The Kamloops Northpaws will be the 14th team in the quickly expanding collegiate summer level West Coast League in 2021. The team was introduced this week in the town of Kamloops, British Columbia, about 350 kilometers northeast of Vancouver. The nickname is a play off the baseball term “southpaw,” a
Category: Minor League Baseball
Pickle Things Are Happening: The Story Behind the Portland Pickles
The first time marketing entrepreneur Alan Miller heard the name of the collegiate summer level Portland Pickles, a team he now co-owns with former Seattle Seahawks punter Jon Ryan (among others), he was not too sure about it. “When I originally heard it,” he said, “it was a little bit
Beloit Snappers commit to changing name in 2021
There’s a lot we don’t know about what affiliated Minor League Baseball will look like in 2021, but we do know what baseball in Beloit, Wisconsin, will NOT look like next year: The Class A Oakland A’s affiliate will ditch the name that it has used since 1995. The Beloit
New Atlantic League team to play in Gastonia, NC
A new independent baseball team coming to Gastonia, North Carolina, is looking for a nickname. The team is asking fans to consider factors related to the city’s “historical significance, roots in baseball, local geography, work ethic and culture, the community’s personality, and other elements unique to the city and its
WooSox unveil extensive uniform set
The Worcester Red Sox—WooSox to friends—unveiled the on-field threads they’ll wear in their debut season next year, including nine jerseys and seven caps. The nine jerseys include three whites, three blues, two reds, and one gray, featuring the city’s name in a traditional Red Sox font, the team name in
Snap Decision: Beloit baseball considering a new name
The Beloit Snappers have gone by their current nickname for a quarter-century, but with an impending move to a new ballpark in 2021, the team is considering an overhaul to their entire brand. The Snappers’ issued a call for ideas on their website and are soliciting input through August 18.
Minor League Baseball announces top 25 teams, record sales in 2019
Minor League Baseball’s 160 affiliated teams sold a record $85.7 million in merchandise during the 2019 calendar year. That number is an increase of almost 17 percent over 2018’s then-record $74 million in sales, which was an increase of four percent over 2017’s then-record $71 million. Each year, MiLB announces
Fightin Phils to play as Reading Hot Dogs
The Double-A Reading Fightin Phils announced yesterday, on National Hot Dog Day, of course, that they will play some games next season as the Reading Hot Dogs. The team’s brand is forever intertwined with the encased sausage stuff, and according to their website, the Fightin Phils sell the most hot
Authenticity, Collaboration, Respect: The Story Behind the Spokane Indians
Recent conversations about the use of Native American imagery in sports brands have been adversarial, at best. The now-former name of the football team in Washington, DC, was an actual racial slur. The Cleveland Indians used a cartoon caricature of a Native American as a logo for decades. Fans of
The Team with Two Names: WCL Unveils Nanaimo Baseball
The 13th team in the collegiate summer West Coast League will have two separate brands for day games and night games, drawing on two different aspects of the natural and cultural heritage of their home in British Columbia. By night, the team will be the Nanaimo NightOwls. The nickname, which
New league to feature Nerds Herd, Deep Dish, Tully Monsters
The Joliet Slammers, who under normal circumstances play in the independent Frontier League, will host a four-team City of Champions Cup this summer. The newly formed temporary league will feature the Slammers, who have been around since 2011, as well three new teams, the Tully Monsters, Chicago Deep Dish, and
New Sugar Land Skeeters league includes “Lightning Sloths”
The Sugar Land Skeeters, an independent minor league baseball team in the Atlantic League, have created a temporary four-team league that will play from July 10 to August 30 at the team’s ballpark near Houston, Texas. In addition to the Skeeters, who have been around since 2012, the Constellation Energy