Quote:
Originally Posted by joefromchicago
I believe the name was short for "Firecrackers."
|
joefromchicago seems to be the closest. Here's some more info from Wikipedia. Not sure how reliable but sounds reasonable...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Origin of the team's name
According to Tim Darnell, who wrote The Crackers: Early Days of Atlanta Baseball, the origins of the team name is unknown. Darnell cites several possibilities as to why this name was chosen:
- A term that means a poor, white southerner
- Someone who is quick and efficient at a task
- In reference to plowboys who cracked the whip over animals
- A shortened version of "Atlanta Firecrackers", the earlier 1892 minor league team
However, this list does not represent the most likely origins of the name. The term cracker is derived from the Gaelic craic, meaning entertaining conversation or boasting, with the latter sense still attested in the idiom "not all [subject]'s cracked up to be."[6] It was used in the 18th century to denote Irish and Scottish colonists of the Deep South backcountry. The Earl of Dartmouth had this to say in a 1766 correspondence: "I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by Crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia, who often change their places of abode."
During the period of Reconstruction following the American Civil War, there was also a political party of the same name. Organized in Augusta, Georgia, this party's platform was one of "opposition to Catholics and segregation of blacks".
While now sometimes used as a derogatory term for a white southerner that promotes racism, it is also used as a term of pride by some white southerners to indicate one that is descended from those original settlers of the area.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Also there was a famous negro league club that adopted the name, as well. So, perhaps it's not a reference to the derogatory term...