Last Friday, the Lansing Lugnuts came out of the clubhouse repping a much different look than usual, playing as the Lansing Olive Burgers.
The Olive Burgers, along with the Lansing Locos, are alternate identities the Lansing Lugnuts have created to connect with and celebrate their community. And the origin stories of these identities add depth to the on-field personas.
Lansing Locos- est. 2019
On Tuesday nights at JacksonⓇ Field™, the ballpark has a different feel to it. Echoing across the stadium is music with a Hispanic flare. The team dons jerseys with a splash of color not typically seen in the Lugnut dugout. Tuesday nights, along with other select games on the schedule, are for the Locos, Lansing’s Copa de la Diversión alternate identity.
Copa de la Diversión, which translates to “Fun Cup”, is an event run within Minor League Baseball designed to allow minor league teams to connect with and celebrate the Hispanic culture and values found in their communities.
The season-long event culminates with teams getting recognized for things like ballpark experience and the impact they had on their communities. One team gets crowned with the highest honor as the Copa de la Diversión champion.
Copa de la Diversión has given way to all sorts of different alternate identities, each with its own unique meaning. For instance, the Albuquerque Isotopes (Triple-A) play as the “Mariachis de Nuevo México”, translated to the “Mariachis from New Mexico”, and are three-time winners of the cup. The Beloit Sky Carp (High-A) play as the “Paletas de Beloit”, a nod to a Mexican frozen dessert.
Lansing’s Copa de la Diversión identity is the Lansing Locos, an identity that stems from the team’s cheer “Let’s Go Nuts” which roughly translates to “Vamos Locos”. The brand includes bright blue, yellow and pink jerseys and a logo displaying the Potoo bird, a nocturnal creature found in Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean.
The bird is known for its use of camouflage to blend in with its surroundings during the day by keeping still and looking like it’s part of a tree. The bird uses slits in its eyelids to keep lookout with its big eyes closed.The team says the logo “aims to elicit laughter and represent the ballpark's boundless fun.”
“We've always had a really fun approach to our branding, and we wanted to keep that going with the Locos,” general manager Zac Clark said. “And we just wanted to kind of step out there and be a little vibrant, and a little bright and a little loud to just show our fans that, like, hey, this is an inclusive environment for all, and we are here strictly for one thing, and that's to have a good time.”
Clark, who wasn’t with the team at the time but is familiar with the creation process, said that when coming up with the Copa de la Diversión identity, the team went to the leaders of the Hispanic community in Lansing for help creating a persona that the group would support and would feel was done correctly.
Clark said that some teams received backlash from their communities for creating “brands that missed the mark.”
“We saw that happen out in the minor league landscape, and we thought, ‘Oh, that can't happen to us,’” Clark said. “‘We want to do this in a very respectful, tasteful manner. We want to be supported in this, and we want to show the Latino community that we care and that we want them to feel welcome and invite them in.’”
To celebrate Copa de la Diversión, in addition to the change in music and the inclusion of food and drink specials, Clark said the team does flag ceremonies with the players from Hispanic countries before every game, has had dancers and mariachi bands at the ballpark and held festivals in front of the stadium.
And the celebration doesn’t just impact the fans, it affects the team members as well.
“We know that these guys (players) may be in the States for the first time, or their first or second year in the States, and these nights make them feel really welcome and comfortable,” Clark said.
Carlos Franco, a native of Venezuela, echoed the sentiment.
“Our culture is a lot of fun,” Franco said. “We smile. We dance a lot. So every Tuesday, we got Latin songs, so we feel at home. I feel like I'm in Venezuela right now.”
Manager Javier Godard, also from Venezuela, said it feels awesome to play as the alternate identity, that it brings the Latin culture and makes him feel included.
“Even though that we have a day throughout the week to wear a Latin uniform and stuff, we always represent ourself as a Latin culture,” Godard said. “But today is a day that you can kinda really feel it. Wearing a Latin uniform, it's kinda like when you go out and play in winter ball in Mexico or Venezuela or Puerto Rico or Dominican. It feels awesome just to have a Latin uniform once a week at least. It's fun.”
Lansing Olive Burgers- est. 2025
Lansing’s second alternate identity, the Lansing Olive Burgers, gives a nod to a food that is the face of Lansing cuisine. According to mlive’s article on the sandwich, the burger topped with an olive sauce originated in the state’s capital at Weston’s Kewpee Sandwich Shoppe in 1925.
“The olive burger is uniquely Lansing,” Clark said. “It's our staple food item in our community. … The funny thing about olive burgers is you either love them or you hate them, but if you're from Lansing, you respect the olive burger because it's ours. And that's why we wanted to come up with that identity and roll that out because it's uniquely us. ”
Lansing played a few games as the Olive Burgers in 2023 and 2024 before the identity became official in 2025. The logo features an olive burger hitting an olive with a toothpick like it’s a baseball, and the jerseys are predominantly green with brown sleeves.
“I love the hats, I love the uniforms,” infielder Gunner Gouldsmith said. “It's always fun to wear something new.”
Lansing even got competitive eater Joey Chestnut involved with the brand. In 2023, Chestnut set the olive burger eating record by wolfing down 13 burgers in five minutes in a contest before a game at JacksonⓇ Field™ on August 10. In 2025, Chestnut helped announce that the identity was official.
Lansing has already played as the Olive Burgers twice this 2026 season, celebrating the city with 517 Day back on May 17, and last Friday for America’s 250th celebration night. The team will rep the identity one more time on August 6.
“It's a big deal to have the community be behind us, and to wear something that represents this community is great,” Gouldsmith said. “I mean, it's great for everyone, it's great for the fans, great for the team to kind of just acclimate yourself to this culture.”
“Representing the city in any way is just the most honorable 'cause they come out to watch us, and we come out to put a show out for them,” former Lansing outfielder Devin Taylor said. “And we always play our best for them and represent as best as we can.”