After a month-long contest that drew more than 1,000 entries, Modesto’s new baseball team will be called the Modesto Glow Riders. The announcement was made at a press conference held at Cost Less Foods in Ceres, which sponsored the naming contest.
Team owner Dave Heller described the voting process as contentious. According to Heller, “There was no clear consensus, to put it mildly, from the community, and so we decided to go with Glow Riders for those reasons.” He noted that while Graffiti and Harvesters each received 469 votes, Glow Riders had more unique voters supporting it. The six final names up for selection were Graffiti, Bombers, Harvesters, Monster Trucks, 99ers and Glow Riders.
Heller compared the outcome to his previous experience with a similar contest: “When I had done a name-the-team contest with my club in Quad Cities, we gave the community six choices and 82% voted for River Bandits. That was clearly what the community wanted. The community was much more divided here, and so we made a decision.”
At the event, Heller also discussed plans to make games more affordable for fans at John Thurman Field. “We are going to cost less next year. We are going to have lower ticket prices, lower prices on food and beverage, lower prices on merchandise,” he said.
He reaffirmed his commitment to keeping the team local: “I promise you that as long as God has put breath in my body, this team will never, never leave Stanislaus County,” Heller said. “We will be here as long as I’m living. We are not going anywhere.”
Proposed logos were displayed at the store featuring a kit fox named “Cruiser” driving a classic car and a skeleton also behind the wheel of a classic car. Cruiser will serve as the team’s mascot; kit foxes are native to the region.
According to an official release from Main Street Baseball, Cruisers was by far the most frequently submitted name but could not be used due to rights held by another local sports team — the Modesto Cruizers of the National Premier Soccer League — despite spelling differences. Other potential names such as Aggies, Heat, Mavericks, Low Riders, Reapers and Crushers were also ruled out because of conflicts or trademark issues.
Both Cruisers and Glow Riders reference Modesto’s history of car culture — a legacy highlighted in George Lucas’ film “American Graffiti,” which is set in 1962 Modesto though filmed elsewhere. This tradition continues locally through annual events like the Graffiti Festival parade and recent city initiatives such as designating Lowrider History Day after lifting a decades-old ban on cruising.
Local officials attending included Ceres Mayor Javier Lopez; Modesto City Councilmembers Jeremiah Williams and Chris Ricci; and Modesto Mayor Sue Zwahlen.
A manager for the new team is expected to be announced Thursday at a press conference at downtown Modesto’s DoubleTree Hotel. The season is scheduled to begin in May but specific dates have not yet been released.
