What's in a name?

That is the question asked as the title of this article in the Fort Wayne Reader (hat tip to Baseball in Fort Wayne)

So, the story is somewhat about the new stadium project in Fort Wayne, but mainly about the name switch to TinCaps.

It seemed even supporters of the Harrison Square and Parkview Field projects were reaching for their Thesaurus to find new synonyms for failure, like “disaster” “catastrophe” “debacle” ”train wreck” “calamity” and other words more commonly used to describe events like the Battle of Little Big Horn or any military campaign that ended in ignominious defeat.

A sampling of some of the local blogs provides a good picture. “Mr. Yan,” a poster on the blog Fort Wayne News (www.fortwaynenews.com) wrote. “I can’t believe they didn’t choose my entry… the Fort Wayne Boondoggles. It’s better than the Tincaps and at least everyone will understand the inspiration thereof. And a mascot of a taxpayer with his pockets inside out being chased by an out-of-touch, insane bureaucrat.”

“This logo and name is an embarrassment to the people, the history and the establishment of Fort Wayne,” writes another poster on the Fort Wayne News site. “TheTinCaps and the Mad Ants. WHO is coming up with this poor marketing? It isn’t funny. This could have built the community and helped developed Fort Wayne’s identity. The opportunity is lost.”

But, at the end of the day, it could have been worse:

It was far better than the reception the Montgomery, Alabama minor league baseball team got when its new name and logo were revealed on stage in front of 60,000 people at the Jubilee City Fest, a massive music festival. They were expecting a great reception — “baseball returns to Montgomery!” etc. — but when the name and new logo were unveiled, they were met with complete silence. Then the “boos” started…

But as [TinCap Assistant GM] Limmer points out, the Montgomery Biscuits and the Lansing Lugnuts (also initially panned) have not only gone on to be very successful as far as game attendance and community support, but their merchandise is a huge seller. “We were prepared for negative reaction, backlash, whatever you want to call it, because that’s just what happens at first,” he says. “All we can do is wait until they come out to a game, and have an association with it.”