MEET the SPRINGBIRDS
A longtime nickname becomes the official name of Springfield's ballclub.
After 22 seasons as the Springfield Cardinals, Springfield's Double-A club has a new identity: the Ozarks Springbirds. The team is still a St. Louis Cardinals affiliate, and it still plays at Route 66 Stadium. Only the name is new.
The reveal came Tuesday night, October 6, at a free launch party at Route 66 Stadium. Before the program started, kids played ball on the field. Nearby, a tent sale of Springfield Cardinals merchandise was packed with fans picking up the last of the old gear.
For weeks, the new name had been the talk of the town, guessed over coffee and online. Would it be something tied to Route 66? Another nod to cashew chicken? Even at the ballpark Tuesday, people were still asking each other what they thought it would be, and why the team was changing at all. The excitement held until a hype video rolled on the board and team leaders took the stage to end the guessing.
The club announced on August 25 that 2026 would be its last season as the Springfield Cardinals. General manager Dan Reiter said sharing a name with the parent club made it very hard to offer the giveaways, promotions, and merchandise the team wanted for fans.
Springfield is part of a wider shift. According to the team, 22 Minor League clubs shared their parent club's name in 2005. By 2027, that number will be down to eight.
Many fans have been saying the name for years. Missouri Sports Hall of Fame broadcaster Ned Reynolds, who called the club's games on KY3 from its first game in 2005 until 2026, popularized "Springbirds," and fans and media adopted it as the team's unofficial nickname long before it became official.
The team built the full name around a line repeated on stage: "our city, our region, our birds." "Spring" leads with Springfield. "Ozarks" claims a fan base that stretches across the region, including towns like Nixa, Ozark, Republic and Battlefield. And the bird stays red, keeping the tie to Cardinals Nation. "St. Louis has their Cardinals, Memphis has their Redbirds and now the Ozarks have their Springbirds," Reiter said in a statement.
The new logo borrows the top of the compass crown from Springfield's city flag, a nod to the Queen City of the Ozarks, along with a light blue background for the region's waterways. The team described its new bird as younger and more aggressive, like the players fighting their way toward the majors, while keeping the red crest that marks it as a cardinal.
The Cardinals era began with a visit from the big club. On April 2, 2005, the St. Louis Cardinals came to town to christen Hammons Field for pro baseball with an exhibition game against their new Double-A affiliate. Ten days later, Springfield played its first home opener, against the Tulsa Drillers.
The team went on to win Texas League titles in 2012 and 2025, and this year the ballpark itself took a new name, Route 66 Stadium.
The team gave the old name a proper send-off. Over the final 12 home games of 2026, fans signed a commemorative Cardinals Wall that will stay at the ballpark for good. Kids in Cardinals jerseys lined up beside grown-ups to add their names.
Other familiar pieces stay, too. Mascots Louie and Fetch are sticking around, and the Springfield Cashew Chickens and Ozarks Snipe Hunters live on as alternate identities.
After 22 seasons, the Cardinals name meant a lot to Springfield, and saying goodbye took some getting used to. "We wanted to start this new chapter with an identity that was uniquely ours while knowing how important it was to our fanbase to keep the connection with Cardinals Nation," Reiter said in a statement.
On reveal night, former Springfield slugger Matt Adams, the 2011 Texas League Player of the Year and a member of St. Louis's 2013 National League champion team, joined the stage. Afterward, the team store opened with the first Springbirds gear, and fireworks closed the night.
The Ozarks Springbirds play their first game on Friday, April 2, 2027, at Route 66 Stadium.
"St. Louis has their Cardinals, Memphis has their Redbirds and now the Ozarks have their Springbirds."
— Dan Reiter, general manager
"We wanted to start this new chapter with an identity that was uniquely ours while knowing how important it was to our fanbase to keep the connection with Cardinals Nation."
— Dan Reiter