We Have New York’s Greatest Rival to Thank for “The Bird”

The New York versus Boston rivalry is legendary! If you're born in New York, you are just bred to hate Massachusetts, and vice versa. The only thing the two states/cities can agree on is that they both can't stand Jersey. I have a lot of relatives who live in and near Boston. When my family would get together in Fishkill for our Annual Family BBQ, my aunt would put out signs saying "New York Yankee Parking Only," and left out only a small corner of the property which said "Boston Red Sox Parking Only."

New York Versus New England

Sure, we have plenty of Sports rivalries: Yankees v Red Sox, Rangers v Bruins, Giants v Patriots, etc, but the rivalry predates any of those teams. New York and its neighbors to the east have bad blood stretching all the way back to Colonial America, when New England militiamen viewed "Yorkers" as blasphemous, profane drunks, while their counterparts next door considered the men of the Massachusetts Bay colony to be Puritan-raised prudes who didn't know how to have a good time, even going so far as to ban Christmas in Boston during a 22-year period in in the 1600s.

Since then, New York and New England have fought each other over industry, Politics, food, Sports, accents, and more! And to add more salt to the wound, we have Boston to thank for "flipping the bird." To make things even worse, it happened in New York.

History of the Middle Finger

Did the people of Massachusetts originate "giving the middle finger? No, the concept has been around for centuries. The middle finger gesture, also known as "flipping the bird", has a long History and may have originated in ancient Greece and Rome. It's been used as an insult for over two millennia by a variety of people.

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"It's one of the most ancient insult gestures known," says anthropologist Desmond Morris. "The middle finger is the penis and the curled fingers on either side are the testicles. By doing it, you are offering someone a phallic gesture. It is saying, 'this is a phallus' that you're offering to people, which is a very primeval display."

So Why Does Boston Get the Credit for "Giving the Finger?"

Simple: Baseball. The first known recorded instance of the gesture in the U.S. was in an 1886 baseball photo of Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn of the Boston Beaneaters. Funny enough, the Boston Beaneaters are more associated today with the Atlanta Braves than they are to the Boston Red Sox. The Beaneaters later went on to be the Boston Braves, who then moved to Atlanta in 1966.

Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn, of the Boston Beaneaters, by all accounts, was a bitter man all around. Despite being one of the best pitchers in the league, pitching more than 678 innings, winning 59 Games, and starting 73 Games in 1884, later landing him in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Radbourn’s cranky attitude put fear in other players coming up to bat.

The story goes that "Old Hoss" extended his middle digit to a cameraman when two teams gathered for a group photo in New York on baseball’s opening day in April of 1886. So, you're telling me a Bostonian is getting credit for the first recorded/photographed gesture of the middle finger on NEW YORK SOIL?! GREAT!