That Which We Call a Sox By Any Other Name Would Smell As Sweet
Or, how the Purple Sox became the Rainiers, and, why do people naming Seattle baseball teams disappear so often?
You may be familiar with the story of Roger Szmodis. He won a contest to name the Mariners in 1976. You may also know, that this “Roger Szmodis” could not be found by the newly-named Mariners after he won the contest, for which the reward was season tickets.1 You may not know that that was not the only time in Seattle baseball history that a team was named and the namer disappeared.
In 1919, Seattle rejoined the Pacific Coast League. The team, which had previously gone by the Giants moniker while in the Pacific Coast International League, decided to hold a contest for the new post-war team name. Per the Seattle Daily Times:
“The Seattle baseball team will be known as the Purple Sox. This was decided upon this morning and officially announced by President James R. Brewster. Somebody is entitled to a season ticket, but unfortunately the person that hit on the name chosen did not sign his or her letter.”2
When the Mariners were named, people were upset. It seems that the majority of Seattle fans wanted an ‘S’ name to match the Seahawks, SuperSonics, and Sounders, and Seattle. But the team stood tight and kept the nautical name.
The Purple Sox, however, turned heel almost right away. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer was vocal in its dislike of the name and claimed that Seattle fans expressed bafflement at the name, wanting a localized name instead. But when other sports writers around the PCL began bestowing unwelcome nicknames upon the league’s newest member, the name was quickly scrapped. Explained the Seattle Daily Times:
The real reason that the directors got together hurriedly and switched the nickname was that disrespectful nicknames were being attached to the representatives of our great and glorious city. Some of the sport writers in other cities spoke of them as “Purple Purps” and other said something similar about “Fox Terriers.”3
I suppose I can see why a team wouldn’t want to be known as the Purps (I assume, that’s like perps, as in perpetrators of crime), but I’m baffled with how one arrives at Fox Terriers from Purple Sox. Fox Terriers aren’t all that intimidating, but it’s a pretty great team name if I do say so myself.
The new name the team chose was perfectly localized and a name that would stick with Seattle’s PCL team for many of the years it existed: the Rainiers.
Still, the newspapers referred to the team as the Purple Sox for the remainder of the 1919 season. If the Mariners ever want a fresh idea for Turn Back the Clock Night, I suggest resurrecting the ole Purps and giving them their day in the sun.
Earlier this year, Roger Szmodis was found in Philadelphia. I just want to note, that I also found him! Using the power of simple internet searching I, too, tracked him down in Philadelphia. I just didn’t go to the effort of reaching out to his family members because I figured anyone with an internet connection could do the same thing. Ah well, I passed up my chance at a day of internet fame. Side note: The kid who named the Moose also lives in Pennsylvania. Someone should investigate why Mariners namers flee to the other side of the country.
“Name of Seattle Team is Chosen”, Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, Washington), March 25, 1919: 23.
“Call ‘Em Rainiers”, Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, Washington), April 4, 1919: 31.