Baseball


HOME
HOCKEY
OTHER

RULES
RANKINGS
HISTORY



TEAMS

Teams with asterisks are not yet posted

Aberdeen IronBirds*
Acereros del Norte
Águila de Veracruz
Aigles de Trois-Rivières
Akron RubberDucks
Albuquerque Isotopes
Algodoneros de Unión Laguna
Altoona Curve
Amarillo Sod Poodles
Arkansas Travelers
Asheville Tourists
Augusta GreenJackets
Beloit Sky Carp*
Billings Mustangs
Biloxi Shuckers
Binghamton Rumble Ponies
Birmingham Barons
Boise Hawks
Bowie Baysox
Bowling Green Hot Rods
Bradenton Marauders
Bravos de León
Brooklyn Cyclones
Buffalo Bisons
Capitales de Quebec
Carolina Mudcats
Cedar Rapids Kernels
Charleston Dirty Birds
Charleston RiverDogs
Charlotte Knights*
Chattanooga Lookouts
Chicago Dogs
Clearwater Threshers
Cleburne Railroaders
Columbia Fireflies
Columbus Clippers
Corpus Christi Hooks
Dayton Dragons
Daytona Tortugas
Delmarva Shorebirds
Diablos Rojos del México
Down East Wood Ducks
Dunedin Blue Jays
Durham Bulls
El Paso Chihuahuas
Empire State Greys*
Erie SeaWolves
Eugene Emeralds
Evansville Otters*
Everett AquaSox
Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks
Fayetteville Woodpeckers
Florence Y'Alls
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels
Fort Wayne TinCaps
Fredericksburg Nationals
Fresno Grizzlies
Frisco RoughRiders
Gary SouthShore RailCats
Gastonia Honey Hunters
Gateway Grizzlies
Generales de Durango
Glacier Range Riders
Grand Junction Jackalopes
Great Falls Voyagers
Great Lakes Loons
Greensboro Grasshoppers
Greenville Drive
Guerreros de Oaxaca
Gwinnett Stripers
Harrisburg Senators
Hartford Yard Goats
Hickory Crawdads
High Point Rockers
Hillsboro Hops
Hudson Valley Renegades
Idaho Falls Chukars
Indianapolis Indians
Inland Empire 66ers of San
   Bernardino

Iowa Cubs
Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp
Jersey Shore BlueClaws*
Joliet Slammers
Jupiter Hammerheads
Kane County Cougars
Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
Kansas City Monarchs
Lake County Captains
Lake Country DockHounds
Lake Elsinore Storm
Lake Erie Crushers
Lakeland Flying Tigers
Lancaster Barnstormers
Lansing Lugnuts
Las Vegas Aviators
Lehigh Valley IronPigs
Leones de Yucatán
Lexington Counter Clocks
Lincoln Saltdogs*
Long Island Ducks
Louisville Bats
Lynchburg Hillcats
Mariachis de Guadalajara
Memphis Redbirds
Midland RockHounds
Milwaukee Milkmen
Mississippi Braves
Missoula Paddleheads
Modesto Nuts
Montgomery Biscuits
Myrtle Beach Pelicans
Nashville Sounds
New Hampshire Fisher Cats
New Jersey Jackals
New York Boulders
Norfolk Tides
Northern Colorado Owlz
Northwest Arkansas Naturals
Ogden Raptors
Oklahoma City Dodgers
Olmecas de Tabasco
Omaha Storm Chasers
Ottawa Titans
Palm Beach Cardinals
Pensacola Blue Wahoos
Peoria Chiefs
Pericos de Puebla
Piratas de Campeche
Portland Sea Dogs
Quad City River Bandits
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
Reading Fightin Phils
Reno Aces
Richmond Flying Squirrels
Rieleros de Aguascalientes
Rochester Red Wings
Rocket City Trash Pandas
Rocky Mountain Vibes
Rome Braves
Round Rock Express
Sacramento River Cats
Salem Red Sox
Salt Lake Bees
San Antonio Missions
San Jose Giants
Saraperos de Saltillo
Schaumburg Boomers
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders
Sioux City Explorers
Sioux Falls Canaries
Somerset Patriots
South Bend Cubs
Southern Maryland Blue Crabs
Spokane Indians
Spire City Ghost Hounds*
Springfield Cardinals
St. Lucie Mets
St. Paul Saints
Staten Island FerryHawks
Stockton Ports
Sugar Land Skeeters
Sultanes de Monterrey
Sussex County Miners*
Syracuse Mets
Tacoma Rainiers
Tampa Tarpons
Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos
Tennessee Smokies
Tigres de Quintana Roo
Toledo Mud Hens
Toros de Tijuana
Tri-City Dust Devils
Tri-City ValleyCats
Vancouver Canadians
Visalia Rawhide
Washington Wild Things
West Michigan Whitecaps
Wichita Wind Surge
Wilmington Blue Rocks
Windy City Thunderbolts
Winnipeg Goldeyes*
Winston-Salem Dash
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
Worcester Red Sox*
York Revolution
Sacramento River Cats 114

Notice: All logos on this page are included within the parameters of 17 U.S.C. § 107, which states that the reproduction of a copyrighted work for purposes of criticism and/or comment is not an infringement of copyright. No challenge to the copyrights of these logos is intended by their inclusion here.
Posted 2018 April 21

I must admit that when I first heard "Sacramento River Cats" my immediate thought was "There's a river in Sacramento?" Not in the sense of "How could there possibly be a river in Sacramento?" I know that not the entire state of California is a desert. But I know a fair amount of it is, and I don't have the best handle on which part is desert and which part isn't, and I'm not really sure where Sacramento is anyway. So it was more in the sense of "Oh, so Sacramento's in that part of California?"

I'm sure anyone from California who's reading this is thinking, "Seriously?" Yeah, seriously. Come on, how well do you know the geography of other states? Do you know whether there's a river in other state capitals? Is there a river in Raleigh, North Carolina? Or Portland, Maine? Or Louisville, Kentucky? Heck, did you even notice that two of the three "capitals" I just listed aren't actually capitals? Lay off a little. At least I can find the United States on a world map. Roughly 106% of Americans can't do that, and an even higher percentage don't understand fractions.

So I'm guessing most of my readers aren't that familiar with Sacramento. And some of you may have had your interest piqued by the discovery that there's a river in Sacramento (I can't be the only person who didn't know that) to want to know more. As it turns out, there's not just one river in Sacramento but two. The first one has the rather unimaginative name "Sacramento River". (To be fair, I'm guessing the city is named after the river, which means it's the city that's unimaginatively named.) The other is called the American River. What surprises me most about this is that the name was still available by the time we had made our way to California. Not that anyone actually cares about duplicating river names, of course (there are three North Rivers just in the state of Virginia), but the name "American River" is surprisingly rare. Wikipedia lists only three American Rivers, and one of them is a town in Australia. There's no river called the American River in the town of American River; in fact, there's not a river at all. Damn Australians. Even stranger, the town of American River was so named before either of the actual rivers named American River. I really don't understand Australians at all.

The other American River is in Washington (state), and is apparently named after the American River in California, which makes California's American River the first actual river to get that name. California's American River got that name way back when California was still a part of New Spain (the original name was Rio de los Americanos, and it was later anglicized), so the first river to be called the "American River" wasn't actually an American river at the time it got that name. Apparently I need to quit making fun of the Australians.

All right, that explains why the team name has the word "River" in it. But why River Cats? Is a river cat an actual thing? Am I about to learn about a creature as fascinating as the fisher cat? No. The Oxford English Dictionary does have an entry for "river cat"; it's a regional name for catfish. And there are catfish in the Sacramento River (they're not native, but were introduced some time in the 19th Century). But apparently that has nothing to do with the Sacramento baseball team's name. Paul Caputo at Chris Creamer's sportslogos.net asked the team's coordinator of media relations that question, and got the answer "I don't think the cats has any real tie to anything." Apparently the team let people suggest names, and they liked that one. Um, okay.

The name "River Cats" is nothing special, but it does flow reasonably well when spoken. On the other hand, a three-syllable nickname after a four-syllable city name is a bit long. As for the logo...ho-hum. A typical JACKAL* holding a baseball. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a baseball player getting ready to throw the ball or just a typical cat playing with a ball that happens to be a baseball, but it's nothing special either way. Then again, a town in Australia with no river being named American River is something special, so maybe specialness is overrated.


* Just Another Crappy Kartoon Animal Logo

NOTE: I had to improvise a bit with the scoring. Since a river cat is a real thing but the team may not have known that when they settled on the name, I've giving them a half penalty for that. Since I'm not sure whether the cat is supposed to be a player or not, I'm giving them a half-penalty for "Equipment" and a half-penalty for "Player" (essentially averaging the penalty they'd get if the cat is a player and the penalty they'd get if it isn't). Finally, if you look closely you can see bits of water in the logo, which earns them the "Scenery" penalty.


Final Score: 114 points.
Penalties: Compound (half-penalty), 17 pts; Script, 7 pts; Scenery, 11 pts; Equipment (half-penalty), 6½ pts; Cartoon, 47 pts, Player (half-penalty), 25½ pts.
Bonuses: None.


This page Copyright ©2018 Scott D. Rhodes. All rights reserved