Origin of Minor League Team Names: Reprise
In the previous decade, I wrote several blog posts about the origin of team names in the Minors. Since the reprise in 2020, some new names were added. Here is an overview of the names that appeared since then.
B:
Beloit SkyCarp
After the Beloit Snappers moved into their new stadium, the club wanted to get a fresh start. A part of that fresh start was a new name. The rebrand was scheduled for the 2021 season, but as their ballpark wasn’t ready until half of the 2021 seasaon, the new name was announced after the 2021 season. Sky Carp is a flock of geese that does not move South during winter. The name was entered during a name-the-team contest and reached the final five, from which it was chosen by the fans.
C:
Columbus Clingstones
During the 2024 season, the Mississippi Braves announced they would move to Columbus, GA. After the season, the Columbus club announced its new name and logo. Clingstone is a variety on the peach (Georgia is the Peach State). It is a kind of peach of which the fruit clings to the pit.
H:
Hub City Spartanburgers
The first part of the name, Hub City, can be explained as Spartanburg used to be a railroad hub. As a result, Spartansburg is generally known by that nickname. The part Spartanburgers is easy to explain as the inhabitants of the Hub City are called Spartanburgers. The search for a catchy name was a long process that started as soon as the Down East Wood Ducks were bought and it was announced the team would move to Spartanburg.
K:
Knoxville Smokies|
The moniker of this team did not change, as the team was named Smokies already. But since the club moved into a new stadium in Knoxville, the name change “was needed.” In the previous years, the club played in Kodak, a Knoxville suburb and was named Tennessee Smokies.
O:
Oklahoma City Comets
As the Oklahoma Dodgers were looking for an own identity, the name of the club was changed into Oklahoma City Baseball Club for the 2023 season while the search for a fitting new moniker continued. Eventually, after the 2024 season, the club announced the name Oklahoma City Comets, with a nod to native Mickey Mantle, who was named the Commerce Comet. Comet also refers to the ties Oklahoma City has with the aerospace industry.
R:
Rome Emperors
In 2023, the Rome Braves announced their new moniker. After 5,300 names were entered, the name Emperors ended on top. Of course the name is a nod to Roman times when Emperors ruled over Rome and its vast empire. The logo on the other hand is an emperor penguin, the biggest penguin species on earth.
S:
Somerset Patriots
The Somerset Patriots have a long history of independent baseball as the club was a member of the Atlantic League (1998 – 2020). After the greedy MLB owners grabbed the power in Minor League Baseball, some independent teams turned into affiliated ones.
One of them was the Somerset Patriots, who became the AA affiliate of the New York Yankees. The “Patriots” name refers to the Middlebrook encampment where the first official flag of the United States was unfurled, after a law to adopt a national flag had been passed by Congress on June 14, 1777.
Saint Paul Saints
Another team that turned into an affilitated ball club was the Saint Paul Saints. The club was founded in 1993 as member of the Northern League. When that league folded, the Saints joined the American Association of Professional Baseball. The name Saints is a nod to the past, as St. Paul had several teams with that name. If you are interested, there is a nice documentary about Mike Veeck, who was the president of the club and who was known for the entertainment he brought to the club. The documentary is called The Saint of Second Chances.
Sugarland Space Cowboys
The third team in the S-category that was an indy ball team before it was adopted by MLB. The team was part of the Atlantic League before it became the Astros’ AAA affiliate. The team was founded in 2013 as Sugarland Skeeters, but changed the name into Space Cowboys in 2022 just to emphasize the affiliation with the Astros. But another explanation for the name is the proximity of NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
W:
Wichita WindSurge
The Wichita Wind Surge was scheduled to become the AAA affiliate of the Miami Marlins. But the COVID-19 pandemic and the money grab move of the greedy MLB owners, resulted in the team becoming the AA-affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. Apparently, the name wasn’t chosen in a name-the-team contest as Wichita residents had a lot of criticism. A petition was started to change the name and within 24 hours, 7,400 signatures were collected. The name can be explained as follows according to the club’s GM: The team name, in short, is an indication of the city “exponentially surging forward. Wichita is the air capital of the world, and we’re paying homage to the wind. It’s a mighty force,” Moullette said. “It’s powerful to us, and timeless.”
Worcester Red Sox
The Pawtucket Red Sox moved to Worcester in 2021 as the city of Worcester was willing to pay for the biggest chunck of a brand new stadium. So the name of the city needed to change. The nickname of the club is WooSox.
For now, this list is updated again, but for sure in a couple of years, new names will be added.