Since 1890, the team has continuously been known officially as the “Phillies” (simply a shortening of Philadelphia or Philadelphia’s), but several times they have tried to shun that name.
In the 1890s the franchise tried to get Quakers to catch on, to no avail. Quakers, of course, are integral in the history of the state of Pennsylvania.
In the 1940s, team owner Robert Carpenter, who had several crazy (for their time) notions, placed a blue jay patch on the team uniform in hopes that Blue Jays would catch on. It didn’t.
For a few years in the 1950s the team used “Fightin’ Phils” on their correspondence to help cement that name, but it failed.
Finally, in the 1960s the name “Phillies” was embraced and has been in place ever since.
