Hey Bert! Check the New Name of the Akron Aeros

I’ll preface this by reminding everyone that this is a Minor League Baseball team.

Everyone good? Great. The Eastern League’s Akron Aeros (Double A, Cleveland) became the Akron RubberDucks this morning. No foolin’!

“Coming into Akron my goal was to listen more than talk, so this wasn’t something that we rushed into. We wanted to do something that was fun and entertaining while honouring the heritage of this great community.” – RubberDucks owner Ken Babby

No, Akron isn’t the nation’s leader in rubber duckie production, but they are well-known as the Rubber Capital of the World, hence the “Rubber” part of the team name. “Ducks”? Well, that one’s for the kiddies.

The logos, designed by youknowwho (their fourth re-design launched in the past week), feature the snarling head of a duck with flames flying out of the top of it and tire tracks leading up to the side.

Secondary logos include a duck foot in the shape of an “A” (Anaheim Ducks, you may have just found your new alternate logo), with a tire track surrounding it, possibly to form a “D”; another logo is an “A” created with tire tracks, no duck involved; and finally the duck face from the primary with tire tracks forming the arms as it prepares for a street brawl. You know, family friendly.

“The logo accomplishes a lot of things. Right off the bat, it represents the grit and fierceness of this blue-collar market but it also represents the brand of entertainment that we’re trying to create: a place where you can come in, have fun and forget life’s problems.” – Babby

RubberDucks (one word, CamelCase style) replaces the Akron Aeros name which had been in use since 1997 and was a nod to Ohio’s history of aerospace research — Ohio was the home of the first man to walk on the moon Neil Armstrong, and the Wright Brothers who were the first to build a working airplane.

Suddenly Chihuahuas sounds like a solid name for a team.

Reaction was, well, it’s almost always negative when a team tries something different, this was no different:

It’s a Minor League name for a Minor League team, that’s all I can really say. The logos are well designed, and at least there isn’t an alternate with a duck swinging a tire like a baseball bat. What says the audience?