"Statesmen" and "Senators". By the 1890s, "Senators" was commonly used in the media for the National League entry, and it appears in the 1894 Spalding Guide. Washington Nationals/Senators The "Senators" nickname carried over to the new American League entry in 1901. The team was generally called the Senators from 1901 to 1904, as the old National League club had been. Washington Star newspaper owner Thomas C. Noyes, along with an ownership group of Benjamin Minor, Harry Rapley and others bought the team in 1905. Before the 1905 season, Noyes solicited fans and writers for a new nickname. In an effort to remarket the team Noyes decided to officially name the club the "Nationals", reverting to the older nickname. "The new owners desire to get as far away as possible from the old regime and start the coming season without any barnacles to hinder its move toward prosperity. With that end in view it is proposed to bury the moss-covered title of Senators and secure a nickname that may be lucky and popular." – Tom Noyes, 1905 During 1905 and 1906, the team wore "Nationals" on their new shirts, the first team to wear a full team name. Otherwise, the shirts either read "Washington" or carried a plain block "W". (Okkonen) "Fans, by ballot, decided their club was to be called the Nationals, instead of the Senators. The only trouble with the vote was that its result was not binding on headline writers. Therefore, the Washington club still is often called Senators, as well as the Nats and Griffs, the latter nickname being derived from the name of owner Clark Calvin Griffith." (TSNBBG) Some reluctance could have been due to the inherent ambiguity of the name. Writers frequently referred to individual major league teams as "Americans" or "Nationals" in reference to their league affiliation—and the Washington Nationals were in the American League. Newspaper articles for decades used the names "Senators" and "Nationals" (or "Nats") interchangeably, often within the same article. Baseball guides even said "Nationals or Senators" when listing the nickname. This was long before teams made nicknames registered trademarks for marketing purposes. Thus the Washington ballclub was known by two nicknames for most of its history prior to moving to Minnesota. Although there have been other teams with dual nicknames, such as the Brooklyn "Robins"/"Dodgers", or the New York "Highlanders"/"Yankees", the longevity of this dual nickname was unique. The nickname