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St. Paul Saints' Mascot 'Little Red Porkette' A Tribute To Prince

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Little Red Porkette. Baby, you're much too fat.

The St. Paul Saints are gearing up for their home opener Thursday evening at CHS Field in Lowertown, and to get fans excited they released the name of their 2016 mascot.

This year's pig is Little Red Porkette.

It's a way to pay tribute to Minnesota music legend Prince, which is fitting since CHS Field is located just off of Prince Street.

Porkette will be dressed in a purple jacket and ride into the ballpark in his sweet new ride.

The name was selected out of a record 4,000 entries. Three other names that stood out were Raspiggy Beret, Paisley Pork and the Mascot Formerly Known as Swine.

Thursday marks the start of the second season at CHS Field.

Last Season, the Saints won their first four games of the season, all at home. They're hoping to do that and much more this time around.

The Saints were members of the American Association from 1902 to 1960. During that time, they were the minor league farm team for the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees.

The name was revived in 1993 when they became part of the Northern League.

In 2006, they left the Northern League for the American Association, which they are in now.

In 10 seasons in AA, Saints have a record of 523 wins 457 losses.

Since 1993, they've won the league championship four times. None of these wins were during their time in AA since 2006.

Last season was historic for the Saints for a few reasons.

The Saints posted a 74-win campaign, which would have set a new AA record for best regular season had the Sioux City Explorers not won 75 games. This year, the Saints are hoping to grab what was missing last year – a championship.

Additionally, in 2015 the Saints opened up their new ballpark, CHS Field. The team crushed attendance records.

CHS Field now continues to be recognized as one of the best new stadiums in the world.

The total cost of the project was $63 million.

It won the prestigious World Architecture News Award. CHS went up against six other projects including stadiums in Denmark, Montreal, the Netherlands and San Jose California.

In all, the Saints organization and CHS Field have won 13 awards since the beginning of the 2015 season.

In the season opener, the Saints take on the Gary SouthShore Railcats. The game starts at 7:05 p.m.

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