The Columbia Fireflies are going to pig out this spring.
A Class A affiliate of the New York Mets, the Fireflies recently announced that, as part of Minor League Baseball's Copa de la Diversión, they will change their name to the Chicharrones de Columbia for a three-game series April 18-20 against the Hickory Crawdads. That will be the team's second home stand of the season in newly renamed Segra Park.
Seventy-two teams across the minor leagues will briefly take on different identities as part of this season's Copa de la Diversión, up from 33 teams a year ago during the event's first go-around. The "Fun Cup" is designed to celebrate and embrace Latinx culture.
Chicharrones are a fried dish usually made with pork belly or pork rinds. As noted in a release from the Fireflies, they are "a staple in the diets of people throughout [various Latin American] countries, albeit with national variations from country to country. Chicharrones can be a main course served with a sauce, or as a popular finger-food snack."
Columbia's Chicharrones uniforms will feature elements of the team's typical neon green color scheme, but will be highlighted by a bright red pig.
Fireflies President John Katz talked with Free Times about the team's process of selecting its Chicharrones alter ego. He says planning actually began last year.
"It was a really unique process," Katz says. "We met with some local folks who have ties to the Hispanic community and we got a couple of name [ideas] from them. I kind of threw Chicharrones out there, then we started doing some research and found out that there are 18 different [Hispanic] regions and countries represented in the Midlands, and in each of them chicharrones is a staple of the diet. ... We wanted to make sure we were really reaching out and connecting with everybody."
Katz says the Fireflies actually brought in five Spanish-speaking members of last year's team and showed them various logo options and gauged their input. Katz says the players "overwhelmingly" liked the bright red pig logo the organization ultimately selected.
"It was really quite a collaboration, not only with our staff and the community, but also involving our ballplayers," Katz says.
Katz says chicharrones, the actual delicacy, will be sold at Segra Park this season. He says, in a state known for loving barbecue, having an alternative identity based around a pork dish seems to fit well.
"For us, pork is a really big part of what we do," the team president says. "It's a really big part of all our catering packages. Our [concessions] guys do it all here, in-house. We don't bring it in pre-packaged. ... [Chicharrones] are really good. There are so many ways to spice them."
Baseball has continued to see increased participation from Latinos on the field. In 2017, 32 percent of the players on Major League Baseball rosters were Latino. Now, the Copa de la Diversión is bringing elements of Latinx culture to the fans in a demonstrative way, through apparel, food and more.
Aside from wearing Chicharrones uniforms and serving actual chicharrones, the club will also welcome a mariachi band, feature a DJ and have flamenco dancers at different points during the Copa.
"One of the things that has been a cornerstone or our organization is bringing people together," Katz says. "It's good to have these opportunities to jump into a national program that has some really good legs and be able to customize it not only for the Segra Park experience, but also for all the different cultures that make up our beautiful community."
Katz says Chicharrones de Columbia merchandise already has been moving quickly in The Mason Jar, the team's store in Segra Park.Â
"I went in there and bought myself a hat," Katz says. "The colors are great. It's a little bit of a tie back with the yellow color and the Fireflies, but it is a very different brand."
The idea of minor league ball teams taking on an alternate identity has been gaining steam in recent years, even outside of the Copa de la Diversión. For example, in 2015 the Class AAA Fresno Grizzlies, a Houston Astros affiliate, announced they would briefly become the Fresno Tacos. The promotion proved wildly popular, and has been brought back in subsequent seasons.
Closer to home, in 2018 the Lexington County Blowfish, the wood-bat collegiate summer team, temporarily changed their identity to the Lexington County Pancakes when they played a game against the Macon Bacon. (Yes, Pancakes vs. Bacon.) The team's Pancakes merchandise was a hot seller at the ballpark last season.
Katz says he's taken note of the alternate identity trend in baseball.
"It's become pretty popular, certainly, in the last three or four years," he says. "We've done probably six different themed jerseys per year, but we've never taken on an identity that wasn't our own. It was still a Fireflies game, but maybe we were doing Superhero Night or Star Wars Night. So this [Chicharrones move] is kind of tying back into both the opportunity for connecting with even more segments of the population, but also to try our hand at taking on a different identity."
