The Grand Junction Rockies’ boner

The team would rather not erect new stadium signage, among other things.

The Grand Junction Rockies like their name. For those that suggest they change it, specifically to the name of an endangered fish local to the area, the Pioneer League rookie-level minor league baseball team would like you to keep it down.

A tweet that appeared for a few hours on Thursday morning no longer exists. The Grand Junction Rockies had no problem getting it up earlier, but later deleted this tweet, and a reply:

It’s certainly understandable that a minor league team, which by design thrives on local support, would not want to alienate its fan base. “The Grand Junction Rockies pride ourselves on providing fun family entertainment,” the club explained in a subsequent tweet, also deleted.

A noble effort to be sure, and by all means the team wouldn’t want to use an “offensive” term that is “a sexual slang term for erection” on such a hallowed day like, for instance, Wiener Wednesday.

I certainly hope the fine denizens of Grand Junction didn’t get the wrong idea about what a “rubber match” really was.

At least the folks of Grand Junction aren’t in Ogden, the city in Utah with its apparently salacious nicknames displayed at its ballpark.

The Grand Junction minor league team actually began in Butte, Montana, in 1978, and moved to Casper, Wyoming, in 2011 when they became affiliated with the Colorado Rockies. The team was sold in 2011 to Monfort Investment Group, headed by the same group that owns the major league team, and in 2012 moved to Grand Junction, in western Colorado.

They’ve been branded the Rockies ever since, and this year are the only one of eight teams in the Pioneer League that uses the same nickname of its major league counterpart.

Contacted by SB Nation Thursday, a staff member of the Grand Junction Rockies declined to elaborate on their tweets or why they were deleted, saying only, “Our only comment is we’re not changing the name.”

Ian Lummis, a Grand Junction resident, wants that to change, starting a petition to change the name to a local fish native to the area. He got the idea last August after seeing a list of funny minor league team names.

“I realized that our name was definitely not funny or unique, so I talked with some friends, and we were thinking about local things,” Lummis explained to SB Nation. “By far our local and endangered fish being called the Humpback Chub would be the best name for a baseball team.”

The Humpback Chub is classified as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and “can reach lengths of up to 20 inches,” so you could see why the Grand Junction Rockies might be offended.

“I’m trying to be funny, but I’m definitely not trying to just troll the team. I think they should have some humor, and see the upside,” Lummis said. “I think changing the name would be good for them, people would care about them more.”

Grand Junction has averaged 2,530 fans through four games, ranking fifth of eight teams in the Pioneer League, and ranked fourth in 2018 with 2,221 fans per game. The top team so far in 2019 is the Rocky Mountain Vibes, the team with the fresh new name and new city that went from 840 fans on average last year as the Helena Brewers to 4,076 fans in Colorado Springs so far in the early going this year.

Colorado Springs’ stadium, UCHealth Park, has a capacity of 8,500 and was built in 1988. Suplizio Field in Grand Junction was built in 1949 but renovated in 2011 and has 12,000 seats.

Lummis said his idea picked up steam in May, when he was blocked by the Grand Junction Rockies Twitter account after an innocent suggestion involving another Rockies farm team with a more interesting name, the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats.

The Grand Junction Rockies cap looks like the the Rockies cap, but with a “GJ” instead of the “CR,” which isn’t distinctive enough for Lummis.

Photo: Grand Junction Rockies shop

“For a Humpback Chubs hat, I was imagining it as a cartoon fish holding a baseball bat, or in a batter’s stance,” he explained.

After Thursday’s tweet storm by Grand Junction, Lummis’ petition exceeded its goal of 500 signatures after starting the day less than halfway there, and upped the new target to 1,000 signatures.

“I honestly don’t think it could have gone better for us than having that tweet,” Lummis said. “They really couldn’t have set themselves up worse.”