AMARILLO, Texas —
An Amarillo native, Padres left-hander Brad Wieck spent his childhood either on a baseball diamond or on a farm. The 27-year-old Texan, however, had never heard a prairie dog called a “Sod Poodle” before Elmore Sports Group announced the name as the winner of a contest over the “Jerky,” “Boot Scooters,” “Long Haulers” and “Bronc Busters.”
A lot of Amarilloans hadn’t.
There are claims that the term was early settlers’ nickname for the rodents burrowing in the Texas grasslands. That didn’t keep some locals from petitioning the choice, many of them with their hearts set on something inherently Texan.