Dumbest minor league team nickname?

Déjà Bru · 11-04-2016, 03:57 PM

Fans in the Binghamton NY area have chosen the "Rumble Ponies" as their AA team nickname.

Well, they did not have much to choose from; the other choices were "Bullheads, Gobblers, Stud Muffins, Timber Jockeys" and "Rocking Horses."

Rumble Ponies. Sounds pretty dumb to me. Then again, it goes along with the theme of the "Dumbing down of America."

What's your vote for dumbest minor league team nickname? Any sport, minor league. Humorous as well as dumb.

Westheim · 11-04-2016, 04:45 PM

This is plain awful, but fits the Mets.

PotatoPeeler · 11-04-2016, 06:01 PM

I can't stand the Orem Owlz team name because of the stupid stylized name.

Déjà Bru · 11-04-2016, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PotatoPeeler

I can't stand the Oren Owlz team name because of the stupid stylized name.

Yes! It reminds me of those dumb "I wuv catz" pictures and videos.

TheMaus2 · 11-04-2016, 06:29 PM

Lugnuts.

Déjà Bru · 11-04-2016, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheMaus2

Lugnuts.

Pardon me, sir. I don't see the need to be calling me names just because I . . . oh, you mean the Lansing Lugnuts!

Andy · 11-04-2016, 08:24 PM

Jacksonville Suns changing name to Jumbo Shrimp | Jacksonville News, Sports and Entertainment | jacksonville.com

Déjà Bru · 11-04-2016, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy

Jacksonville Suns changing name to Jumbo Shrimp | Jacksonville News, Sports and Entertainment | jacksonville.com

So we are going from the logo on the left to one of the three on the right:

"Jumbo Shrimp, right out of the Pot"
"J-Shrimp and Friend Blob" (J for Jacksonville)
"Monster Jumbo Shrimp Terrorizes Florida"

Mecza · 11-04-2016, 10:40 PM

What's with the general goofiness of these names? Could you imagine an MLB expansion team with the name Rumble Ponies. Cmon guys...

Orioles1966 · 11-05-2016, 07:09 AM

Montgomery Biscuits

cephasjames · 11-05-2016, 07:38 AM

What I don't get is minor league teams' felt need to rebrand so often. Especially when staying with the same parent club.

Déjà Bru · 11-05-2016, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mecza

What's with the general goofiness of these names? Could you imagine an MLB expansion team with the name Rumble Ponies. Cmon guys...

Quote:

Originally Posted by cephasjames

What I don't get is minor league teams' felt need to rebrand so often. Especially when staying with the same parent club.

Well, there was a clue in the article that Andy linked to:

Quote:

Babby [the team owner], who has repeatedly emphasized “affordable, family fun” in promoting both his Jacksonville and Akron Double-A franchise in Ohio, believes Jumbo Shrimp meets his criteria of wanting a creative name that has a direct tie-in to the local community.

“There’s something fun and quirky about minor-league team names,” said Babby. “In our league alone, you have the [Pensacola] Wahoos and [Montgomery] Biscuits. When people see this logo and hear the name for the first time, they’ll see this experience is all about fun.”

Minor league baseball is a much cheaper experience than taking a family to a major league ballgame. Families = kids. Kids = fun, not baseball tradition or even baseball itself, frankly. Fun = goofy team names and mascots.

I bet LGO would have statistics, but I would think minor league, and independent league, baseball attendance is way up overall in the last couple of decades for these reasons.

Lukas Berger · 11-05-2016, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cephasjames

What I don't get is minor league teams' felt need to rebrand so often. Especially when staying with the same parent club.

They get to sell more stuff that way.

Le Grande Orange · 11-05-2016, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

I bet LGO would have statistics, but I would think minor league, and independent league, baseball attendance is way up overall in the last couple of decades for these reasons.

International League per game average attendance from 1921-2016. Only data for one league, but is probably representative of the overall trends in minor league attendance over the years.

Déjà Bru · 11-05-2016, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

International League per game average attendance from 1921-2016. Only data for one league, but is probably representative of the overall trends in minor league attendance over the years.

Right! That's why we can look forward to more teams like the Akron RubberDucks. That's one fierce-looking duck, though. With teeth, even!

Cobra Mgr · 11-06-2016, 02:34 PM

As a Tar Heel fan, I feel it would be inappropriate for me to call another team's nickname dumb.

DJP53916 · 11-06-2016, 11:57 PM

-Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Just sounds weird.

-West Virginia Power. Greenville Drive. Visalia Rawhide. Lake Elsinore Storm. Winston-Salem Dash. Orem Owlz. Team names that don't end with the letter S just look and sound weird. Ending with a Z is about the stupidest way to spell a nickname. Only exceptions I can think of to this is Altoona Curve, and Missoula Osprey. Any nickname besides Curve for a team in Altoona would seem stupid to me. And is there any other team anywhere else name Osprey? Not that I know of.

-Fort Wayne TinCaps. Clinton LumberKings. Aberdeen IronBirds. Everett AquaSox. I'm certain the Space Bar was invented by the time these teams got their names. Looks stupid like that.

Normally, I like most minor league team names. Whether they pay tribute to the Major League club they are affiliated with, or reference some unique animal, geographic feature, or anything/anyone else important to the local communities, or just unique in that I don't know any other team anywhere else that has that nickname (or it's very hard to find another one like it), I think it's usually good.

Déjà Bru · 11-07-2016, 09:09 PM

Funny that you mention the Fort Wayne TinCaps. I just read about the origin of that name. You may or may not know that it is a reference to Johnny Appleseed who died in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1845. (Fort Wayne "celebrates" this fact with a festival every year - go figure.) It is an accepted fact that Johnny Appleseed, in addition to wearing burlap sacks and whatnot (but no shoes), did in fact wear a hat made out of tin.

Antonin · 11-10-2016, 09:52 PM

I never understood why they changed the name of the Akron team to the very silly RubberDucks. I understand the connection between Akron and rubber, but I would never wear a T-shirt with "RubberDucks" on it.

CONN CHRIS · 11-11-2016, 08:38 AM

Here in CT we have the still homeless Hartford Yard Goats. When they unveiled the name there was a resounding huh?! They tried to tie it to a train yard nearby that had small engines called goats that were used to ferry train cars around the yard. The response was still largely 'Huh?!'

It makes no sense and relates to the city and region in no way but whatever. If the failed stadium project doesn't get resolved soon they will have to find a new city and they will have never played a game in Hartford anyway.

11-04-2016, 03:57 PM	#1
Déjà Bru Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: United States Posts: 10,456	Dumbest minor league team nickname? Fans in the Binghamton NY area have chosen the "Rumble Ponies" as their AA team nickname. Well, they did not have much to choose from; the other choices were "Bullheads, Gobblers, Stud Muffins, Timber Jockeys" and "Rocking Horses." Rumble Ponies. Sounds pretty dumb to me. Then again, it goes along with the theme of the "Dumbing down of America." What's your vote for dumbest minor league team nickname? Any sport, minor league. Humorous as well as dumb. Attached Images __________________ - Bru

11-04-2016, 04:45 PM	#2
Westheim Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 11,890	This is plain awful, but fits the Mets. __________________ Portland Raccoons, 83 years of excell-.... of baseball: Furballs here! 1983 * 1989 * 1991 * 1992 * 1993 * 1995 * 1996 * 2010 * 2017 * 2018 * 2019 * 2026 * 2028 * 2035 * 2037 * 2044 * 2045 * 2046 * 2047 * 2048 * 2051 * 2054 * 2055 1 OSANAI : 2 POWELL : 7 NOMURA \| RAMOS : 8 REECE : 10 BROWN : 15 HALL : 27 FERNANDEZ : 28 CASAS : 31 CARMONA : 32 WEST : 39 TONER : 46 SAITO Resident Mets Cynic - The Mets from 1962 onwards, here.

11-04-2016, 06:01 PM	#3
PotatoPeeler Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Rapid City, SD Posts: 3,639	I can't stand the Orem Owlz team name because of the stupid stylized name. __________________ 培傑西 I have never taken a lesson on how to talk on TV in my life. - Tim McCarver Guns have only two enemies; rust and liberals. The world is a comedy to those that think; a tragedy to those that feel. Last edited by PotatoPeeler; 11-04-2016 at 11:48 PM.

11-04-2016, 06:29 PM	#5
TheMaus2 All Star Starter Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: The OOTP Forums. Always. Posts: 1,949 Blog Entries: 16	Lugnuts. __________________ I write a monthly newsletter on the Food Baseball Association. I also listen to music no one's ever heard of in hopes of looking cool and alternative.

11-05-2016, 07:38 AM	#11
cephasjames Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 8,735 Blog Entries: 1	What I don't get is minor league teams' felt need to rebrand so often. Especially when staying with the same parent club. __________________ 5000+ Generic Logos Free for the Taking FREE: Uniforms and logos for 500+ teams spanning 1871-present Great Lakes League: 10 Conferences, 100 Teams Pre-OOTP 23 Custom Cap & Jersey Template v3.0 by Deft and NoPepper (with layers from other various artists) that I use: Caps, Jerseys

11-04-2016, 08:24 PM	#7
Andy Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Dayton, OH Posts: 2,256	Jacksonville Suns changing name to Jumbo Shrimp \| Jacksonville News, Sports and Entertainment \| jacksonville.com

11-04-2016, 10:40 PM	#9
Mecza Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 268	What's with the general goofiness of these names? Could you imagine an MLB expansion team with the name Rumble Ponies. Cmon guys...

11-05-2016, 07:09 AM	#10
Orioles1966 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 2,869	Montgomery Biscuits

11-06-2016, 02:34 PM	#16
Cobra Mgr Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Parts unknown Posts: 6,371	As a Tar Heel fan, I feel it would be inappropriate for me to call another team's nickname dumb. __________________ If a man is guilty 4 what goes on inside of his mind, then let me get the electric chair 4 all my future crimes. - Prince Batdance June 7, 1958 - Apr 21, 2016

11-06-2016, 11:57 PM	#17
DJP53916 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Mar 2014 Posts: 175	-Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Just sounds weird. -West Virginia Power. Greenville Drive. Visalia Rawhide. Lake Elsinore Storm. Winston-Salem Dash. Orem Owlz. Team names that don't end with the letter S just look and sound weird. Ending with a Z is about the stupidest way to spell a nickname. Only exceptions I can think of to this is Altoona Curve, and Missoula Osprey. Any nickname besides Curve for a team in Altoona would seem stupid to me. And is there any other team anywhere else name Osprey? Not that I know of. -Fort Wayne TinCaps. Clinton LumberKings. Aberdeen IronBirds. Everett AquaSox. I'm certain the Space Bar was invented by the time these teams got their names. Looks stupid like that. Normally, I like most minor league team names. Whether they pay tribute to the Major League club they are affiliated with, or reference some unique animal, geographic feature, or anything/anyone else important to the local communities, or just unique in that I don't know any other team anywhere else that has that nickname (or it's very hard to find another one like it), I think it's usually good. Last edited by DJP53916; 11-06-2016 at 11:59 PM.

11-07-2016, 09:09 PM	#18
Déjà Bru Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: United States Posts: 10,456	Funny that you mention the Fort Wayne TinCaps. I just read about the origin of that name. You may or may not know that it is a reference to Johnny Appleseed who died in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1845. (Fort Wayne "celebrates" this fact with a festival every year - go figure.) It is an accepted fact that Johnny Appleseed, in addition to wearing burlap sacks and whatnot (but no shoes), did in fact wear a hat made out of tin. Attached Images __________________ - Bru

11-10-2016, 09:52 PM	#19
Antonin Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 2,420	I never understood why they changed the name of the Akron team to the very silly RubberDucks. I understand the connection between Akron and rubber, but I would never wear a T-shirt with "RubberDucks" on it. __________________ Cultural icons, gone but not forgotten: David Bowie, Lou Reed, William S. Burroughs, Tristan Tzara, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsburg, Jimi Hendrix, John Cage, Johnny Thunders (New York Dolls), Mike Hudson (The Pagans), Joey Ramone (Ramones), Stiv Bators (Dead Boys), Tomata Du Plenty (The Screamers), Joe Strummer (The Clash), Lester Bangs

11-11-2016, 08:38 AM	#20
CONN CHRIS Global Moderator Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 28,366	Here in CT we have the still homeless Hartford Yard Goats. When they unveiled the name there was a resounding huh?! They tried to tie it to a train yard nearby that had small engines called goats that were used to ferry train cars around the yard. The response was still largely 'Huh?!' It makes no sense and relates to the city and region in no way but whatever. If the failed stadium project doesn't get resolved soon they will have to find a new city and they will have never played a game in Hartford anyway. __________________ Check Out My Cards!