News - 01/13/2005

Golden Baseball League - Long Beach Armada

Long Beach Armada Unveil Nickname, Logo

Long Beach Armada - Primary Logo

LONG BEACH, CA – Long Beach’s new professional baseball team has a handle at last. After more than three months of sifting through over 1000 entries, the winning entry of the “Name the Team” contest presented by VONS was announced on Thursday as the Long Beach Armada. The official announcement was made Thursday morning at St. Mary’s Medical Center at 1050 Linden Avenue in Long Beach.

“It’s a great feeling to finally have an identity that the community can get behind; the support we received was enormous and we plan to take that all the way to the beginning of the season” said General Manager Mike Malinas. From late August through early-November, fans submitted hundreds of name and mascot ideas to the team’s Long Beach office and through the Golden Baseball League website. The entries – with the help of a community event held at GAMEWORKS – helped to whittle down the list to 10 Finalists. Team officials and Golden Baseball League executives then selected the final name and logo.

“We are confident that this is a name and logo the fans will embrace,” Malinas said. “The theme associated with the name, combined with an incredible logo gives our team a strong identity here in Long Beach.” The Long Beach Armada is one of eight charter teams in the new Golden Baseball League, which will begin play in May, 2005.

Long Beach Armada - Secondary Logo

At Thursday’s unveiling, a banner was shown featuring the new Armada logo – a crusader in conquistador-like armor at the helm of a ship with Armada spelled out below in “nautical” style lettering. The colors of the team are Navy, Maroon, Tan and Blue. Gina Coffey of Long Beach came up with the winning name. Although unable to attend Thursday’s event, Gina expressed that she was, “extremely excited about winning the competition and I am looking forward to opening weekend in May”. Gina is twenty-four years old and has been a Long Beach resident for more than six years.

The team also acknowledged its 2005 Founding Partners at Thursday’s event – VONS, The Long Beach Press Telegram and St. Mary Medical Center.

The Long Beach Armada also has 2005 season ticket plan information available at the Team’s Website. http://www.goldenbaseball.com/longbeach or by phone at (562) 597-9787.