Back in February of this year, baseball fans in Minnesota attending an event called Twins Fest were introduced to the Chattanooga Lookouts, their team’s new affiliate in the Double-A Southern League. It’s not that the Lookouts are a new team—they’ve been around off and on since 1885—but they are new
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Emeralds keep Eugene weird on Portlandia Night
Perhaps nowhere in North America do residents wear their collective oddities as a badge of honor as in the state of Oregon. The phrase “Keep Portland Weird,” originally a call to support local businesses, has become a rallying cry for the entire state. The town of Eugene, Oregon, home to the
Sticking their necks out: The story behind the Beloit Snappers
When I first contacted the Beloit Snappers to talk about the reasons for their nickname, their director of media relations and marketing Bobby Coon told me exactly what I expected to hear: “There are a lot of snapping turtles in the Rock River that runs through Beloit.” The end! There are a
Sweet Mosquitoes: The Story Behind the Sugar Land Skeeters
There are two things residents of Sugar Land, Texas, associate with their town. The first is the Imperial Sugar Company, headquartered there since moving from Louisiana in 1907. The second is mosquitoes, which are probably going to be a problem when you build a town on swampy marshland. First, the
From one bug to another: Sand Gnats to become Fireflies
When the New York Mets’ South Atlantic League Single-A affiliate moves from Savannah, Georgia, to Columbia, South Carolina, next season, they will drop one bug—the tiny, horrible, razor-fanged Sand Gnat—in favor of one that evokes images of pleasant summer evenings, the firefly. The Columbia Fireflies’ logo, unveiled this morning, was
Norfolk Tides Wearing SpongeBob Jerseys August 7th
Who plays baseball in a pineapple under the sea? Norfolk Tides. On August 7th. ICYMI, we’re going to be living in a pineapple under the sea on Friday, August 7! @SpongeBob http://t.co/FPapuwKrrB pic.twitter.com/sCydRyNhu3 — Norfolk Tides (@NorfolkTides) July 28, 2015 The Tides (AAA-Baltimore Orioles) will take to the field wearing
On the Right Track: The Story Behind the New Orleans Zephyrs
On its own, the word zephyr does not exactly instill fear. It refers to a gentle wind, rolling in from the west and rustling the daffodils (or whatever) as it heads east. That said, the city of Denver sits just to the east of the Rockies, and the wind that
Fresno Grizzlies celebrate taco trucks with amazing uniforms
Central California is the self-proclaimed birthplace of the taco truck, and to celebrate that local history, the Fresno Grizzlies, Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros, will take to the field as the Fresno Tacos for one game this summer. For four years, the Fresno Grizzlies’ Taco Truck Throwdown has been
Quite a Yarn: The Story Behind the Lowell Spinners
It’s a safe guess that the Lowell Spinners, a short-season class-A Red Sox affiliate in the New York-Penn League, are the only sports team whose identity is based on yarn. In the early 1800s, the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, rose to prominence as the cradle of the Industrial Revolution. The foundation
This Team Bites: The Story Behind the Savannah Sand Gnats
A lot of sports teams choose to represent themselves with fierce, intimidating creatures: Tigers, Diamondbacks, Sharks, Chihuahuas, etc. But none of these sounds quite so awful as the swarming, biting insects that infest coastal Georgia twice a year. Sand gnats, colloquially referred to as biting midges, punkies, sand flies, sand
Hartford Yard Goats Unveil Logos, Colour Scheme
Perhaps it was more than just a coincidence the Hartford Yard Goats chose to unveil their logos at the former home arena of the Hartford Whalers. It’s a green, blue, silver, and gold goat chomping on a baseball bat which will grace the caps of Connecticut’s newest pro baseball team;
What a Ride: The Story Behind the Brooklyn Cyclones
More than four decades after the Dodgers broke the hearts of Brooklyn’s baseball fans by moving to Los Angeles, the sport returned to the borough in the form of a short-season class A Mets affiliate located on Coney Island—with a rickety old roller coaster called the Cyclone looming just beyond