Las Vegas 51s change name for upcoming season
The Las Vegas 51s, a professional baseball team since 2001, have officially changed their name for the 2019 season. They have also, per an announcement, changed affiliations.
The Las Vegas 51s, who have been an affiliate of the New York Mets since 2013 and before that a Blue Jays affiliate (2009-2012) and a Dodgers affiliate (2001-08), are now being called the Las Vegas Aviators, the team announced on Twitter at an event Saturday.
The team has also changed affiliations, now becoming the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics, signing a deal that extends through to 2020. The Aviators team will begin play in 2019 in the still under construction Las Vegas Ballpark, which is set to open prior to the season.
This is a major shift for the 51s, who, from their birth in 1983 to 2000, were known as the Las Vegas Stars. They were originally an affiliate of the San Diego Padres, who have since moved on to the El Paso Chihuahuas, who have been affiliated with the Padres since their inception in 2014.
The Aviators’ new logo features a geometrically designed pilot figure wearing the classic aviator glasses. It also has a “hidden” letter V in the main insignia, and utilizes a colour scheme composed primarily of orange, grey-blue and navy. New merchandise for the Aviators is available via their official store, which was just made live earlier Saturday.
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There are, at least for now, two hats available from the team’s shop; the first of which has the emblem/insignia unveiled at the event, while the other has a similarly styled “LV” in the same colour scheme and similar font. Merchandise (hats, jerseys, etc…) donning the logo of the Las Vegas 51s is still being offered on the site.
In a Twitter poll conducted by Las Vegas RJ Sports, 17% of respondents answered that they loved the name, while 33% felt there were “better options”. Additional, 26% voted that they “liked the 51s more”, while the remaining 24% were more or less impartial to the new title, logo, and style.
As team president Don Logan alluded to at the official unveiling, the team had the “Stars” title for 18 years, and also went by the 51s for 18 years. The ownership loves this aspect of the team, with Logan matter-of-factly proclaiming “now we’ve got the Aviators!”. Logan has been the president of the team since 2000, according to his bio on the 51s official website.
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Cinthia Maldonado of KNTV (ABC News Las Vegas) toured the site of the new ballpark; her photos from the site can be found here. Ken Korach of the Oakland Athletics radio team notes that the stadium is “on target” for the Aviators’ April 9 opener.