# Nineteenth-century baseball team names **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 5, 2015, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098 "2015-08-05T21:00:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/1 "2015-08-05T21:00:32Z")
Some of the early major-league team names showed creativity: Eckfords (Brooklyn), Mutuals (New York), Olympics (Washington), and Kekiongas (Fort Wayne, Indiana). What I want to know is: Where did the name “Kekionga” come from, and how is it pronounced? I was thinking “ke-KONN-i-guh” before I looked more carefully, now “ke-kee-ONN-guh” sounds closer… ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/2 "2015-08-05T22:13:49Z")
According to the Wiki page for that team: Kekionga - pronounced KEY-key-awn-guh - is the name of Chief Little Turtle’s Miami Indian settlement where the St. Joseph River and the St. Mary’s River join to form the Maumee River. ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/3 "2015-08-05T22:16:03Z")
[The Origins of “Kekionga” in Fort Wayne’s Past, Pt 1](http://www.genealogycenter.org/Community/Blog/acpl-genealogy-blog/2013/06/18/The_Origins_of_%E2%80%9CKekionga%E2%80%9D_in_Fort_Wayne_s_Past_Pt_1) [The Origins of “Kekionga” in Fort Wayne’s Past, Pt 2](http://www.genealogycenter.org/Community/Blog/acpl-genealogy-blog/2013/06/19/The_Origins_of_%E2%80%9CKekionga%E2%80%9D_in_Fort_Wayne_s_Past_Pt_2) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/4 "2015-08-06T17:04:18Z")
There wasn’t really much creativity in some of those names. The “Brooklyn Eckfords” were a team affiliated with the Eckford Athletic Club. The club had been named after Scottish tycoon Henry Eckford, who built many of the earliest ship building yards in Brooklyn. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/5 "2015-08-06T21:23:51Z")
To elaborate, many early pro baseball teams were originally affiliated with local athletic clubs. To use one obvious example, in the 19th century, you had the Philadelphia Athletic Club, whose players wore a big capital A on their hats. They became known as the Philadelphia (later KC and Oakland) Athletics, or “A’s” for short. Along the same lines, one of the leading 19th century pro baseball team was (just like the NBA team) the New York Knickerbockers. Father Diedrich Knickerbocker, a character created by Washington Irving, has long been a symbol of old New York, and there was a Knickerbocker Sport Club named after him. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/6 "2015-08-06T21:44:55Z")
How about the New York Mutuals? Or the Louisville Eclipse? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/7 "2015-08-06T22:17:16Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > How about the New York Mutuals? [Life insurance](http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/the-mutual-life-insurance-company-of-new-york-history/), I’m guessing. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/8 "2015-08-06T22:41:25Z")
Then there’s the Brooklyn Atlantics, Grays, Bridegrooms, and Superbas, who eventually became the Trolley Dodgers. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/9 "2015-08-07T03:28:15Z")
Lots of nicknames were invented by newspapers, which most cities had several. In the early days of the New York Yankees (1903, almost 19th century) they tended to be known as the Highlanders, partly because they played in upper Manhattan which is more hilly and because the business manager’s name was Gordon. Gordon Highlanders was a well known British Army regiment, although it occurred to people that the large Irish population in New York didn’t care much for any British army unit. I wish I could remember the various nicknames papers gave the New York AL team. One was “Invaders” because they “invaded” the New York Giants territory. Another was “New York Greater New Yorks”. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/10 "2015-08-07T05:20:13Z")
Actually, baseball historian Lee Allen noted that the AL New York team was known as the Yankees as early as 1905, according to contemporary newspaper headlines. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/11 "2015-08-07T10:50:48Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Then there’s the Brooklyn Atlantics, Grays, Bridegrooms, and Superbas, who eventually became the Trolley Dodgers. I have done no research on this team at all, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the original team was affiliated with an “Atlantic Avenue Athletic Club” or some such group. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/12 "2015-08-07T13:34:08Z")
People tend to misunderstand the nickname “Superbas,” in the same way they misunderstand the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan. Looking at it, people think it’s “Super-Bas,” but the intention is “Superb-as.” There also was the Federal League, with the Chicago Chiffeds (later Whales) and Buffalo Buffeds. In both cases, they really didn’t have a nickname, but were names as the “Chi-feds” and “Buff-feds,” where “feds” meant “Federal League.” The Federal League also had the Brooklyn Tip-Tops, named after Tip-Top Bread. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/13 "2015-08-07T15:37:54Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > […] > > There also was the Federal League, with the Chicago Chiffeds (later Whales) and Buffalo Buffeds. In both cases, they really didn’t have a nickname, but were names as the “Chi-feds” and “Buff-feds,” where “feds” meant “Federal League.” > > […] And according to Lee Allen, the Buffalo team became the Blues. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/14 "2015-08-07T19:43:27Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > People tend to misunderstand the nickname “Superbas,” in the same way they misunderstand the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan. Once you realize that the team’s corporate owner is part of the name it makes more sense. Otherwise it evokes the image of some Japanese guy fighting a pig. ---
**Author:** ![jsquire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jsquire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsquire)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/15 "2015-08-08T00:08:44Z")
My esteemed hometown (“Toledo: a nice place to live but you wouldn’t want to visit there”) first had a pro team in 1883, named the Blue Stockings. I’m going to go out on a limb and presume it’s because the team wore blue stockings. That team folded two years later after spending one year in the then-major American Association, having the distinction of the only black major league players until Jackie Robinson but otherwise being totally forgettable. The famed Mud Hens came along in 1896. Blue laws banned Sunday baseball at the time so they played just across the state line at a popular lakefront park and beach. A lot of American coots, aka “mud hens”, occupied a nearby marshland. The team was dubbed such by the newspaper and the name stuck even though the team moved back to the city in its second year. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/16 "2015-08-08T00:16:55Z")
Organized baseball was popularized in the post Civil Ear era by Gentlemen’s social clubs and athletic clubs, so almost all the names in that era are based in the name of the gentleman’s club that sponsored the baseball team. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/17 "2015-08-08T00:32:43Z")
In fact a name like “New York Mutuals” is a anachronism. The real name of the team was simply “Mutual Club,” or “Mutual” or, informally, “Mutuals.” When intercity play started becoming common, the press might have started using “Mutuals (New York)” or “Mutuals of New York” for disambiguating purposes. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/18 "2015-08-08T01:17:16Z")
> [@jsquire](#): > > That team folded two years later after spending one year in the then-major American Association, having the distinction of the only black major league players until Jackie Robinson but otherwise being totally forgettable. Not quite correct. According to SABR, there were two other black American’s to play in the 19th century. One was his brother who played 5 games and another, the probable first, played only one. See > **[Jackie Robinson was Not the First African American to Play Major League Baseball](http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/04/jackie-robinson-was-not-the-first-african-american-to-play-major-league-baseball/)** > > Myth: Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play in the Major Leagues The great Jackie Robinson accomplished an amazing amount in his lifetime both on and off the field.  Despite all the adversity and pressure he experienced, he... ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/19 "2015-08-08T01:23:45Z")
For decades (in fact, it may still be) the official name of the Cardinals was the St. Louis National Baseball Club, Inc., despite the fact that the Cardinals nickname goes back to the 1890s. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098/20 "2015-08-08T02:06:50Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > For decades (in fact, it may still be) the official name of the Cardinals was the St. Louis National Baseball Club, Inc., despite the fact that the Cardinals nickname goes back to the 1890s. “…without the express written consent of the Chicago National League ballclub…” Standard disclaimer about rebroadcast and retransmission read by Jack Brickhouse (or possibly color man Jim West, I don’t remember for sure) on every Cubs TV broadcast while I was growing up. Haven’t thought about that in _years_, but it came rushing right back when I saw your post! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nineteenth-century-baseball-team-names/727098.md?page=2)