One of the proposed names for an upcoming major-league baseball team in Amarillo contains a Route 66 reference, but if residents have their way, they want the organization to create a new list from scratch.
The San Antonio Missions, a San Diego Padres affiliate, are moving its Class AA team to a new downtown stadium in Amarillo for the 2019 season but aren’t taking the team’s nickname with it. The team on Wednesday unveiled its five finalists for the team’s new name:
- Amarillo Boot Scooters
- Amarillo Bronc Busters
- Amarillo Jerky
- Amarillo Long Haulers
- Amarillo Sod Poodles
The Long Haulers proposal contains the Route 66 tie. This is how the club described it:
Long Haulers celebrates Amarillo’s famous Route 66, open roads, wind-bent trees, and the fun of Minor League Baseball.
Boot Scooters and Bronc Busters refer to Amarillo’s western heritage, Jerky refers to the town’s beef-production history, and Sod Poodles is another name for prairie dogs, an animal native to the Plains.
Tony Ensor, president and general manager of the team, said finalists were chosen from thousands of local submissions. He urged fans to vote for their favorite here.
The team’s announcement on Facebook about the finalists wasn’t received well. Comments were so overwhelmingly negative, it was difficult to find even one that liked any of the names.
The Amarillo Globe-News, the town’s daily newspaper, panned the proposed names in an editorial.
It lamented that residents didn’t come up with better ideas. It also stated:
Can we go with none of the above? […]
Look, we get it – minor league baseball long ago jumped on the bandwagon of naming teams with names that some consider odd, weird or colorful. This is a way to make teams stand out from the crowd and generate fan interest. We get it. But the five finalist team names for Amarillo’s new professional team don’t do much for us, and we doubt whether an non-traditional team name will work in a community such as Amarillo. […]
Amarillo can do better.
Minor-league baseball long has held a penchant for idiosyncratic nicknames. Sports Illustrated a couple of years ago assembled a list of weird ones, including Batavia Muck Dogs, Hartford Yard Goats, Montgomery Biscuits, Richmond Flying Squirrels, Toledo Mudhens, Akron Rubber Ducks, Savannah Bananas, Wichita Wingnuts and Albuquerque’s own Isotopes.
Someone started an iPetition drive against the proposed names and urged the baseball team to come up with a new list of finalists. It stated:
ALL OF THESE NAMES ARE HORRIBLE, to put it succinctly. They are embarrassing. They are hackneyed. We need to get the team name right.
The group launched the petition with a goal of 1,000 signatures. As of Wednesday evening, it had gathered more than 3,100.
(Image of the Amarillo baseball team’s logo via Facebook)
First, the reference to the new ball club in the first line should read “minor league,” not “major league.” Second, I agree that some of the names just don’t work. What ball player wants to say, “I’m a jerky”? The club needs a name that fits the area. Bronc Busters and Long Haulers can work (but not the other three). The problem is that names that may fit best are already in use within the state of Texas for some sport or other (e.g. Cowboys, Spurs). How about “Ranchers”? Or “Cowpunchers”? “Panhandlers” would fit geographically–but its slang usage knocks it from contention. Maybe the best I can come up with is the “Amarillo Cattle Barons.”
Thanks for the heads-up, Trenton. That line has been fixed.
I agree that those names are awful! How about the Armadillos, the Tumbleweeds, or the Plainsmen?
Amarillo Armadillos – brilliant! The only thing that could be better is a palindrome of some sort.
Think the name must roll off of the tongue as announcers will make anything else sound horrible. Amarillo Armadillos does roll pretty well. Better look for something else. “66 er’s” could incorporate Route 66 and is short and sweet.
You cannot name the team the 66ers. That name is already taken by the Inland Empire 66ers.