Babe Ruth, Josh Gibson, Roberto Clemente … and the Erie Moon Mammoths?
The Minor League Baseball alternate identity cooked up by Last Week Tonight with John Oliver attracted attention from all over the sporting world this summer, and now the team has earned prestige, too. The Erie Moon Mammoths are in the Hall of Fame.
In a manner of speaking, anyway.
Oliver himself has donated a signed Moon Mammoths jersey — the No. 91 uni top he donned on the show and during the Moon Mammoths’ debut on July 19 — and the item is now on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown.
Next to the jersey is a placard reading, “On July 19, 2025, the Double-A Erie SeaWolves debuted as the Moon Mammoths. The unusual nickname came about thanks to John Oliver, who chose the club as the winner of a rebranding contest he announced on his HBO show, ‘Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.’ The comedian wore this jersey as he threw the first pitch to honor the club’s alter ego.”
Oliver also donated a signed cap and a Moon Mammoths squishy — the Detroit affiliate’s giveaway item for July 19, at least one of which sold for more than $200 on Ebay the next day.
In another sense, it was an identity over 10,000 years in the making. When announcing the contest, Oliver promised that the rebrand would be done “in the spirit of your team, city and league in which you belong.”
True to his word, Oliver and his team dug into Erie’s local history and discovered a Woolly Mammoth. More specifically, they discovered the discovery of a Woolly Mammoth.
In 1991, an Erie-area citizen named George Moon was scuba diving in nearby Lake Pleasant and discovered the shoulder blade of a wooly mammoth, and 80 percent of that mammoth’s skeleton was recovered. The incident took hold in the imaginations of Oliver and his staff, which unveiled mascot Fuzz E. Mammoth during the on-air announcement. And Oliver’s jersey number — 91 — was inspired by the year of Moon’s mammoth discovery.
During the July 19 debut, Oliver had a hand in just about every aspect of the game experience. In addition to throwing out the first pitch, he worked at a concessions stand, joined the TV broadcast, sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” and walked the stands as a vendor.
The rebrand was a mammoth-sized success for the SeaWolves, who suited up as the Moon Mammoths several more times over the course of the season. When “Last Week Tonight” aired its segment on the game, the show revealed that the club sold four years’ worth of merchandise in three weeks’ time.
So, will you be able to catch the Moon Mammoths in action in 2026? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For now, you can catch them in Cooperstown.
