The Florida Marlins may be new to the National League, but they have a rich baseball history-thanks in large part to Bill Veeck, the legendary promoter who brought pint-sized pinch-hitters to St. Louis, ivy walls to Wrigley Field and short pants to Comiskey Park.

Veeck was assisting the franchise operators in 1956 when a Triple-A franchise moved from Syracuse to Miami and took the name Marlins.

Last year, when major-league baseball awarded one of its two expansion franchises to Miami, owner H. Wayne Huizenga chose to revive the nickname Marlins but called them the Florida Marlins to give the team more regional appeal.