HBO’s John Oliver, the host of Last Week Tonight, recently put out an offer to Minor League Baseball teams across the country for a complete rebrand.
Forty-seven minor league squads took Oliver up on the offer, but the Last Week Tonight host eventually settled on the Detroit Tigers’ double-A affiliate, the Erie SeaWolves.
It will be personalized and be bespoke,” Oliver said at the time.
He wasn’t kidding.
This past Sunday, Oliver announced that the team will be rechristened as the Erie Moon Mammoths, at least for the time being.
The curious name originates from a mammoth fossil discovered by local man George Moon in 1991, which was put on display for public viewing for one day only in 2012.
“The name draws inspiration from the 1991 discovery of woolly mammoth remains by Summit Township resident George Moon. Moon found a large bone while scuba diving in Lake Pleasant, located about eight miles south of Erie,” reads the team announcement. “He subsequently worked with a local anthropologist to help identify the remains. Known colloquially as the “Moon Mammoth,” the remains are housed in the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. The “Moon Mammoth” skeleton is one of the most complete specimens from the Great Lakes region, with eighty percent of the body intact, including the molars, tusks, lower jaw, humerus, radius, ulna, both shoulder blades, pelvis, vertebrae, ribs and foot bones.”
Oliver pulled out all the stops for the Moon Mammoths announcement, introducing a new mascot, merchandise, and an introductory video narrated by iconic baseball broadcaster Bob Costas.
“Erie, are you ready? Because this purple beast is about two things,” said Costas. “Eating whatever it is mammoths ate and playing baseball. And he’s all out of whatever it is mammoths ate.”
The Moon Mammoths will make their debut against the Baltimore Orioles’ Chesapeake Baysox, who will be taking on the alternative identity of the Oyster Catchers, at UPMC Park on July 19. Oliver plans to attend the game.
While the Moon Mammoths will not be Erie’s permanent name, the identity will return for games on August 19, September 12, and September 13.