Team’s Name Strikes Sparks

* I am writing in response to the Feb. 16 editorial entitled “A Pitch to Toss Out Team Name.”

When we announced the name for the Mission Viejo Professional Baseball Club last month, we began receiving a number of calls. The name Vigilantes has drawn a lot of interest from local citizens, many positive opinions, and some negative.

To state it simply, we are just a baseball team--not a “mob of people taking the law into their own hands, inflicting brutal punishment on sometimes innocent people,” as was stated in the editorial--and the name should be taken in a baseball context. Just like the New Jersey Devils aren’t actual devils and the Cucamonga Quakes aren’t promoting earthquakes and the Colorado Avalanche don’t cause avalanches. It would be a bit pretentious to suggest that we are something other than just an entertaining baseball team that is committed to the game and the fans.

The name Vigilantes came from suggestions of the public and we felt the moniker was fitting of a baseball team with our attitude toward the “national pastime.” A lot of our new season ticket holders expressed to us their displeasure with the game of baseball today. Labor strikes, inflated salaries (and the egos to match) and high ticket prices are all major turnoffs to otherwise loyal baseball fans.

It is for this reason that we selected the name Vigilantes--not because we are promoting taking the law into our own hands, but because we are dedicated to giving the game of baseball back to its rightful owners: the fans.

Similar to the days of the old West when citizens came together to rid the streets of lawlessness, we are trying to get rid of the negative elements that are taking over the fans’ game.

DAVID B. AYERS

Director of Public Relations

Mission Viejo Vigilantes

* Regarding the waste of editorial space on another carpetbagging sports team:

Since no one knows when the next “better offer” is going to come along, why not rename them Mission Viejo Vagabonds?

JOE HEINZ

Buena Park

* Was I the only resident in Mission Viejo disappointed with the name chosen for the city baseball team?

“Vigilantes” means “people that take the law into their own hands to enforce the law.”

Now the city of Mission Viejo, instead of being known for a well planned, family-oriented community, can be known as the southern Orange County suburb with a baseball team called the Vigilantes.

SCOTT KINGSMILL

Mission Viejo