Throughout the season the CBS Sports MLB experts will bring you a weekly Batting Around roundtable breaking down pretty much anything. The latest news, a historical question, thoughts about the future of baseball, all sorts of stuff. Last week we debated the best third baseman in baseball. This week we're going to tackle the soon-to-be Las Vegas team.
Should the Athletics remain the A's when they move to Las Vegas, or come up with a new team name?
Matt Snyder: With many teams in other sports, I often get a nice chuckle about how they remained the same. Like the Lakers made sense in Minneapolis, but Los Angeles isn't exactly prominently known for its lakes. The New Orleans Jazz was an amazing nickname, but it is laughable in Utah. And those are only the ones off the top of my head, likely because they are included in the "BASEketball" intro. With the A's, I don't see how it's necessary and it even has become kind of a theme with them. This would be the fourth city with the baseball Athletics. I'm not averse to a Vegas-specific team name, but I'm fine with A's staying the moniker.
R.J. Anderson: Matt makes a fair point about the Athletics name traveling from city to city throughout history -- this isn't a direct parallel to the Expos situation. That said, I vote to make them get a new name. If John Fisher can't be bothered to pay for his own stadium, he should at least have to pay consulting firm dorks to come up with a geographically appropriate name. You just know someone out there is already constructing a "Las Vegas Sidewinders" Powerpoint presentation.
Dayn Perry: I think A's is pretty transportable and non-specific to any one location, so why not keep it. I'm not sure any number of marketing flourishes will make this a thriving franchise in what would be the smallest media market in MLB. Granted, baseball can work there, but John Fisher has proved capable of nothing much at all other than cashing checks he inherited. So call them the A's. Whatever.
Mike Axisa: I say stick with the Athletics. The franchise has been around since 1901 and the name has traveled from Philadelphia to Kansas City to Oakland. The A's have the third most World Series championships and some of the greatest players ever have played for the franchise (Rollie Fingers, Rickey Henderson, Reggie Jackson, etc.). I'd hate for the A's to just go away given all the history. If the Rays decide to relocate, then sure, change the name. Not much history there. The Athletics have been part of the sport since the very beginning though. One day John Fisher will no longer own the team and the A's will have a proper steward, and they'll add to their history. Stick with A's.
