Last week marked the opening day of baseball season, a time when fans all around the country were buzzing with anticipation. People passionately debated their teams’ chances at making a run for the World Series title. Of course, for some fans—like those of the Pittsburgh Pirates—it’s more about hoping for a winning season than dreaming of October glory. But here in Richmond, when baseball is mentioned, it brings to mind something distinctly unique—the Spider nickname.
Why is that? What does the Spider nickname have to do with baseball? In The History of the University of Richmond, 1830-1971 by Rueben Alley he reports that “ in 1894, a sports reporter for the Richmond-Times Dispatch, Evan Ragland Chesterman, stopped to watch a practice of the baseball team. A week later he wrote about pitcher Puss Ellyson (in the picture above he’s second row, third from the left) who seemed to take to the field with his teammates as spiders in a web.” Mr. Alley further noted the Spiders shared their nickname with a major league baseball team, the Cleveland Spiders. In the spring 2015 issue of the student publication, The Forum, this legend was repeated. The author also stated (without attribution) that from 1887-1893 the Richmond baseball team was nicknamed the Colts.
We here in the library are suspicious of unattributed sources and vague stories. So we decided to look into the origin of the Spider nickname. It turns out the official story is a charming legend that falls apart with some basic research. To start with, there was no such paper as the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 1894. There were two newspapers, the Times and the Richmond Dispatch. They didn’t merge to become the Richmond Times-Dispatch until 1903.
Next we deal with the attribution to Evan Ragland Chesterman. While it is true Mr. Chesterman wrote for the Dispatch in the 1890s, he wasn’t a sports reporter. His official title was the “Idle Reporter” and his contributions were what we today would call feature stories. As the son of the managing editor, his articles dealt mostly with the activities and travels of the Richmond social elites. Other articles were written as humorous accounts of life in Richmond. It is conceivable he would write about the Richmond team in 1894, but it’s unlikely. In November 1893, Chesterman was appointed to the position of private secretary to the governor of Virginia. And in January 1894, it was reported that Chesterman resigned from the paper, to take up this new position. He did occasionally send in an “Idle Reporter” piece over the next two years, but they dealt with his travels and those of his friends.
Casting further doubt on the Chesterman attribution is the 1897 edition of The Spider the first yearbook for the University. Its editor was none other than Chesterman himself. On page 10 of the yearbook is a brief history of the origin of the nickname. According to it, the name was bestowed on the team in the summer of 1893 by the “cranks” (i.e. the fans) when they played in the Tri-City League. If Chesterman had anything to do with the origin of the name it would make sense for the publication to make note of that fact. The only allusion Chesterman makes to the origin of the Spider nickname is that perhaps it was bestowed on the team “because they were always out on the fly.” The 1900 edition of The Spider published a tribute to Chesterman. It listed the highlights of his life as being the popular Idle Reporter, the private secretary to Governor Charles T. O’Farrell, and his receiving his Bachelor in Laws degree from Richmond College. You would think, if Chesterman had coined the Spider nickname, it would have been mentioned.
A search of the two Richmond newspapers from 1885 to 1895 proved enlightening. A Boolean search for “Richmond College” within 10 words of baseball brought up quite a few hits. The first mention of a baseball team associated with Richmond College was in the April 18, 1886 Richmond Dispatch. The article reported on a game between the Richmond College Club and the Randolph-Macons. (Richmond won 13-3!). On April 28, 1888 the Richmond Dispatch once again noted that the Richmond College Club would play the Randolph-Macon Club. Then, in the April 12, 1890 issue of the Times an article details a parade after the team, identified simply as the Richmond College Baseball Club, won the Virginia College Baseball Club Championship. The April 15, 1892 issue of the Times carried a notice of a base-ball game to be played between the Richmond College Club and the Athletics, a benefit game to raise money for the Richmond College Boat Club. Despite the Forum article, there is no evidence the Richmond College Baseball Club was ever called the Colts.
The first mention of “spiders” comes in 1892. In the Sunday, September 4, 1892 issue of the Dispatch, on page three, under the headline “College Team Wins” the Richmond College baseball team is referred to as “Cullen’s spiders.” Cullen was the first baseman and captain of the team. That same day the Times, on page 6, carried the box score which shows the Spiders defeating the Colts. On Sunday, September 11, 1892 in a round-up column of various baseball games played in the state, the Times again definitely identifies the Richmond College team as the Spiders.
Somewhere between April 1892 and September 1892, the College team became the Spiders. When and why is a mystery. Best guess? Remember those Cleveland Spiders? In 1892, for the first time since their founding in 1887, the Cleveland Spiders were having a good year. They finished 93–56 overall, winning the second half of the season by three games over Boston with a 53–23 record. While the nickname “Spiders” seems odd to us, in 1892 it was a name associated with a successful baseball program. The same article that mentioned “Cullen’s spiders” also noted the success the Richmond College club was having that year. It isn’t farfetched to think that a successful college level team would emulate a successful professional team.
Finally, while the Spider name was first associated with the baseball team, by 1895 the nickname was being used for other sports teams at Richmond College. On Friday, October 11, 1895, the Times headlined an article about the football game between Richmond and the Hampton Athletic Team “Spiders an Easy Mark.”
The truth of the matter is that we may never know exactly when or why the Richmond College sports teams began being referred to as the Spiders. Regardless of how it began, Richmond is now firmly committed to the Spider nickname. On December 31, 2002 the University was granted a trademark for the use of the term “Spiders” for (among other things) all University Level Activities and Events. (Except ice hockey.) The trademark registration number is 2668502.