We have the five finalists for the name of the Class AA Southern League team debuting in 2020 in Madison (AL), a Huntsville suburb, as local slang and aeronautics names prevail.
The final five names received the highest number of votes from more than 15,000 online ballots cast for the top ten team names during the period between July 26 and August 16. All team names were nominated by residents of the Tennessee Valley.
Working with Brandiose, team owner Ballcorps LLC came up with a slate of names based on uniqueness and how each name relates to the characteristics of Madison and surrounding communities. Names were also chosen to further BallCorps’ objective of providing affordable fun to families in North Alabama and southern Tennessee.
Here are the finalists, with descriptions supplied by the team:
- Comet Jockeys “Rocket City” was put on the map for its cutting-edge aerospace development. Comet Jockeys is a celebration of our brave astronauts who explore outer space.
- Moon Possums A scavenger at heart, these local critters are known for hanging around and having a good time with their family — just like going to a ballgame!
- Space Chimps A tribute to Miss Baker, one of the first animals safely launched into space. She is buried on the grounds at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.
- ThunderSharks Mix the powerful thunder of North Alabama’s storms with the ultra-strong, sleek determination of the shark and you end up with the personality of our community: willing to attack any problem. Visiting teams won’t mess with ThunderSharks.
- Trash Pandas (Slang for raccoon) Our community is known for engineering, and no creature in our galaxy is as smart, creative, determined and ingenious a problem solver — dedicated to the challenge at hand — as our local raccoons!
A new round of voting for the five finalists begins this morning at NorthAlabamaBaseball.com, and will extend through noon Labor Day, September 3.
The final team name will be announced at a public event on September 5 at 6 p.m. at Rocket Republic Brewing Company (289 Production Ave, Madison, AL 35758).
The Mobile BayBears (Class AA; Southern League) are relocating to Madison for the 2020 season.
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