REDS

Although the Reds were first called the Redstockings, they have been known as the Reds since the start of the twentieth century. An interesting thing happened to their name when I was a youngster. The major threat in the world at that time was communism. Communists and socialists were known as Reds. I think the name originally came from the color of the flag of the USSR. For most of my life, the country of China was referred to as Red China indicating that it was a communist country. In any case, in the 1950's some thought it was an embarrassment to have a baseball team named the Reds and the name was changed to the Redlegs. For ten or fifteen years, they were referred to as the Redlegs in the newspaper and on radio. The name eventually faded but you still hear someone say Redlegs once in a while.