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The Albuquerque Isotopes are a Minor League Baseball team based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The team, which plays in the Pacific Coast League, is the Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. The team was affiliated with the Florida Marlins from 2003–2008 and the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2009–2014. Albuquerque was represented in the PCL as a Dodgers' affiliate by the Albuquerque Dukes, who won several PCL championships in the 1970s and 1980s before relocating to Portland, Oregon, as the Portland Beavers in 2001. The Isotopes began play in 2003 when the Calgary Cannons relocated to New Mexico. In 2012, ''Forbes'' ranked the Isotopes as the sixth most valuable franchise in Minor League Baseball.〔("How Billionaires Like Warren Buffett Profit From Minor League Baseball Ownership " ) Forbes. Retrieved on June 6, 2012.〕 The Isotopes' mascot is Orbit, a yellow, orange, and red alien. ==Name origins== The team's name recalls the fictional Springfield Isotopes from the long running TV series ''The Simpsons''. In the episode "Hungry, Hungry Homer", which first aired on March 4, 2001, main character Homer Simpson attempts to thwart the team's plan to move to Albuquerque by going on a hunger strike. Subsequently, when the ''Albuquerque Tribune'' asked its online readers to help choose a new name for the Cannons, "Isotopes" received 67 percent of the 120,000 votes cast. Though team president Ken Young admitted that the name came from the series, he said at the name's unveiling, "We picked it because over the past year it has become a popular name, and it does have something to do with Albuquerque." The "Isotopes" name was deemed appropriate, since New Mexico has a number of well-known scientific and military facilities dealing with nuclear technology, such as Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP), as well as the site of the Trinity test. In the three months after the team's name was announced in September 2002, before the team ever took the field, the team sold more merchandise than the Albuquerque Dukes sold in any single season, and led minor league baseball in merchandising revenue in 2003. The team said they were able to tell when episodes featuring the Springfield Isotopes would air in different markets based on clusters of orders from different viewing areas.〔 The team has no working agreements with the Fox Broadcasting Company or ''The Simpsons''. However, statues of Homer, Bart, Lisa, and Marge Simpson can be seen at Isotopes Park.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url=http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/team1/page.jsp?ymd=20100304&content_id=8674194&vkey=team1_t342&fext=.jsp&sid=t342 )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Albuquerque Isotopes」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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