Picking a New Name for Cincinnati’s Baseball Stadium

A few weeks ago, Nathan Moore, a pitcher for the Cincinnati Bearcats, brought to light an important issue that for too long has been ignored.

The Bearcats’ current baseball stadium is named for Marge Schott and that is a problem due to many of her heinous stances and actions in relation to race. Unquestionably, the university should change the name of the stadium and there are a number of more than worthy candidates to carry the namesake. Here are just a few of those names, which I’ve divided into categories.

Baseball

Sandy Koufax

To some, Sandy Koufax is the greatest pitcher to ever step on a mound. Most people know about Koufax’s MLB career, but fewer know that the left-hander pitched at the University of Cincinnati for a time. It wasn’t the longest tenure of any Bearcat, but across a single campaign, he had a 2.81 ERA. There have been other former Bearcats who have gone on to MLB glory, but none has reached as high as Koufax.

Josh Harrison

Harrison is a long-time MLB veteran who got his start as a Bearcat. He was a second-team All-American in 2008 when he helped lead one of the best UC teams of all time, let alone the last 20 years.

Harrison has since gone on to play in parts of nine MLB seasons and make a pair of All-Star teams. He may be a pretty recent graduate, especially when it comes to being in consideration for a stadium name, but his overall standing as a UC legend should outweigh any recency bias.

Kevin Youkilis

Thanks to Moneyball, many people knew about the “Greek God of Walks” and his roots at the University of Cincinnati before he ever made it to the MLB diamond. Youkilis wasn’t just a star on the page, however, as he went from second-team All-American at UC to three-time All-Star and two-time World Series winner with the Boston Red Sox. He accumulated 32.4 wins above replacement during his 10-year career, according to Baseball Reference, and he has also come out in full support of the renaming of UC’s stadium. Youkilis also is one of three people to have their number retired for UC baseball.

Academia

Henry T. Brown

Everyone knows who broke the color barrier in baseball, but few know who broke it in chemical engineering. That would be Brown. In 1955 he graduated with a degree in the subject from UC . He has had a long and distinguished career in the field, helping to elevate the next generation through his work with the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Jennie Porter

What Brown did for chemical engineering at UC, Porter did for philosophy. Born in 1876, Porter was an undergrad at UC beginning in her 40s, but that didn’t stop her from wrapping up her time at the school with a doctorate in philosophy, something no other black woman had done to that point. Of course, she did plenty before attending UC as the principal of Harriet Beecher Stowe School.

Activism

Marian Spencer

Spencer may already have a building named for her on UC’s campus, but considering her role and legacy in advocating for civil rights, I say name as many things after her as possible.

Michael Robinson

Robinson’s efforts during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s came long after he attended UC, but the rabbi was a collaborator of Martin Luther King Jr. and carried the torch for underprivileged people throughout his life.

Regional

Clifton Stadium

Taking inspiration from the thoroughfare Clifton Ave. and Clifton Heights neighborhood, this would be a fantastic name for UC’s baseball stadium. The university could also go with Clifton Park, although it would then share its name with a town in Upstate New York.

Bearcat Stadium

It’s simple. That’s why it works.

These are just a few of the names I could come up with, but I’m far from an expert. What are some names you’d like to see considered? Sound off in the comments.