Northwest League is Winning

I was doing some research on sports teams that use Bigfoot, or Sasquatch, as a mascot or logo. More logo, I suppose, because Squatch was the name of the Supersonics mascot back before they were stolen away from Seattle:

I was really interested in Bigfoot/Sasquatch logos, and, of course, Minor League Baseball didn't disappoint:

I love this. Eugene, Oregon, has a minor league team named after the historic cannabis growing region, the "Emerald Triangle", and uses Bigfoot prominently in its logo. Seeing this, I ventured over to the other teams in this league, and was reminded of one of my earlier favorite, something I've written about before:

The red-eyed frog dosing itself with a baseball! I also love the "E" for Everett being the same trident-M the Mariners used for many years as their primary logo, letting me know that this is a Mariners affiliate.

But two awesome logos weren't enough for this small class-A league. They also sport the beer additive logo, the Hillsboro Hops:

Good show, minor league, good show. There'll always be a crazy "Iron Ducks" or "Fire Ants," but a nice trio of Bigfoot, tab-dropping-frog, and hop cone flower, all in the same league? Kick ass.

But perusing the teams more led me to the next team:

Now, the Spokane Indians aren't some new fangled team set up recently to help the Colorado Rockies get their young hitters some more plate appearances or pitchers some more batters to face---even if that's kinda what it's used for now. The Spokane Indians are a historic, old-timey minor league team, and maybe that should be Minor League team, with the capitals.

This team was founded in 1890 and played for many years in the Pacific Coast League, the best minor league for many years, so good in fact, that it was about to be named a third Major League right before the Giants and Dodgers left New York City, and Brooklyn, and moved to California.

I like the understated logo look, and when I mentioned the team name and showed the logo to Corrie, she gave it a sideways look. "Spokane Indians?" she said. So I looked it up...

Back when the Cleveland Indians (now Guardians) and Washington Redskins (now Commanders) were continuously coming under obvious and deserved scrutiny, the Spokane Indians---the Salish people living ion the area for whom the team is named---reached out to the team. They said they didn't necessarily want to fight against the team, but, if the team was interested, wanted to work with them. The team said, "100%, we'd love to." The Spokane gave some notes on respectful logo looks, some possible alternates (all adopted, and, sidenote: love the red-band trout alternates!), and even suggested they occasionally use the Salish spelling of "Spokane" on the jersey:

Now the team and the Spokane work together on promotions for the team and fundraisers for the rez. Some signage in the park even is presented in both Salish and English. It seems to have worked out okay for both of them.

Rounding out the logos from this league, we have this awesome weirdo:

A freaking Volcano:

And some classically understated-Canadian roundel:

This team is the remnants of the late-70s era Pacific Coast Team of the same name and logo. Remember, some places, you just field a team and name them what it's supposed to be.

Now, just for reference, here's a map with these cities shown, as I didn't know what the three cities were for the Tri-Cities Dust Devils, nor did I realize that Everett was a Seattle satellite, and, for some reason, the Volcanoes of Salem aren't shown?

The Pacific Northwest, man. It's a different kind of place.