Food and minor league baseball have always had a connection. After all, a good concession stand is a great way to draw people out to the ballpark when rosters keep changing and any players doing really well could be promoted at any time. So, in order to generate interest, create excitement, and instill a sense of local pride, many teams have started changing their names for a game or two to honor a local food. That’s not to mention an extra side-effect in the increasing merchandise sales as well.

If you want to talk about the trend of teams naming themselves after local delicacies, it’s very tempting to begin with the AAA International League’s Lehigh Valley IronPigs and their obsession with putting bacon on their uniforms, since they’ve had one of the bigger campaigns that really popularized the trend. But the story starts way before them; there’s been a minor league team named after food since at least 1993, when the Cedar Rapids Reds of the Midwest League lost their affiliation with the big-league Reds and held a name-the-team contest. With a delightfully simple and elegant logo, the Cedar Rapids Kernels became the precursors to the current crop of food-centric nicknames. They were the first of their kind, but no other team really copied their approach, perhaps because an Iowa team and corn just go together too naturally.

This recent food craze can be traced back to a California League team in Modesto, who had been known as the A’s for 29 years, when they changed their name to honor the local food production industry. In 2005, again thanks to a name-the-team contest, the Modesto Nuts were born, beating out Derailers, Dusters, Steel, and Stike. For the second time, the people of the community voted like they were hungry at the grocery store. Soon, back towards the east, the Orlando Rays were picking up and changing cities. In 2006, they became a Southern League team called the Montgomery Biscuits. Stemming from–yet again–a name-the-team promotion, the Biscuits won the hearts and eyes (and stomachs) of hat collectors with their lovable, butter-mouthed biscuit character named Monty. (Incidentally, ten years later, the Biscuits would introduce one of the most creative yet good-looking hats in MiLB history.)

If the Kernels were before their time, the Nuts and Biscuits were a better barometer of the trend to come, just without all the fancy recognition. While some teams completely rebranded themselves in honor of local foods, others were working to incorporate foods into their team logos and identities. By 2009, the Fort Wayne Wizards were moving into a new stadium and wanted a change. They ditched their mystical branding, leaving it to the community to decide their name, and that year were rechristened the Fort Wayne TinCaps in honor of Johnny Appleseed. As such, a tough-looking apple (has that phrase ever been used before?) in a tin hat was created for them. In 2012, the Stockton Ports added an alternate logo featuring two representations of their region: a gruff-looking sailor holding a huge stalk of asparagus. Being the Asparagus Capital of the World and home of the San Joaquin Asparagus Festival, it was only appropriate for the team to include the plant in their team.

A year later, the minor leagues’ first beer-related team (not counting any Brewers affiliates) since the 19th century began playing. The Northwest League’s Yakima Bears packed up and moved to Hillsboro, Oregon, part of a large hop-producing region. They went full Biscuits and called themselves the Hillsboro Hops.

In 2014, Lehigh Valley introduced their bacon cap, a clever piece of design that incorporated the rolling hills of Pennsylvania into a thick bacon strip, even subtly working their name into the bacon “grease.” Soon, out west in the Pacific Coast League, the AAA team in Fresno, typically called the Grizzlies, got some ideas. For four years, the city of Fresno had held an event called the Taco Truck Throwdown, a celebration (and competition) between the local taco trucks in an area that was known for its tacos. Inspired by the IronPigs’ bacon motif, they debuted a completely new uniform and team name in a 7-4 victory against Sacramento on August 6, 2015. Fans quickly snapped up the merch available for sale, and the Grizzlies/Tacos had a hit on their hands.

Over the course of the next few months and years, the Tacos legend (and merchandise numbers) rose immensely, and starting the following year, they were playing multiple dates as the Tacos and a taco mascot named Tito. Nowadays, they have Taco Tuesdays, which sees fans eating $2 tacos while watching their team play as the Tacos.

In 2017, the two behemoths of food-related team-naming brought it all together and made their unofficial rivalry official by introducing BaconVsTacos.com, a real website featuring a game and links to purchase merchandise. Meanwhile, another Pacific Coast League team gave the Tacos an actual opponent to play against: the Albuquerque Isotopes became the Albuquerque Green Chile Cheeseburgers.

It’s not just baseball that’s gotten in on this trend, either. The Erie Pepperoni Balls (nee BayHawks) debuted in the D-League on March 9, 2018. They beat the Maine Red Claws (their official name, not a relevant lobster-related promotion) 114-108.

This year, at least 18 Minor League Baseball teams are either named after foods or have run (or will be running) promotions that see them re-named for a day. Even in the lowest levels of the game are teams taking the same approach: the Savannah Bananas and new-for-2018 Macon Bacon of the collegiate summer Coastal Plain League both embraced their rhyming words. It will certainly be interesting when they play each other for the first time.

This fad is great, and personally, I hope it sticks around for a while. In fact, some of these teams could and should take the lead of the Nuts and Baby Cakes and rename themselves after their local delicacies. Baseball teams are civic institutions and represent their towns, many of which–especially in the minors–are small, unheard-of, or otherwise anonymous. The only thing more beloved than sports in Buffalo is wings; the only thing more beloved in Syracuse than the Orange is salt potatoes. What could be more special to a resident than to root for their town’s team named after a great local dish? Not only do the names boost civic pride, but it serves as a lesson to non-residents, teaching about great customs or traditions that no one outside the immediate area could be aware of. (Case in point: having never been to south Texas, I’d never heard of a raspa before, but I wish I had.)

Frankly, it’s surprising that this phenomenon didn’t happen earlier in the 90’s as minor league baseball as a concept was beginning to come out of its decades-long slump. Perhaps it was too avant-garde, even in the wacky 90’s. Perhaps the humor derived from rooting for a team called the Biscuits was just too strange for the time, or maybe no one could dream of cheering on the Baby Cakes instead of the Zephyrs. Maybe wearing an Albuquerque Green Chile Cheeseburgers hat around town was just too weird back then.

Fortunately, that fits perfectly into today’s internet-influenced real world. The merch is always fun, and while the uniforms and logos never seem major-league worthy–well, that’s the point. Anything goes in the minors. Nothing hits squarely in the center of having fun than calling your team the Garbage Plates and meaning it in a good way.

(Note #1: I focused on the teams under the umbrella of Minor League Baseball, but I’d be remiss to not mention the Kansas City T-Bones, an independent team predating the nuts, then in the Northern League, now in the current American Association. Coincidentally, the AA has my current favorite food-related team name, the double-entendre Chicago Dogs.)

(Note #2: In the course of writing this article, the Rochester Red Wings revealed they will be throwing back to their Hop Bitters days, the Buffalo Bisons announced that they’d finally become the Wings for a day against Rochester, and the Worcester Bravehearts, a college summer team, opened voting to decide whether they’d play as the Hot Dogs or the Pies for a game in 2018.)

A timeline:

1993 – Cedar Rapids Kernels

2003 – Kansas City T-Bones

2005 – Modesto Nuts

2006 – Montgomery Biscuits

2009 – Fort Wayne TinCaps introduce apple mascot

2012 – Stockton Ports incorporate asparagus into their alternate cap logo

2013 – Hillsboro Hops

2014 – Lehigh Valley IronPigs wears bacon alternate caps every Saturday

2015 – Biloxi Shuckers, Fresno Grizzlies become Fresno Tacos for the first time

2016 – First Lehigh Valley Cheesesteaks promotion, Savannah Bananas

2017 – New Orleans Baby Cakes, the Albuquerque Green Chile Cheeseburgers played the Fresno Tacos, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, Syracuse Salt Potatoes promotion, Rochester Garbage Plates promotion

2018 – Chicago Dogs, AA Hooks become Corpus Christi Raspas as part of MiLB’s organization-wide Copa de la Diversion promotion, Rochester Red Wings add a second identity by calling back to the city’s 1879-80 Rochester Hop Bitters teams, Buffalo Wings promotion vs Garbage Plates, Macon Bacon, Reading Whoopies as part of the Fighting Phils’ annual morning game promotion, Binghamton Spiedies promotion to coincide with Binghamton’s Spiedie Fest and Balloon Rally, the Omaha Runzas will face the Albuquerque Green Chile Cheeseburgers, the Trenton Pork Roll will take the field every Friday