Because of the prominence of the Dodgers, the history of their nickname is probably not so much of a mystery to many fans. Still, those less familiar or unfamiliar with the team’s existence in Brooklyn may not realize that Dodgers is short for Trolley Dodgers, of which there were many in the trolley-laced New York borough during the early 20th century. Less well known is that when the team began play in the National League in 1890 they were called the Bridegrooms because seven of the players had married only two years before. This was an age of relative informality in which team identities were subject to change. Brookyn’s team also answered to Wonders, Fillies, and Superbas at various times, and when Trolley Dodgers (later shortened to Dodgers) achieved its permanent status is unclear.
Mark Sappenfield
Dear Reader,
About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:
“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”
If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.
But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.
The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.
We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”
If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.
