Fresno minor league team to change team name to Tacos
Fresno, Calif., has long been the butt of jokes for its poor quality of life, but the city boasts top-quality tacos.
Fresno's Triple-A baseball team will celebrate that fact Aug. 6 with a seriously awesome promotion.
For one night, the Fresno Grizzlies will become the Fresno Tacos — complete with mouth-watering Tacos hats and jerseys — to help promote the town's fifth "Taco Truck Throwdown," which will take place at their ballpark.
"We're taking theme jerseys to another level. Get the #FresnoTacos hat right now!," the team posted Tuesday on Twitter beneath a photo of a player with a Tacos jersey and hat with a simple, yet glorious image of a taco across it.
The caption reads, "THIS TIME, WE ARE WHAT WE EAT."
The team later posted a picture of the hat, writing "This has made quite the first impression. Thanks for all the love everyone #FresnoTacos."
According to Mike Oz, a Yahoo Sports writer known as "Big League Stew" who is the co-founder of the Taco Truck Throwdown, the hats and jerseys were inspired by the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the Philadelphia Phillies' Triple-A affiliate who last season unveiled bacon caps, featuring a strip of bacon across them, and Pigs jerseys.
According to Oz, the Taco Truck Throwdown started in 2011 with seven trucks and 7,977 tacos and last season grew to 19 trucks and 27,222 tacos sold. This season, the team — which will wrap up a four-game series against the 51s today at Cashman Field on "$1 beer night" — hopes to surpass 30,000 tacos sold.
"We created Taco Truck Throwdown to shine light on the original food trucks, to take these mobile taquerias that often operate on the outskirts, on dusty roads or in industrial areas, and put them in front of thousands of people, so they can see (and taste) the ultimate mom-and-pop businesses," Oz wrote. "Some of them have been doing this for generations, since migrant workers started coming from Mexico to work in our agriculture-rich valley.
"Anybody who lives in the Central California (valley) knows there are great tacos here. Now, with these caps and jerseys, a lot more people are going to know too."
Are we the only ones who think Fresno should just go ahead and make Tacos its permanent nickname? The tasty moniker would instantly take its place among the best minor league baseball team names, including the Lansing Lugnuts, Savannah Sand Gnats, Richmond Flying Squirrels, Montgomery Biscuits and El Paso Chihuahuas.
While we're on the subject, the Buffalo Bisons' Triple-A team should follow Fresno's lead and become the Buffalo Wings for at least one night. it's a no-brainer. The hat will definitely be a hot seller.
