Arkansas Travelers

32

NOTE: This review incorporates text from the previous review for this team.

As I've said before, some team names are so old that there's just no point in arguing about them anymore. You just accept that the name has been around so long that it's not going anywhere, even as you know in your heart that if a team debuted with such a name today, people would laugh uproariously. The major leagues give us such examples as the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Lakers (a name that was stupid even when they were in Minneapolis), Toronto Maple Leafs, and Green Bay Packers. This is another example. "Travelers" is, to put it mildly, not the best name out there. But the first team to use the name, the Little Rock Travelers, started using it in 1895, and almost every baseball season since has featured either a team called the Little Rock Travelers or a team called the Arkansas Travelers playing in the Diamond State's capital. It's here to stay, so just get over it.

But why did the team pick the name in the first place? It goes back to a song from the mid-19th Century called "The Arkansas Traveler". You may not be familiar with the title, but if you heard the song, you'd probably recognize it. It's one of those tunes that we've all heard used as incidental music somewhere or another such that we've heard it countless times but maybe never even realized was a traditional tune. Looney Tunes cartoons were fond of this one, particularly when introducing a character that was supposed to be viewed as a bumpkin. Take a minute and head over to Youtube and listen to any one of the countless versions there. See if you don't recognize it.

See, I told you so. Anyway, that's the origin of the name. Of course, some people have it in their heads that the name has something to do with Traveller (note the two L's), Robert E. Lee's horse during the Civil War. It doesn't but you can argue the logo does. Over the years the team has had a few logos that feature a horse in them, and a least one of them had a rider that was clearly supposed to be a caricature of Lee. Never mind the fact that Lee spent the entirety of the Civil War in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Anyway, the horse is back, and it's supposed to be Traveller except that it's totally not supposed to be Traveller. According to Jason Klein, one of the logo designers, "We had this idea of, we like the horse — there weren't a whole lot of horse mascots in minor league baseball that were dominant — the Robert E. Lee thing's probably not a great thing to hang our hat on, but maybe we can take this horse concept and evolve it." So there you go.

I have to admit, I like this logo. First of all, it's a vast improvement on the old one, although that's a pretty low bar. Second, it has a classy look to it (the designers said they were imagining a horse chiseled out of limestone, which explains the vaguely abstract, not-at-all-cartoony look). The way the "A" reminds the viewer of a bridle is a nice touch. And even if we lay aside the maybe-it's-there-maybe-it-isn't reference to Robert E. Lee's horse, one can't deny that a horse is a good representation of travel, particularly pre-20th century travel. I really can't imagine a better logo for the name, which means the only real point of criticism here is the name itself. And again, arguing over that would be like beating a dead— well, you know.

Final Score: 32 points.
Penalties: Region (egregious), 17 pts; Wordplay, 23 pts; Name, 10 pts.
Bonuses: Logo, -12 pts; Local, -6 pts.