I am teaching a new elective class this year called American Sports History. One of the many benefits of teaching a new class is that I get to learn a lot. The early history of baseball was one of our early topics and while teaching I came across the origins of some team names that I had always wondered about. This was great because I am a huge sports fan. It was also cool because I often bring up team names while teaching history since so many names are derived from historical connections with their cities and regions. Obvious examples include; the New England Patriots, the Philadelphia 76ers, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Portland Trailblazers. When I point these out in class I get the pleasure of seeing many lightbulbs go off.

The origin stories I recently learned about have to do with the Cincinnati Reds and the Los Angeles Dodgers. I always wondered why a midwestern team would have a name associated as a political slur. Their original name was the Red Stockings, and they are considered to be America’s first professional team. They became the Reds eventually, but during the early days of the Cold War, they did actually change their name from the Reds to the Redlegs. They changed back to Reds in 1959.

Most baseball fans know that the LA Dodgers started in New York and were known as the Brooklyn Dodgers. But dodgers of what? Seems like a random team name. Apparently, before they were the Dodgers, they were the Greys, the Bridegrooms, and the Robins. In the 1930s, with trolley’s becoming ubiquitous, they were renamed the Trolley Dodgers. They eventually moved to the West Coast, and the local connection of the name became shrouded to most.

For the record, the original names (and locations) of my favorite teams are:

Athletics: Philadelphia Athletics (1901-1954) → Kansas City Athletics (1955-1967) → Oakland Athletics (1968-2024) → (Sacramento) Athletics (2025-2027, temporary while new stadium built) → Las Vegas Athletics (2028-present, planned)

Raiders: Oakland Raiders (1960-1981) → Los Angeles Raiders (1982-1994) → Oakland Raiders (1995-2019) → Las Vegas Raiders (2020-present)

Kings: Rochester Royals (1945-1957) → Cincinnati Royals (1957-1972) → Kansas City-Omaha Kings (1972-1975) → Kansas City Kings (1975-1985) → Sacramento Kings (1985-present)

Stanford Cardinal: Stanford University, Stanford, California (1891-present) - The team name changed from “Indians” (1930-1972) to “Cardinal” (1972-present), referring to the color cardinal red, not the bird.