From Red to Blue: Meet the Oklahoma City Dodgers

OK! The Oklahoma City RedHawks are no more, and the new Triple-A affiliate of the Dodgers has been transformed into the Oklahoma City Dodgers.

Michael Byrnes, the Oklahoma City Dodgers President and General Manager had this to say about the change:

"“Soon after the ownership change took place, there was a dialogue as to how we could rebrand the team. Ultimately, ownership, team leadership and key stakeholders felt there was no bigger statement for the Los Angeles Dodgers to plant their flag in Oklahoma City than by renaming their Triple-A team the Dodgers as well.”"

It seems like a lot of the changes by the ownership team have been in the works for awhile including the move and rebranding of their Triple-A affiliate.

Mandalay Baseball, headed by Dodgers ownership partner Peter Guber and Mandalay Entertainment Chairman and CEO, purchased the Triple-A RedHawks franchise in September. Mandalay Baseball is a joint venture between the owners of the Dodgers and investors.

Mandalay Entertainment also co-owns the Golden State Warriors and has owned ten minor league baseball teams. Currently, Mandalay Entertainment owns the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders) and the Double-A Erie SeaWolves which is the affiliate of the Detroit Tigers.

The Oklahoma City Dodgers have integrated the iconic Dodgers name and logo into their uniforms as well. The home jerseys of the OKC Dodgers is akin to the Major League Dodgers home jerseys. The home cap of the OKC Dodgers is designed to resemble the old Brooklyn Dodgers’ hats (which means I have to add one to my collection, right?).

The team store on the OKC Dodgers site is “coming soon.”

The OKC Dodgers have incorporated the Dodgers iconic logo into the team’s uniforms and logos. Logo: L.A. Dodgers

The Dodgers still refer to Oklahoma City’s history with the integration of Bricktown in the logo as well as a patch of the Skydance Bridge on the home uniforms.

Of course I always love to hear “Dodgers” anytime and anywhere, so the name change for the Oklahoma City Triple-A team is a pleasant change. Unfortunately the

Dodgers lost a chance at really creating a unique team name and logo. I’d like to have seen the Oklahoma City Tornadoes or perhaps the Oklahoma City Bison.

The move out of Albuquerque was inevitable especially once the new front office regime took over with a renewed emphasis in bolstering the farm system. Albuquerque, although leaving behind many Dodger fans from the area, was never the best place to evaluate prospects due to Isotopes Park’s geography which skewed statistics both offensively and with pitching.

Unless there are changes to the staff for AAA, Damon Berryhill will resume managerial duties along with Franklin Stubbs as batting coach and Glenn Dishman as pitching coach. Some of the players set to don the OKC Dodger uniforms in 2015 will be outfielder Scott Schebler and the newly acquired third baseman Buck Britton.

Another great thing about the Dodgers triple-A team moving on from Albuquerque is that I can finally stop misspelling Albuquerque every time I write it.

What do you think about the new Oklahoma City Dodgers? Let me know in the comments.