Contest names Grand Junction baseball team after prehistoric Colorado fish
Thousands of entries were submitted to choose the name of the new baseball team in Grand Junction, Colorado. Voters decided to take it way back to Colorado's roots, naming the team the Razorback Suckers.
The team is part of the Pecos League, an independent baseball league operating in cities in desert and mountain regions in Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The league operates in cities that don't already have Major and Minor League baseball teams.
Grand Junction's new team said they will play at the historic Suplizio Field beginning June 4.
A contest was held to choose the team's name, and over 3,700 entries were submitted. The public ultimately decided on the Razorback Suckers.
"Razorback Suckers is a tribute to the fishing and outdoors traditions of Western Colorado. The razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus) is a suckerfish found in rivers and lakes in the Colorado River. The Fish and Wildlife Service and wildlife has classified the Razorback Sucker as an endangered species," the team's website states.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife says the fish dates back three to five million years ago, when it was widespread in the Colorado River and its tributaries. One of the largest suckers in North America, the Razorback Sucker can grow up to three feet long. The name comes from the bony hump along its back.
