Coast, Parrots or Regulators? Choose your baseball team name, Long Beach

For some reason, people from 35 states cast ballots in the Long Beach Baseball Club naming contest. But for better or worse, with nearly 5,000 votes tallied, we have our three finalists: the Coast, the Parrots and the Regulators.

“Long Beach showed up in a big way, from neighborhood ballot boxes to votes pouring in from 34 states,” Ena Patel, President of LBBC, said in a statement. “It’s been wonderful to see how invested the Long Beach community is in this team and wanting us to be playing at Blair Field in 2026.”

The baseball club announced six semifinalists on Oct. 8, which included the now-eliminated Cruisers, Grit and Groove. Voting was open for one week, during which 3,888 ballots were cast online and 974 were cast in person at ballot boxes around the city, according to the club.

“Each name is VERY Long Beach and captures different aspects of the City’s character,” the club said of the finalists in a statement.

The club laid out why each name is appropriate for the city. The Coast is pretty obvious: Long Beach boasts 11 miles of coastline that connects diverse neighborhoods from the gritty  Downtown to the ritzy Peninsula.

The Parrots might not make sense to people not from Southern California, but it makes perfect sense to anyone who lives in the Greater Los Angeles Area. There is no definitive explanation for why they are here, but there are in fact large populations of 13 species of Amazon parrots that have established naturalized populations, according to the California Parrot Project.

It’s hard to tell many of them apart since they are mostly about the same size and all have green bodies. But if you live in Southern California, you have seen — and heard — flocks. The Mitred Parakeet, for example, has an estimated population of 680 in the Greater Los Angeles region, including around 100 in Long Beach and Lakewood, according to the CPP.

The Regulators — which, if social media comment sections are any indicator, appears to be the heavy favorite — is a direct link to a Long Beach legend (and club co-owner) Warren G. A pioneer of West Coast hip-hop and G-funk. His debut album, which dropped June 7, 1994, was titled “Regulate… G Funk Era.” The album debuted at number two in the U.S. Billboard 200 and has since sold over 3 million copies, earning it a triple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The title track “Regulate” spent 18 weeks in the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for a Grammy in 1995 for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.

“We promised we would be building this team with the people of Long Beach and this naming contest has shown how much they want to build it with us,” Patel said.

The final round of voting opened Wednesday and runs through 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 29. People can cast their ballots online at longbeachbaseballclub.com or in person at any of the following locations:

• d’Arnaud Athletics (3940 E Gilman St.)
• Long Beach Airport (4100 Donald Douglas Dr.)
• Michelle Obama Library (5870 Atlantic Ave.)
• SteelCraft Long Beach (3768 Long Beach Blvd.)
• SteelCraft Bellflower (16500 Bellflower Blvd.)
• Watch Me! Sports Bar (6527 E. Pacific Coast Hwy., Unit B-2.)
• Annex Training Center (2431 Orange Ave, Signal Hill)
• Precise Barber Shop (5223 Atlantic Ave.)

Following the final vote, the club will commission brand and logo design for the winning name, with the official team name announcement expected in January, according to the statement.

“This is exactly what community baseball should feel like: fun, inclusive, and unmistakably Long Beach,” Mayor Rex Richardson said in a statement. “From Joe Jost’s to the Michelle Obama Library, the team met families, students, and lifelong baseball diehards. The communities' votes got us here; the next vote will help make history.”