Teams that Changed their Nickname without Relocating

[sportsfan7]

4 minutes ago, ManillaToad said:

Funny enough I looked at Charley O's page after reading this and it says they changed it to A's in 1970.

Like I said, the exact dates are a little hard to pin down. According to the mothership, their primary logo was "A's" from 68-70, "The Swinging A's" from 71-81, and then two versions of "A's" with "Oakland Athletics" around the outside from 82-present. They didn't have "Athletics" on their jerseys until 87, having either "Oakland" "A" or "A's" on them instead.

[sportsfan7]

3. New Orleans Hornets → New Orleans Pelicans
The first of 2 Hornets related name changes, the New Orleans Hornets kept the name after the Charlotte Hornets relocated to the Big Easy. The Charlotte Hornets were named so because British General Cornwallis described the area as “a hornet’s nest of rebellion” during the Revolution. In 2013, the Hornets (Who played the 2005-07 seasons in OKC due to Katrina) changed their name to Pelicans, partly so the Hornets moniker could be returned to Charlotte. The Pelicans name was chosen because the state bird is the Brown Pelican. The city had also hosted a minor league baseball team with the name, and the Hornets owner Tom Benson had attempted to get a AAA team with the name, so he already held the trademark. I like the name change. The Hornets name belongs in Charlotte and the Pelicans name is nice and unique.

[sportsfan7]

2. San Jose Clash → San Jose Earthquakes
When the San Jose MLS franchise announced that their General Manager would be Peter Bridgwater, it became a foregone conclusion that the team would be named the Earthquakes, as he owned the rights to the name and branding of the NASL team. Instead, Nike interjected themselves into the branding process and came up with Clash, apparently because Nike thought it would resonate with young people. After 4 seasons the team rebranded as the Earthquakes (Interestingly enough, one year after Bridgwater left the team). This, however, is not the same franchise as today’s Earthquakes. In The Relocation MLS Doesn’t Want You to Know About the Earthquakes moved to Houston and received an expansion franchise a few seasons later, essentially MLS’s Brown’s Deal. This rebranding was a no-brainer, given the history of the Earthquakes and the lack of success as the Clash.

[sportsfan7]

Doubt this comes as a surprise to anyone, but I present to you the #1 best renaming ... 

 

1. Charlotte Bobcats → Charlotte Hornets
After the Charlotte Hornets moved to New Orleans, the city of Charlotte was given an expansion franchise. Despite winning the Name-the-Team contest, owner Bob Johnson did not name the team the Flight, citing his opposition to the Iraq War. Instead he did the humble thing and named them the Bobcats, after himself (Although as the first Black billionaire and first Black majority owner in major professional sports he would be one of the more deserving owners for this). After being sold to Michael Jordan (The 4th African-American billionaire, beaten by Oprah and Robert Smith) and the New Orleans Hornets changing their name, the team renamed themselves the Charlotte Hornets after the first NBA team in the city. The Hornets name should’ve stayed in Charlotte and the Bobcats had done nothing of note, outside of the worst season in NBA history. This is a definite improvement, replacing a name that was viewed apathetically by most everyone and replaced by a fan favorite with history.

[chakfu]

On 7/14/2020 at 1:36 PM, sportsfan7 said:

Let me preface this by saying there is very little information about these changes. Neither MLB.com nor the mothership mention the changes and Wikipedia contradicts themselves, first saying that they were the A's from 1968-86, but later on saying that it was 1972-81. Regardless, I am fairly certain that the change was present over the 72-81 time period.

 

4. Oakland Athletics → Oakland A’s → Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics changed their nickname in time for the 1972 season, shortening it to A’s, which had been used unofficially since the dawn of the franchise. Owner Charles Finley thought that people associated the Athletics moniker with Philadelphia Athletics legend, as well as former owner and manager, Connie Mack, so he changed the name in hopes that people would associate him with A’s in the same way. As part of his divorce, Charlie O. was forced to sell the team before the 1981 season and the new group restored the Athletics moniker. In all honesty, these barely register as changes, since the team has been known as the A’s and Athletics for their entire history. Neither of the changes bother me very much. However, it is worth pointing out that ⅓ (3 out of 9) of the franchises World Series came in the 9 year period that the team was officially the Oakland A’s (They won 5 in Philly and one as the Oakland Athletics), but the Commissioner’s Trophy refers to them as the Oakland Athletics for all 3.

 

Didn't know this at all.  Explains why baseball cards around 1986-87 said "A's"; this is when I first became aware of baseball and thought it was a weird name.  That's an the Mariner's "M's" logo...just horrific.