Best. Team. Name. Ever.
• You probably heard about the coolest new minor league baseball team sporting the most awesome name ever — “The Rocket City Trash Pandas,” coming in 2020 to a brand new ballpark in the Huntsville, AL suburb of Madison. You see, Huntsville lost its former team, the Stars, to Biloxi, MS in 2014, so North Alabama is definitely ready for some baseball. The team, currently known as the Mobile Baybears, a AA affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels, will play one more season in Mobile and debut in Huntsville in 2020 sporting their catchy new name.
To create some local excitement over the team’s arrival, BallCorps, LLC, the owner of the Southern League franchise decided to hold a team-naming contest, not realizing that the resulting wave of publicity (and awe-inspiring winning team name) would generate national attention! The five finalists were: “Trash Pandas,” “Thunder Sharks,” “Moon Possums,” “Space Chimps” and “Comet Jockeys.” Fun Fact: “Trash Panda” is local slang for a raccoon.
Cumulus Top 40 WZYP/Huntsville was deeply involved in the naming process, as OM/PD Steve Smith (left) explains to RAMP, “The ‘Thunder Sharks’ name was submitted by Ricky Fernandez, co-host of The Mojo Radio Show on WZYP. He even created his own Thunder Sharks logo!” WZYP morning host Mojo hosted the official name-reveal party at Rocket Republic Brewing Pub and made the big announcement in front of hundreds of rabid fans, and the whole thing was carried live on WZYP and all over local television. “It was a crazy huge turnout,” Smith reports. “Fans showed up with signs, stuffed pandas and sharks and more.”
Not surprisingly, the catchy and melodic “Trash Pandas” name solidly dominated both rounds of voting — in the round of ten, Trash Pandas received 41.37% of the votes, with the Thunder Sharks a distant second with 13.81%. In the round of five, Trash Pandas pulled in 44.75% of the votes, while the Thunder Sharks lagged far behind again, with 19.25%. “As you can imagine, the name provoked a lot of emotion,” Smith tells RAMP. “Some people love it, others not so much… but everyone is talking about it.”
WZYP is already giving away official Trash Pandas gear before it even goes on sale, and the station will be front-and-center at the official logo reveal party, concert and fireworks show in late October.
