PRINCETON, WV (WOAY) – After a long wait, the Princeton Appalachian League baseball team has officially announced it will be called the Whistlepigs.
The name is a moniker for groundhogs.
“When I first got to Princeton almost four years ago, I noticed these furry things running around the Princeton high school campus,” general manager Danny Shingleton said. “I was like, ‘What are these things’? Come to find out they’re groundhogs.”Â
Princeton was previously known as the Rays from 1997 to 2020. After the Appalachian League lost its affiliation with Minor League Baseball and became a college prospect league in 2020, teams underwent rebranding. Back in February, Bluefield announced it would become the Ridge Runners.
Princeton originally planned on announcing its name on Groundhog Day (Feb. 2), but was held up due to other companies using the “Whistlepig,” name. They were finally cleared to use the name on Friday and announced it in a press conference on Tuesday.
“There’s some great minor league baseball teams that have some really good names and we wanted to do something alone that line,” Shingleton said. “So, we just kind of googled funny animal names and we came up with the Whistlepigs.”Â
This new era of Princeton baseball begins on June 3rd, when the Whistlepigs will play at Honnicutt Field for the first time with their new name.
