Hartford’s New Minor League Baseball Team Needs Your Help Picking a Name

The Rock Cats are leaving New Britain Stadium (pictured here) for Hartford. New Britain Rock Cats

By Jack Andrade

March 7, 2015

4 minutes to read

The New Britain Rock Cats are moving to Hartford, and the AA affiliate of the Colorado Rockies is using crowdsourcing and fan voting to pick the team’s new nickname.

While the Hartford Courant is not impressed with the fans’ nominations, some of the finalists are pretty awesome team names. The Courant also provided some explanations for the team names, so we definitely recommend checking that out before doing your civic duty.

Presented in alphabetical order, the ten finalists are: Blue Frogs, Choppers, Hedgehogs, Honey Badgers, Hound Dogs, Praying Mantis, River Hogs, Screech Owls, Whirlybirds, and Yard Goats.

You can vote for your top three choices online, with voting closing March 11 and the new name announced March 18. Because an informed electorate is the foundation of a successful democracy, let’s break down why you should or shouldn’t vote for each nickname.

The Names You Cannot Vote for Under Any Circumstances

Choppers: Maybe we’re missing something, but naming the team after a helicopter is a blown opportunity. Minor league baseball is awesome, family-friendly fun, which means mascots and apparel are important. What kind of mascot would the choppers have? Do kids want hats with a helicopter on them? It’s nice that Connecticut is the home of the first helicopter, but no thanks.

River Hogs: If you’re one of those people that wondered what a Seahawk was before the Super Bowl, you can’t support the River Hogs. It’s not a real animal, as cool as it sounds. This one is out.

Hound Dogs: We already have a “Dogs’’ team in New England, and it’s the Portland Sea Dogs. While the Sea Dogs are not named after a real animal and therefore don’t pass the Seahawks test, we don’t have the power to change that name. This region isn’t big enough for two dogs.

The Names That Are Acceptable, but Not Ideal

Whirlybirds: This name is really cool, but it’s another helicopter reference. While it certainly has more potential than “Choppers,’’ it’s not going to check all the boxes for a great minor league team name.

Praying Mantis: The praying mantis is pretty much the coolest insect, and it definitely has upside in the mascot and marketing departments. But the plural of praying mantis is praying mantis, and that’s annoying. It should be praying manti. A “let’s go Mantis’’ chant won’t work.

Honey Badgers: Honey Badgers are pretty cool, and it’d make for a cool mascot, but they’re kind of 2011. That doesn’t seem that long ago, but in 2011 they hadn’t even made a “Hobbit’’ movie yet. And Taylor Swift was still doing country music. Naming your team the Honey Badgers is the equivalent of listening to Taylor Swift’s country albums in 2015. We can do better than that.

Screech Owls: Like the Praying Mantis, the Screech Owl is a pretty cool animal, and there’s definitely a Screech Owl mascot that kids would love. Really, the flaw in this name is that it’s just not that fun to cheer for the Screech Owls. It’d have to get shorthanded to “Owls’’ for the purpose of chants and “Let’s go to the Owls game’’ conversations. And once you make a Screech Owl just an ordinary owl, it loses its luster.

The Three Names You Should Be Voting For

3. Blue Frogs

Mascot? Check. Chanting? Check. Cool hats? Check. Throw in the possibility of some wonky blue uniforms, and Blue Frogs is a very solid minor league baseball team name. The downside? Blue Frogs aren’t really a thing, technically, and we’d like for people outside of New England to think we can name a baseball team without using a color. The Red Sox aren’t changing, and the Blue Frogs aren’t getting a Top 2 vote.

2. Hedgehogs

Alliteration is fun, and Hedgehogs fits the mascot/merchandise model we’re looking for. Two syllable nicknames are ideal for chants, and there’s really nothing to complain about with this nickname. If you’ve never held a hedgehog before, you need to get that done at some point in your life. Anyone who has ever held a hedgehog knows it’s impossible not to love a hedgehog. The only problem is it’s not the best name in the finalist pool.

1. Yard Goats

Yard Goats passes the Seahawks test because in theory you can pretty much keep your goat wherever you want. It apparently is an old railroad reference, but it fits the baseball team mold because hitting a home run is often described as “going yard.’’ It fits the mascot/merchandise criteria, and it’s a two syllable name that can easily be shortened to one syllable (Goats) if a chant requires it. It’s the perfect minor league baseball team name.