The Richmond Baseball franchise has eliminated “Hambones” as a potential team name.

Does Richmond have a hankering for Hush Puppies? That was the winner of CNBC’s push Wednesday for a wild-card entry in the Richmond baseball name-theteam contest. Hush Puppies joins Flatheads, Flying Squirrels, Hambones, Rhinos and Rock Hoppers, names previously submitted by the public and chosen as finalists by the Double-A team’s management. Hush Puppies was chosen from more than 9,000 votes during a 12-hour period.

After receiving more than 6,000 entries, including duplications, the front office of Richmond’s Double-A baseball franchise has selected five finalists.

Officials say a name for Richmond’s new baseball team will be picked by Oct. 15. A contest to name the AA franchise drew about 6,000 submissions, including duplicates. Voting on the top five starts Monday.

The Richmond Metropolitan Authority, which owns and operates The Diamond, has started lease negotiations with Richmond’s new professional baseball franchise, RMA General Manager Mike Berry confirmed yesterday. Berry chose not to identify the franchise and said that information would come from Minor League Baseball and the Class AA Eastern League. Joe McEacharn, the Eastern League president who has been supervising the relocation of one that league’s 12 franchises, set Aug. 1 as his deadline for determination of the franchise that will move to Richmond next season.

Columnist Mike Williams says that if Richmond is serious about bringing back baseball, a stadium site on the south bank of the James is worth a hard look.

You can’t tell the players without a scorecard? Heck, in Richmond you can’t tell the stadium proposals without one. An RT-D First appearing in yesterday’s editions reported that a property-owner is “pitching” Manchester as a site for a new ballpark. The area has visual appeal. Fans would be able to look across the James and see Richmond’s skyline, which is seen to its best advantage from the south.

The process started while the Richmond Braves remained in town. Boosters would visit our offices to promote plans for a new baseball stadium. Architectural renderings would depict friendly confines in Shockoe Bottom. Everything looked and sounded so good, but the final questions never seemed to be answered. And the Braves left. Stadium talk persisted. Sites were proposed, and hooted down. A sports-entertainment complex along the Boulevard always seemed a natural. Eyes turned elsewhere. An ambitious project for the Bottom returned and received the most attention. Again, the drawings looked great. Yet despite impressive swings in the on-deck circle, backers never drove home the winning run. They failed to generate confidence. Yesterday they withdrew their development plans. They made the right call. By the way, Mayor Dwight Jones has managed the city’s role in this with the skills associated with Tony LaRussa.