MiLB team to adopt ‘Moon Mammoths’ name after ‘Last Week Tonight’ contest

NEW YORK — The Detroit Tigers’ Double-A Erie SeaWolves will be renamed the Erie Moon Mammoths after being picked by John Oliver of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight.”

Oliver devoted a May 4 segment to names and promotions of minor league baseball teams, announcing: “We are willing to use all of our resources and stupidity to give one Minor League Baseball team a total rebrand. We will give you a new team name, a new mascot. We will even throw you a theme night. It will be personalized and it will be bespoke.”

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Two weeks later, Oliver selected Erie from among 47 team submissions. Oliver said the northwestern Pennsylvania team had given 11 reasons it should be picked, including that the team had pioneered cotton candy hot dogs and “The SeaWolves play baseball nowhere near the sea.”

Oliver announced Sunday that he had chosen to call the team the Moon Mammoths. Longtime sportscaster Bob Costas narrated a promotional video introducing the moniker.

The name was inspired by the 1991 discovery of woolly mammoth remains by George Moon, a Summit Township resident who found a bone while scuba diving in Lake Pleasant, about eight miles south of Erie. The mammoth remains are housed in the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg.

Erie, which has won the past two Eastern League championships, will be renamed the Moon Mammoths for games on July 19, Aug. 19, Sept. 12 and Sept. 13.

Major League Baseball said on Monday the team will wear jerseys with a rising moon, the team’s name across the chest, a moon on the sleeves and a patch with a woolly mammoth wearing a space helmet.

Oliver is expected to attend the July 19 game against the Chesapeake Baysox, themed a “Mammoth Fun” night. The first 1,000 ticketed fans will receive a Moon Mammoths squishy toy and there will be postgame fireworks. George Moon was also invited to attend.