If the Rocket City Trash Pandas may sound like a silly name for a baseball team, that’s because it is. But that’s the point, Trash Pandas President Roger Wexelberg told members of the Athens Rotary Club Friday at the club’s weekly meeting.

“Even our owner originally hated the name,” Wexelberg said. “But that’s a lot of what Minor League Baseball is all about, creating a fun atmosphere for the public. From the time we announced that name to this point, there’s been a lot of excitement.”

The Trash Pandas are the minor league team that will begin play in Madison in 2020. They are a Class AA affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. A $48 million stadium is currently being built, and is the cornerstone of the Town Madison development project, which is taking shape next to Interstate 565.

The team’s owners bought the Mobile Bay Bears with the intention of moving the team to Madison. The final hurdle was the building of a stadium, and with that out of the way, the team has clearance to move. It will play its final season in Mobile in 2019 before moving to Madison in 2020.

Wexelberg said more than 900 names were suggested for the team, and a public vote selected Trash Pandas, another name for a raccoon. The public also picked Rocket City rather than Huntsville or North Alabama because of the team’s location. Huntsville is also known as the Rocket City because of the part it plays in the nation’s space program.

“We didn’t even think about Rocket City at the beginning, but more than 200 people wrote it in,” Wexelberg said. “People in this region consider the area to be Rocket City, and it gives us an opportunity to pay homage to the space industry as well.”

The nickname is just part of the fun experience Wexelberg said the team plans to bring to the area. He also spoke about the stadium and showed renderings of its finished state. The stadium will have a 7,000-person capacity with 4,800 fixed seats.

Wexelberg said the stadium is expected to open in January 2020, and will host high school and college baseball, football and soccer games in addition to concerts and festivals.

The stadium will include a lazy river, hotel, swimming pool, craft brewery, restaurant and a party deck area.

“Minor League Baseball is about fun, whether you’re an ex-baseball player, a family man or just a baseball fan in general,” Wexelberg said. “You can come out to the park, forget about your day at work, and have fun with your family or your buddies at a Trash Pandas game.”

The team logos will be unveiled at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27, at Dublin Park in Madison. Merchandise will be sold and there will be a fireworks show afterward.

“We’re excited about that,” Wexelberg said. “The time is drawing closer, and we are looking forward to baseball being back in North Alabama.”