‘TPs for life’: HBO’s John Oliver applauds Trash Pandas marketing team, shows off his new hat
Reading time: 3 minutes
When Alabama’s newest minor league baseball team arrived, the branding immediately got the attention of baseball fans around the country.
And even after five years, the Rocket City Trash Pandas are still being discovered by new fans—and people continue to fall in love with them.
Most recently, comedian John Oliver spoke briefly about the Trash Pandas during his show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO. He even put on some team gear!
“You can’t not buy merch like that once you know it exists. Case in point—(Oliver pulls out a Trash Pandas hat)—go Trash Pandas, TPs for life!”
John Oliver
Last Week Tonight
The Trash Pandas were featured in a segment about the creativity behind minor league baseball branding and team names across the country.
The show revisited a newscast from 2022 that quickly spoke about how the Trash Pandas branding began. And how quickly it took off—selling $2.3 million worth of merchandise before even playing a game.
“Minor league baseball teams are really good at publicity. They really have to be while their player contracts are handled by major league teams, they’re responsible for many other operating costs which can be significant. So they go out of their way to try to grab people’s attention, starting with eye-catching team names.”
Rocket City was just one of several minor league teams to be mentioned throughout the show for their unique names including:
- Hub City Spartan Burgers
- Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp
- Modesto Nuts
- Richmond Flying Squirrels
- Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs
- Binghamton Rumble Ponies
Rebranding offer
Before the show wrapped up, Oliver and his team went one step further. Instead of just celebrating minor league baseball brands + team names, he wants to be a part of one himself.
While there were plenty of teams he recognized, Oliver also noted some teams aren’t doing as much as they could. So as usual, he decided to dive all the way in with a proposal for all minor league teams out there.
“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. I promise, we will put just as much time, energy and research into this as we do exposing the dark underbelly of America’s criminal justice system – arguably more. And we will do this in the spirit of your team, city and the league to which you belong.”
John Oliver
There were some conditions as teams would not have any control over the branding and would have to agree to take on. For teams interested, they’re taking proposals through email at johnoliver@buntstuff.com.
Would you want to see any of Alabama’s minor league teams rebranded again? Let us know by tagging The Bama Buzz on Instagram, X, Facebook + LinkedIn.
