hall, became club

president in 1912. Before the club had been known as the Doves, a name

also derived from the previous owners George B. and John E. C. Dovey

The Tammany Hall political organization was named after an American Indian

chief and used an Indian image as its symbol, hence the “Braves”.  Red Sox was

adapted later referring to Red Stocking a very common team name

in that era.

The Chicago Cubs

First called the White Stockings the  organsation has been called the The

Colts (this refers to “runaway colts” because they were trading talent )and then

orphans referring to the time after long time player manger Cap Anson left the

team his cap was called POP sometimes hence the term orphans. Both of these

names came from sports writers the media gave team there  nicknames a lot

back then. When Frank Selee took over the managerial reins 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” it has stuck ever since.

The Chicago White Sox

Well this is a quick one they stole it. 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.

 Sanborn, who covered baseball in the Windy City at the time, revived the name

White Stockings.

The Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Red Stocking later shortened by lazy writers to Reds. Because

of the cold war from 1956-60 the team was called The Cincinnati Redlegs. The

term Reds was to closely related to communism.

The Cleveland Indians

First called the spiders then named the Naps after star player sometimes

manager Napoleon “Nap” Lajoie who won the American League triple crown in

1901 the Indians came about after Lajoie was traded at the end of 1914 season.

Legend has it that the team honored Louis Sockalexis who was a player with the

spiders and  Native American Indian. Contrary to popular belief that the

media and the team chose Cleveland Indians as a play on the name of the

Boston Braves.

The Colorado Rockies

Well you should all know this but if you do not it comes from The Rocky

Mountains.

The Detroit Tigers

Thought to be from the striped socks they wore but really came from 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 team 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”.

The Houston Astros

First established 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”,  In 1965 the

team changed its nickname to Houston Astros, a name that had more futuristic

overtones and represented the city in a much better way then a gun.

The Kansas City Royals

Kansas City was named the Royals after the American Royal Livestock Show

witch has been held in Kansas City every year since 1899.

The Los Angeles Dodgers

This team from the Brooklyn first called the Trolly Dodgers then shortened

again by writer to just the Dodgers refers to the pedestrians Dodging Trollies in

the Brooklyn. Even with the moved the name stuck witch killed a lot of fans.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

When major league baseball expanded in 1961, a new entry in the

American League revived the old nickname. The minor league teams had been

known as the Los Angeles Angels since the founding of the Pacific Coast League

in 1903The 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. The ownership wanted to revert to the original

name, Los Angeles Angels. This caused many legal problems with the city of

Anaheim, and the franchise was eventually required to keep “Anaheim” in the

team name. As a result, the official designation became the worst name in

baseball  “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim” I mean really you got two cities in your

Team Name.

The Miami Marlins

Called the Florida Marlins for much of their existence the name is derived

from the sport fish. Minor league teams had been known as the Miami Marlins for

several decades.

The Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers comes from the minor Western League of the 1890s. 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 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 during the absents of a professional team. 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 Minnesota Twins

The team names comes from the surrounding cities Minneapolis and St.

Paul often call the twin cities. they decided to put the team in Minneapolis but

both cities were really an option after moving from Washington D.C. in 1961.

The New Your Mets

Deriving from the term Metropolitans shortened to Mets.  The original

Metropolitan Baseball Club was a member of the 19th Century American

Association, a club which lasted until 1887. In 1962 the National League

expanded and the Metropolitans was born again. “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 Yankees

Yankee  is a synonym for American.  Know as the Highlanders from

1903-1912 and the Yankees since 1913. Cities that had  two teams often had to

use nicknames back in the early 1900’s so they would often call their teams

“Nationals” or “Americans” to distinguish them. Then came the name the Yankees

or Yanks. The powerful 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.

The Oakland Athletics or A’s

The Oakland Athletics, 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. The name is pretty self

explanatory.

The Philadelphia Phillies

They’ve been the Phillies ever since the team entered the National League

in 1883. “Phillies” or “Phils” is a short form of “Philadelphias” An interesting note

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.  This change never

caught on with the general public, especially as the uniform shirts continued to

say “Phillies” with a blue jay shoulder patch. That experiment was

dropped after a couple of years.

The Pittsburgh Pirates

This team always has the most interesting stories. The original Pittsburgh

club, formed in 1882 the club was called “Alleghenys” in the standings after the

city they played in and the river. The club was accused of “pirating” In 1890,

Philadelphia Athletics players Lou Bierbauer and Harry Stovey  through a

clerical error the Athletics 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. 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.

 

St. Louis Browns

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.

 

The St. Louis Cardinals

A 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 they

changed their uniform color from brown to red. The refreshed team was labeled

the Perfectos by a perhaps over-optimistic press. The team was also being called

Cardinals by season’s end. According to most sources 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 Cardinals of

the Roman Catholic Church.

 

The 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 San Francisco Giants

The well-established Seals, 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

Giants according to legend derives from when 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. When in

New York the team was often referred to as the Gothams or the Gotham Giants.

“Gotham” being a synonym for New York City.

 

The 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.

The Tampa Bay Rays

The club was an expansion franchise in the American League in 1998. The

team’s first logo included an illustration of a manta ray, also called a devil-fish or

devil ray.  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. People do not like the word Devil.

 

The 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.

 

The 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.

 

The 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 prohibited by the Texas Rangers still

owning the rights to that trademark.

 

The 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.

Now Your Trivia for the Day

Q: What Hall of Fame center fielder started his career 1-25 the 1 being a home run?

HINT: He made one of the best catches in history.

Happy Reading I love baseball,

1canof corn

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