Since 1968, the minor league baseball franchise that currently plays as the High-A Rome Braves has played under the name of its parent club, including stints as the Greenwood Braves (1968–1979), Sumter Braves (1980–1985), Macon Braves (1986–2002), and its current iteration since 2003. That tradition will end in 2024, giving way to a trend in Minor League Baseball that sees teams switching from parent club names to brands with local significance.
“Our mission is to give the Rome community a brand as unique and special as the area itself is,” the team said in a statement. “For Braves fans, our long-standing affiliation with the Atlanta Braves will continue for years to come, however we want to create an identity that fans across the region can proudly claim and call their own.”
According to Josh Jackson, Minor League Baseball’s in-house expert on historic team names, Rome, Georgia, has had teams called the Rome Romans, who debuted in 1910, and the Rome Red Sox, who played for two seasons in the early 1950s. The current version of the team’s brand includes a Roman column, evoking that other Rome in Italy, which, like Rome, Georgia, is a city built on seven hills.
The franchise is taking suggestions for new names through Friday—though given Minor League Baseball’s increasingly lengthy approval process for new brands, there’s a chance the team already has some idea what that new name might be.
The end of the Rome Braves leaves affiliated Minor League Baseball with just 13 of its 120 teams named for their parent clubs, including the Triple-A Iowa Cubs, Oklahoma City Dodgers, Syracuse Mets, and Worcester Red Sox; Double-A Mississippi Braves and Springfield Cardinals; High-A South Bend Cubs; and Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays, Fredericksburg Nationals, Palm Beach Cardinals, Salem Red Sox, San Jose Giants, and St. Lucie Mets.
