The Naturals' Choice

A lot of great Minor League-related news has come down the pike over the past couple of days, and I’m simply trying to digest it all and present it to you, the reader, in the order in which I received it.

But certain pieces of information wait for no man, and must be disseminated as quickly and widely as possible. The following is one such piece of information:

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals Have Unveiled Their New Mascot!

The Naturals, who will be playing their inaugural season in 2008 as the Double-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals, introduced their new costumed representative to the public on Friday evening. Described by the team as a "hairy, lovable mascot that wears a big smile on his face and dons the number ’08′ on the back of his jersey", this individual comes with a typically convoluted backstory:

"On February 27, 2007, two Naturals staff members were driving the Naturals logo van while returning from a meeting in Bella Vista when they noticed a strange, hairy, brown creature crossing Bella Vista Parkway. The creature approached the vehicle when it was stopped at a stoplight and started to pump his fists, apparently excited about the Naturals coming to town. As they continued on to the groundbreaking ceremony of Arvest Ballpark that fateful day, both men couldn’t believe that they might have just met the seldom-seen "Ozark Howler" they had only heard of in legends. Residents from the state had long debated about what the creature was; some said it was a big cat, even one person said it was a lizard. But now the Naturals staff members had found the famed creature, and it turned out to be a baseball-loving sasquatch."

Of course, this "baseball-loving sasquatch" needs a name, and the Naturals are currently asking children 14 and younger to submit suggestions at www.naturals.com. The winning entry will be announced on January 31st.

If it was up to me, I’d name the mascot Mr. Natural, in honor of R. Crumb’s famed cartoon

character. Unfortunately, children under 14 are almost completely ignorant of underground comix of the 1960s, and will most likely go a different route. Choose wisely, kiddies. There’s a lot riding on this.

For those desiring more information on the legendary "Ozark Howler", please click here. Also, he appears to have his own MySpace page as well.