Last weekend a friend and I were arguing about team names – I think “Diamondbacks” is the worst of the team nicknames. Â His retort, “Mets? Â What is that?”
Well, I stumbled across this article on Mental Floss which will walk you through all 3o nicknames (including the Baltimore Orioles of 161st and River. Â Check your history.)
Some of you will be like “yeah we all know this” but not every fan knows everything. Â So anyways…
Team officials asked fans to choose a nickname from among 10 finalists when New York was awarded an expansion National League franchise in 1961. The finalists were Avengers, Bees, Burros, Continentals, Jets, Mets, NYBS, Rebels, Skyliners, and Skyscrapers. The team received 2,563 mailed entries, which included 9,613 suggestions, and 644 different names...more
I’ve got to check my Met library but I recall reading that the naming vote was relatively close with the Metropolitans beating the Skyliners by a few votes (would we of called them the Skys?).