Hey Klydon, I've never understood what the name "Phillies" meant. Is it just because they are from Philadelphia? But that wouldn't make sense because why call themselves the Philadelphia Phildelphians or whatever. I'm not being a sarcastic, I really want to know.
The Phillies are the oldest, continuous, one-city franchise in professional sports. The team was named the Phillies in the early 1880s as a take-off on their city's name. For a couple of years in the late-1800s, they were known as the Quakers, most likely in recognition of William Penn, whose presence is still felt in the city. Also, to spark interest in the team during WWII, the team sponsored a contest to rename the team, and they were known for a few years in the 1940s as the Blue Jays.
Their nickname, like many baseball nicknames, is on the surface relatively dull, but at least it's not as unimaginative as their long time cross-town rivals, the Athletics.
I've always noted the seeming gentility of baseball team names, compared to football. You want birds? Baseball gives you orioles, cardinals and blue jays while football offers predators, like falcons, eagles and seahawks. What's up with the cubs when football has the bears?
Even expansion in the 60s, when we were generations removed from naming teams after hosiery, two of which honored red stockings, baseball comes up with goof ball abstract concept names, like the Metropolitans, Expos and Astros. Even worse were the Padres, Angels, Royals, Twins and Brewers. Yes, they all bear some relation to the city, in which they play, and I guess the names reflect a gentility of the sport, a tongue-in-cheek flair that is perhaps lacking in the base meat and potatoes world of football, which I also love.
