Quote:
Originally Posted by FatJack
I based what I wrote on this from Baseball Reference:
In 1944 & 1945 Phillies used a Blue Jays emblem & used the nickname "Blue Jays", extensively but it was dropped after the 1945 season due to fan outrage/apathy.
The piece (essay?) linked to by B-R has the decision to switch names occurring in the off-season between 1943 and 1944, with the contest announcement coming on January 25, 1944 and the winner announced on March 4, 1944 (appearing in the Sporting News of March 16, 1944). The sleeve patch was abandoned with the uniform change in 1946 and the "Blue Jays" name itself was officially scrapped (it says) on January 10, 1950.
The Hall of Fame's "Dressed To The Nines" uniform database shows the blue unis with the Blue Jay shoulder patch in 1944 and 1945. Searching the newspapers.com database brings up zero references to the Philadelphia Blue Jays in 1943 (among participating newspapers), but many in '44 and '45 (with the last 1945 mention on August 22).
Wikipedia has the Blue Jays name running from 1943 to 1949. |
I'm basing my statement on the fact that people are saying that Ralph Caballero was the last living Phila. Blue Jay. This does not coincide with the fact that there is one player from the 1945 Philadelphia (NL) team that is still alive - Don Hasenmayer. He is not credited as being a Blue Jay - therefore he must be a Phillie. That means that the name Blue Jays no longer applied in 1945 and must have reverted back to the Phillies. I've also read that the Blue Jays name lasted until 1949, but that was only on paper somewhere in Bob Carpenter's office and no one called them that after '44..