Latest news with #SacramentoRiverCats
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Sacramento River Cats reveal alternate identity for 2025 season
( — The Sacramento River Cats announced their alternate identity for the 2025 season as the Sacramento Gold Diggers, according to officials. Video Above: River Cats win season opener, an 8-0 shutout The team will showcase its new jerseys on April 19 and will wear them for the first five games of this season. Advertisement Officials said the new identity is inspired by the California Gold Rush and the connection Sacramento has as 'the closest major city to the gold fields.' The logo consists of a miner named Dugg showcasing a gold tooth and a wink. The color pays homage to the Gold Rush history with gold pinstripes on an all-black jersey, officials said. Alcoholic drinks to-go may soon be a reality in parts of Sacramento The on-field cap consists of a dollar sign with an 'S' that represents Sacramento. It also features a pickaxe with a handle made of a baseball bat. A limited release of the Gold Diggers merchandise is available online right now, with the full collection becoming available on April 19. Advertisement Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40 News.
Fox News
15-04-2025
- Sport
- Fox News
Minor league baseball team reverses Gold Diggers name change after outrage
The Athletics were far from the only baseball team in Sacramento, California, receiving criticism at the start of the season. The minor league organization in town generated some heat last week. The Sacramento River Cats were set to partake in a recent minor league baseball tradition – changing their team for a period of time to promote their alternate identity. For example, the Somerset Patriots played as the Jersey Diners, and the Lehigh Valley IronPigs are set to compete as the Lehigh Valley Tomato Pie, just to name a few. The River Cats were set to play as the Sacramento Gold Diggers, seemingly a throwback to the California Gold Rush. The city of Sacramento was a haven for gold miners in the late 1840s and was turned into a thriving community and incorporated into California in 1850. "Inspired by the regional history of the California Gold Rush, this new identity offers a connection to the significant impact of this era when Sacramento grew as the closest major city to the gold fields," the team said in a news release Thursday, via The Sacramento Bee. The team released a video showcasing the team name but also leaned into an old trope as it showed two women with dollar signs on their eyes when they saw a player. The video, which has since been deleted from the team's social media pages, caused some outrage and the organization reversed their decision on the name. Sacramento Bee columnist Robin Epley ripped the rebranding as a "misogynistic joke on women." More people reacted on X. "Our recent marketing campaign for an alternative identity clearly missed the mark," the team said in a statement. "Our intention was to creatively reference the rich history of Sacramento and gold country, but our approach was wrong, and we are sorry for the mistake. We will no longer be using this identity." The River Cats are an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sacramento minor league team scraps 'sexist and demeaning' Gold Diggers identity 1 day after reveal, backlash
The Sacramento River Cats, Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants and current co-tenant of the Athletics, unveiled a new alternate identity on Thursday. It didn't go well. Sacramento announced it would take the field five times as the "Sacramento Gold Diggers," with a black and gold uniform featuring miner and dollar sign logos in a supposed nod to the city's history with the California gold rush. Of course, the term "gold digger" has come to mean something else these days. Advertisement The merchandise was put up for sale immediately, with the team saying it would be wearing its new uniforms for the first time on April 19. River Cats president and COO Chip Maxson even appeared on local news fully decked out in the new look. The River Cats removed all benefit of the doubt when they posted a video — preserved in this reaction video on the Sacramento Bee's website — in which two women, one of them apparently in a relationship with an older man, get distracted by a guy in a Gold Digger get-up, with cartoon dollar signs in their eyes. There was immediate criticism that the River Cats' new identity held up a sexist trope, so much so that the team immediately backtracked. All social media posts about the Gold Diggers have been removed and the merchandise is no longer available on any online shop. Advertisement The team released a statement to SF Gate's Alex Simon calling the whole idea a mistake: 'Our recent marketing campaign for an alternative identity clearly missed the mark. Our intention was to creatively reference the rich history of Sacramento and gold country, but our approach was wrong, and we are sorry for the mistake. We will no longer be using this identity.' The Sacramento River Cats will only play as the Sacramento River Cats this season. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) Wacky alternate identities, or even primary identities, have become the norm in minor league baseball, and the River Cats were clearly trying to follow suit here. These set-ups allow teams to sell merch to both local fans and a general audience, while still holding out onto their established identity. Maxson told CBS News Sacramento the team is "all about having fun" and the marketing team "did a great job of brainstorming," but they apparently didn't anticipate what the response would be, particularly from women in local office, as compiled by the Bee: 'As a woman, as a mom, as an elected official — I was shocked,' said West Sacramento City Councilwoman and Mayor Pro-Tem, Verna Sulpizio-Hull. 'The video is disrespectful to women, misogynistic and downright offensive. This attempt to market a team that we love, with such a demeaning message about women, does not align with our values in West Sacramento.' Sacramento City Councilwoman Lisa Kaplan called the video 'sexist and demeaning' in a tweet and likened it to a '1950s-era Mad Men' advertisement. 'At this time in our nation, where women's rights are being reversed, it is more important than ever that women leaders stand up and denounce any time women are seen as token sex pieces or less than equal,' she wrote in a statement. West Sacramento City Councilwoman Quirina Orozco, in whose district Sutter Health Park sits, and the longest-serving councilwoman in the history of the city said that she found the video offensive and was upset by its use. 'This video does not comport with the positive and well-established reputation of our minor league champions. We expect better. We can do better,' Orozco wrote in a statement Thursday evening. One day later, the Gold Diggers were no more.
New York Times
12-04-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Sacramento River Cats abruptly end ‘Gold Diggers' campaign: ‘Our approach was wrong'
After releasing a video Thursday promoting the 'Gold Diggers' as the team's alternate identity, the Sacramento River Cats canceled the campaign Friday. 'Our recent marketing campaign for an alternative identity clearly missed the mark,' said the San Francisco Giants' Triple-A team in an email to SFGate. 'Our intention was to creatively reference the rich history of Sacramento and gold country, but our approach was wrong, and we are sorry for the mistake. We will no longer be using this identity.' Advertisement The team deleted the video, which featured two women in Sacramento with dollar signs flashing in their eyes upon seeing a player, from its social media accounts after facing backlash for '1950s-era tropes about women only seeing dollar signs when sizing up men,' according to Sacramento Bee opinion writer Robin Epley, who reviewed the now-deleted video. The team also removed a page about the 'Gold Diggers' campaign from its website. The original plan was for the team — which currently shares its home, Sutter Health Park, with the Athletics — to wear the black-and-gold pinstriped Gold Diggers uniforms five times this season, starting with a game on April 19 against the Salt Lake Bees. 'Inspired by the regional history of the California Gold Rush, this new identity offers a connection to the significant impact of this era when Sacramento grew as the closest major city to the gold fields,' the River Cats said in a news release sent to the Sacramento Bee. The team faced criticism when it leaned into what it called 'playful and cheeky elements' of its short-lived alternate identity, which caused the River Cats to strike a nerve instead of gold. (Photo of Sutter Health Park on March 23 during an exhibition game between the Sacramento River Cats and San Francisco Giants: Scott Marshall / Getty Images)
CBS News
11-04-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
Sacramento River Cats scrap "Gold Diggers" alternate kit, saying it "clearly missed the mark"
SACRAMENTO – Just about 24 hours after announcing a new alternative jersey this season , the Sacramento River Cats have scrapped the idea. The MiLB team announced its Sacramento Gold Diggers alternate kit on Thursday, saying it was inspired by California's Gold Rush history. The jerseys featured a new logo mascot named Dugg the Miner. The black and gold color scheme featured a hat with an "S" and a pickaxe with a handle made of a baseball bat. But on Friday, the team announced that it will not be using the identity. "Our recent marketing campaign for an alternative identity clearly missed the mark," the River Cats said in a statement. "Our intention was to creatively reference the rich history of Sacramento and gold country, but our approach was wrong, and we are sorry for the mistake." The team had planned to debut the jersey on April 19.
