Loudoun has unleashed the Hounds. According to the Loudoun Times, the Loudoun Hounds is the official name of the professional baseball franchise, which will begin play in 2012.
“The Hounds will quickly become the heart and soul of the region,” said Bob Farren, President and CEO of VIP Baseball, the partnership bringing an Atlantic League baseball team to Loudoun, at a press conference on Tuesday, according to the Times.
Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew was at the announcement, where the Hounds’ logo and uniforms were also on display. The new team name is “fun and energetic, and it connects the team to the area in a very meaningful way,” Killbrew said.
The team name, which was one of three finalists from hundreds of public submissions, resonates Loudoun County’s equestrian history. The name beat out Blue Herons and Silverstars in the Name Your Team contest.
The idea behind the name came from Andrew Thede, a 9-year-old Sterling resident and Lower Loudoun Little Leaguer. For winning the contest, he gets two season ticket vouchers, and will present the Hounds’ lineup card before a Loudoun Hounds home game.
The dogs have a home, too. The “Hound Pound” is a 5,500-seat park being built at Kincora Village in Dulles.
The new team “is the next step in this amazing nine-year journey to bring professional baseball to Loudoun County and Northern Virginia,” Farren told the Times.
Sports
The Hounds, along with a team in Sugarland, Texas, are two new teams that will be added to the Atlantic League in 2012.
