The Richmond Braves personnel hurriedly packed up after their last game was played at The Diamond on Sept. 1, 2008. They wasted no time in getting out of town. On Oct. 15, 2009 the new baseball team in town announced it will be known as the Richmond Flying Squirrels.
Between those two dates the Richmond metropolitan area went through an unprecedented, exhausting process. At times it felt like a bloody feud.
When the news broke the R-Braves would play the 2008 season here, and then move the franchise to Gwinnett, GA, the frustration over who was most to blame for losing the team spawned a public debate.
Eventually that topic was replaced by an even noisier debate over where the next baseball team ought to play its home games.
Bright lines dividing the community were drawn during the eight months the Shockoe Bottom stadium dispute was in the air. Purist baseball fans were pitted against fans of unrestrained development. Others in the fray saw it as another battle between generations.
Grudges between urbanites and suburbanites were stoked. Preservationists argued with build-it-and-they-will-come advocates. That, while many citizens who didn’t give a hoot about baseball were caught in the middle of the melee with their hands over their ears.
In June the Shockoe Bottom stadium proposal officially collapsed. But the lingering bad vibe from all the fussing may have taken some of the fizz out of the announcement, which came on Sept. 23 -- the Connecticut Defenders franchise had at last completed the deal to move its operation to The Diamond.
All the while, missing in the brouhaha’s cacophony of tedious insults, accusations and denials about where to play professional baseball in Richmond was the sound of good-natured laughter.
Well, who didn’t chuckle, or at least smile, when they found out the new team would be called the Flying Squirrels?
Some were probably expressing relief -- at least they won’t have to put up with watching a puffy Rhino or Hush Puppy mascot dance on top of the dugout. Others had to laugh because it was a stretch trying to remember when a flying squirrel was last seen in Richmond.
The point is Flying Squirrels is a good name because it will be fun for a lot of little kids. It’s a name that says, hey, adults, don’t take this too seriously.
The other names, which were Rock Hoppers, Flatheads and Hambones, seem to have been put there mostly to create a new debate. And it worked like a charm. But when the righteous indignation began to bubble this time, Hambones! Heavens-to-Betsy! it seemed funny.
In my book, it’s just fine the new baseball guys didn’t pick the Rapidz, or some other appropriate-but-bland, focus-group-approved name. That they deliberately stayed far away from that sort of boring strategy is a good sign for the future.
Before the announcement of Flying Squirrels, my own nominee would have been the Richmond Rhubarbs. For readers who don’t know their baseball jargon, a bench-clearing brawl on the field is known as a "rhubarb."
Such a name would have poked fun at the Shockoe Bottom stadium fuss-fest.
But Flying Squirrels is a better way to chase away the vestiges of the debate that stayed too long at the party. As promoters, the new owners have hit a home run with their headline-grabbing contest for the team’s nickname. It reminded me of some old cornball AM radio promotions that were so much fun it hardly mattered how genuine they were.
All anybody could talk about for days was the provocative list of crazy nicknames. Finally, gone from the discussion were the tired talking points about stadiums. The contest also drew a line under the notion that baseball is supposed to be fun, especially for children.
Which has more potential for making kids laugh or cheer, Rapidz or Flying Squirrels? Which name lends itself better to gimmicks, promotions, swag, etc.?
Speaking of promotions, the last R-Braves general manager, Bruce Baldwin, was not much of a promoter. His sourpuss style didn’t lend itself much toward reaching out to the community with creativity. So far, the new owners look like they’re going to have a different attitude.
If not like Rocky, of "moose and squirrel" fame, what should the Richmond Flying Squirrel mascot look like?
Put a short cape on a regular squirrel and it’s a Flying Squirrel!
Kids will love wearing Flying Squirrel capes and the team’s baseball caps, which must have fluffy squirrel tails coming out the back of them.
The sound of a baseball crowd is still a beautiful thing. And, an integral aspect of that sound is the laughter of children.
The best suggested nickname I can remember hearing in a bar was the Richmond Feral Cats. OK, maybe I’m not hanging out in the right bar.
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