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The El Paso Chihuahuas open their 2026 season on the road against at the Sacrament River Cats this weekend. Their first home game is on Tuesday, April 7, against the Albuquerque Isotopes.
The game will feature a rally towel and magnet schedule giveaway and starts at 6:35 p.m. at Southwest University Park, Downtown.
After a rough 36-hour start and a failed petition drive protesting the baseball team's new name, a star was ultimately born — Chico the growling Chihuahua.
What’s in a name?
'Chihua-what? Not everyone was pleased with choice of El Paso Triple-A team name' was the ElPaso Times headline Oct. 22, 2013.That year, El Pasoans were tasked with voting for a name for their new Triple-A baseball team. The choices were narrowed down to the Aardvarks, Buckaroos, Chihuahuas, Desert Gators, and Sun Dogs.
On Oct. 21, 2013, the Plaza Theatre's lower level was packed with area Little League Baseball players, a smattering of military and media, and the announcement was greeted with a warm response … not a great response, but a warm one.
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After months of buildup and speculation and debate, El Paso's new Triple-A baseball team finally got its nickname. "Let's hear it for your El Paso Chihuahuas," announced the team's general manager, Brad Taylor.
The colors were red, black and Chihuahua tan, and the logos pictured a snarling Chihuahua dog.
Not everyone was pleased with the name, the comments on an elpasotimes.com live chat were overwhelmingly negative. "Horrible," "sucks," "lame," "totally ridiculous," and "worse name ever" were used multiple times per minute as soon as Chihuahuas was official.
More: El Paso Matachines: Chihuahuas unveil new identity to celebrate culture
The nation was talking
Less than 24 hours after the MountainStar Sports Group announced the name of the new Triple-A baseball team, El Paso was talked about on SportsCenter, trending on Twitter and written about all around the country. And the name was still a hot topic all over the city.
"The strategy is awesome," said Jose Lopez, president and CEO of the Lopez Marketing Group. "This discussion should have been over a day after they announced the name, but it is still going on."
Lopez, who once worked on national marketing campaigns with Minute Maid and Coca Cola, said the announcement of the El Paso Chihuahuas name was well executed and smart.
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"The fact that CNN and ESPN is picking up on it tells you something," Lopez said. "That's something I don't think the Sun Dogs or Desert Gators would have done."
Two days after the announcement the team's website had made sales in 35 different states and Canada and Mexico, General Manager Brad Taylor said.
On Facebook, the Chihuahuas page has more than 19,000 likes, which is more than Taylor's former team the Bowling Green Hot Rods. The Tucson Padres had 10,906 likes.
"El Paso has gotten a lot of national attention in the last 36 hours," Taylor said on Thursday. "We have had nonstop action in the teams gift shop since we had the announcement."
And that is why the Chihuahuas name might have been just be crazy enough to work.
A petition asking MountainStar to change the team was started on Change.org. Within 24 hours, the petition had close to 4,000 online signatures. On Friday, more than 9,000 people — the capacity of the ballpark being built for the team — had signed the petition.
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Baseball no stranger to silly names
Minor league baseball is no stranger to outrage over silly names, Taylor said. Other teams such as the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Montgomery Biscuits and Savannah Sand Gnats have gone through a rough debut.
John Traub, general manager of the Albuquerque Isotopes, said that when a name stands out, it keeps selling.
The Isotopes are named after a fictional team in the popular TV show, "The Simpsons." The Isotopes made headlines in 2003 when they made their debut, and they continue to attract fans.
Just like the Chihuahuas have the memory of the Diablos to contend with, the Isotopes had to do a good job of filling in the void for the beloved Dukes.
By the way, the Dukes were moved to Portland and renamed the Beavers, before becoming the Tucson Padres and now the El Paso Chihuahuas.
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Controversy and jeers
On the 10th anniversary of the franchise in 2013, Vic Kolenc wrote about the success of the Chihuahuas brand despite the rocky start:
The El Paso Chihuahuas name and brand were born among controversy and jeers.
"We got hammered for the first 36 hours" after the team name and logo — featuring the now-familiar, cartoonish, growling Chihuahua — were unveiled in October 2013, remembered Chihuahuas General Manager Brad Taylor.
Within hours, the name of El Paso’s new Minor League Baseball team was talked about on ESPN’s SportsCenter, and other TV networks, written about in newspapers around the country, and was trending on Twitter.
Within days after the unveiling, the team had sold team caps, shirts and other merchandise featuring its funky mascot in 50 states and 11 countries via its online store; its brick-and-mortar store in Downtown El Paso was jammed.
A marketing star had been born
"When you started looking at everything about the Chihuahuas, it just matched El Paso. Not the biggest dog in Texas, but feisty, fiercely loyal, and fun," Taylor said.
“We thought it would be good; but I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t know it would have that kind of power right out of the gate. And then sustain itself for as long as it has."
Josh Hunt, chairman of MountainStar Sports Group, the Chihuahuas' owner, said, "We knew the brand would grow on others that didn't like it at first, and with time the results are pretty clear."
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Chihuahuas shine in merchandise sales
The Chihuahuas was the top-selling merchandise brand in the MiLB in its first three years of existence, and continues to be among the top sellers, Taylor said.
It was No. 6 in 2022, mostly because some new, funkier team names were hot sellers, Taylor said. No. 1 was the Rocket City Trash Pandas of Madison, Alabama, he said.
Trish Long may be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: 'Chihua-what? Not everyone was pleased with El Paso Triple-A team name
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