First “Big Apple” citation: May 3, 1921
Gerald Cohen found the first "Big Apple" in a New York (NY) Morning Telegraph track writer John J. Fitz Gerald (1892-1963) horse racing column. The term "big apple" meant the big time, big money New York tracks.
From the New York (NY) Morning Telegraph, May 3, 1921, page 9, column 3:
"J. P. Smith, with Tippity Witchet and others of the L. T. Bauer string, is scheduled to start for 'the big apple' to-morrow after a most prosperous Spring campaign at Bowie and Havre de Grace."
The 100th anniversary of "Big Apple" being cited in print would be noted in the New York (NY) Daily News on May 3, 2021. Gerald Cohen was interviewed for the story.
John J. Fitz Gerald would explain "Big Apple" in a column on February 18, 1924, and then again in another column on December 1, 1926.
Fitz Gerald last lived at the Hotel Bryant (now Hotel Ameritania) on the southwest corner of Broadway and West 54th Street in Manhattan. On May 3, 1997, this block was dedicated "Big Apple Corner" in his honor.
From the New York (NY) Morning Telegraph, May 3, 1921, page 9, column 3:
"J. P. Smith, with Tippity Witchet and others of the L. T. Bauer string, is scheduled to start for 'the big apple' to-morrow after a most prosperous Spring campaign at Bowie and Havre de Grace."
The 100th anniversary of "Big Apple" being cited in print would be noted in the New York (NY) Daily News on May 3, 2021. Gerald Cohen was interviewed for the story.
John J. Fitz Gerald would explain "Big Apple" in a column on February 18, 1924, and then again in another column on December 1, 1926.
Fitz Gerald last lived at the Hotel Bryant (now Hotel Ameritania) on the southwest corner of Broadway and West 54th Street in Manhattan. On May 3, 1997, this block was dedicated "Big Apple Corner" in his honor.