How Did the Los Angeles Dodgers Get Their Name?
Back in the day, it was common to see teams across all sports moving from city to city, like that was their sole purpose. And for many teams, their names don’t make any sense upon moving to a new city. The Los Angeles Lakers? The Utah Jazz?!
In baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers obviously didn’t start in California. The team began in New York as the Brooklyn Dodgers for 68 seasons, moving to the West Coast in 1958. Like the Yankees or Red Sox, “Dodgers” is such a great name, synonymous with baseball in general. But you might be wondering, “How did the Dodgers get that name?”
The Deadly Reason Behind the Name of the Dodgers
Despite the attachment around team names today – and the vitriol espoused if you dare try to change them – there was once a time where a team’s name didn’t really matter at all. It was more or less up to the newspaper writers of the time to give teams nicknames, who were often known more by their colors. And those names could change on an annual basis, or through the whims of whatever a writer was thinking or seeing on any given day.
That being said, the Brooklyn Dodgers ripped through a few different names before the current one stuck. At first, they were the Brooklyn Grays. Then, the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, literally because so many players were getting married during one particular season. And then, all of a sudden, the team started being called the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers.
Why Were They Called the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers?
Here’s why: The team moved to Eastern Park in 1891, which was surrounded by horse-drawn trolley lines, which were soon replaced by electric trolley lines, making Brooklyn the second city in the country to get this brand-new technology.
Clearly, people weren’t ready for the speed and power of these electric trolley lines, and no one was conditioned to look both ways when crossing the lines or, you know, just get out of the way of a speeding streetcar. Five people died in 1892 after being hit by streetcars, which increased to 51 deaths in 1893 and 34 in 1894. That was more than enough carnage to turn them into the “Trolley Dodgers” and make the name stick, as the team was soon referenced as such in other papers around the country, which pretty much cemented the name from then on.
Living in the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century was, by all accounts, a pretty miserable existence, so risking death to catch a baseball game certainly tracks.
