Chatham-Kent IBL franchise given a name… again

Chatham-Kent’s team in the Inter-County Baseball League (IBL) won’t play its first game until at least next spring -- but it’s already undergone a rebrand.

“Barnstormers” was announced as the team’s name Thursday at Fergie Jenkins Field, six months after a different name was unveiled.

On January 27, snazzy logos were unveiled as Blackbirds was announced as the team name following a community-wide naming contest.

Three days later, the club announced that name would be dropped, after it was found the term held historical derogatory use.

“After striking out the first time, I think we really hit a homerun with this one,” General Manager for the team Harry Muir said Thursday of the new Barnstormers identity. “Right now, we’re doing a lot of barnstorming. I think it ties into what we’re doing.”

According to baseball-reference.com, “Barnstorming refers to a team that takes the road and visits various cities where it plays games either against a local opponent or a designated outside opponent who is also barnstorming.”

The term typically applies to teams without a home field but in this case, the Barnstormers will call Fergie Jenkins Field home.

Club leadership said the naming process was handled a little more carefully this time around, to avoid having to scrap it once more.

“Today you have to cross your ‘t’s and dot your ‘i’s and we just didn’t quite get there,” Muir said. “We’re a bunch of baseball guys running baseball teams. We made a mistake. We’re bound to make more mistakes.”

Dom Dinelle, the team’s owner, said the Blackbird blunder does not seem to have dissuaded their supporters.

“So many people showed up today just to unveil the name,” he said. “This is unbelievable. We have to keep the ball rolling.”

He said they’re already scouting local talent – with open tryouts set for September.

The Chatham-Kent Barnstormers are expected to play their first game next May.