Maybe you’ve seen him too.
Perhaps his squinting and piercing blue eyes crossed your timeline. His smirk might be all over TikTok. If you like baseball, or if an algorithm decided you like livestock, you’ve probably come across McCreamy, the muscular mascot of the Danville Dairy Daddies.
The burly bull with a bright pink nose wears jeans and a “DD” belt buckle but no shirt, propping one hoof on his hip and leaning the other on a bat standing next to his foot. His reveal went viral, providing a level of exposure not typically seen for college summer baseball teams in Virginia cities with a population of 42,000 that are not affiliated with the local Old North State League.
But this was no coincidence. Danville Dairy Daddies knew exactly what they were doing.
There’s a story behind the name, a thought process behind the color palette, and an award-winning designer behind the logo. That’s been the case with many of the odd team names that have filled the minor leagues and college summer leagues in recent years. The magic lies in the unique characteristics that connect the club to its community. The fun comes from the winks, nods and Easter eggs the team incorporates into their branding to let locals know, “We know what makes this town special, and we lean into it.”
That’s partly why a topless bull came to represent the team in Pittsylvania County, which boasts three of Virginia’s five largest dairy farms. The Dairy Daddies nickname was first suggested to general manager Austin Scher as a potential name for the Otterbots, Danville’s first college summer team in 2021. For the next three years, this alliteration stuck in Scher’s brain, and once Scher became aware of the local connection, there was no denying the point about Dairy Daddies and their protagonist McCreamy.
“It’s quirky and silly and a bit of a joke, but there’s a very real community connection,” Scher said. “Blue and pink are designed to evoke feelings of newness, birth and rebirth. When you see these two colors together, you might think of a gender reveal party or daycare. Then you see a muscle-bound cow and think, ‘That’s not a baby.’ I feel like I’ve really grown up.’ Danville and all of southern Virginia are in the midst of this massive resurgence.”
Good morning family. pic.twitter.com/a11eFunPhT
— Dairy Dads (@DairyDaddies) February 29, 2024
Each component of McCreamy conveys the characteristics of its community. Paul Caputo, host of the “Baseball by Design” podcast, which explores the origin stories of minor league nicknames, sees the same quality in team names across the country.
“Understanding why minor league baseball teams have the names they do allows us to tell the story of America,” he said.
The Dairy Daddies are the latest in a string of lower-league baseball teams that eschew traditional names in favor of a catchy identity. It’s difficult to pinpoint the origins of this trend. It can be traced back to the late 1800s, when a team called the Dudes existed in Pensacola, Florida. 43 franchises lost their affiliations in 2020. Many of these teams played under the same names as their former MLB parent clubs and had to rebrand. Former Rookie League teams like the Burlington (NC) Royals and Pulaski (Va.) Yankees reemerged as the Sock Puppets and River Turtles to play college summer ball in the Appalachian League.
Teams that remain affiliated with MLB have also jumped on the funky name train to revitalize their brands. Almost any league you pick, regardless of your level, will have a nickname or logo that will make you stare blankly. Carolina disco turkey. Montgomery (Alabama) Biscuits (formerly Orlando Rays). Minot (ND) Hot Tots. Rocket City (Ala.) Trash Pandas (formerly Mobile BayBears). Wichita Chili Bread (another name for Wichita Wind Surge).
Without the constant media coverage and cash flow enjoyed by MLB organizations, lower league teams must get creative to drive engagement, increase exposure and sustain their franchises.
“I saw pictures of people visiting the Eiffel Tower and the Taj Mahal, and they were wearing Trash Pandas shirts,” said Ricky Fernandez, Rocket City’s director of marketing. “Someone said, ‘We’re going to the Eiffel Tower today! I better wear my best raccoon astronaut t-shirt so I can take a selfie!’”
Eiffel Tower 📍
Paris, France 🇫🇷https://t.co/5tFZEz6w5X pic.twitter.com/A88VZCgBdQ— Rocket City Trash Panda (@trashpandas) June 23, 2022
Even if you have a local connection, it may take some time for unusual names to be accepted. Try the Jacksonville jumbo shrimp. The Miami Marlins’ Triple-A affiliate was the Suns from 1990 until 2016, when new ownership took over. Although the new team name was associated with the local shrimp industry, the public was not immediately sold. Noel Blaha, Jacksonville’s vice president of marketing and media, said he expected the backlash and planned the release accordingly.
“We very intentionally had some elementary school students sit in the front row of the press conference. “Because if the situation were reversed and people were throwing tomatoes, they wouldn’t be chasing the kids,” he said.
Despite this, someone started an online petition to change the name back to the Suns. In two hours, 5,000 people signed.
“We received angry Facebook posts. We received very aggressive emails,” Blaha said. “People were angry.
But slowly the tide turned.
“The result was huge merchandise sales in the months leading up to the season, which got the season underway and set attendance records that weekend,” he said.
The DubSea (Wash.) Fish Sticks (formerly the Highline Bears) experienced a resurgence from the same rejection after their new identity won an online poll comparing the Fish Sticks and Seal Slingers as two options for team names.
“Not a single person was upset by the name Highline Bears. And there was absolutely no one excited about it,” said team president Justin Moser. “I don’t think we had ever sold anything online before we rebranded. “I think a Highline Bears t-shirt or two will do.”
Despite social media comments calling the new name stupid and a “disgrace to the region,” Fish Sticks has since shipped orders to all 50 states and nine countries. They had five sold-out shows last summer and announced on June 1 that their season opener would be sold out on April 23.
Fin Crispy Jr. is the mascot of the DubSea Fish Sticks, Washington’s summer college baseball team. (Photo: Blake Dahlin / Courtesy of DubSea Fish Sticks)
These days, teams that don’t get creative with their branding can seem a bit stale, Caputo said.
“It feels very 1990s to be named after a local animal,” he added. “It seems old.”
This is where sports branding companies come into play. In minor league baseball, there are two power hitters responsible for most of the new, flashy nicknames: Brandiose and Studio Simon. Team staff work with designers to brainstorm identities tied to local history, industry, cuisine, natural attractions or traditions.
“Every community has a story waiting to be told, and our goal is that when you visit a sports experience, especially minor league baseball, you step into a completely different world,” said Jason Klein, co-founder of Brandiose. “We want you to be part of the story, or what we call a nine-inning vacation. But that story is the story of your hometown.”
What determines each team’s story is the logo, the main character of the narrative. Amarillo Sod Poodles GM Tony Ensor knew that keeping his Texas League team’s logo intact was key to winning over his opponents, so he went to Brandiose with detailed instructions.
“I want the mouth to be John Wayne and the eyes to be Clint Eastwood,” he said of the animated black-tailed prairie dog.
Amarillo Sod Poodles are the Double-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. (Photo: John E. Moore III / Getty Images)
Scher, the Dairy Daddies GM, made similarly specific requests to Studio Simon creative director Dan Simon when molding McCreamy. Simon imagined the bull as having his dad’s body. The answer was quickly “no.”
“They wanted to make him, but they didn’t make him Arnold Schwarzenegger. He’s fine-tuned,” Simon said. “This cow was going to be a kind of ladies’ man. Or in this case, a male cow is a bull. So he is a cow man.”
Partially inspired by McDreamy’s portrayal of surgeon Patrick Dempsey on “Grey’s Anatomy,” McCreamy also embodies the spirit of another beloved TV character. Simon looked like a bull asking “How are you doing?” <프렌즈>I think it shows off the charisma of Joey Tribbiani.
These seductive, quirky, happy-go-lucky characters receive some backlash for straying from traditional logos or vulgar tactics to sell t-shirts. But Simon, Klein and the team that proudly plays as the Sock Puppets, Trash Pandas and Sod Poodles defy such notions.
“Sports fans are going to go to the games anyway,” Simon said. “These identities attract people who wouldn’t otherwise come. And when they come, hopefully they’ll say, ‘Hey, this was fun!’ I will come again!’ It’s not like you’re trying to lure them in with false pretenses. Not at all. Minor league and college summer league baseball is fun! “It’s fun to go to those games, so it brings in new fans and creates new fans that want to come back.”
Whether college athletes trying to get on a scout’s radar or minor leaguers assigned to a club by an MLB organization, they can also benefit from increased exposure and a highly engaged audience.
“I’ve heard from several players that it’s like getting a little taste of the major leagues before actually going on the show,” said Trash Pandas’ Fernandez. “At my old team before we moved, we were recruiting about 200 or 300 people per game. It was a bit sad to go to the game because there were so many empty seats. Here we have led the league in attendance every season. “On average, about 5,000 people per night.”
Los Angeles Angels starting shortstop Zach Neto, who played 37 games for Rocket City (Madison, Ala.) on his way to the major leagues, got himself a custom pair of Trash Panda cleats and says he’s still rocking team merchandise.
“We got to be there every night playing in a great atmosphere,” he said. “To this day, I still consider myself a trash panda.”
College students also feel this. East Carolina catcher Ryan McCrystal, who spent the past two summers as a Burlington Sock Puppet, said the North Carolina community has embraced all players, but it may take some effort to convince friends and family that they are playing for a real team.
“They think it’s a joke, but they think it’s really cool because it’s easier to rally around a team with a name like that. “It’s easier to build a community around a team name that brings people together,” he said.
“It’s the only sport you can actually do where it makes sense. There is something small but beautiful about games.”
(Image: Daniel Goldfarb / athletic; Top photo courtesy of Rocket City Trash Pandas, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp)
