The new minor league baseball team in Madison, Alabama, won’t make its debut until 2020, but the buzz around the Rocket City Trash Pandas has been growing for almost two months, since the name was announced at the beginning of September. That buzz crescendoed today with the much-anticipated unveiling of logos designed by Brandiose.
The full suite of logos has a patriotic theme, tying the raccoon to the aerospace industry that is a large aspect of northern Alabama’s economy and culture. (Click the image above for a closer look.)
The Trash Pandas name caught popular attention almost immediately when it was announced, garnering comparisons to Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy (whom Star Lord derogatorily calls a trash panda), getting a mention in late-night talk show host James Corden’s monologue, and earning the dubious honor of warranting the sale of counterfeit merchandise online.
The nickname Trash Pandas beat out ThunderSharks, Moon Possums, Space Chimps, and Comet Jockeys in the final round of fan voting, and the the geographical identifier Rocket City was chosen over Madison and North Alabama. The team is more than a year from making its debut, when the Double-A Mobile BayBears relocate to Madison.
