Question re: baseball

[LiberalElite]

I'm watching the Mets vs. the Dodgers. I'm not much of a sports fan, but I'm aware that people swing some kind of scarf in the air during soccer games. Now I see baseball fans doing the same thing and it looks weird to me. When did they start doing this?

[Thor_MN]

1. The Twins had "Homer Hankies" in '87 and '91 nt

[LiberalElite]

2. ok so

it isn't a recent development after all. Thanks!

[Purrfessor]

3. It dates back to the early 1900s when fans of the...

New Orleans Zephyrs of the American Association waved handkerchiefs in front of their faces to ward off gnats and mosquitoes that swarmed in the early evenings of summer.

[KamaAina]

5. Historically, New Orleans teams were called the Pelicans.

The present-day Pacific Coast League team kept the name Zephyrs when they moved from Denver after the Rockies came to town.

The Pelicans take credit for another baseball innovation: the rain check. It rains frequently enough down there in summer that postponements are commonplace, hence the "rain check" to get into another game.

[LiberalElite]

4. Update: METS WIN (that is all)