Greatest team name ever?

The controversial:
Frisco Coons (changed to Raccoons in 2002)
Hereford Whitefaces (have since changed name to Herd)
36 schools called Indians (the only "I" names listed)

The school-related (reflexive version):
Tom Bean Tomcats
Crane Cranes
Cameron Yoe Yoemen
Farmersville Fightin' Farmers
Jayton Jaybirds
Fort Worth Poly Parrots
Hamlin Pied Pipers
Van Vandals

The town-related (complete-the-pun version):
Winters Blizzards
Frost Polar Bears

The spelling-challenged:
Moulton Bobcatz

The vaguely singular/plural:
Spearman Lynx

The truly unique:
Lake Worth Bullfrogs
Little River Academy Bumblebees
Vanderbilt Industrial Cobras
Robstown Cotton Pickers
Dallas Hockaday Daisies (all-girl school and DMN does not use mascots, so no surprise this one's not well known)
Taylor Ducks
Freeport Brazosport Exporters
Baytown Lee Ganders
Groesbeck Goats
Cuero Gobblers
Trent Gorillas
Pampa Harvesters
Hutto Hippos
Harlingen Marine Leathernecks (Ooh-rah!)
Cisco Loboes (as opposed to the proper Lobos -- I got a lesson on that)
Flower Mound Marcus Marauders
Austin Maroons
Munday Moguls
Roscoe Plowboys
Springtown Porcupines
Mason Punchers
Austwell-Tivoli Redfish
Knippa Rockcrushers
Port Lavaca Calhoun Sandcrabs
Grapeland Sandies
Mesquite Skeeters
Texas City Stingarees
Nazareth Swifts
Port Isabel Tarpons
El Paso Eastwood Troopers
New Braunfels Unicorns
Rotan Yellow Hammers

(I left off Wampus Cats as Itasca, Texas; Atoka, Okla.; and Conway, Ark. are all known as such.)
(No doubt I left out some others as I rapidly lost interest in this topic but championed on to its horrific conclusion.)

 

Actually it's a company.

 

In Mississippi, there's this little town called Weir. Their high school is the Weir Wolves. And yes, the town is pronounced so the team is the Werewolves.

 

Double J could probably explain the origin of these names much better than me, but the Western Ontario senior hockey league has some interesting names:

Clinton Radars (home to a radar installation during the war)

Milverton 4 Wheel Drives

Palmerston 81's

Thedford Dirty Dogs

This league also has the Georgian Bay River Rats who play in beautiful downtown Thornbury, Ont. There used to be a team called the Hensall Sherwoods, named after the hockey stick manufacturer.

 

Oglethorpe University Stormy Petrels.

 

Couple more to add from Michigan:

Zeeland East Chix
Zeeland West Dux
Temperance Bedford Kicking Mules
Mt. Clemens Battling Bathers
Goodrich Martians
Detroit Pershing Doughboys
Dearborn Fordson Tractors
Calumet Copper Kings
Bad Axe Hatchets

 

I heard a page from SoCalDude, so I'm answering this from Orlando...

This is correct. At one time, I covered all of these teams.

The Spirit (1987-1992) got the ball rolling on Southern California expansion and helped fueled the boom in minor league baseball. Toward the end of the 1992 season, Hank Stickney, the majority owner of the consortium that owned the Spirit (which included Mark Harmon), wanted to move west -- following the money in San Bernardino County.

So in 1993, they got Rancho Cucamonga to build them the park, named the Epicenter. It was the first park in the Cal League to feature skyboxes and all the accoutremonts' you see in major-league parks. Later palaces in Lake Elsinore, Lancaster and San Bernardino (which got a team back first nicknamed the Stampede, then the Inland Empire 66ers) followed.

The park in Lake Elsinore (built in 2004) cost $31 million, effectively blowing the city's redevelopment budget for the next decade.

As for the teams, the Pilots were the second team to flee Riverside in five years. The Riverside Red Wave left after the 1990 season and moved to Adelanto, where they became the High Desert Mavericks, after majority owner Bobby Brett's favorite TV character -- Bret Maverick. Brother George was a part-owner in the team, which featured Bruce Bochy as the manager its first year in 1991 -- when it won the Cal League title.

Riverside became a graveyard for minor league teams because the teams played at the Riverside Sports Complex, which -- because it was a city-owned facility -- forbade the sale of beer. Enough said.

There. Cal League lesson concluded.

Back to the original concept of this thread: Inland Empire 66ers, which does two things. It capitalizes on San Bernardino's role as a stop on Route 66 (and the Route 66 Rendzevous they have there every year), and it de-emphasizes San Bernardino and it's negative image while broadening its appeal across the region.

 

I always liked the Cleveland Glenville High School Tarblooders.

 

Greenville Grrrowl - ECHL (Yes, three "r"s in the moniker)

Edenton Steamers - Coastal Plain League, a wooden-bat summer collegiate baseball league. A former colleague couldn't get "Steamers" out of his mouth with a straight face.

The CPL also brings us the Thomasville Hi-Toms and the Wilson Tobs.

 

Shoot (ahem), thought when we discovered the Mad Ants yesterday in writing the nonsense below, we were first. Alas, no.

Citing "gross incompetence," commissioner David Stern suspended the New York Knickerbockers for the remainder of the 2007-08 season, replacing them with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA's Development League.

 

From Texas, the Progreso Red Ants

From Michigan, the Colon Magi.

From Washington, the Mariner Mariners (high school in Everett). Yawn.

 

Mariner's mascot is actually the Marauders.