Hartford, the state capital of Connecticut, is getting a Double-A baseball team in 2016. As Double-A rules dictate, it will have an insane name.
The team announced 10 possible names at a press conference Wednesday by children wearing hot dog hats.
The top ten names for the future Hartford minor league baseball team being unveiled. pic.twitter.com/Wkh2Kx6Tmq
— Max Reiss (@MaxReiss) March 4, 2015
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The 10 options, submitted by fans, are Blue Frogs, Choppers, Hedgehogs, Honey Badgers, Hound Dogs, Praying Mantis, River Hogs, Screech Owls, Whirlybirds and Yard Goats.
The names were submitted by nearly 6,000 fans, who provided a brief explanation with their idea. Choppers and Whirlybirds are both a reference to Connecticut's history of manufacturing helicopters. Honey Badgers "is a fun name that falls in line with ... other wacky names minor league baseball is known for," the submitter said, according to the Hartford Courant.
Reviews of the naming options are decidedly mixed.
Screech Owls; Whirlybirds. These are all pretty bad. Hound Dogs seems to be the least dumb. I'm embarrassed for these choices. (2/2)
— Andrew (@MNfanfromafar) March 4, 2015
The Hartford Yard Goats. Think of all the great goat videos they could play on the video board. #TeamYardGoats #HartfordBaseball
— Michael Walsh (@MichaelCWalsh) March 4, 2015
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Chuck Domino, who has worked with minor-league teams to choose new names before said he thought some of the names would go over like a lead balloon. "[W]e're going to get killed," he said, according to the Courant.
But he wasn't entirely pessimistic.
"The names resonate with kids, the names resonate with what we think we can do to have fun," Domino added. "Every one of these names is fun. ... all of these were submitted by people in the community."
You can vote on the name by clicking here. A winner will be announced on March 18.
- Dan Gartland
