$34.00
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This officially licensed '47 Brand Philadelphia Blue Jays clean up hat features an unstructured crown and curved bill. It's a true throw back in Phillies history!
After purchasing the Philadelphia Phillies, new owner Bob Carpenter knew rebuilding the perennially losing club would be difficult and he understood the need for fan support. On January 25, 1944 he announced a fan-based contest to rename the team, which he hoped would induce fan interest. The Associated Press quoted Carpenter, who said that the only stipulation was that the submission had to be "an emblem or insignia that is strictly Philadelphia...". The Phillies received 5,098 letters which included 634 names. The winning entry was 'Blue Jays', the name submitted by Elizabeth Crooks of Philadelphia, who won a $100 war bond for her suggestion. (Other suggestions included 'Daisies' and 'Stinkers'). According to the Eugene Guard, "Mrs. Crooks chose the name, she said, 'because it reflects a new team spirit. The Blue Jay is colorful in personality and his plumage is a brilliant blue, a color the Phillies could use decoratively and psychologically.'"
The name, however, was met with disapproval by students at Johns Hopkins University. The Mason City Globe-Gazette reported on March 9, 1944 that undergraduates stressed in a monthly newsletter that "while John [sic] Hopkins teams were 'not always of championship quality' they rated ahead of the Phillies who had been mediocre over a period of years." Grantland Rice addressed the controversy in a column in the Harrisburg Telegraph on March 17, 1944. He opined that "The Blue Jays belong to Johns Hopkins. Johns Hopkins is one of our greatest medical and collegiate centers - far more important than the Phillies can ever hope to be, even if they win a pennant and a World Series." Rice ended his article by stating that "They [the Phillies] are still the Phillies - and they always will be the Phillies, win, lose or last. And usually last." Despite the controversy, the Phillies kept the name and altered their uniform for the 1944 season.
After two seasons going 64-90 and 61-92, Carpenter returned the Phillies name to the club.
