Anyone familiar with the Boston Bees/Braves name change?
 

Looks to me like they changed their name from the Bees back to the Braves in 1941, but on cards like the Max West/Carvel Rowell double header and also a couple of 1941 programs, they're still listed as the Bees...although I have also seen 1941 programs with the Braves on them. Is this just a case of having something printed up before the name change, or did they change during the season?

As far as we know, and as always we stand ready to be corrected by more expert historians, the Braves
(so called since about 1909) were previously known as the Beaneaters (and before that, the Red Stockings)
and, as both Beaneaters and Braves (and just for hailing from Boston), had often been nicknamed the Bees
all throughout their history.
We're unaware of any "official" name change at any point -- early on, all team names were pretty much
"unofficial" and more commonly bestowed upon them by the sporting media and to some extent their fans
than by the club itself. Trademarking, copyrighting, and branding of team names is a relatively recent
development. You'll find a lot of cards labellng the pre-1971 Senators as the Nationals or Nats, too,
their secondary nickname, although no "official" change of name was involved.

I miss the Bruces.

Actually, let me modify the question. I do know the officially changed from the Braves to the Bees in 1936 when new ownership took over. I know it lasted through 1940, but my question is did they change at the beginning of the 41 season or somewhere in the middle. I've seen programs from 1941 with both names on them, but maybe the Bee's version was from spring or already made up before the name changed back to the Braves. Just thought someone might know.

If memory serves me right (and it often doesn't) sometime around April 14, 1941 or so ownership of the Bees changed and the new owner went to Braves.

Thanks Jim, that would make sense since that was right before the start of the season and they may have already printed up programs for the first couple of home stands. Was going to pick up a program and noticed the two variations so it got me curious.

From A.P. in newspapers from April 30, 1941
 

Wow...Thanks Bob!! That makes even more sense because that was at the beginning of a short home stand, and I saw a Bees programs with St.Louis (which was at the end of that home stand) so they probably already had them printed up. Now I wonder with the all the PC these days if they will revert back to the Bees?

So we (us personally) learn something. Somehow Total Baseball neglected to mention this bit of
Boston ( > Milwaukee > Atlanta) trivia in their "Team Histories" section, which we were relying on.
Nice research, Mike, Jim, Bob.

Note to Doug: there are actually three of us from the Baseball Games website here behind this screenname.
No royal "we" involved.

That's not nearly as fun as the Bruces were...

Once we can get the Butches to file a lawsuit against themselves, then the fun will really begin! :)

Seriously - thanks for asking a good question, and to those who gave some great info. I collect earlier Braves material but didn't know the history behind the temporary Bees name change!

"When someone throws a dart at us, we respond with...
'hey, that was a bit rude, wasn't it?'"