Florence Flamingos: Baseball & the Fabulous Fowl Collide
You love flamingos, but do you love them as much as the Florence Flamingos?
The Florence RedWolves, a collegiate summer baseball league team that plays in the Coastal Plain League (CPL), wanted to change things up. So, in August 2021, the ball club located in Florence, South Carolina, made a bold change: embracing flamingos and all of their glory.
The team renamed itself to the Florence Flamingos and fully rebranded, adopting the pink glow we know and love from the fabulous fowl.
“We are excited to usher in a new era of baseball in the city of Florence,” team president Cameron Kovach said in a 2021 statement. “Our new identity is electric. It is a combination of fun, different, and unique.”
There were four other finalists for the team’s new name: A-Bombs, Fighting Palmettos, Flapjacks, and Magicians. I think all of us flamingo fans can agree that the right decision was made.
We are the Florence Flamingos!#JoinTheFlock🦩 pic.twitter.com/W5IAdlrs7c
— Florence Flamingos (@FloFlamingos) July 31, 2021
Florence is a town of just under 40,000 people, situated about 90 minutes northwest of Myrtle Beach and 75 minutes east of Columbia. It’s had its amateur baseball team since 1998 after the Raleigh RedWolves moved into town after spending one season in North Carolina’s capital. The team has played in the CPL, which includes teams from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, since its inception. Since moving to Florence, the RedWolves/Flamingos have played in four Petitt Cup Championships, losing all four (2003, 2005, 2008, 2014).
Florence, South Carolina on the map - Photo by SevenMaps/Shutterstock.com
The new nickname and branding was revealed right before the end of last season, so this will be the first full campaign that Flamingos fans will get to enjoy the beautiful bird as their emblem. The CPL begins play May 26, with the Florence Flamingos beginning their 2022 season that day on the road at the Savannah Bananas. The Flamingos will play their first home game of the year two days later on May 28 against the Lexington County Blowfish.
.@ChrisRose is all in on the Flamingos. Are you?#JoinTheFlock🦩 pic.twitter.com/5zGgG0TZjI
— Florence Flamingos (@FloFlamingos) March 2, 2022
The Florence Flamingos join Forward Madison FC as the second flamingo-related sports team we’ve come across. If you know of any other sports teams that have something to do with flamingos, let us know! We love learning more about how flamingos are finding places in different parts of our society’s culture.
