Origin of a species: Mud Hens

It's one of Minor League Baseball's most well-known franchises, thanks to Jamie Farr's portrayal of Corporal Maxwell Klinger in M*A*S*H.

Fans flock to Fifth Third Field to see the team in action. And the city's notable baseball alumni include Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett, multi-sport superstar Jim Thorpe, legendary manager Casey Stengel and ESPN baseball announcer Dave Campbell.

Nearly every baseball fan has heard of the International League's Toledo Mud Hens. But what is a Mud Hen and where did the name come from?

Professional baseball got its start in Toledo in 1883 when the Toledo Blue Stockings began play in the Northwestern League. The next season the city jumped to the Major League level, playing in the American Association as the "Toledos" (not very creative, but easy on the uniform manufacturer).

Toledo fielded teams in several different leagues in seven of the next 12 seasons, using nicknames such as Avengers, Maumees (for the county in which Toledo is located), Black Pirates and White Stockings.

The nickname Mud Hens first arose in 1896. The team, then a member of the Interstate League and known as the Swamp Angels, played the majority of its games at Toledo's Ewing Street Park. Sunday home games, however, were played outside the city limits at newly constructed Bay View Park, due to Toledo's Blue Laws that prohibited athletic events on Sundays.

The park was surrounded by a marshland that was home to strange birds called American coots, whose guttural clucks and grunts could be heard during games. These birds have also been known as marsh hens, rails -- and mud hens.

Moreover, the playing conditions at the new park were less than ideal, with the field staying wet and muddy. Local fans began to affectionately call the players "mud hens."

Charles J. Strobel purchased the Toledo club after the first half of the 1896 season and made several significant changes. In addition to taking over the managerial reigns of the team, Strobel officially changed the club's nickname to Mud Hens. The new name was a springboard to success, as Toledo won the second half pennant and the league's post-season championship.

The name stuck. Since mid-1896, nearly every Toledo club has been known as the Mud Hens. The club had two extended stints in the Minor League's American Association (1902-13; 1916-55), with the 1916-18 clubs ditching the Mud Hens for the Iron Men. As an International League member, the city has been nicknamed the Mud Hens since 1965, making the Hens the IL's third-longest tenured team behind Rochester and Syracuse.

Toledo's Mud Hens also had year-long runs in the Western Association (1901) and the Southern Michigan Association (1914). The Southern Michigan circuit had several cities that rivaled Toledo in the uniqueness of their nicknames, including the Flint Vehics, Mt. Clemens Bathers, Adrian Fencevilles and Kalamazoo Kazoos.

Back to the Mud Hens. The bird seems an unlikely Minor League monicker, as it is something most people can't identify with, although many have probably seen a mud hen but considered it a duck. But then again, who can claim they've ever seen a (New Hampshire) FisherCat, a (Batavia) MuckDog, or a (Mobile) BayBear?

Brief ornithology lesson. The mud hen is more like a duck than a hen. The white-billed, black wading bird rarely flies long distances, and is more likely to move by "water-walking" -- flying low across the surfaces of the marshes, lakes and ponds it calls home, splashing water with its wings and feet as it gains momentum. The coot can be found across North America from Canada to Southern California and Florida.

The name works in Toledo. The franchise embraces the Mud Hens moniker with several "bird-themed" areas in the ballpark (which locals still refer to as the "Hen House"). The Souvenir Store is called the Swamp Shop; there are a pair of picnic areas named the "Nest" and the "Coop"; fans can watch the game in right field in a special seating section called the "Roost"; and the kid's playground, called "Muddy's Marsh," has a swamp theme.

The team's oversize mascots -- Muddy the Mud Hen and Muddonna -- keep fans energized throughout the game and at locations around the Northwest Ohio area. The pair actually look more like chickens than mud hens, but their appearance is more "kid-friendly" than what a large black duck-like creature would be.

So while most people couldn't pick a mud hen from a lineup of water fowl, rest assured there is some logic behind one of Minor League Baseball's most well-known nicknames. That's good news for the Toledo franchise, which, thanks partly to Jamie Farr, has been able to turn a team named for poor playing conditions into a pop culture icon.