Snoopy and the rest of Charlie Brown's team are helping me celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first National League game, between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston Red Caps, in Philadelphia, 1876. The history after that is very convoluted . . .
The Red Caps had been the Boston Red Stockings in the earlier National Association, but when the National League was formed, the Boston team became the Red Caps to avoid confusion with the new Cincinnati Red Stockings. Over the years this team changed names several times: Beaneaters, Doves, Rustlers, Bees, and finally Braves. In 1953 the franchise moved to Milwaukee, and then in 1966 to Atlanta, where the Braves continue to play in the National League.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Athletics team that played in that first game was expelled from the National League at the end of the season. Other teams with the Athletics name played in Philadelphia from 1882-1891, in different leagues, but the Athletics team that started there in 1901 in the American League existed through 2024 as the Oakland Athletics (moving from Philadelphia to Kansas City in 1955, and then to Oakland in 1968). That franchise plans to move from West Sacramento to Las Vegas in 2028!
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