Crim: Nickname choice met with chagrin, but job of Doggy Paddlers franchise is to entertain on hot summer nights

QUINCY— The Doggy Paddlers.

Raise your hand if you had that in the office pool as the new name for Quincy’s Prospect League baseball team.

Anyone?

Golden Rule Entertainment, the company that owns the Quincy Baseball Club and engineered the return of summer baseball after a one-year hiatus, announced the team nickname and unveiled its logos Friday after conducting an online “name the team” contest that generated more than 1,000 entries.

After teasing the announcement for several days, the group said its “creative team” settled on Doggy Paddlers and the accompanying logos after sifting through the proposed names to tap into Quincy’s history along the Mississippi River, the hunting culture throughout the region and Quincy’s German heritage.

“We love it,” said Tim Hoker, team president. “We think it’s going to bring families together. It could be a grandpa and a grandson coming to a game together. It relates to everybody.”

Well, apparently not everybody. Or hardly anyone. Judging from the first 700 or so comments on various social media accounts in the wake of the announcement, the name and the reasoning for it landed with a collective, resounding thud.

How bad was the reaction? Let’s just say the approval rating made Congress look wildly popular by comparison.

No one expected the team to recycle previous franchise nicknames Rivermen or Gems. Something fresh was needed, something that would generate chatter, spur ticket sales and have fans eager to buy new team merchandise.

There is plenty of chatter, all right, just not the kind the owners were envisioning.

In their defense, non-traditional nicknames have been common in the Prospect League, which was formed in 2009 by merging teams from the Central Illinois Collegiate League and Frontier League.

A sampling of teams this season includes the Johnstown (Pa.) Mill Rats, Jackson (Tenn.) Rockabillys, Terra Haute (Ind.) Rex, Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp, Chillicothe (Ohio) Paints and O’Fallon (Mo.) Hoots.

Thinking outside the box is fine. But Doggy Paddlers? Sounds like a show my younger grandkids would dial up on the Cartoon Network.

While the new name is, uh, curiously odd, what Quincy fans ultimately care about is having additional summer entertainment. They’re happy baseball is back, even if they’re not thrilled with the nickname choice.

Going to QU Stadium to mingle with friends and family and consume cheap beer and food with baseball as a drop-back fits the bill. It also does less damage to the family budget than taking the kids or grandkids to Busch Stadium or Wrigley Field.

That’s the lure, really. Many of us retooled a memorable line from the movie “Field of Dreams” to explain the large crowds when the Gems were born and Quincy rejoined the CICL in 1996.

“If you pour it, they will come.”

Tapping a keg. That, my friends, is part of Quincy’s heritage.

The Prospect League’s website touts that nearly 200 alumni have reached the Major Leagues and more than 800 have played professional baseball on some level, so there’s always the possibility of watching a player who may someday make it to “The Show.”

However, that list consists mainly of those who played long ago in the CICL like future Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt (1969-70 for Peoria and Springfield) and Kirby Puckett. (1981 for the Rivermen). Twenty-three players since 2009 have gone on to enjoy at least a cup of coffee in the majors, but none rose to prominence.

But it will be baseball and sunshine — and we hope cheap beer and food — and fans will likely show up, some wearing hats and T-shirts and replica jerseys.

They will give ownership a chance to prove the experience will be worth their time and entertainment dollars, even if most of them believe the team whiffed mightily on the name.

The Doggy Paddlers — admittedly I have a hard time typing that without shaking my head — open their season May 27 at Burlington, Iowa. They will then host the defending champion Pistol Shrimp on May 28 and 29 and the Alton River Dragons on May 30.

Maybe by then fans will have warmed to the nickname.

Or maybe we’ll just call them the Dawgs.

On the bright side, at least the team has the lyrics from the song recorded by Bahamian junkanoo band Baha Men it can play after every home victory, should it so choose.

Who let the dogs out?
Who, who, who, who, who?
Who let the dogs out?
Who, who, who, who, who?
Who let the dogs out?
Who, who, who, who, who?
Who let the dogs out?

The “creative team” probably already thought of that.