“Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver has a pitch to minor league baseball: Let’s rename one of the teams.
The TV star and comedian spoke Sunday night about the quirky identities of MLB affiliates that rely on clever identities, promotions and marketing to draw fans. He referenced the Alabama-based Rocket City Trash Pandas, an Oregon team that occasionally plays as the Eugene Exploding Whales, and the Binghamton Rumble Ponies.
“Incidentally, Rumble Ponies sounds less like the name of a baseball team and more like Australian slang for a bike: ‘G’day, mate, just peddling the heck out of the ol’ rumble pony! I’m bloody knackered!’” Oliver joked in an Aussie accent.
He also took delight in sharing how the Syracuse Chiefs (now the Syracuse Mets) changed their name to the “Syracuse Devices” for one game in 2018. The nickname was a salute to Charles Brannock and the metal foot-measuring device he patented in the 1920s while a student at Syracuse University.
“If you think you don’t know what a Brannock Device is, you’re wrong. It’s this ‘foot measuring thing,’” Oliver said while pointing to an image of the device. “It was invented in Syracuse and they wanted to pay tribute, which they did in multiple ways to designing this [Syracuse Devices] mascot to introducing members of the team by putting their face inside a foot. Right foot if they’re right-handed, left foot if they’re left-handed.”
The Mets, the local Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets, has also previously been temporarily known as the Syracuse Shot Clocks, Congueros de Syracuse, and the Syracuse Salt Potatoes. The Salt Potatoes will return May 24 for a “Duel of the Dishes” against the Rochester Plates (the Red Wings’ alternate name, referencing the Upstate New York city’s garbage plates).
This 2017 file photo shows the Syracuse Chiefs’ alternate jersey and logo for the “Salt Potatoes” at NBT Bank Stadium in Syracuse N.Y. The minor league baseball team, now known as the Syracuse Mets, still occasionally plays as the Syracuse Salt Potatoes. (Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com)Scott Schild | syracuse.com
Oliver noted that some MiLB teams have seen merchandise sales go up with temporary name changes, while others have been more controversial (like the Chesapeake Oyster Catchers). But a few team names are “boring” like the Iowa Cubs “or first-thought choices” like the Buffalo Bisons, he said.
So “The Daily Show” alumnus is taking a big swing: His “Last Week Tonight” team is offering to commit its “resources and stupidity” to give one minor league baseball team “a total rebrand.” Oliver promised to come up with a new team name, mascot and a personalized, “bespoke” theme night that matches the city’s history and spirit.
The catch? Whichever team agrees to Oliver’s offer cannot ask any questions or give notes, and has to execute what the writers come up with. If interested, teams can email johnoliver@buntstuff.com.
“I promise we will put just as much time, energy and research into this as we do into exposing the dark underbelly of America’s criminal justice system,” Oliver said.
Earlier in the episode, Oliver focused President Donald Trump and his administration’s efforts to deport immigrants, including a syracuse.com story on Border Patrol tactics in Upstate New York. He fired shots at current border czar Tom Homan, a former ICE director who was once a police officer in his North Country hometown of West Carthage.
“Tom Homan can truly rot in hell, though I’d expect nothing less from a man who clearly answers the question, ‘What would Shrek look like as a white ogre?’” Oliver said.
“Last Week Tonight” airs Sundays on HBO. Episodes are available to stream on Max.
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Syracuse Mets home opener against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders