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Julie VognarIn "Hoopla!" (a very carefully researched book) one guy, I think a celebrity who's about to place a bet, refers to the "Redlegs" (this is a book about the 1919 World Series, mostly). He says it twice. Harry Stein wrote the book in 1972. Recently, in another book, I came across the same reference to "Redlegs", supposedly from the dead ball era (blast, I can't remember which book!)
I guess we all know that during the '50s, the Reds changed their name to "Redlegs" because of the anti-Communist sentiment in America that was actually ruining lives and careers in the '50s and '60s. But is there ANY reason why a person in 1919 would have referred to the team as "The Redlegs"? Like, has that always really been the name?
It just seems to me like such an easy mistake to catch, I keep trying to think of reasons why maybe it wasn't a mistake...