Earlier this week, my terrific girlfriend introduced me to what has to be the best team name in professional baseball. Playing in the Stedler Division of the New York-Penn League and located in Burlington, Vermont, the Short-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals are known as the Vermont Lake Monsters. Originally the Vermont Expos, the team had to change its name after the big league club's move to DC. After a contest, they settled on the Lake Monsters, named after their longtime mascot Champ, the Lake Champlain lake monster, itself named after a local Loch Ness-style superstition. Whatever the etymology, it's a fantastic name. I love the idea of going to a Lake Monsters game three nights a week.

It's the type of thing that you can only get away with in the minors and independent leagues. With only thirty big league franchises that have to serve millions of fans, the names are far from daring. Plus, with generations of fans having grown up with the one ballclub, there isn't really any room for name changes. In the minors, though, that's just not the case. Teams are sold, affiliates are changed, and owners are constantly looking for ways to excite their fan base. It's the perfect storm for creative team names and mascots.

With that in mind, I thought it'd be fun to take a look at the various minor leagues (and only the minor leagues - there are just too many independent leagues to try to weed through) and see what the most creative club names were. Clubs like the Pawtucket Red Sox or Helena Brewers, then, won't be included here, and even names like the Columbus Clippers and Portland Beavers are a little too pedestrian to make the list. I'm looking for the really unique names because, after all, that's just one of the charms of the minor leagues.

Using the list of minor leagues over at Wikipedia, I went through each of the leagues and chose the ones that seemed most interesting. Here, then, are the most creative club names in each of the affiliated minor leagues:

Triple-A
International League: Toledo Mud Hens [old, but still classic] & Lehigh Valley IronPigs
Pacific Coast League: Round Rock Express [nice homage to owner Nolan Ryan] & Reno Aces [one of the better dual-meaning names I came across]; special "crappy name honor" to the Albuquerque Isotopes & Las Vegas 51's

Double-A
Eastern League: Connecticut Defenders [not a lot to choose from here, but it's still a pretty good name]
Southern League: [quite a few good names here] Montgomery Biscuits, Tennessee Smokies, andChattanooga Lookouts; special note to the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx and their stadium,Pringles Park
Texas League: Northwest Arkansas Naturals [named after noth the "Natural State" and the Robert Redford film] & San Antonio Missions

High-A
California League: Lancaster JetHawks [the city is home to Edwards Air Force base] & the Visalia Rawhide; special "crappy name honor" to the Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernadino [I guess it's a Southern California thing]
Florida State League: Jupiter Hammerheads & Brevard County Manatees
Carolina League: Myrtle Beach Pelicans & Frederick Keys

Low-A
South Atlantic League ("Sally League"): Savannah Sand Gnats, Bowling Green Hot Rods, & Hickory Crawdads
Midwest League: Lansing Lugnuts & Fort Wayne TinCaps [apparently named after Johnny Appleseed, who's buried in town]

Short-A
New York-Penn League: Vermont Lake Monsters, State College Spikes, & Auburn Doubledays
Northwest League: Salem-Keizer Volcanoes & Tri-City Dust Devils

Advanced Rookie
Pioneer League: Casper Ghosts & Ogden Raptors [not too original, but I love that their mascot is a freakin' dinosaur]

There are three more minor leagues, but every team in them is named after their affiliate, like the Bristol White Sox or Bluefield Orioles: the Appalachian League (Advanced Rookie), the Gulf Coast League (Rookie), and the Arizona League (Rookie).

Besides the Lake Monsters, my favorite of these teams are probably the Lansing Lugnuts, Montgomery Biscuits, and the Jupiter Hammerheads, each fantastically unique team names (check out that cap!). The Volcanoes, Ghosts, and Sand Gnats are all pretty great names too. It's no surprise, really, that they are all in the lower-level leagues, as that's where the financial needs of a team are most apparent. They're like independent leagues in that respect.

Whatever the reasons, though, it's easy to agree that there are some fantastically creative and fun team names and mascots in the minor leagues. It makes me wish that I had more opportunities to travel around the minors and go see the different teams and their stadiums. A summer of that, seeing games from triple-A to low-A, would be a blast (imagine the collection of hats and t-shirts you could get!). Until then, though, it's nice to know that there are so many fun and unique teams around the leagues.

Comments (2)

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In Defense of Bad Names
written by Monte, August 25, 2009

I am very late commenting, but have to say -- I like both the Albuquerque Isotopes and Inland Empire 66ers. Further, in each case I know where the name came from.

For Albuquerque, it has to do with the fact that New Mexico, with Los Alamos a little over an hour to the north, and Almogordo to the south, is the home of the atomic bomb. Say what you will about the morality of the choice, it nonetheless legitimately is the legacy of the city.

As for the 66ers -- that is a reference to the fact San Bernadino is on old Route 66, a fact that even is immortalized in the famous song (played by myriad artists, including the Rolling Stones). I think that entirely justifies the name -- and it isn't just a "California thing."

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Fair points...
written by lar @ wezen-ball, August 25, 2009

Very fair points, Monte. I've actually had to explain myself a few times on each of those names, so maybe I didn't do a great job in the post.

I don't have much against the Isotopes as a name. It's not great, but it's not terrible. It was a blatant and silly rip-off of the Simpsons, though, and that marks it down in my book. If the name were better, then the fact that they stole it from the Simpsons probably wouldn't bother me, but the combination is why I put it on the list. Not that I actually have strong feelings for it either way...

And the 66ers thing: I like the name 66ers. It was the "Inland Empire...*OF* San Bernadino" thing that annoyed me. When you make your name that long and bulky, it's just terrible. Much like the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. That's what I meant by a "California thing", and why I complained about their name.

Again, though, neither bothers me all that much. I just thought I'd have a bit of fun by pointing them out.

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