What’s in a Nickname? The Origins of MLB Team Names

As many people know, I love baseball. Go Giants! And, with the Major League Baseball season getting underway, I thought it would be fun to write about how some of the league’s teams got their name (from Mental Floss):

Arizona Diamondbacks
In 1995, the expansion franchise’s ownership group asked fans to vote from among a list of nicknames that included Coyotes, Diamondbacks, Phoenix, Rattlers, and Scorpions. Diamondbacks, a type of desert rattlesnake, was the winner, sparing everyone the mind-boggling possibility of a team located in Phoenix, Arizona, called the Arizona Phoenix.

San Francisco Giants
The New York Giants moved to San Francisco in 1957 and retained their nickname, which dates back to 1885. It was during that season, according to legend, that New York Gothams manager Jim Mutrie referred to his players as his “giants” after a rousing win over Philadelphia.

San Diego Padres
When San Diego was awarded an expansion team in 1969, the club adopted the nickname of the city’s Pacific Coast League team, the Padres. The nickname, which is Spanish for father or priest, was a reference to San Diego’s status as the first Spanish Mission in California.

Find the story about your favorite team’s name by clicking here.

MLB Files Incorrect Return

According to TaxProf.org and Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal there are some potential problems with the Major League Baseball’s October 2006 Tax return.

"MLB did not include the compensation amounts for its other top officers in its most recent return. The names of MLB President Bob DuPuy and four executive vice presidents are listed but without pay totals. Those numbers appeared in prior MLB tax returns, with DuPuy pulling in a total of $4.875 million in the 2005 fiscal year.

Nonprofit tax experts said such omissions are not permissible under the current tax code. "The [tax return] instructions just couldn’t be clearer. The compensation of the officers, directors and key employees must be disclosed in the return," said Marcus Owens, former director of the IRS’s exempt organizations division and currently an attorney with Caplin & Drysdale in Washington, D.C., representing a variety of nonprofits.

Said DuPuy of that assessment, "We respectfully disagree."

Leaving out officer compensation in Part 5-A of the nonprofit return could be considered an incomplete return and could subject MLB to fines up to $50,000 per year from the IRS, Owens said."

Next Big Thing for Major League Baseball: China

According to this article, Major League Baseball has billions of reasons to play ball with China, and its international business chief says the sport's owners are ready to pitch. MLB is hoping to increase efforts to expand Chinese interest in Baseball, similarly to how the NBA courted the Chinese market nearly 20 years ago. Nowadays, the NBA Chinese affiliate accounts for over $2.3 billion of revenue.
"Whether you're a sport, consumer product or any other business, everyone is now interested in China to grow," claims MLB's international senior vice president Paul Archey, who is set to visit Beijing on Wednesday.