Look Out for the Trash Pandas!

Would you believe there is a sports team called the Trash Pandas?

Would you also believe it if I told you they were going to play in a $46 million dollar stadium this summer?

It's true.  The Rocket City Trash Pandas will take the field in Madison, Alabama for their first season of minor league baseball.  Madison is about 10 miles north of Huntsville.  The team is in the newly realigned AA South as an affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels.  They were formerly the Mobile (Alabama) Baybears.  The Trash Pandas were supposed to play their first season in 2020 but the pandemic postponed their inaugural start until this season. 

The completely ridiculous nickname has been a merchandise hit with over $4 million dollars in sales since the team began in 2018.  

So what about the name?

A trash panda is another name for raccoon.  The Rocket City part of the name is, of course, from the Space and Rocket Center near Huntsville.  The name was a clear favorite as it received 45% of the votes which was far ahead of the other names of ThunderSharks, Moon Possums, Space Chimps and Comet Jockeys.  Not to be difficult here but did Astronauts not come up in the voting or was that one too boring?

You have to wonder what the players think when they are told they will play for a team called the "Trash Pandas".  It's not as impressive as telling people you play for the Red Sox or Yankees.  

Huntsville previously had minor league baseball called the Stars which played from 1985-2014.  They moved to Biloxi after the 2014 season.  

Jay Bell is the manager for the Trash Pandas.  Bell was a two-time All-Star and played for five Major League teams.  He also managed the Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRiders, the New York Yankees AAA affiliate in 2019 where his team won the International League Northern Division.  

For more information on the Trash Pandas, go to www.milb.com/rocket-city