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Posted By: Bob

The name was changed for two reasons: the newspaper boys weren't able to conveniently use the "Highlanders" in their headlines for the story because of its length and thus started using the shorter version, Yankees and Yanks, but also because there was some racial antimosity directed toward the use of the name "Highlanders" or "Gordon's Highlanders" a legendary military group. The Irish-Americans despised the use of the term. Of course Highlanders also referred to the location of the ball park which was built on an elevated spot when Ban Johnson and the AL owners couldn't get Tammany Hall and the Giants management to let them move anywhere else. The AL club was lucky to find any spot in Manhattan to play as Johnson desperately wanted a team in NY and the Giants just as forcefully wanted to keep them out of Manhattan and anywhere near their "turf." The emotions resulted in no World Series in 1904 when the Giants refused to give Johnson and the Highlanders the upper hand, at least in their mind.