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Onomastics (Ono-what?) of Baseball Team Names and Mascots: What's In a Name?
Further Reading

Bernays, Anne and Justin Kaplan. The Language of Names: What We Call Ourselves and Why It Matters. New York: Touchstone, 1997.

Uses onomastics to explore the significance of names (mostly for individuals).

Biolovsky, Frank and Rich Westcott. The New Phillies Encyclopedia. New York: Villard Books, 1998.

Voluminous and illustrated account of the Phillies.

Borgoyne, Tom and Robert Gordon. More than Beards, Bellies and Biceps: The Story of the 1993 Phillies (and the Phillie Phanatic Too) . Champaign, IL: Sports Publishing, 2002.

A book that includes anecdotes about the Phillies ballplayers and Phillie Phanatic, the team mascot.

Finoli, David and Bill Rainer. Pittsburgh Pirates Encyclopedia. Chicago, IL: Sports Publishing Inc, 2003.

A comprehensive history on the Pittsburgh Pirates

Fournier, Peter J. Handbook of Mascots and Nicknames: A Guide to the Nicknames of All Senior, Junior, and Community Colleges Throughout the United States and Canada. Raja & Associates, 2003.

Exhaustive list of mascots and nicknames for colleges.

Gmelch, George. The Ballpark: The Working Lives of Baseball People. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1999.

This book is takes a look at the people often overlooked in baseball. It offers first-person narratives of vendors, ushers, clubbies, trainers, denizens of the press box, and front-office personnel–even the Phillie Phanatic.

Jordan, David M. Athletics of Philadelphia: Connie Mack's White Elephants, 1901-1954. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Company, 1999.

This book gives detailed historical background on the Philadelphia Athletics and the owner's struggle to set up an American League team in a city that already hosted the National League Phillies.

Shannon, Mike. From the Ballpark: More of the Greatest True Baseball Stories Ever Told. Chicago, IL: Contempoary Books, 1999.

The book reveals amusing anecdotes about baseball both inside and outside the ballpark, including a chapter on mascots.

Smizik, Bob. The Pittsburgh Pirates: An Illustrated History. 1990: Walker Publishing Company, New York, NY.

This book is a good synopsis of Pirates history. In the opening pages it includes the story of how the team acquired its name.

Thorn, John. Treasures of the Baseball Hall of Fame: The Official Companion to the Collection at Cooperstown. New York: Villard Books, 1998.

As the title suggests, this book contextualizes Coopertown Baseball Hall of Fame collection. For this lesson, it also contained a reference of McGraw's comment to Connie Mack regarding his team, the Athletics, as being a white elephant.


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