Baseball is America's game, and some of the teams seem to portray the American spirit of the game. Some of that is because of how long they'd been around. But where did they get their names from? Sure some seem simple and obvious: Yankees for the Americans of the Revolitionary War era, birds like Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Orioles, or then there are colors like Reds. But what is a Met? What are the Dodgers dodging? Although there are many things in dispute in the MLB (such as baseball's origin itself, the year of the MLB's beginning, etc.), the names of the teams typically have a origin. Here is Part 4 of an explanation of these.
The Central Division Teams 2
16. Indians - The Indians began its life in 1894 as the Grand Rapids Rustlers, a minor league team in the Western League. It moved to Cleveland in 1900 and was renamed the Lake Shores. When the American League became announced itself in direct competition with the National League in 1901, the team was renamed the Bluebirds. The following year, it was renamed the Bronchos. The team didn't do well and as a publicity move, newspapers had a write in competition which renamed the team the Naps, which it stayed from 1903-14. In 1915, there was another write in competition to rename the team, and the name Indians was chosen. Some believe that it was in honor of a former player named Louis Sockalexis who was a Native American player for the short-lived MLB team Cleveland Spiders, which were sometimes referred to as the Indians.
17. Cardinals - The Cardinals began as the St. Louis Brown Stockings in 1882 in the American Association, a minor league. The following year, the name was shortened to just the Browns. The American Association went backrupt and the Browns joined the National League in 1892. The team declined for the rest of the decade. The team changed its colors from brown to red in 1899 and were known as the Perfectos. Allegedly, a woman thought the uniforms looked to be a "lovely shade of cardinal", so the unofficial name became the Cardinals. In 1900, the team name was changed to the Cardinals.
18. Royals - The Royals dates to the second round of expansion - 1969. The Athletics moved from Kansas City after the 1967 season and a senator was so irritated that he threatened anti-trust suits against the MLB, who agreed to allow Kansas City to be an expansion city in 1971. The senator pushed for 1969, which was granted. The name is specifically named after the American Royal which is an annual livestock show that dates back to 1899. The name also is thought to be a homage to the Negro League team the Kansas City Monarchs and even the defunct Kansas City Blues minor league team.
19. Pirates - Teams had been playing in Pittsburgh since 1876, but the strongest of these teams joined the American Association in 1882, calling themselves simply Allegheny (which at that time was a separate city across the Allegheny River from Pittsburgh). In 1887, they were called (officially) the Pittsburgh Alleghenys when they joined the National League. After a short legal problem, the team was renamed the Innocents for the 1890 season. At the end of the season, the team was able to secure a second basemen that outraged many people who called the actions "piratical". The team adopted the name Pirates for the 1891 season.
20. Twins - The Twins began in 1894 as the minor league team Kansas City Blues. In 1901, the team moved to Washington DC, joined the American League, and changed its name to the Senators. The Senators had a long and mediocre career in Washington DC. In 1960, MLB announced that Minneapolis had been granted an expansion team. The owner of the Senators offered to move his team to Minneapolis and allow Washington to have the expansion team. It was agreed, and the team moved in 1961. The new name was the Twins after the Twin Cities.
21. Brewers - The Brewers began as an expansion franchise in 1969, but they started as the Seattle Pilots. The deal with the Royals was rushed, and the Royals seemed to get the better side of the deal, so the Pilots were underfunded, undertalented, and were out of the gate not ready to compete. The team ended the first season in such bad shape financially that they were sold and moved to Milwaukee for the 1970 season. The name Brewers is in direct reference to the brewing industry there, but the name of the MLB team is directly related to the previous (and shortlived) MLB team called the Brewers and specifically the minor league team that occupied the city from 1902-52.
Check back for Part 5!
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