It’s Bacon vs. Pancakes in Breakfast-Minded Baseball League
The Coastal Plain League hopes to add "sizzle" with food-related team names.
David Lee, Copyright (c) David Lee 2014
When you think of baseball plus food, you probably think: hot dogs, peanuts, Cracker Jack, maybe a cold beer. ("Get your beer here!")
Bananas, Bacon and Pancakes? Those words seem more breakfast than baseball. But now they’re the names of teams in the Coastal Plain League, which bills itself as "the nation’s premier summer collegiate baseball league.
The 16-franchise baseball league, which plays in ballparks in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, now boasts three teams with food-related names: The Savannah Bananas, which joined the league in 2016, the new Macon Bacon and, at least for a few games this summer, the Lexington County Pancakes.
That last one is an alter ego to be assumed on June 8, when the South Carolina team currently known as the Lexington County Blowfish will get into the breakfast-food spirit to face off against the Macon Bacon.
"When the expansion Macon franchise announced their new name we just thought let’s be the Pancakes and it just got out of hand in regards to all the fun we could have with it," Blowfish co-owner Bill Shanahan explained in a news release. "One of our USC Interns came up with the slogan of ‘Batter Up’ and it just keeps getting more creative."
Shanahan said the name change reflects an attempt to bring still more "sizzle" to the league — and certainly it’s likely to boost team gear sales.
The team has introduced a new mascot, Flip the Pancake, and logo, as well as new uniforms featuring the word "Pancakes" underlined with a syrup-dripping spatula on the front. The backs of the uniforms, which juxtapose navy, maroon and tan, feature the words "Batter Up" and the player number, also underscored with dripping syrup. The hat features the retro-looking Flip the Pancake, running with a spatula, and, you guessed it, more syrup.
Fans can get into the excitement with the team’s new Pancakes T-shirts. Blowfish General Manager Theo Bacot said he expects the shirts, also available in youth sizes, to "sell like hotcakes!"
Way to hit that concept out of the park, guys.
