Sacramento River Cats dig themselves into hole with Gold Diggers name, video that insults women
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A minor league affiliate of the San Francisco Giants scrapped plans to use “Gold Diggers” as an alternative team name after women were offended by a video marketing the name.
The Sacramento River Cats, who play in the triple-A Pacific Coast League and share Sutter Health Park with MLB’s Athletics, announced Thursday they would play as the Sacramento Gold Diggers for five games this season, starting with an April 19 home game against the Salt Lake City Bees.
The Gold Diggers logo featured a bearded man, who appeared to be a miner, carrying a pickax over his shoulder and wearing a headlamp with a baseball where the light should be. A promotional video, which has since been removed , tried to be funny with the idea but struck out.
The video reportedly depicted two women with dollar signs in place of their eyes staring at a player who had just emerged from a gold mine. One of the women is wearing a low-cut top with a large ring on her finger while accompanied by a much-older man.
The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, a Dodgers minor league team, chose “Chaquetas” as an alternate name, then learned of the word’s slang meaning.
The River Cats apologized Friday afternoon in a statement emailed to The Times.
“Our recent marketing campaign for an alternative identity clearly missed the mark,” the team wrote. “Our intention was to creatively reference the rich history of Sacramento and gold country, but our approach was wrong, and we are sorry for the mistake. We will no longer be using this identity.”
Merchandise featuring the Gold Diggers name and logo — including women’s and men’s T-shirts that had the name in large letters with “baseball” in much smaller letters underneath and a large, gold dollar sign below that — was removed from the team’s online store.
According to the Sacramento Bee, elected officials from Sacramento and West Sacramento attempted to get the River Cats to scrub the video online.
“I was appalled by the sexist and offensive marketing ad chosen by a well-respected and beloved team,” West Sacramento City Councilmember Quirina Orozco said in a statement emailed to The Times. “I speak for many who have fought hard to uplift women’s voices, remove barriers to leadership, and pave pathways for women and girls everywhere when I say that messages like these should be denounced and have no place in our community.
“I’m pleased that the River Cats have pulled their campaign and hope to work with them on future remediation efforts that benefit women and girls throughout our region.”
West Sacramento officials say they had no role in the A’s messy breakup with Oakland. But they take pride in being the A’s rebound city, even for three seasons.
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