Two Rockies affiliates on list of best minor league team names

The Albuquerque Isotopes and the Hartford Yard Goats landed on USA Today Sports’ top 15 list of the best minor league team names used today

BY JOHNNY HART

Jun 25, 2021, 4:38 PM

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Minor league baseball features some of the most unique, and often head-scratching, names in all professional sports. So, to be among the top tier of wacky team names is a high honor.

Well, count not just one but two Colorado Rockies affiliates among those with truly unconventional monikers on USA Today Sports’ list of top 15 minor league team names being used today.

Colorado’s Triple-A affiliate, the Albuquerque Isotopes, comes in at No. 10 on the list while its Double-A affiliate, the Hartford Yard Goats, comes in at No. 4.

According to USA Today, the Isotopes name originates from an episode of “The Simpsons,” wherein the owner of the fictional Springfield Isotopes plans to move the team to Albuquerque.

The team’s stadium, Isotopes Park, which is affectionally nicknamed “The Lab,” even features statues of the show’s main characters Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa.

As for the Yard Goats, the name was a part of a contest that drew in more than 6,000 submissions. A “yard goat” is rail-yard slang for the switch engines that shuttle cars between different locomotives.

The Yard Goats’ stadium, Dunkin’ Donuts Park, is adjacent to the Hartford rail yards.

Also on the list of top minor league team names is a pair of former Rockies affiliates, the Asheville Tourists — now the Houston Astros High-A affiliate — and the Rocky Mountain Vibes — an independent team from the Pioneer League.

The Vibes, formerly the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, were most recently an affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers after being the Triple-A home for the Rockies from 1993 to 2014.

Check out the full list here.