(January 13, 2005) -- The Long Beach "Armada" is the name of LB's newest baseball team, one of eight charter teams that will play in the new Golden Baseball League starting in May 2005.

The LB team selected its name from among 1,000+ entries submitted in a "Name the Team" contest, presented by Vons; team officials and Golden Baseball League execs selected the final name and logo. The winning name was submitted by LB resident Gina Coffey.

"We are confident that this is a name and logo the fans will embrace," said General Manager Mike Malinas. "The theme associated with the name, combined with an incredible logo gives our team a strong identity here in Long Beach," he added.

During Thursday's name-unveiling ceremony (held at St. Mary Medical Center), a banner was shown featuring the new Armada logo: a crusader in conquistador-like armor at the helm of a ship with Armada spelled out below in "nautical" style lettering. The team colors are Navy, Maroon, Tan and Blue.

The team's 2005 "Founding Partners" are VONS, the Long Beach Press Telegram and St. Mary Medical Center.

The Long Beach Armada has a web site at www.goldenbaseball.com/longbeach.

A written release said in part: