Minor League: The quirkiest names in baseball

Iowa, if nothing else, is known for its corn.

The state produces more corn than any other in the nation, even making more bushels than most entire countries do. In Iowa, corn and baseball go hand in hand, thanks in part to the iconic Field of Dreams in Dyersville.

So it makes sense that Cedar Rapids’ minor league baseball team would be fashioned after those yellow cobs. The Kernels have been the Kernels since 1993, according to SportsLogos.net, when the name won a fan-fueled naming contest.

Before they were the Kernels, Cedar Rapids’ single-A baseball team went by many other names. At first, they were the Canaries in the early 1890s. Over the decades, they’ve been called the Rabbits, Bunnies, Raiders and Rockets, among others.

For almost 30 years the team has been the Kernels, a quirky homage to the state’s top crop. But although there’s only one Kernels team, it’s far from the only minor league baseball team with a creative name.

In “The Story Behind the Nickname: The Origins of 100 Classic, Contemporary, and Wacky Minor League Baseball Team Names,” author Paul Caputo writes about dozens of weird minor league names.

There are the Rubber Ducks in Akron, Ohio, named for the nearby tire factories that work with lots of rubber, according to a MiLB interview with Caputo. The Quakes in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., are a reference to the area’s frequent earthquakes. Go to see a baseball game in Sugar Land, Texas, and you’ll watch the Space Cowboys step up to the plate at Constellation Stadium.

If you could name your own minor league team, what name would you choose? Something classic? Something downright weird?