Would you call yourself a fan of the Brooklyn Robins? What about the Brooklyn Bridegrooms? If you have any Los Angeles Dodgers gear, the answer to both is yes.
If you aren’t an avid Dodgers fan, let us explain.
Several professional baseball teams playing today got their start in the late 1800s when the major league was formed. The Cincinnati Reds, for example, played under the Red Stockings nickname in 1869 when they became the first to field a professional team, according to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Among the other current-day teams playing under a different moniker 150 years ago are the Los Angeles Dodgers.
They started as the Brooklyn Athletics in 1883 but listed their name as “the Grays, the city name of Brooklyn or the Church City Nine,” starting in 1884, according to a report on the team’s website.
Brooklyn would use multiple nicknames: the Bridegrooms after seven players were married in 1888; Ward’s Wonders because of manager John Montgomery Ward; and Foutz’s Fillies for manager Dave Foutz in 1893.
By 1896, the team adopted the name Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers, shortened to Dodgers, paying homage to the trolley tracks stretching through the city, a timeline of the team’s history explains.
One of the team’s longest-held nicknames – the name they were playing under exactly 100 years ago – was the Brooklyn Robins. As the team had done before, it looked to its manager, then Wilbert Robinson, for inspiration. From 1915 to 1931, the team was commonly referred to as the “Robins.”
“It’s been in Ohio as early as the mid-1850s at least, brought in as an ornamental plant because of its unique foliage and white flowers,” Gardner said. “It was actually planted in people’s landscaping, and it has been spreading.”
As the Robins, the franchise would make its first and second World Series appearances, where they fell to the Boston Red Sox, 4-1, and the Cleveland Indians, 5-2, according to the Los Angeles Times.
SLIDESHOW: A look back at the Brooklyn Robins
(Original Caption) 10/5/1920-Brooklyn, NY- CLEVELAND WINS FIRST GAME OF WORLD SERIES. Ebbets Field, Cleveland Indians vs. Brooklyn Robins. Cleveland won the first game of the World Series today by a score of 3 to 1. Photo shows Zach Wheat scoring Brooklyn’s only run in the eighth inning. (Getty) 
(Original Caption) New York, New York: “Hassan” Pfeffer, Brooklyn Robins pitcher. (Getty) 
Catchers George McGarty of Brooklyn (Robins), and Chief Meyer of New York Giants, (R). (Getty) 
Managers shown are New York Yanks, Duke Farrell, and Brooklyn Robins Wilbur Robinson. (Getty) 
(Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images) 
(Original Caption) Captains and umpires discussing ground rules before start of Brooklyn Dodgers-Boston Red Sox game. Dodgers manager Wilbert Robinson is third from right, and Boston manager Bill Carrigan is fifth from right. (Getty)
After more than 15 years, the team returned to the name “Dodgers,” which appeared on the team uniforms by 1933. It’d stick, as we see today, and follow the club in its move to Los Angeles for the 1958 season.
Today, the Dodgers are among the most popular MLB teams, reports from Statista and YouGov show. The team starts its 2022 regular season on the road against the Colorado Rockies on Friday.
