West Virginia welcomes Black Bears

The black bear is the official animal of the state of West Virginia. As of today, it is also the name of Morgantown's new Minor League Baseball team.

The West Virginia Black Bears, Class A Short Season affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, are the latest entrant in the 14-team New York-Penn League. The franchise, which relocated from Jamestown, New York, will play in a new baseball stadium shared with the West Virginia University (WVU) baseball program. The team is owned by Buffalo-based Rich Baseball, which also owns the Buffalo Bisons and Northwest Arkansas Naturals.

"Black Bears" emerged victorious in a two-part naming process that was overseen locally by students in WVU's graduate sports management program. The club received 2,500 name suggestions in the first phase of the process, which were then winnowed into a list of 10 finalists. Black Bears won the vote over a group that included more unorthodox choices such as Moonshiners, Canaries, Black Diamonds and Muskets.

"It was a close race, but Black Bears was the fan favorite. The public liked Black Bears, and the ownership group liked it," said Black Bears general manager Matt Drayer, a WVU grad who previously held the same position in the team's former home of Jamestown. "This ties in to West Virginia and our community. Black bears are found in all 55 counties in West Virginia. This is a good representation of our state. We're calling it a home run."

As for why the team opted to identify itself using "West Virginia" as opposed to "Morgantown," Drayer said that they "wanted to represent the whole area."

"This is a baseball team for everybody, not just the Morgantown area," he said. "Anywhere in West Virginia, as well as Southwest Pennsylvania."

Of course, there is already a Minor League team that uses "West Virginia" in its name: the West Virginia Power of the Class A South Atlantic League, based in Charleston, the capital city.

"[The Power] are also a Pirates affiliate. They're based in the south and we're in the north," said Drayer. I hope the teams will work well with each other, because there's a connection there. We want to keep fans informed in both areas. If you're in Morgantown, go to Charleston to see our team's former players. If you're in Charleston, go to Morgantown so that you can see next year's team."

The announcement of the Black Bears name is the first step in what will be a busy offseason for the club, whose front-office staff currently consists of Drayer and former Jamestown assistant general manager John Pogorzelski.

"We're currently working with a couple design firms on mascot and logos, getting everything ready for the hats and jerseys," said Drayer, who estimated that the process would take two months.

The West Virginia Black Bears will debut in June 2015, competing in the New York-Penn League's six-team Pinckney Division.