If you look through the history of baseball you will find that, especially in the early days of organized baseball back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, there were all kinds of really unique and original team names that make all of today’s Tigers and Bulldogs and Lions and Bears look downright boring, man! For instance, as a longtime New York Yankees fan, I would dearly love if the detestable Boston Red Sox were instead the more appropriate Boston Beaneaters that existed from 1883 to 1906. For one brief season there was even a baseball team called the Boston Rustlers which, let’s face it, makes about as much sense as the Portland Webfeet. Well, maybe not; I’ve only been to Portland once; maybe you should ask the people who live there about how many people in Portland have webbed feet.
When it comes to great baseball team names, the MLB simply cannot compete with either the minor leagues or the Negro League. Although many Negro League teams simply took what already existed in Major League Baseball, many others jumped forward with some truly memorable and unique names. You have to love the Atlanta Black Crackers for a variety of reasons, right? I’m also partial to the Indianapolis Clowns for some reason. But I suppose the absolute greatest Negro League baseball team name was one located in Louisville, Kentucky: the Zulu Cannibal Giants. Now is that a great team name or what?
Even so, minor league baseball team names just really took things into the creative stratosphere. Even the Portland Webfeet pale in comparison to some of the more outrageous minor league baseball team names. For instance, how many fans of The Simpsons realize that there actually is a minor league baseball team in Albuquerque called the Isotopes. A very famous episode of The Simpsons revolved around the Springfield Isotopes moving to Albuquerque and when it was time for the real team there to get a nickname, well, Isotopes was just too perfect. Here are just a sampling of great minor league baseball team names, many of you simply have to wonder how in the heck anyone came up with this as idea for a name, much less how they garnered the approval of the team or city.
Saginaw-Bay City Hyphens
Troy Washerwomen
Kalamazoo Celery Eaters
Terre Haute Hottentots
St. Paul Apostles
Lebanon Pretzel Eaters
Shenandoah Huns
Youngstown Puddlers
Des Moines Prohibitionists