The independent Gastonia Baseball Club, a North Carolina-based team in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, played the 2024 season in a series of seven potential identities, giving fans the chance to see them in action before voting for a permanent brand. That vote is in the books, and the fans have spoken: The Gastonia Ghost Peppers will take the field in 2025.
The name Ghost Peppers, chosen for its alliterative qualities and because that variety of the vegetable was once the world’s spiciest, beat out six other contenders on the ballot: Garden Gnomes, Gastronauts, Bolognia, Zombees, Galactic Dinos, and Yarniaks.
“It really did just come down to fan vote,” said Nick Matarese of The Barn Creative, the firm responsible for the brand. “Internally, we had already started prepping a couple of updated, cleaned-up adjustments for other names when we got word that Ghost Peppers was running away with it.”
This method of choosing a team identity presented design challenges, as well as an opportunity when it was all said and done.
“Obviously with seven—nine, actually, two never saw the light of day—team brands in a season, you don’t get to spend as much time on each as you would want,” Matarese said. “We loved the fact that we got to go back and clean up everything.”
One particular mark in the suite of logos warranted some extra attention.
“The flaming bat detail, being able to see the pepper through the fire, obviously took a little time to get right visually,” Matarese said, “so we were happy we got another crack at it as a whole.”
The Ghost Peppers will begin play when the 10-team Atlantic League takes to the field in April 2025.