Reading Abandons Heritage, New Team Name Coming

Reading, also known as Baseballtown, will no longer call its team the Phillies

As you read here first last week, the Phillies' Double-A club in Reading, PA will undergo a full rebranding, which will include a full name change, the team confirmed on Sunday.

The Reading franchise will announce the new nickname, logos and uniforms at an event to be held at FirstEnergy Stadium on Saturday, November 17th at 12:30 PM.

The upcoming change will end the team's run of 46 years as the Phillies. While Reading will continue its long-standing affiliation with the big league team from Philadelphia, the rebranding will occur in an effort for Baseballtown to develop its own identity.

News of the team dumping the Phillies name, in favor of the unknown, was met with displeasure from the public, as fans expressed their shock online.

Personally, this was a massive surprise and I was rather disappointed when I learned of the switch last week. Targeting a new, individual identity at the expense of the one that generations have grown to love certainly presents a difficult situation. Representatives from Reading's front office must have expected some consumer backlash, but the team seems confident that the public will appreciate and connect with the new nickname.

Early impressions by some who feel the club is abandoning the most appealing qualities of the sport and some of its teams, those qualities being tradition and history, aren't very far off. Not only have many people in the area always cheered for the Philadelphia Phillies, but they've grown up rooting on the R-Phils as well. This team has been a part of Phillies heritage for nearly five decades.

I will assert that if Reading allowed its fans to vote on a team name, the way other clubs have done at times, that would unquestionably deliver an overwhelming opinion to stick by the Phillies name.

Discussions on mediums like Twitter and Facebook have delivered ideas for the new nickname, with humorous options like the Rainbows joining more serious concepts with railroad themes. Join the conversation by offering your thoughts and suggestions in our comments section.

________________________________________________________

You can follow PhoulBallz on Twitter by clicking HERE.

Also connect with PhoulBallz on Facebook by clicking HERE.

Comments

PhoulBallz Interview: Reading second baseman Jesmuel Valentin

Jesmuel Valentin, image- Jay Floyd Switch-hitting infielder Jesmuel Valentin has been a bit of an underrated contributor with the Double-A Reading Fightins. Heading into action on Friday, Valentin was batting .339 over his last 14 games. Overall this season, the 22-year-old is batting .282 with four home runs and 35 RBI in 64 games. Valentin, who plays mostly second base, but dabbles at shortstop a bit also, is the son of former big leaguer Jose Valentin . The Puerto Rico native was a supplementary round pick (51st overall) of the Dodgers in 2012. He was acquired by the Phils as part of the Roberto Hernandez trade in 2014. Recently, I spoke with Jesmuel about his team's success, growing up around the game and more. Read ahead for that full interview. -The Reading team has been great and you've contributed very nicely to the club's success. What are your thoughts on competition in the Eastern League this year? I just came here with the mindset that...

Q&A with Justin De Fratus

Justin De Fratus is a 21 year old right handed relief pitcher with the Lakewood BlueClaws. An 11th round draft choice in 2007, Justin had been a starter in his first two seasons in the Phillies organization. Informed this spring that he'd be switched from the rotation to the bullpen, Justin has excelled and become one of the most reliable pitchers on the Lakewood staff. In 19 games this season, Justin is 2-0, with a 1.83 ERA and 0.89 WHIP over 39 1/3 innings pitched. PhoulBallz.com spoke with Justin De Fratus just last night. Here's how that went down... Justin, South Atlantic League all star selections were announced this week, and you were named to the team. Can I get your reaction to that? How excited were you? Very excited about it. Well, especially this year because I just got moved to the bullpen, so this is a new role for me. So, if anything, it's reassuring that I'm doing my job. It's the first time in my pro career that I've been selected as an all star...

Catching prospect O'Hoppe tabbed to join Phillies

Logan O'Hoppe, image- Jay Floyd Please consider supporting my work and via my Patreon page . For a small monthly fee, your patronage will get you exclusive interviews and other prospect related material as well as early access to all of my other content such as this feature. Thank you. On Friday, the Phillies added a pair of catchers to their 2020 player pool. Minor leaguers Logan O'Hoppe (pronounced Oh-HOP-ee) and Henri Lartigue arrived in Philadelphia to help catch bullpen sessions for the team's collection of approximately 30 pitchers. The call to O'Hoppe was extremely welcome as the 20-year-old had been staying as active as he possibly could, working out with other players that have been been waiting out quarantine due to the current pandemic at his home on Long Island. However, he had been very eager to step back onto an actual baseball field. "I just hope I can play soon. Where ever that is or whatever form that is, that'd be aw...

PhoulBallz.com

Search This Blog