| Naming the cities is the best way, I think. Many of the earliest teams changed names frequently; for example, it took the Cubs 26 years to actually use the name "Cubs", before that going by White Stockings, Colts, and Orphans. If you didn't already know that, it would be nearly impossible to guess. In contrast, narrowing down possible cities is a much more manageable task.
I do think it seems odd to take the city name rather than the nickname. However, in those times, that was the more common way of identifying teams. |
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