With a shift to Wichita on the horizon, the New Orleans Baby Cakes (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) are working to complete a rebranding that will take effect when they move in 2020.
The Baby Cakes are set to relocate after the 2019 season to Wichita, KS, where a new ballpark is being planned for the site of Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. Construction of the new ballpark is expected to wrap up in time for the 2020 season, with the facility slated to anchor a larger development project.
In the buildup to the move, the Baby Cakes and owner Lou Schwechheimer are laying the groundwork for the club’s arrival to Wichita. A preliminary logo (above) was released this week, and the club is preparing to take some steps toward an eventual lunch of a new identity. It is expected that fan suggestions will be accepted starting soon, with the current goal being to decide on a team name early next spring. More from the Wichita Eagle:
Schwechheimer said the franchise is in the process of creating a splash page on a website for fans to submit their nickname ideas in the next 10 days. The franchise will accumulate every suggestion and reasons why, then narrow the list down to 20 names sometime in January. Schwechheimer said he hopes to settle on a nickname sometime in the early spring of 2019.
Once the official nickname is selected, Schwechheimer said the franchise will work with renowned graphic designer Todd Radom, who designed the logos for the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Angels.
While the nickname is still up in the air, Schwechheimer said the franchise already feels good about the direction the search is headed.
“The people of Wichita are phenomenal and there’s this incredible vibe now in the city,” Schwechheimer said. “We want to be able to capture the new spirit of Wichita. Folks have told us, ‘We appreciate our past and we appreciate the airline industry, but we want this to be about the new, vibrant Wichita.’ We’re listening to that loud and clear.”
Once the Baby Cakes relocate to Wichita, it will be the first time that the city has had affiliated Minor League Baseball since the Wichita Wranglers (Class AA; Texas League) moved to Northwest Arkansas after the 2007 season.
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