Something About National Hoagy Day (and Very Extended Connections)

Well bred.

I was making a sandwich this past weekend when I was told to save the Dagwood-inspired stacks for May 5. Tuesday is National Hoagie Day and so I’m going along with it in my own style.

Hoagland Howard "Hoagy" Carmichael (1899–1981) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor, and is considered one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s. Carmichael composed several hundred songs, including the music for "Stardust" and "Georgia on My Mind". Also, in 1942, he wrote "Baltimore Oriole".

Now, from what I can tell, in 1942 the phrase "Baltimore Orioles" referred to a now-defunct hockey team and not the baseball team. The baseball team arrived in Baltimore in 1954, and third baseman George Kell arrived the following year for what would be his last season anywhere in the majors. Kell played for the Detroit Tigers back in 1947, the year before Lewis Barnavelt moved to New Zebedee – as noted in The House with a Clock in its Walls (1973).

That made me wonder, as is my way, about where the name Tigers came from. Kristen Bentley from MotorCityBengals has an interesting bit of history:

The stories about the original of the name comes from an unlikely place: the team’s socks. In the early days of baseball, the oldest team remaining in baseball – the Cincinnati Reds – was named for the players’ red socks. In 1869, the team was actually called the Red Stockings. Another old baseball team, the Chicago White Sox, was also originally named the White Stockings, until the media shortened it to “Sox.” It is also obvious that the Boston Red Sox were also named for their colorful stockings.

How the name was given has two stories. One is connected to the stockings the team wore. This is the unofficial story. Supposedly, the team wore socks with black and orange stripes – so “Tigers” stuck. This story does not show up until George Stallings managed the team, but the team name appears in literature prior to his tenure as the skipper in 1901. Officially, the team never wore orange stripes on their stockings until the 1920s.

The official story is the name come from the nickname of the Detroit Light Guard, a military formation in the United States Army, Michigan Army National Guard, originating in 1830.

All said, there’s another popular tiger from Michigan - this one from Battle Creek. Tony has graced boxes of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes since 1952. Naturally, the cereal has different names around the world, including Zucaritas in Spanish-speaking countries. This roughly translates as "little sugary things", which, if we’re talking about Detroit, makes me think more about paczki.

The real Fat Tuesday was back in February. This Tuesday it’s hoagies and paczki.