The Traveling Wilkes Barres have gone away

Merely because their field turned into a mudhole after receiving real grass, the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees won't play an inning this summer in either Scranton or Wilkes Barre. They'll travel the backroads of upstate New York - even do what nobody does anymore: Visit Batavia!

Yesterday, the team announced that Scranton will play in 2012 under the name the "Empire State Yankees."

This is the greatest thing that ever happened. Why?

1. At least for one year, Kei Igawa cannot be dislodged from his glorious perch as all-time leader in most SWB pitching catagories.

2. The Yankees will be selling cool, limited edition, collector-grade Empire State caps and merchandise. 

3. The team needs a better name. The Upstate Yankees. The Route 20 Yankees. The Fingerlakes Yankees. (Weren't the farm clubs supposed to be moving toward eliminating the "Yankee" title? The Trenton Thunder, for example. Next year, maybe Scranton can call themselves the Frackers, or the Wilkes Barre Gas Wells, or the Moosic Radioactive Cows.)

But what should the Empire State team be called?  Something more expressive and compelling.

The Empire State Buildings!

Empire State of Minds?

Empire State Plazas? The Rest Stops? The Cuomos? The Gridlocks? The Empire State Tax Zones! Apple Growers! The Empire State Former-Factories-Turned-Into-Lofts! The Empire State Teenagers-With-Weird-Facial-Ticks! The Empire State Fat-Women-Who-Eat-Big-Greasy-Sausages-in-Halters-on-the-Midway-of-the-New-York-State-Fairs!