Columbus has had a professional baseball team since at least 1875

Professional baseball in Columbus dates back to at least 1875, when the Columbus Buckeyes team was Columbus’ local affiliate in the International Association for Professional Base Ball Players. They were followed by the Columbus Senators, who played their games at Recreation Park in German Village and Neil Park on Cleveland Avenue. The Senators had Columbus’ first Black baseball player in 1887, 50 years before Jackie Robinson integrated the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The Columbus Dispatch reported four Black players among Ohio teams in these early years, including Columbus’ J. Higgins, who played briefly before a color line excluded Black players from the recognized professional leagues by the end of the decade. In 1931, the Saint Louis Cardinals took control of the Columbus team as part of their developing organization, naming the team the “Red Birds.

" Columbus officials liked the name since it helped market the city as a center of aviation with our recently opened airport and local involvement in early transcontinental air service. The Red Birds were the first team to play in what was originally known as Franklin County Stadium on Mound Street in Franklinton. In 1955, a contest to rename the team included suggestions like Bears, Capitals, Carnations, Bux, Reapers, Homesteaders, Falcons, Swanks, Mariners, Christophers, and of course, Buckeyes, though it was clear that the Ohio State University had by then made a pretty solid claim to that name.

A January 1955 Dispatch article suggested that “a good hot ‘horse’ to put your ballot on is Jets," which did indeed become the team’s new name that year. Another Dispatch article later that week noted “Columbus Jets ... Short, catchy, looks good in a headline, stands for speed, power and belongs to the modern age.