<P> The Big Apple was popularized as a name for New York City by John J. Fitz Gerald in a number of horse - racing articles for the New York Morning Telegraph in the 1920s . The earliest of these was a casual reference on 3rd May, 1921: </P> <P> J.P. Smith, with Tippity Witchet and others of the L.T. Bauer string, is scheduled to start for "the big apple" to - morrow after a most prosperous Spring campaign at Bowie and Havre de Grace . </P> <P> Fitz Gerald referred to the "big apple" frequently thereafter . He explained his use in a column dated February 18, 1924, under the headline "Around the Big Apple": </P> <P> The Big Apple . The dream of every lad that ever threw a leg over a thoroughbred and the goal of all horsemen . There's only one Big Apple . That's New York . </P>

Where did the term the big apple come from