The other day I was looking up who had the most trades over the years with the Atlanta Braves over on Baseball Reference. It is such a cool search function they have. Well, the winner with 76 trades was the Chicago Cubs. So, I decided to look up what was the first trade they ever did. Well, here was that trade:
February 14, 1887. The Boston purchased King Kelly from the Chicago White Stockings for $10,000.
When I looked at it, I had forgotten the Cubs were once called the White Stockings. And that led me down the road of looking up other long-gone club names to see what were the most interesting.
Now there are a lot of old names that have gone by. In the early days of the leagues the teams seemed to change quite a bit more often than they do now. So, I created a Top 10 list of my favorite defunct names in Major League Baseball. Here we go.
Before I get into my Top 10, here is a list of my honorable mentions. Some of these were left off the Top 10 list because the teams folded. I only used teams that have a current team in the MLB.
Detroit Wolverines (Folded in 1888)
Kansas City Cowboys (folded 1886)
Cleveland Spiders (Folded 1899)
Houston Colt .45s – while this team has not folded, and I love this old name, it would not fly today unfortunately.
#10
Boston Americans (1901-1907) This was the first name of the Boston Red Sox. They adopted the name Red Sox in 1908, but they did win a World Series in 1903 as the Americans.
#9
St. Louis Perfectos (1899) This was one of the Cardinals early names and the last one before they became the Cardinals in 1900. They were not so “Perfecto” that year finishing 5th in the National League. Now they finished 2nd in the league in attendance and Bobby Wallace had a great season hitting .295/12/108 (12 HRs ranked 2nd in the league).
#8
Brooklyn Superbas (1899-1910) This team was named after a circus, so how could I leave them off the list. They won the pennant in 1899, winning 101 games. They won the league again in 1900 but then slowly started slipping. From 1904-1910 the Superbas had a losing record and finished near the bottom of the league standings each season.
#7
Philadelphia Quakers (1883-1889) Very fitting if you know anything about the history of Pennsylvania and who started it back in the 1600s. And let’s face it, I am a history teacher. The Quakers’ first year was terrible going 17-81. The Quakers’ first winning season was 1885 at 56-54. While they never won the National League crown under this moniker, they did put together a string of winning seasons before getting rid of the name in 1884. The team shared the name Quakers and Phillies during these seasons.
#6
Boston Bees (1936-1940) This is one of my favorite old Atlanta Braves names. They had some good ones in Boston prior to their first move. They were originally the Red Stockings. Imagine if they had not changed their name over the years. Would the Red Sox still be the Americans? Like many other original teams, the Braves have had a plethora of other names. Some you will see later in the countdown.
#5
Boston Rustlers (1911) For one season the Atlanta Braves franchise were the Rustlers. It only lasted one season, and they struggled to “rustle” up some wins going a meager 44-107 to finish dead last in the National League. That was a rough 54 games behind the NL winner New York Giants who would lose to the Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series.
#4
Chicago Orphans (1898-1902) First, you may ask why the Orphans? Well, Cap Anson was fired in the offseason and his nickname was “Pop”. So, without “Pop” they were Orphans. In year one as the Orphans, they rebounded from a terrible 9th place finish to have a winning record but finished 4th. That would be their best finish as their record continued to get worse year after year.
#3
Cleveland Naps (1903-1914) The Naps or Napoleons named after player/manager Nap Lajoie. Cleveland’s best season as the Naps was in 1908 when they finished a half game out of first. In 1908, Cleveland and Detroit both finished with 90 wins. Cleveland lost 64 and Detroit 63. Under the rules of the day, Detroit was awarded the pennant.
#2
Boston Beaneaters (1883-1906) Believe it or not, this was the team’s third name after the Red Stockings and Red Caps, and my favorite. In their first year as the Beaneaters, they won the National League. They would continue to dominate in the 1890s, winning titles in 1891, 1892, 1893, 1897, and 1898.
#1
New York Gothams (1883-1884) And no this was not the New York Yankees. They were not around yet. This was the New York Giants franchise. While they only lasted 2 seasons as the Gothams, Mickey Welch did go 64-44. He won 39 games in 1884 which was 69.6% of the team’s wins that season. The next year the team would rename themselves the Giants. Oh, and Welch would go on to win 44 that next year, which was still 9 wins off the league leader.