What If Houston Had Three Baseball Teams?

As the Astros continue to prepare for the 2010 major league season, two local municipalities are making their own preparations for baseball. Sugar Land and Montgomery County are both in the process of exploring the idea of bringing minor league baseball to the greater Houston area. So what would this look like, and what would it mean for fans?

For starters, let's look at the process. Despite what Field of Dreams has taught us, if you build it, they won't necessarily come. Attracting a minor league franchise is more complicated than simply building a stadium; that's why both Sugar Land and Montgomery County have contracted with sports development agencies which act as comprehensive project managers, working on the stadium, regulatory hurdles, and negotiations with existing leagues. Montgomery County is working with Ventura Sports Group, which has single A teams in El Paso and Grand Prairie. The Sugar Land team would likely be part of the AA Texas League, which includes teams in Midland, San Antonio, Tulsa, and the Astros' own AA affiliate in Corpus Christi.

The Texas League brings us to a crucial question: whither the Astros? With current AAA affiliate Round Rock likely to jump ship to the Rangers (they're owned by Rangers president Nolan Ryan) when their contract with the Astros expires in 2011, the Astros will be without a top-level affiliate, though all the players at Round Rock would remain in their employ. They could promote Corpus to AAA, but then they'd need a AA team. Would they consider Sugar Land to be that team? Early indications say that Drayton McLane is hesitant to pair up with a team that could sap ticket sales for the big club, but the Braves and Rangers have shown that you can have a minor league affiliate in the same metroplex as the major league club without ill effects.

The decision to affiliate with a big league club is not a given, either. Both minor league teams could be completely independent of major league teams, allowing their players to sign free agent contracts with big league clubs as opportunities arise. The Rangers' Frisco affiliate was once independent like this, and the New York teams have an independent team playing games in their Brooklyn backyard, too.

But now the important question: what to call these teams? Minor league teams are famous for their more laid back attitude and sense of humor (hell, Bill Murray owns multiple teams around the country. Really.), so what of Sugar Land and MoCo? A few suggestions:

For Sugar Land

• The Imperials: Based on the city's history with one of America's favorite products. The logo, of course, would be a Chrysler Imperial.


• The Diabetics: Since that's what sugar does to you, dummy. The logo would be a cartoon Wilford Brimley swinging a Pixie Stick baseball bat. Bonus slogan: You can try to diascore, but you'll never diabeatus!

For Montgomery County:

• The Burns. I mean, duh. (thanks to Frank Freeman for this suggestion) Bitter rivals of Ralph Wiggum's team.


• The Park-And-Rides. Since the team's stadium would be located on 59 north of Kingwood, that's the only way anyone from inside the Beltway (nevermind the Loop) is getting there.

We also considered the Sugar Land Suburbans and the Humble Silent H's, but those were too silly.

Both teams would probably start playing games in 2012 at the earliest. A lot can happen between now and then, including Drayton changing his mind about affiliation, and Dan Patrick-types freaking out about investing taxpayer money into a project that would bring in huge amounts of business and tax revenue. We'll stay on top of this story as it develops; in the meantime, offer your suggestions for team names and which team you'd actually go see.

photo: flickr user slightclutter