The New Britain Rock Cats will be relocating to Hartford, CT for the 2016 Eastern League season. Earlier this year the club announced they would be accepting submissions form the fans to help determine the new name of the team – the only stipulation being the team would be identified as “Hartford”.
On Wednesday the team will be announcing their 10 finalist names, SportsLogos.Net was able to obtain a copy of the list of these finalists a couple of days early. Here it is:
Hartford Blue Frogs
Hartford Choppers
Hartford Hedgehogs
Hartford Honey Badgers
Hartford Hound Dogs
Hartford Praying Mantis / Hartford Praying Mantises
Hartford River Hogs
Hartford Screech Owls
Hartford Whirly Birds
Hartford Yard Goats
As you can see, the vast majority of these names continue on the Rock Cats’, “the Something Somethings” style of naming. Most are animals (frogs, owls, goats, dogs, etc.) but there’s also two names referring to helicopters (Choppers and Whirly Birds) and one interesting insect entry (with two variations) in the Praying Mantis/Mantises.
What’s your choice from this group above? Share your pick in the comments section below.
UPDATE (March 5/15): The Rock Cats have made this list official, announcing it at a press event yesterday afternoon. You can read the explanation for each of their names in The Hartford Courant here.
The winning name will be announced on March 18th, San Diego-based design firm Brandiose is part of the selection committee so we’d expect they’ll be behind the new logo and uniform package as well.
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