The Story of New York Yankees

The Story of New York Yankees — page 5
6 Y a n k e e s HIGH ON A HILL n 1626 Dutch businessman Peter Minuit paid leaders of the Canarsee Indian tribe 24 in beads and cloth to purchase a small island along America’s Atlantic coast where he established the colony of New Amsterdam The Indians called the island manna hatta meaning many hills In the 1660s the British took over the colony and renamed it New York but the island retained its Indian name Manhattan Today Manhattan is the richest and most important part of New York City and the home of America’s main financial institutions best-known theaters and museums and most crowded city streets In 1903 Manhattan also became the home of one of the first teams in professional baseball’s new American League AL Because the club played its games at Hilltop Park atop one of Manhattan’s highest hills it was originally called the New York Highlanders Some sportswriters thought that name was too long and cumbersome however so they often used Yankees in their newspaper headlines When the club moved to another field in a lower locale Highlanders didn’t seem appropriate I