When the Potomac Nationals, high-A affiliate of the nearby Washington Nationals, announced that they would be moving about 40 miles south to Fredericksburg, Virginia, for the 2020 season, there was an expectation that the franchise would be the latest in the parade of minor league teams with wacky nicknames. But
Author: Paul Caputo
Paul Caputo is a grown man who collects plastic ice cream helmet sundaes from minor league baseball stadiums because he likes logos that much. Paul is the host of the Baseball By Design podcast and he is the author of the first book published by SportsLogos.net, The Story Behind the Nickname: The Origins of 100 Classic, Contemporary, and Wacky Minor League Baseball Team Names (also available on Kindle). He can be found on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky at @baseballbydesign, and he maintains the Countdown to Spring Training on Facebook. Paul is a Philadelphia sports fan, but he's not so bad.
Bowling Green unveils 2020 Midwest League All Star Game logos
The town of Bowling Green, Kentucky, will host the Midwest League All Star Game in 2020 for the first time in the 56 years the event has taken place. The Single-A Bowling Green Hot Rods unveiled the logos at their stadium just moments ago. The announcement took place at Bowling
Of Happy Campers and Bull Testicles: The Story Behind the Rocky Mountain Vibes
When the Triple-A Colorado Springs Sky Sox moved to Texas to become the San Antonio Missions before the 2019 season, the void left in professional baseball’s highest-elevation stadium was filled by the short-season single-A Helena Brewers, who moved to Colorado from Montana. From the outset, the process of naming the
Skeeters jerseys challenge opponents to “Come and Take It”
The 2018 Atlantic League champion Sugar Land Skeeters will defend their title wearing uniforms defying opponents to win. The independent Skeeters, led by manager Pete Incaviglia, a former Major Leaguer, will play the entire 2019 postseason wearing the specialty jerseys. The “Come and Take It” slogan is an homage to
Adelaide Bite go back to their roots with Giant rebrand
When the original Australian Baseball League debuted in 1989, one of the founding teams was the Adelaide Giants. The Giants played 10 seasons and folded when that first ABL folded in 1999. When the ABL was resurrected in 2010, Adelaide, the capital of South Australia and the fifth largest city
Milwaukee Admirals to wear sugar skull jerseys
The AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals will commemorate the Day of the Dead with jerseys that feature the iconic sugar skulls associated with the Mexican holiday. The striped pattern on the jersey evokes traditional Zapotec Mexican rug designs. Sugar skulls, or calaveras, are decorated by families and loved ones as part of
Bowie Baysox celebrate Maryland as Crab Cakes
The Double-A Bowie Baysox will pay homage to their home state by taking the field as the Maryland Crab Cakes on Celebrate Maryland Night. Bucking the recent trend in Minor League Baseball, the promotional uniforms will not feature an anthropomorphized food item, but rather a pattern based on the state
Chihuahuas unveil Bark in the Park promo jerseys
The El Paso Chihuahuas will wear specialty jerseys for their annual Bark in the Park promotion featuring a photo-realistic dog in a brown leather bag. When the Chihuahuas were first introduced in 2014, the reasons given for the unusual nickname were the team’s proximity to the Chihuahuan Desert, as well
Arizona Fall League updates team logos
Three weeks after releasing an updated logo for the league itself, Major League Baseball’s Arizona Fall League unveiled new and updated logos for its six teams over the course of the last three days. The teams listed below will take the field with rosters filled with rosters made up of
Lehigh Valley IronPigs blame typo for IronPugs promotion
To hear the Lehigh Valley IronPigs tell it, the reason they’ll be giving away 3,000 “IronPugs” T-shirts—and taking on a new logo and brand for one game—is simple typographical error by their general manager Kurt Landes. Per the team: “Landes ordered T-shirts for the August 19 giveaway and accidentally spelled
Yard Goats wonder what might have been
Usually, when a team holds a What Might Have Been promotional night, the runner-up brand that finally gets its day an outrageous alternative to the more conservative brand the team ended up going with. (For example, see the Northwest Arkansas Naturals alter-ego chicken-based uniforms.) Sunday, August 11, the Hartford Yard
Triple-A Cubs to play as Iowa Caucuses
The state of Iowa holds a special place in the United States’ election process. Since 1972, the state’s caucuses have been the first major contest held in the Democratic and Republican primary season each election season. For the uninitiated, caucuses, or “neighborhood meetings,” are an objectively stupid alternative to actual