Last week, Lynchburg’s minor league baseball team announced their new identity, abandoning the Hillcats moniker after about thirty years, give or take.
Beginning this year, they are the Hill City Howlers.
Hill City because Lynchburg is informally known as “the Hill City.” (It’s commonly said to be built on seven hills, like ancient Rome.)
Howlers, because their primary logo is a werewolf named Indy. Along with a vampire, a female Frankenstein monster, a mummy, and a swamp monster.
Yes, the Hillcats Howlers have adopted the Universal Monsters, serial numbers filed off enough so as not to be sued, as their identity going forward. The only Universal Monster missing is Frankenstein’s Monster — and the Frankenstein Monster is the one who played minor league baseball! (See Michael Bishop’s excellent novel, Brittle Innings, for that fascinating tale.)
On the one hand, the Hillcats brand was old and tired. They had a classic baseball styling with logos and jerseys, and recently changed to a more neon, futuristic look. The mascot, Southpaw, was a green freak that would glow under black light. It was time for a change.
On the other hand, much as I love the Universal Monsters, they don’t scream “Lynchburg” to me. Yes, I’ve read the “story” behind the rebranding–the cemetery across the street, ghosts, etc., etc. Whatever.
The gripping hand of it is, minor league baseball is a weird business, and teams are adopting ever wilder and wackier identities. Hence you have Trash Pandas and Yard Goats and Moon Mammoths. I think Harrisburg would rebrand from Senators if the ownership didn’t feel there would be a backlash; Senators goes back a long ways. On top of that, teams have one or more alternate identities such as the Hispanic Copa identity, the Marvel identity (though I think that program has ended), and the one-game-a-year as the Malmö Oat Milkers. Even the independent leagues have gotten aboard the alternate identity train; York has a Copa identity (albeit a boring one), and Lancaster will have new two alternate indentities this year, one a throwback to the Lancaster Red Roses, in addition to the preexisting Lebanon Ironmasters.
The point of all this is merchandise sales.
If a team has multiple identities with unique mascots and logos, that’s more merchandise that can be sold.
While I don’t know how well the Hill City Howlers will go over in Lynchburg, I do know there are a lot of Universal Monsters fans out there. If they can market the hats and t-shirts to that audience, they could have a thriving online business. The Gill-Man hat, for example, looks rad, and if it becomes available in an adult size (right now there’s only a youth size) I might order one.
Like I said above, minor league baseball is a weird business. I’ve heard it said that it’s effectively a family entertainment venue where there happens to be baseball, with the baseball being secondary to the family entertainment. And, as odd as this rebranding is, because the Universal Monsters have nothing to do with Lynchburg, if this rebranding makes the team money and keeps them profitable, then it was worth it to keep minor league baseball in Lynchburg.
Maybe this summer I’ll get down to Lynchburg for a baseball game — I didn’t last year — and see the Howlers for myself.
