The Big Apple

[Gerald Cohen]

   There is no evidence that Aqueduct Racetrack was ever referred to
as "The Big Apple." All "big apple" attestations from 1921-1927 make
sense only if the reference is to the NYC racetracks (as the big time
in horse-racing) or to big-time horse-racing in general. Here's a
sample quote (John J. Fitz Gerald writing in the _Morning
Telegraph_,Feb. 18, 1924, p.7/3; spotted by Barry Popik):
"The Big Apple. The dream of every lad that ever threw a leg over a
thoroughbred and the goal of all horsemen.  There's only one Big
Apple. That's New York."

    Note too that the earliest "big apple" quotes all refer to the NYC
racetracks, not NYC as a whole. That's why we always find "on the big
apple" rather than "in the big apple." It was "on" (not "in") the
racetracks.

---Gerald Cohen


At 3:36 PM -0500 3/4/02, Clark Whelton wrote:
>TO:  The American Dialect Society
>
>Barry Popik has demonstrated convincingly that the name of John J.
>Fitzgerald's column in the old racing tabloid "The Morning
>Telegraph" was responsible for popularizing The Big Apple as a
>nickname for New York City.  Barry's research also shows that
>Fitzgerald first heard this term used by a stable hand at a race
>track in New Orleans, and assumed "The Big Apple" meant New York
>City.
>
>Maybe not.
>
>Last year I read some letters written by my father's older brother
>during World War I.  In one letter written from his military camp in
>eastern Long Island and dated February, 1918, he wrote:  "The last
>time I was on Long Island we went to play the ponies at the Big A.
>Not having so good a time now."
>
>"The Big A" was -- and still is -- a nickname for Aqueduct Race
>Track in New York.  Aqueduct was established in 1894.  By 1918, it
>was apparently known among racing fans as "The Big A," a nickname
>that was popularized much later in a NYRA advertising campaign.
>
>Barry Popik has also shown that 19th and early 20th century
>spelling and grammar texts often illustrated the letters of the
>alphabet with various objects, and that "A is for Apple" was a
>frequent usage.
>
>The question:  when that stable hand mentioned he was going to "The
>Big Apple," was he referring to New York City or to "The Big A,"
>Aqueduct Race Track?  Fitzgerald thought he meant the city.  In
>fact, it may be that "The Big "A" (Aqueduct) became known in the
>racing world as "The Big Apple,"  which in turn -- thanks to
>Fitzgerald -- became a nickname later applied to the entire city.
>
>Clark Whelton