might invent some new ones. Initially, they often referred to a club in the plural form, either by its city name or by its club name. Examples: Athletics Bostons Chicagos Mutuals As the writers and reporters became more inventive, they began to refer to teams by some characteristic that made the team or the city unique. Examples: Beaneaters (Boston) Colts (Chicago) Giants (New York) Spiders (Cleveland) Trolley Dodgers (Brooklyn) When two or more major leagues existed simultaneously in one city, the writers often appended the league name, which occasionally had the chance of evolving also into a team nickname, especially in the then frequent cities of the Northeast with two teams, a representative in each league. (The Encyclopedia of Sports, p. 32) Examples: Baltimore Americans (later "Orioles" - also used by previous NL and AA franchises) Boston Nationals (later "Braves"), Boston Americans (later "Red Sox") New York Nationals (better known as "Giants"), New York Americans or "Highlanders" (evolved into "Yankees") In some cases, such as the Cleveland Indians, the team actually solicited help from the media in inventing a new nickname. Some of those nicknames changed over time or died with the team, while some are still in use today. All of the nicknames of the "classic 8" NL teams of 1900-1952 were originally unofficial. But once an unofficial nickname became popular enough, it might be adopted by the team and become official. This practice was already coming into vogue by 1901 and the formation of the American League; four of the upstart league's eight franchises had official team names right from the start. A couple of teams stuck with a name for several years and then changed it to something else, such as the Cleveland Napoleons > Indians, but most teams have never changed their names once officially adopted (other than teams which relocated to a new city). Some teams have had "two" popular nicknames simultaneously for many years. Examples: Brooklyn Dodgers/Robins Washington Senators/Nationals In the modern era of sports franchise expansion, nicknames are no longer assigned in a haphazard way by the news media, but rather are chosen by the teams for marketing and advertising purposes. The names are chosen in order to establish a strong team identity, and to have an attractive logo to encourage sales of merchandise to fans, such as caps and shirts. Often the nickname will have some sort of historical, geographical, cultural or