Posted By:
JamieRhett,
That's really interesting that you grew up in Old Town. That part of Maine is so beautiful. If you ever have a scan of that photo, I'd love to see it.
I had forgotten about Jesse Burkett, mainly because I did the research ten years ago, a couple years before the height of the name controversy. I had known about the editorial saying the team was named after Sock because I had been reading papers at the Holy Cross library. That article was unknown of at the time of the controversy, around 1999.
But I was in college at the time, away from Worcester. Finally I made a stop back there on my way back from Boston and found it again, and called the Indians. Fortunately, a journalist from the Plain-Dealer had found it a few weeks later.
At astounds me that after the discovery of the editorial, there are still some activists claiming the team wasn't named in honor of him. Weird. While I am not keen on teams being named after ethnic groups, that is a totally different argument than the argument that the team was not named in honor of Sockalexis. In all, I believe denying that the team was named after Sock is more defamatory towards Sock than helping a cause.
I do have the N28 of Charles Bennett, the "plucky yet reliable" catcher from the Worcester Brownstockings. And what do you know, that team is now the Oakland A's!!!
Jamie