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Minot Why Nots? Why not? New Northwoods League team unveils potential team names

Corbett Field

We have the five finalists for the name of the new summer-collegiate Northwoods League team debuting at Corbett Field in the 2023 season, and it’s a very colorful group indeed, led by the legendary Minot Why Nots brand.

Members of the community submitted more than 340 name ideas in the team’s name submission contest. 

“It was so fun to read over all of the names submitted,” said Monica Blake, General Manager and Managing Partner, via press statement. “The names were hilarious, unique and significant to North Dakota. It was hard to choose only five to make it to the final round.”

Now fans are being asked to vote on their favorite name to help determine the team’s future identity

Here are the final five names, as well as descriptions from the team: 

  • Minot Dakrats – Dakrats is a term the Minot Air Force Base residents and more have coined for prairie dogs and gophers in the Minot area. Can you picture a giant prairie dog mascot calling Corbett Field his home?
  • Minot Hot Tots – Tater tot hot dish is one of the most popular dishes in North Dakota. This name is a unique and fun play on a very North Dakota dish. Can you imagine a flaming tater tot as your team logo? Maybe it even has cheese for hair! We can already hear fans cheering “The Tots are HOT” after a big win.
  • Minot Why Nots – Why bring a team to Minot? Why Not?! Why Not Minot is a common phrase across all of North Dakota. This name would not only tie into this popular phrase, but it would also pay tribute to the team that started the foundation for baseball history in Minot, the Minot Why Nots. The Minot Why Nots played for one short year in 1917. What would the mascot be? The opportunities are endless. It could be related to the strong fishing ties in the community or a train conductor calling people to come to Minot. Why not right?
  • Minot Berserk (Berserkers) – Everyone in Minot knows that Norse and Scandinavian heritage runs deep. In the old Norse written corpus, berserkers were those who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury. These warriors often fought without armor wearing only animal skins. This name choice settles on the more fierce side of team names. Are you ready to go Berserk for the Berserkers?
  • Minot Night Owls – Minot has a long history of the railroad, and the story goes that the town sprung up “over night” while railroad workers constructed the trestle across the Gassman Coulee. Night Owls is a railroad term for a passenger train that operates late in the evening. With our baseball games happening almost exclusively in the evening the ties can’t get much better.

The voting portion of the contest is open until Friday, September 23. The final team name will be announced at an event at Corbett Field on Thursday, October 20. 

“We’re excited to open voting to fans and get their reaction to the final five names,” Blake said. “I definitely have a few favorites of my own, but this decision is ultimately up to the fans and the community.”

Every fan who places a vote will be entered into a drawing for one of 50 Minot Baseball inaugural caps or one of 25 inaugural season t-shirts.

Construction of Corbett Field began in 1935 with WPA funding, with the former Minot Municipal Stadium serving as home of American Legion and high-school teams before the arrival of the Minot Mallards of the independent, integrated Manitoba-Dakota (Man-Dak) League in 1950. Satchel Paige played three games as a Mallard during his barnstorming days, and other Negro Leagues stars made appearances there. The Mallards carried over to the Class C Northern League in Minor League Baseball for the 1958-1960 and 1962 seasons. A revived independent Mallards team played for two seasons. Corbett Field also hosts Minot State University baseball and was renovated prior to the 2018 season. The ballpark was voted as the fan favorite in the 2018 Ballpark Digest Best of the Ballparks competition.

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