Empire pro baseball league announces Malone team’s name | News, Sports, Jobs

MALONE — An Empire League team coming to the American Legion Field off Route 11 has been named.

The Malone Border Hounds will represent Malone in a league featuring squads from Plattsburgh, Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake, according to Eddie Gonzalez, director of the Empire Professional Baseball League.

Gonzalez said that after working with community members, Border Hounds was chosen as the favorite from a list of more than 50 name suggestions at the start of the process.

“We were looking for relatable names and being so close to the border, it actually came from some of the locals, not suggested by one person particularly but it was kind of thrown on the table and some of the guys from the town really liked it and it was just one of the names in the mix that was thrown in,” Gonzalez said. “We kind of narrowed it down. Everybody selected their top 20 names or so and it just kind of came down to where we went around the table and found out which names everybody liked the most.”

Gonzalez said it took a couple of months to nail down the team name.

“It was all a group effort, between folks from the American Legion, kids from the local teams, the town, we all together decided those are cool colors and that is a cool name and everybody liked it and said let’s go with it. And that is how after a couple months of throwing names into a hat, we got here,” Gonzalez said. “We took ideas from everybody — kids, families, local community members and athletes.”

Gonzalez said the league also looked to the community for input when selecting names for the other teams playing in the North Country.

“It was somewhat similar but everyone has got their unique story, this one was a little different, more of all the guys participating and we made it a fun little community event,” Gonzalez said.

The team colors will be powder blue, sunshine gold and white.

“We just kind of looked at various colors that are in the league. We didn’t want to have the typical colors, there are already a couple teams with black and red, black and gold, royal blue. So we were looking for something different and went with more of a powder blue and gold, kind of like in football, what the Chargers have,” Gonzalez said. “We wanted it to be a little different, so it stands out, so we went with a different look. Everybody liked that and we voted on it as well.”

He said the team’s logo has not yet been revealed but will be soon.

“We don’t have our logo as of yet, but when you think of the idea of a border hound you think of an athletic hound dog that protects the border, our community, and our team.” Gonzalez said. “The logo is going to have that type of character to it. We’ll see, we are getting some drawings put together but it is a long process.”

Gonzalez said work to upgrade the field by Malone-Dufort Airport is making good progress.

“The field is coming along very well. The guys on the (American Legion baseball) committee have done an excellent job,” he said. “Before we get into deep snow and winter we would like to make sure that fencing is put up. Little by little, step by step we have a building that is going to be put up for bathrooms, we have some improvements that are hopefully going to be taken care of before it gets too bad with the weather. As soon as it dries up in the spring, we will probably have a month to work on the finishing touches.”