Sacramento minor league team scraps 'sexist and demeaning' Gold Diggers identity 1 day after reveal, backlash

[ASFN Admin]

The Sacramento River Cats, Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants and current co-tenant of the Athletics, unveiled a new alternate identity on Thursday. It didn't go well.

Sacramento announced it would take the field five times as the "Sacramento Gold Diggers," with a black and gold uniform featuring miner and dollar sign logos in a supposed nod to the city's history with the California gold rush. Of course, the term "gold digger" has come to mean something else these days.

The merchandise was put up for sale immediately, with the team saying it would be wearing its new uniforms for the first time on April 19. River Cats president and COO Chip Maxson even appeared on local news fully decked out in the new look.

The @RiverCats have struck GOLD

You can see the squad take the field as the Sacramento Gold Diggers for the first time on April 19. Merch available NOW

https://t.co/eB66TwASCapic.twitter.com/CA1xngXJAU

— Minor League Promos (@MiLBPromos) April 10, 2025

The River Cats removed all benefit of the doubt when they posted a video — preserved in this reaction video on the Sacramento Bee's website — in which two women, one of them apparently in a relationship with an older man, get distracted by a guy in a Gold Digger get-up, with cartoon dollar signs in their eyes.

There was immediate criticism that the River Cats' new identity held up a sexist trope, so much so that the team immediately backtracked. All social media posts about the Gold Diggers have been removed and the merchandise is no longer available on any online shop.

The team released a statement to SF Gate's Alex Simon calling the whole idea a mistake:

“Our recent marketing campaign for an alternative identity clearly missed the mark. Our intention was to creatively reference the rich history of Sacramento and gold country, but our approach was wrong, and we are sorry for the mistake. We will no longer be using this identity.”

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The Sacramento River Cats will only play as the Sacramento River Cats this season. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Wacky alternate identities, or even primary identities, have become the norm in minor league baseball, and the River Cats were clearly trying to follow suit here. These set-ups allow teams to sell merch to both local fans and a general audience, while still holding out onto their established identity.

Maxson told CBS News Sacramento the team is "all about having fun" and the marketing team "did a great job of brainstorming," but they apparently didn't anticipate what the response would be, particularly from women in local office, as compiled by the Bee:

“As a woman, as a mom, as an elected official — I was shocked,” said West Sacramento City Councilwoman and Mayor Pro-Tem, Verna Sulpizio-Hull. “The video is disrespectful to women, misogynistic and downright offensive. This attempt to market a team that we love, with such a demeaning message about women, does not align with our values in West Sacramento.”

Sacramento City Councilwoman Lisa Kaplan called the video “sexist and demeaning” in a tweet and likened it to a “1950s-era Mad Men” advertisement.

“At this time in our nation, where women’s rights are being reversed, it is more important than ever that women leaders stand up and denounce any time women are seen as token sex pieces or less than equal,” she wrote in a statement.

West Sacramento City Councilwoman Quirina Orozco, in whose district Sutter Health Park sits, and the longest-serving councilwoman in the history of the city said that she found the video offensive and was upset by its use.

“This video does not comport with the positive and well-established reputation of our minor league champions. We expect better. We can do better,” Orozco wrote in a statement Thursday evening.

One day later, the Gold Diggers were no more.

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