Seattle Mariners Affiliate to Pay Tribute to Critical Civil Rights Moment in 2025

Every year, several teams around minor league baseball adopt new, alternate identities for select games. Heck, some teams adopt multiple alternate identities in the course of a season.

We've already heard about many teams that will go this route in 2025, including the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Chicken Tenders), the Amarillo Sod Poodles (Yellow City Pigweeds) and the Hartford Yard Goats (Thunder Chickens). And while the alternate identities and jerseys are often funny and memorable, every once in a while they are extremely important in a bigger sense.

Such will be the case for the Arkansas Travelers during a stretch of games from Aug. 21-23 of this season. The Travelers, the Double-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, will rebrand as the "Little Rock Nine," in honor of a critical moment in the Civil Rights Movement.

The Little Rock Nine are being celebrated by the @ARTravs, 68 years after the Civil Rights heroes integrated an Arkansas high school.

More on the homage: https://t.co/RSICGD1MZ5
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) February 18, 2025

Per MiLB.com:

In 1957, Little Rock was at the center of a social and political maelstrom. A group of Black high school students -- the Little Rock Nine -- enrolled at Little Rock Central High School in an attempt to desegregate the school system. The state's powers-that-be prevented the students from entering the building, utilizing the Arkansas National Guard to do so, thus necessitating a federal intervention. The students and the network of Black activists that supported them persevered through the prolonged and terrifying ordeal, and today they are recognized as heroes.

And from Travelers general manager Sophie Ozier:

"We have [the weekend] broken up into three different parts," said Ozier, mentioning plans to honor Central High and Local HBCUs in addition to the Little Rock Nine. "Another thing worth mentioning is that all of the jersey [auction] proceeds go to the Little Rock Nine Foundation, which works closely with the Clinton School of Public Service here. So we'll have some scholarships that are created through that as well."

On the field, the Travelers won the Southern League championship last season. They featured a roster with some of the top prospects in the Mariners organization, including infielder Cole Young, pitcher Logan Evans and catcher Harry Ford.

The Travelers can expect to see more of Seattle's loaded farm system in 2025, as guys like Colt Emerson and Laz Montes could be in Arkansas by the time this rebrand happens.

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