The 15 strangest baseball team names around the world
Manny Ramirez was introduced at a news conference in Taiwan on Tuesday with his new team: the EDA Rhinos of the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan. The Rhinos have an incredible logo and a great name. But baseball team names around the world get even crazier. A lot crazier:
15. Saltillo Sarape Makers, Mexican League
You know a team is good when it has all the vibrancy of this:
14. Tokushima Indigo Socks, Shikoku Island League Plus (Japan)
A terrific Japanglish translation of the undeniably bizarre "Sox" construct that gets extra points for making use of the most obscure rainbow color.
13. Jiangsu Hopestars, China Baseball League
Most stars become so because of talent and hard work, but not Jiangsu. They just sincerely wish to become stars, and then watch it become true.
12. Senart Templars, Division Elite (France)
Associates of the Freemasons. Protectors of the Holy Grail. Antagonists in the Assassin's Creed series. These mysterious ancient knights haven't disappeared from Earth: They're hiding in plain sight, playing baseball in a Paris suburb.
11. Manati Athenians, Professional Baseball League of Puerto Rico
The ranks of American college teams include squads named for Sparta and Troy, ancient Greek city-states best known today for their warriors. Manati, recalling democracy's birthplace and the home of Plato and Aristotle, go for a more cultured image.
10. NC Dinos, Korea Baseball Championship
Here in North America, we tend to name teams after specific (highly fictionalized) species of prehistoric reptile:
But in the Republic of Korea, they go for a more general approach.
9. Mr. Cocker HCAW, Honkbal Rookie League (Netherlands)
Okay, what's going on here? It took me surprisingly long to successfully Google the true significance of "Mr. Cocker." It's apparently a cafe in a Rotterdam shopping center, mostly known for its ice cream, that has been a longtime sponsor of the team.
8. Brother Elephants, Chinese Professional Baseball League (Taiwan)
One of the most intelligent species on Earth, elephants are known to go out of their way to avoid harming other animals or humans, and some of them can even paint. They're pretty much my favorite animal. Any team named after them is fine by me. Google search result for "brother elephants":
7. Paderborn Untouchables, Bundesliga (Germany)
In The Untouchables, Eliot Ness tells a Canadian officer who doesn't approve of his methods "well, you're not from Chicago." This team isn't even from the United States, yet still evokes American movies as well as anyone.
6. Dumaguete Uni-Bikers, Baseball Philippines
I think the best bet is that this name is due to Dumaguete being known as the home of several universities. But I prefer to think of it as referring to a vehicle with a unicycle on the top connected to a set of bicycle wheels on the bottom.
5. Police (Korea Baseball Futures League)
If this no-nonsense team doesn't play this song as they take the field, they are really missing an opportunity:
4. Skidel Sugar Storm, Interlyga (Belarus)
Because when you think about it, the idea of a being enveloped by a raging cyclone of tooth-decaying sucrose is actually kind of intimidating.
3. Gunma Diamond Pegasus, Baseball Challenge League (Japan)
From Donkey Kong to Maximum the Hormone, Japan has produced a number of phrases in the English language that seem to make no sense and make perfect sense simultaneously. Diamond Pegasus carry on that tradition admirably.
2. Bolton Robots of Doom, British Baseball Federation AA level
Fact: Bolton and Paderborn (home of the Untouchables) are sister cities. Maybe an exhibition between the two can be arranged? And following that, a tie-in movie about Eliot Ness battling death ray-equipped androids from another dimension?
1. Hendra All Stars, Greater Brisbane League (Australia)
There are 17 teams in the Greater Brisbane League. Every year the league does, in fact, choose two teams of its best players from the Northside and Southside divisions. These honorary teams are called, according to tradition, All-Star teams. But you really have to admire the gumption of this particular squad for implying that there is no need, as they already have all the stars.
-- Dan Wohl / MLB.com