The Mumbai Cobras are one of the most storied franchises in the WBA. No IBL team has won more games. 5 pennants, with 4 of them in the last decade. A WBA record 9 straight division titles and counting.
Mumbai's history in the WBA goes back to the very first pick of the 2100 inaugural draft. Almost immediately after being named GM, AP MP convinced ownership to relocate the team to Mumbai.
The first (and only) run of green-and-orange Delhi Tigers merchandise fetches a pretty penny amongst WBA historical buffs even to this day.
That first ever WBA draft pick seems like a no-brainer in hindsight, but inaugural drafts are a funny beast. To their credit, Cobras avoided overthinking it and, undoubtedly, picked
the right guy. Longtime fans will remember the frustrations of Twinkletoes' first three injury-riddled seasons. In 2102, he put up 9.3 WAR in just 107 games--give him back the fifty games he lost to a freak injury and there is little doubt he ends up with the greatest season in WBA history. Though it took much longer than it should have, the image of a 35 year-old Twinkletoes holding aloft the 2107 IBL championship trophy while being carried off the field is as indelible an image around these parts as any Cricket World Cup win by the Indian Cricket Team.
The first ever WBA draft pick was deservingly made the first ever WBA hall of fame inductee. Twinkletoes is of course not the only Hall of Famer in a Cobras cap. His longtime partners in crime,
Scoops and
Griz, are enshrined alongside him, the trio's tenures marked by screaming baseballs sailing into the Mumbai night.
Cobras fans are as loyal as they come. They've stuck with the team through countless playoff disappointments and the depths of a rock bottom rebuild (ask any Cobras fan and they'll tell you that the current sustained run of success made that rebuild worth it). Every year, Cobras fans start another internet campaign to have their beloved Falco Venema, now one of the WBA's most important voices for players' rights, enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Baseball today is, however, a business. Mumbai fans have known that it was only a matter of time before their beloved Cobras moved to a new city. After all, most WBA franchises have already moved multiple times. While there is certainly disappointment in Mumbai, there aren't a lot of jerseys burning in effigy. If social media is an accurate barometer of fan sentiment, then a significant number of Cobras fans are looking forward to watching their heroes take on the ABL and go for an incredible 10th straight division title. Not coincidentally, Texas has perhaps the largest Indian population outside of India.
Mumbai baseball historians will likely have a lot more to say about the Cobras in the coming days. For now, this Mumbai beat writer is pleased to bring you an exclusive: the uniforms that will be worn at each level of the ABL's newest team.
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Starting this year, the team formerly known as the Mumbai Cobras will compete as the El Paso Thunderbirds, named after the famous and mysterious
red clay formation embedded into a mountain face that overlooks El Paso from the northwest. Believe it or not, El Paso's stadium, which fans are calling "Thunderdome" even though it is open-air, is expected to produce significantly more home runs than the pitcher's nightmare in Mumbai. And this is despite the forced humidor usage and expanded foul territory mandated by the WBA powers-that-be! Rumor has it that the word best describing the reaction of other ABL pitching staffs when they got wind of the Thunderdome's likely batted ball profile is -- "Distressed."
The Thunderbirds will wear dark blue (West Texas Night Sky), light blue (Desert Dusk Blue), and Yellow (High Noon Sun). Their logo is a Native American styled thunderbird with a shape of Texas carved within. Mumbai fans will appreciate the horizontal bar above the lettering on the jersey, a classy nod to Hindi and other Indian languages, and thus the franchise's roots. The lightning bolt T certainly evokes the word "thunder," but also seems somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as El Paso sees over 300 days of sun a year. The away jersey features the team's natural nickname - the "TBirds."
El Paso HomeEl Paso Away***
The largest city in Texas will be home to the AAA Houston Rodeo, named for the long running (and rarely cancelled) Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show. White, Orange, Black, and Gray is the color scheme, but the real star of the show is lasso H logo, which is prominently featured on both the pinstriped home white jersey as well as the orange mesh road look.
Houston HomeHouston Away***
Austin, home to the world famous University of Texas, is the new home of the AA Austin Grackles. If you've spent any time in Austin, you've got a strong opinion about those shiny black Hitchcockian birds. Flocks of seemingly thousands of grackles can be found around Austin, especially on tree tops or telephone lines, from where they can warn each other about predators and also keep the car wash industry busy. A color similar to (but not identical to, because trademark infringement is real) burnt orange, black, and white is featured on the Grackle jerseys, and the logo is...what else, a grackle swinging a baseball bat.
Austin HomeAustin Away***
The single-A Galveston Jubilee will play in one of the best minor league locations in the WBA -- Galveston Beach. On June 19, 1865, three months after the end of the American Civil War and a full two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Union Army Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and informed the locals that all slaves were free. In a world before Internet and even airplanes, that's how long it took for the news to travel to Texas. The first Jubilee Day (also known as Juneteenth) celebration was organized by the freed men and women of Galveston the following year. Though the team's logo is red, it is a clear tribute to its white counterpart on the the Jubilee Day (Juneteenth) flag--the Texas flag's lone star surrounded by a nova-like starburst signifying the new life of freed men and women. The team's colors will be red, white, and a deep purple-blue, with a script Galveston on the red jersey and a block Jubilee on the white jersey.
Galveston HomeGalveston Away***
Last but not least, we have the rookie league Plano Rancheros. Ranchero is Spanish for rancher, and if there's one thing Texas has a lot of, it's ranches and ranchers. Plano is one of the most populated areas of the Dallas-Forth Worth Metroplex, and home to a significant Indian population. The team's colors (red, white, and blue) and the general theme of its jerseys have been featured on DFW baseball teams of yesteryear, which will hopefully evoke nostalgia and help build a fanbase to watch the new kids play. Who knows, maybe there will even be some high draft picks playing for the Rancheros one day (cue laughter from Mumbai fans). The team's logo is a rancher on horseback, fully equipped with ten gallon hat and state flag...Texans, it seems, want to make sure you know where they're from.
Plano HomePlano Away
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