It was a year ago today that the Jacksonville Suns Double-A Southern league baseball team was transformed into the Jumbo Shrimp.
At the time, the team endured a lot of jokes and grief from the news media and fans.
Jaguars long snapper Carson Tinker was one of the first out of the gate, with this classic tweet:
Baseball's never been tartar pic.twitter.com/M5658JQfpa
— Carson Tinker (@carsontink) November 2, 2016
Of course, that tweet is a play on words from the old Suns jingle best known for the line, "baseball's never been hotter than the Jacksonville Suns."
Owner Ken Babby stuck to his shrimp and by the time the 2017 opening day rolled around, 10,477 fans packed the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.
That was the biggest opening day crowd at the ballpark since it's very first opening day in 2003 with 12,943, according to our News4Jax partner.
So, now that a year has passed, we want to know, which is better? The Jumbo Shrimp or the Suns.
Nov. 2 marks a year since the Jacksonville Suns were renamed the Jumbo Shrimp. Now that some time has passed, which name do you like better?
— WJCT News (@WJCTNews) November 2, 2017
Not ones to miss an opportunity, the Jumbo Shrimp are celebrating the first anniversary of the team's name change with a series of Shrimp-versary specials for folks that want to get a jumbo-sized jump on the 2018 season.
The Jumbo Shrimp, a farm team of the Miami Marlins, will open their 2018 season in Jackson, Tenn. against the Smokies on April 5. The home opener will be Wednesday, April 11, against the Mobile, Ala. BayBears.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
