Why the Grapefruit League?

How Florida’s spring training franchise got its name

Hall of Fame manager Wilbert Robinson was known to frequently brag about his days playing as a catcher. While managing the Brooklyn Dodgers, Robinson’s starting catcher, Casey Stengel, decided to call him out on his boastful nature by wagering that he couldn’t catch a baseball dropped from an airplane. Robinson accepted the bet, and Stengel took off with famed pilot Ruth Law, who was in town for an air show. What Stengel didn’t share, however, was that he planned to pull a prank and replace the baseball with a grapefruit. When the grapefruit landed, it covered Robinson with juice and pulp—and actually knocked him out for a spell. Stengel quipped that Robinson “just couldn’t cut it in the Grapefruit League,” and the rest is history.