Petitions ask Columbus Clingstones to change their name. AA Braves owner responds

Two petitions with more than 1,000 signatures each are calling for the owner of the new minor league baseball franchise in Columbus to reconsider the team’s name.

New York-based Diamond Baseball Holdings, which owns and operates 34 minor league baseball team, including all the Atlanta Braves affiliates, announced Friday that the Braves Double-A franchise moving from Mississippi to Columbus has been changed from the Braves to the Clingstones.

Diamond Baseball explained in a news release that the clingstone peach is “one of the most popular varieties of peaches, named for its flesh that stubbornly clings to the pit, signifying the grit and determination the team will display on the field as well as an unyielding commitment to the community. Both the name and the logo embrace the peach as an iconic representation of the state of Georgia.”

Critics of the decision say the name doesn’t represent Columbus. Although it’s the second-largest city in the Peach State, Georgia peaches grow mostly in middle Georgia, near Macon, not so much in west-central Georgia, around Columbus.

And the clingstone varieties of peaches grow primarily in California.

Change.org petitions against Columbus Clingstones

The petition David Gilmore started Sunday on Change.org had more than 1,400 signatures three days later.

“Given the rich history of our town both within the baseball community and out, we waited with high hopes of a name that expressed that history on not just a local level but a national level as well,” Gilmore wrote. “Instead, local fans were left perplexed and saddened as the grand reveal took place of our new club name. … There should have been more thought of the local community as well as more input from the local community.”

Gilmore, 37, is a Georgia state police officer residing in Columbus. He grew up in suburban Jackson, Mississippi, where he attended the Double-A Braves games in the adjacent city of Pearl. So he welcomes the chance to watch the team again, and he emphasized he still will attend regardless of the name, but he told the Ledger-Enquirer he is disappointed in the choice and the process.

“When I read it was the Clingstones, I was like, ‘What in the world is a Clingstone?’ So I had to Google it,” he said. “Then, when I was researching it, I come to find out that’s it’s not even a peach that predominantly is growing here in Georgia. … I think the organization should want to incorporate something that means something to the locals into the name.”

Alan Phillips also started a petition Sunday on Change.org calling for the Clingstones to be renamed. His petition has attracted more than 1,100 signatures as of Wednesday morning. The Ledger-Enquirer didn’t reach him for comment before publication, but his rationale is similar to Gilmore’s.

“This isn’t about being resistant to change, but about the importance of a name that carries weight, brings a smile or has local relevance,” Phillips wrote. “… The essence of a good team name can ignite spirit, foster camaraderie and ground us in our local pride. The name Clingstones lacks not only these qualities but also an essential connection to Columbus’s vibrant history and culture.”

Owners respond to outcry over Clingstones name

The Ledger-Enquirer asked Diamond Baseball Holdings communications director Lauren Flemming and Clingstones General Manager Pete Laven for their reaction to the petitions, to explain the process for selecting the name, why the public wasn’t asked to be part of that process and whether the company would reconsider the name.

They didn’t directly answer those questions, but provided a statement.

“We’re proud of the Columbus Clingstones name and have seen and heard a lot of positive excitement from the community since its debut,” Laven said in the statement, which was provided by Flemming. “Developing the name of a new team is a complex process and one we took tremendous care to complete.

“The nature of Minor League Baseball lends itself to fan-fueled creativity and fun, from alternate identities to mascots, promotions and theme nights, and we look forward to continuing to engage the local community as we build a best-in-class, lasting fan experience for Columbus.”

Perspective from another team’s controversial name change

A New York Times article in May about how branding creates fans for minor league baseball teams provides some perspective about the Clingstones’ name.

After the new owners of the Miami Marlins Triple-A affiliate in Jacksonville, Florida, changed the team’s name from the Suns to the Jumbo Shrimp, 5,000 people in two hours signed an online petition asking to change the name back to the Suns.

Noel Blaha, the team’s vice president for marking and media, told the Times that after a wave of “angry Facebook posts” and “very offensive emails,” the new name became accepted and even popular.

“What it resulted in was incredible merchandise sales in the months leading up to the start of the season,” he told the Times, “and then the season started and we set an attendance record that weekend.”

Evolution of thought from a Clingstones fan

Phenix City resident George Ratley, 46, is the dispatch manager for Automated Business Machines in Columbus. He calls himself a “big Braves fan” who keeps track of the organization’s minor league teams and fondly remembers watching games at Golden Park when the Houston Astros and Cleveland Indians, now the Cleveland Guardians, had minor league teams playing in Columbus.

So he attended the concert where the Clingstones name was announced. Although he admits he didn’t initially like the name when he first heard it, after reading about the rationale and researching the clingstone peach history, “It makes sense to me,” Ratley told the Ledger-Enquirer. “… I want to give it a chance.”

Despite most of Georgia’s peaches not being grown in the Columbus area, and despite most clingstone peaches not being grown in Georgia, Ratley noted the team’s name represents a region beyond Columbus.

“Just like the Atlanta Braves represent the whole state of Georgia, you want a name that’s bigger than Columbus, and nothing is bigger in Georgia than the peach,” Ratley said. “… I think people are overreacting a little bit. It’s not like it’s the end of the world if the name doesn’t roll off the tongue very well. But the jerseys are beautiful, and I like the mascot.

“… So I think people will get over it once the team comes to town and they see how beautiful the park is going to be and they go out there and watch them play for the first time. I think the name is just going to be a second thought.”

In fact, Ratley was among the fans who waited in line at the team name announcement to buy Clingstones merchandise. He got a hat and a jersey.

“Look at it this way,” Ratley said, “in a state that represents peaches, now more people know more about peaches than they did five days ago because they didn’t know what was clingstones.”