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Old 08-14-2018, 07:41 AM
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Dan Bretta
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Lincoln, Nebraska
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David Atkatz View Post
Common mistake. The Red Sox were never known as the "Americans."
As Boston had both National and American League teams, newspapers would refer to one as the "Boston Nationals, and the other as the "Boston Americans." But neither were team names. The Red Sox began as the Boston Pilgrims.
The same held true in NY. The NY Giants were sometimes referred as the "NY Nationals," while the Highlanders were the "NY Americans." Again, not team names.
Official team nicknames in the late 19th early 20th century are kind of tricky as many teams didn't have official nicknames. Has anyone ever seen any type of memorabilia with "Pilgrims" on it associated with Boston? Letterhead, program, advertising? Anything? I think most nicknames were given to teams by sports writers and some stuck, some didn't. The Nebraska football team was known as the Bugeaters and the Old Gold Antelopes before a Lincoln sports writer gave them the name Cornhuskers and it stuck. I'm not sure when the school officially adopted the name, but the school yearbook was known as "The Sombrero" until it was finally named "The Cornhusker" somewhere around 1905.
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