New Orleans Baby Cakes Run Away With 2017 Logomania Contest

Score one for the Baby Cakes!

Formerly known as the New Orleans Zephyrs and rebranded Baby Cakes in the offseason, New Orleans won BA’s 2017 Logomania—presented by New Era—in a runaway, beating the Vermont Lake Monsters in the final pairing with 67,349 votes (81.2 percent) to 15,574 votes for Vermont (18.8 percent).

The Baby Cakes’ win capped four furious weeks of competition in Logomania, which was a fan-fueled contest to select the best cap in Minor League Baseball, based on your votes. Thirty-six teams entered the contest but only one—the Baby Cakes—was crowned the champ.

Nearly 250,000 were tallied in the course of four weeks and thousands of others shared their passion on social media to push votes for their favorite teams’ caps.

Baby Cakes general manager Cookie Rojas was thrilled about the outcome and saw it as vindication of a logo that certainly generated buzz but also drew flak.

“I look at it as a joyous occasion,” Rojas said. “It’s a milestone for the organization. We’re moving the needle in terms of people falling in love with the logo. I see so many people around the region walking with it, whether it’s stitched on, embroidered on.

“We did catch a lot of flak about it, so it’s also a moment of validation. We stuck to our guns, and I think Baby Cakes reflects that.”

Rojas said choosing a name from seven finalists—Baby Cakes, Crawfish, King Cakes, Night Owls, Po’boys, Red Eyes, and Tailgators—was not come by easily.

“I would on Sundays dress incognito as a fan and sit in the stands or go to the team store and people would say, ‘I can’t believe they’re changing the name’ . . . but all they talked about was that ‘Baby Cakes’ name. That resonated in everyone’s mind. I believe in passion. You love it or you hate it and they seem to love it. It’s bold and brazen.

“People rallied around this. People got engaged. This is not the Zephyrs name that came from Colorado. This is a new tradition.”