Search for this team on the California State University at Long Beach (or Long Beach State for short) website and you’ll be hard-pressed to find any mention of a dirtbag. But the baseball crew’s official website shows no such shame. While their proper name is the 49ers, they have gone by the Dirtbags since the late 1980s. The home field-less team would practice at a nearby all-dirt field and return all covered in, you guessed it, dirt. If nothing else, the name yields some great headlines and quotes:
“Hot Dirtbags complete a series sweep”
“Dirtbags Get Swept Up By UCSB”
“Dirtbags keep rolling”
And some quotes from former Dirtbags:
“It’s a badge of honor. It means you play hard all the time. I’ve always considered myself to be a Dirtbag.” — Steve Trachsel, MLB free agent
Being a Dirtbag is great, it’s a great group of guys.” — Jeremy Reed, Mets outfielder