FOR A TEAM NAME, LET'S SWING FOR THE FENCES

Author(s): Ted Reinstein Date: April 1, 2006 Page: A11 Section: Op-Ed

AS THE MAJOR LEAGUE baseball season gets underway, Sox fans look forward to a summer of getting to know Josh, Coco, and Wily Mo. But while the Sox were training in Florida, there was minor league news up here.

It was reported recently that a Boston attorney has had discussions with city officials about bringing a minor league baseball team to the city. Talks so far have centered on big-picture issues like financing, stadium location, and potential neighborhood concerns. Important issues, to be sure, but this team cannot afford to wait for things like a field or financing if it intends to hit the ground running. For starters, it needs a name. Fortunately, minor league baseball in America provides a rich history of some truly inspired team names: Lansing Lugnuts, Cairo (Illinois) Egyptians, St. Paul Apostles, Asheville Moonshiners, Hannibal (Missouri) Cannibals, Joliet Convicts, Topeka Populists, and the Walla Walla Walla Wallas. Even some newer minor league team names are creative and eye-catching, like the Rancho Cucamonga (California) Quakes, who play in a park called the Epicenter. Clearly, the best names are those that capture something unique, even whimsical, about the team's home. Indeed, minor league franchises have often connected solidly on that score (Tulsa Drillers, Hollywood Stars), while many major league cities have whiffed miserably (Pittsburgh Pirates ?). Take the use of animals in team names. No one associates actual tigers with Detroit, cubs with Chicago, or cardinals with St. Louis. But what person with a working sense of geography and zoology could argue with the Tucson Sidewinders, Brevard County Manatees, or the Savannah Sand Gnats? (Not to mention baseball's only redundantly-named franchise, the Buffalo Bisons.)

And now Boston may have an opportunity to step up to the nameplate. A few pitches. . .

The Big Diggers : Why not? After all, it's a name much of the nation now associates instantly with Boston. There's even a regional precedent of sorts the 1886 Newburyport Clamdiggers. (Taxpayers can legitimately say they've already shelled out nearly 15- billion clams for the Big Dig name.) Fenway could be joined by the Big Diggers' new ball park, the Greenway. Beware, however, the first team official who promises that a new stadium will be built "on time and under budget."

The Pols: There's a long tradition of minor league teams identifying themselves with a profession that their hometown is famous for. In Boston, we do politics. (The hardball variety, it should be noted.) Certainly City Hall has seen as many change-ups, curve-balls, and bloopers as Fenway Park. At any rate, the "Pols" sounds better than the Profs (New Haven), the Underwriters (Des Moines), or the Kalamazoo Celery Pickers.

The Hubs: Says it all. Plus, as names go, more locally relevant than Chicago's Cubs. Think of the marketing possibilities when the team's new hats go on sale: "Get your Hub caps, here! "

The Moakleys: Don't laugh. Apparently one of the prospective sites a new minor league team here would be looking at is Joe Moakley Park in South Boston. In addition to the park, the late, great congressman already has a Federal courthouse named after him, and his late wife, Evelyn, has a bridge named after her. Why not swing for the fences and hit the four-bagger?

The Biohazards: Word is another potential site a minor league team might be looking to play at is Boston University's Nickerson Field. In February, BU won final federal approval to build an infectious disease research laboratory in the city's South End. As science-related names go, there's historic, if odd, precedent: The Waterloo (Iowa) Microbes, and the current Albuquerque Isotopes. Admittedly, marketing for the Boston Biohazards could present challenges. While uniforms resembling haz-mat suits might create plenty of buzz, some traditional advertising could get iffy. ( " Biohazard Fever. Catch it!")

The Brahmins. Too elitist? Perhaps then, the Boston Common-ers.

Then again, a new minor league baseball team in Boston might decide to forgo a name completely. In this case, the team could still be uniquely positioned to evoke images of the city's historic waterfront, and famed seafood, "Ladies and Gentleman, boys and girls, say hello to your very own Boston No-Names!"

Sure beats the Sandusky Fish Eaters.