Had it not been for the ingenuity of an early twentieth-century journalist seeking to rescue letters, the subway station at the corner of 161ST Street and River Avenue might have been better known as the Highlanders Stadium stop. . Many think the Yankees changed their original name to Highlanders in 1913, when they decided to leave the weak Hilltop Park and move to Pole Grounds.
They shared the latter stadium with the Giants until 1923, when the team moved to a state-of-the-art facility whose main attraction was the legendary Babe Ruth. But the first public reference of this franchise of the American League under the name “Yankees” occurred on April 7, 1904, When the New York Evening Journal reported from a successful spring workout with the headline, “YANKEES WILL TRAVEL HOME FROM THE SOUTH TODAY.”
A week later, the same newspaper cover about the inaugural game was headlined: “YANKEES WIN BOSTON,” with the name also appearing in the first paragraph of an article chronicling New York’s 8-2 victory about a team that was not yet known as the Red Sox. There are several references to the club such as the Yankees before 1913, including some advertising cards and tobacco.
Historians believe that the name “Yankees” was born from journalists, who came up with a shorter alternative to “Highlanders” or “Hilltoppers”. The excellent story of Marty Appel’s franchise, “Pinstripe Empire,” unearthed a 1922 edition of Baseball Magazine, in which reporter Fred Lieb reported the following:
“[Highlanders] it was an awkward name to use on the heads. Finally, the sports editor of one of New York’s nightclubs exclaimed, ‘To hell with these Highlanders. I’m going to call this team the Yanks. That name needs to fit better in the headlines’ “.
An article on the franchise published in 1943 gives credit to New York Press sports editor Jim Price for being the first to refer to the team as the Yankees.
The name Highlanders was never popular with fans who, on the other hand, found the patriotic symbolism of the Yankees name, which originated in the Yankee Doodle times of the American Revolution, attractive.
Other names of the time included “Greater New Yorks”, “Invaders” and “Griffiths”. The latter referred to Clark Griffith, the club driver from 1903 to 1908.
A formal announcement was never made to confirm the permanent adoption of the name, but by 1913, it was already generally accepted that the team would forever bear the name of Yankees. Joe DiMaggio’s famous proclamation — Thank God for Becoming a Highlander ”—would never have transcended.
Bryan Hoch / MLB.com