The Casper Rockies have a new name and new look.

The team announced that they will now be known as the Casper Ghosts, and unveiled four new logos for the team at a press conference Tuesday at the Wonder Bar.

"The future in professional baseball in Casper is the Casper Ghosts," said Matt Warneke, the Ghosts' general manager.

Naming Casper's minor-league baseball team the Ghosts is not a new idea. Team owner and CEO Kevin Haughian initially wanted to name the team the Ghosts when he moved them here from Butte, Mont., following the 2000 season.

Haughian said there was a deal in place for the team to be named the Ghosts, but that former Colorado Rockies CEO Jerry McMorris wanted all Rockies' affiliates to be called the Rockies and Haughian complied.

The Ghosts remain an affiliate of the big-league Rockies, but the team wanted the name change to create a unique identity for the team. Haughian said economics also played a role in the change.

"The Casper Rockies brand never really took off, unfortunately. If folks wanted to buy merchandise they were going to buy Colorado merchandise, not Casper," Haughian said. "The appeal was limited to our die-hard fans in town. We think with the new name, the new look, the new logo, that it's not only going to be popular here in Casper, but nationally and internationally."

Haughian said most minor-league teams try to create an identity different from the major-league club. He said that of the 159 teams in the minors, 124 have their own name. Haughian said the majority of the teams that don't have a unique name are owned by the parent team.

Haughian said he is trying to duplicate the success of the Lake Elsinore (Calif.) Storm, a team he used to work for, with the name change. He said the Storm have been the No. 1 merchandise seller in Minor League Baseball nine of the past 10 years.

Two of the Ghosts' new logos will look familiar to even the most casual baseball fan.

Casper the Friendly Ghost is incorporated into two of the logos. The Ghosts teamed up with Classic Media, the image and name rights owner of the cartoon, to created a family- and child-friendly separate souvenir line. In one of the logos the cartoon ghost has a cowboy hat and is holding two pistols high in the air. In the other, Casper is riding a horse with one hand on the saddle and the other waving his hat in the air.

Players will not wear gear featuring the cartoon.

"I think that professional adult baseball players would be a little hesitant to have a cartoon character," Haughian said. "Ball players always like something a little more fierce, a little more intimidating."

With that in mind, the Ghosts' other two logos do not feature the cartoon. One simply says "Ghosts" in rust orange in a Western font, while the other says "Casper Ghosts" and has a "mystical ghost-like" logo that has baseball stitches as the eyebrow, Warneke said.

Brian Voss, a fan and part-time employee for the club in the summer, said the team's new look is unique and that he preferred the baseball logo to those with the Casper the Friendly Ghost.

"I like the mean baseball," Voss said. "I think that is what is going to sell."

The Ghosts' hats will be glow in the dark and are the first of their kind, according to the team.

"Being the Ghosts, it made too much sense not to do it," Haughian said. "We are the only team ever of any sport (to have glow-in-the-dark hats)."

Warneke said merchandise will be available at 8:30 a.m. today and hats will be available on Dec. 1.

Plan B Branding designed the logos. The company came to Casper to meet with focus groups of sponsors and fans and toured the area in order to come up with the logos that fit team and city.

Team officials said the new identity is part of a 14-month creative overhaul of the franchise. Haughian said that according to rules, a team must keep a name, look or logo for three years. In order to change any of those, teams have to file paperwork with the Commissioner's office and Minor League Baseball of the intended change.

The Ghosts will also makes changes to Mike Lansing Field.

"One of our goals with this whole thing is not only to be named the Casper Ghosts, but add a whole new atmosphere to our ball park.," Warneke said. "What we want to do is create an atmosphere that gets talked about all around baseball, not just throughout this community."

Some of the changes include making the park have a more Western feel. Warneke said that the restrooms will be called outhouses, the souvenir shop will be called the trading post, fans will be welcomed to that night's shootout, and more Western music will be played. Haughian said he'd like to hear fans 'boo' like ghosts when the team is introduced or makes good plays.

"I think we can have so much fun with this," Haughian said. "I think we are only going to be limited with our imagination, and the name itself will be a good springboard to a lot of crazy things."

The Rockies were 22-53 last season in the Pioneer League.