There's been many rumors why NYC is named “The Big Apple” for some time, but research in the last 2 decades, primarily by amateur etymologist Barry Popik and Gerald Cohen of Missouri University of Science, has provided a reasonably clear picture from the term’s history.
New York
New york was initially popularized being a mention of the New York City by John J. Fitz Gerald in a number of New York Morning Telegraph articles in the 1920s in reference to New York horse-racing.
It’s declared the winning horse got an additional ny following your race… so that all the horses would have the The big apple.
New York
Funny, isn’t it?!