The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp Is an Actual Baseball Team

A baseball team in Florida will henceforth be known as the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. The minor league team, long known as the Jacksonville Suns, is embracing a new, crustacean identity with a muscly shrimp mascot to match, the Florida Times-Union reports.

Considering “shrimp” is often used as a demeaning term for someone who’s small or weak, it may seem like an odd name for a sports team — but it actually makes sense: The Jumbo Shrimp are the Double-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins, and the name change puts the teams’ mascots into the same seafood category. (Also appropriate: the team’s general manager is named Harold Craw.)

For those eager to rep the new mascot, shrimpy hats and T-shirts are already available online. Fans have had decidedly mixed reactions to this news, with some calling the change “embarrassing” and promising to quit attending games altogether, and others taking a liking to the new name:

The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp aren’t the first food-related team in the league, either. They join an existing lineup of various teams named for foodstuffs, including:

• Biloxi Shuckers
• Carolina Mudcats (mudcat is another term for catfish)
• Cedar Rapids Kernels
• Charlotte Stone Crabs
• Greensboro Grasshoppers (assuming we'll all be eating insects some day)
• Hickory Crawdads
• Lakewood BlueClaws
• Modesto Nuts
• Montgomery Biscuits
• Pensacola Blue Wahoos

• Jacksonville Suns Changing Name to Jumbo Shrimp [Florida Times-Union]
• More Sports Coverage [E]