Minor league baseball is known as a land where a team unveiling an alternate identity for a night (or a few nights per year) is not exactly old news anymore. Even the more buttoned-up and traditional Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks just announced that they will be playing five games as the “Fargo Woodchippers” during the 2026 season.

So, let’s take a look at some alter egos that American Association teams have rolled out in the past:

Fargo Woodchippers

The first one is the most recent, with the RedHawks rolling out the Woodchippers branding last Friday. This is celebrating the anniversary of Fargo, which was released 30 years ago Monday and paying homage from one of the most famous scenes of the movie: a policeman stumbles upon one of the dim-witted criminals feeding a body through a woodchipper.

The RedHawks will first take the field as the Woodchippers on June 12 against Winnipeg and are also scheduled to change named again on July 10, July 22, August 11, and August 29. Merchandise is available here.

In case anyone is wondering, the actual woodchipper from the movie is in the Fargo-Moorhead visitors center and you can take a picture with it.

Wisconsin Dive Bars

Not to be outdone by the RedHawks announced their homage to their hometown’s eponymous movie, the Lake Country DockHounds announced their tribute to their home state’s reputation for, uh, being thirsty with the unveiling of the Wisconsin Dive Bars.

The team will be playing as the Dive Bars from July 7-9, with reports of an actual dive bar being constructed at Wisconsin Brewing Park, complete with pull tabs and other gambling machines (probably a first in the AA), and presumably lots and lots of beer.

The specialty jerseys feature an anthropomorphic pull tab machine named Bart Tabs and, appropriately, the names of 150 dive bars. Beer here!

Kane County Atomic Pork Chops

Kane County rolled out the Atomic Pork Chops branding when still an affiliated club in 2019 and stuck with it as the transitioned to the American Association in 2021.

The name came about as a result of the Cougars’ “proximity to the world-renowed Fermilab, which specializes in exploring high-energy physic, along with a desire to pay homage to the Cougars signature pork chop sandwich.” In addition to the jerseys, the team also sold at Atomic Pork Chop sandwich, which is basically the regular sandwich smothered in a special atomic sauce.

It appears that Kane County hasn’t worn the Atomic Pork Chop duds since the 2024 season, but they still sell an interesting line of Atomic Pork Chops merchandise. If anyone (a lot) richer than me wants to set $79 on fire, I’d appreciate an Atomic Pork Chops duffel bag.

Lincoln Swiftdogs and Waltdogs

Lincoln has tweaked their normal name slightly to cash in on a couple of wildly popular theme nights. First, on June 30, 2023, Lincoln took the field as the Lincoln Swiftdogs as part of a total “Taylor Takeover” of Haymarket Park. The team also gave away two pairs of tickets to Taylor Swift’s show in Kansas City on July 8, 2023, which turned out to be the seminal moment in pop culture history when Travis Kelce first gave Taylor a friendship bracelet, but I digress.

The night was a huge success, as the team smashed their 22-year-old attendance record with 8,298 fans in attendance.

Last year, the Saltdogs manage to tweak their name even less…and draw even more. On July 18, 2025 as part of Travel & Tourism Night, the temporarily-reschristened Waltdogs gave away a grand prize 6-day, 5-night trip for four to a certain theme park in Orlando valued at over $10,000. The club welcomed a new-record 8,325 fans for the festivities.

Milwaukee Sweet Teats

On Father’s Day in 2021, the Milwaukee Milkmen unveiled an unusual crossover: a jersey that clearly evoked SweeTarts, but also was unmistakably altered to also reflect where the milk from a cow comes from. The end result was certainly a bright and colorful uniform with a name that also sounded a little dirty but really wasn’t.

The Sweet Teats won 7-6 over Kane County on June 20, 2021 and the nod to the candy was appropriate for the occasion: after the game, kids rushed the field to collect candy dropped from a helicopter.

Minnehaha Martians

On August 9, 2024, the Sioux Falls Canaries waded into the world of extra-terrestrials by playing as the Minnehaha Martians, then doing so again 364 days later.

The moniker was part of the Birds’ Area 51 Night, featuring “an out-of-this world fireworks display” among other things. Oddly enough, I couldn’t find any sort of connection to the Minnehaha Martians name. There’s no Minnehaha (at least not near Sioux Falls) and no reported UFO landing or anything extra-terrestrial clearly inspiring the nickname. Nonetheless, points for creativity.

Mr. Paul’s Aints

Digging back into the archives, we find one of the odder promotions in baseball history from the St. Paul Saints’ days in the AA.

After previously hosting Christian-related promotions and a Jewish heritage night, on August 10, 2012, the Saints went the opposite direction, hosting A Night of Unbelievable Fun, sponsored by Minnesota Atheists—which led to it’s inevitable nickname of “Atheist Night,” though the team made it clear they weren’t meaning to mock religion, just to celebrate those who don’t follow one.

As part of the festivities, St. Paul removed just about every “S” from their Saints nickname, and well, “Saint” wasn’t going to cut it, so Mr. Paul it was, leading to the uniform above. Too bad they didn’t spring for alternate caps…

The promotion was successful enough that the Saints ran it back for several more years.

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