Name-a-Day Calendar, March 31: Long Beach State Beach / Dirtbags

Page 145 of 365

Chosen in: 2017 (took effect in 2018) / 1989

Chosen by: School administration / the 1989 baseball team

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What is now California State University, Long Beach (more commonly known as Long Beach State University), was established in 1949 and began playing intercollegiate sports the next year. Because the school was located in California and was born in ‘49, the nickname “49ers” was too obvious not to use, so that’s what the teams were immediately called.

In 1989, the baseball team gained another, more informal nickname that has stuck around to baffle fans over three decades later. The team didn’t have an official home field and they only had one practice field, so whenever the team needed to split for drills and workouts, infield coach Dave Malpass would take the infielders to a nearby field that didn’t have any grass. Once they’d finished their session, they’d always be covered in dirt as they arrived back at the practice field, so the rest of the team started calling them “dirtbags” as a joke. Then the team came out of nowhere to start the season 18-0 and advance to the College World Series for the first time in Long Beach State history. And during that magical run, the “Dirtbags” moniker became a badge of honor, to the point that it wound up sticking around as an alternate nickname for the baseball team and remains to this day.

Also around this time, Long Beach State gained another nickname: “The Beach”. People would refer to the whole school, athletics included, using that identifier, and “Go Beach” became a common chant at sporting events. After a while, this and a few other factors caused a moderate identity crisis at the school. Were they the 49ers or the Beach? And what about the Dirtbags? Were they California State University, Long Beach, or simply Long Beach State University? It was a disaster, and by the 2010s, more than a few people had cited Long Beach State’s branding as a perfect example of what not to do to build an identity.

The university put an end to this in 2017. In February of that year, they sent out a schoolwide survey asking what students, alumni, and community members thought the brand should be, and by August, they had their answer: they were The Beach. So they moved to make “The Beach” their true athletics nickname and in 2018 it became official. Since then, the teams have been formally called the incredibly redundant-sounding Long Beach State Beach, with the sole exception of the baseball team, which retained the “Dirtbags” nickname on an informal basis.

In the 49er days, Long Beach State’s mascot was a miner named Prospector Pete, but he was retired with the 49ers branding amid heavy criticism that the California Gold Rush coincided with acts of genocide against local Native Americans. These days, the mascot is a shark.

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