Editorial: Team’s new name could alienate fans

Thursday, Dec. 21, 2000 | 10:15 a.m.

The owners of Las Vegas' triple-A baseball team believe the club's new name -- the 51s -- will help make the game more entertaining. Instead, the more likely response among local baseball fans will be: What's up with that? It truly is out of this world to name a team after Area 51, the U.S. government's top-secret base in Nevada, a facility that conspiracy theorists have conjectured houses aliens and UFOs.

When the Las Vegas Stars broke their triple-A affiliation with the San Diego Padres and joined up with the Los Angeles Dodgers, fans here rejoiced about a tie to one of Major League Baseball's storied teams. Many Dodger faithful here, who are transplanted Southern Californians, even hoped that the team would be called the Las Vegas Dodgers. But Don Logan, general manager of the Stars, said the team purposely chose a name to create its own identity so as not to be "L.A.'s little brother down the road." Despite their efforts, this choice likely will result in the team being the butt of jokes. Let's hope it isn't too late to settle on a different name -- maybe even the Las Vegas Dodgers.