Origin of name? -- "Cannonball" Baker

[HarleyCreation]

I ran across a discrepancy concerning "Cannonball" Baker's name. Maybe one of you guys has the answer. It's timely because of the Cannonball Run coming up. It may also interest some of our Australian club members and all you Indian guys.

There seem to be two different explanations how "Cannonball" got that name:

"Motorcycle Illustrated," June 29, 1916, p.34, contains this short paragraph:

"Baker has a good story he brought back from Australia, as to how he got the name of 'Cannonball.' Ask him to tell it to you next time you see him."

That's all it says.

BUT, in the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame blurb about Baker, it states:

"After a record-setting transcontinental run in by Baker in 1914, a New York newspaper writer compared him to the Cannonball Express train and he picked up the famous moniker that would stick with him the rest of his life."

No source for that info is given.

Those two accounts seem to give completely different explanations of how Baker got the name "Cannonball." Which is the correct explanation? If the name came about from a trip to Australia, there should be some record of that. If a New York newspaperman coined the name, that should be recorded too. Baker was a famous guy and we should verify this for the record.

Gotta get back to them awesome Harley Eight-Valves. They are about to win a couple of BIG races!

[rwm]

little off topic the cannonball train killed casey jones.

[Chris Haynes]

little off topic the cannonball train killed casey jones.

Actually it was Casey Jones who killed the Cannonball Express.

[c.o.]

Interesting post Herb. I found this but back in the day proof is the best... http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/hall...spx?RacerID=15 Love that article on the eight-valves!!! I can't wait for the next installment!!!

[HarleyCreation]

Interesting post Herb. I found this but back in the day proof is the best... http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/hall...spx?RacerID=15

I saw that HOF explanation too and it's repeated elsewhere online. That's when I realized there was a discrepancy when compared to the 1916 article that talks about the nickname "Cannonball" coming after his trip to Australia.

Surely some Indian fan has researched Baker and knows more about this. If not we'll have to dig it out ourselves.

Love that article on the eight-valves!!! I can't wait for the next installment!!!

Thanks. Lots of new stuff turned up doing that Eight-Valve article. Once again things we were told in the past are not true. One remaining mystery is the origin of that term "Chicago Harley."

Unfortunately I gotta leave a lot of good stuff out. That 1914-'16 racing period was really something. For some reason Pop Schwinn, the Excelsior guys, and their "Big-Valve" racing motor intrigues me. Maybe because I had a Schwinn bicycle as a kid. Probably most of us did...

[pem]

Here's a newspaper clipping from 11/21/1915 in the Oakland Tribune where is is already
called "Cannonbal Baker" before he leaves for his trip to Australia.

Dick

[pem]

Here's an article from 11/17/1914 in the Lowell Sun, Lowell, Mass. and they don't mention
"Cannonball" at all.

Dick

[pem]

Here's an article from the Raleigh Herald in Beckley, W.V. that gives a biography of Erwin
Baker but nothing on how he got his name. The copy is not so plenty good.

Dick

[pem]

Here's an article from the Raleigh Herald in Beckley, W.V. that gives a biography of Erwin
Baker but nothing on how he got his name. The copy is not so plenty good.

Dick

Sorry, this was from 02/04/1916.

[HarleyCreation]

Here's a newspaper clipping from 11/21/1915 in the Oakland Tribune where is is already
called "Cannonbal Baker" before he leaves for his trip to Australia.

Dick

That's good research!

No doubt about it. Baker had the name "Cannonball" before the Australia trip in 1915. The New York newspaperman origin might well be true. Maybe something else happened in Australia that didn't give him the name exactly, but only proved it was a fitting one. Probably the motorcycle mags covered the Australia trip and may provide an answer.

Thanks!

[HarleyCreation]

Here's an article from 11/17/1914 in the Lowell Sun, Lowell, Mass. and they don't mention
"Cannonball" at all.

Dick

Between these two articles it appears that Baker received the name "Cannonball" between Nov. of 1914 and Nov. of 1915.

[HarleyCreation]

Here's an article from the Raleigh Herald in Beckley, W.V. that gives a biography of Erwin
Baker but nothing on how he got his name. The copy is not so plenty good.

Dick

They do compare him to fast trains of the day, altho not one called "Cannonball."

Back then a motorcyclist had fast trains as a benchmark for the annihilation of time and distance. No wonder they raced and crossed in front of trains on a dare. Back then I'm guessing motorcycles were the fastest things on the road bar a few very expensive cars.

[pem]

They do compare him to fast trains of the day, altho not one called "Cannonball."

Back then a motorcyclist had fast trains as a benchmark for the annihilation of time and distance. No wonder they raced and crossed in front of trains on a dare. Back then I'm guessing motorcycles were the fastest things on the road bar a few very expensive cars.

One interesting thing that I found while researching this is that I could find no mention of
Cannonball Baker in any 1914 New York newspaper that I looked at. But I'm sure not all papers were listed. Hopefully something will come up.

Dick

[HarleyCreation]

One interesting thing that I found while researching this is that I could find no mention of
Cannonball Baker in any 1914 New York newspaper that I looked at. But I'm sure not all papers were listed. Hopefully something will come up.

Dick

There must have been a LOT of New York newpspapers at that time.

You'd think it would have been explained in a motorcycle mag around the time the "Cannonball" name was given to him. But now we know it was given before the Australian trip. So this is one case where an original (1916) document is misleading. Fancy that!