Did You Know the L.A. Dodgers Own the Trademark on ‘Los Doyers’?

If you’re a Los Angeles Dodgers fan, there’s a chance that you lovingly refer to the team as “Los Doyers.”

Latino Dodgers fans adopted the team’s nickname — a clear play on Spanglish pronunciation — many years ago. It since has appeared on makeshift jerseys, in morning cafecito conversations, and around Dodger Stadium during games. Still, even if your abuelita regularly says “Los Doyers,” there might be one part of the story you don’t know.

In fact, the L.A. Dodgers own the trademark for “Los Doyers” since 2010. And while it may seem like a fun move to embrace Latinidad, it actually disappointed some of their Latino fanbase.

As reported by NBC, the Los Angeles Dodgers trademarked the term “Los Doyers” in 2010. This affected the businesses of many Latinos who sold products emblazoned with the nickname. In fact, the team reportedly sent cease and desist letters to sellers to take their “Doyers” products off the shelves.

Seller Manny Morales told the outlet “It’s not right at all. It’s not their saying, it belongs to the Latino people, that’s the way we say it, that’s our thing.”

Fast-forward to today, and the team even sells officially licensed “Los Doyers”-printed merchandise on their website.

Even through controversy, Latino fans continue to adopt the nickname as their own piece of Dodgers history.

Who came up with the nickname “Los Doyers”?

As described by Pasadena Star-News, the “Los Doyers” nickname is a big piece of Latino culture in Los Angeles, particularly within the Mexican-American community. According to the outlet, you can trace the term back to the 1970s, around two decades after the team relocated to L.A. from Brooklyn, New York.

“Los Doyers” is a way to pronounce “The Dodgers” in Spanish and has since become an integral part of the team’s Latino fandom. Since reportedly 50% of fans who attend games at Dodger Stadium are Latino, the term continues to grow.

As Dodgers Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Lon Rosen, once said: “The Dodgers have been a part of Latino culture in L.A. for decades. Both go hand-in-hand.”

He also said the term “Doyers” is “a part of the club’s identity.”

As reported by Los Angeles Magazine, sports commentator Petros Papadakis helped make “Doyers” a household term. Still, the radio star explained to the outlet that the credit should go to Dominican former Dodgers coach Manny Mota.

“Dodger coach Manny Mota was a guest on the show, and he says it like ‘Doyers,'” Papadakis recalled. “We clipped it and started using it on the show.”

“Now, ten years later, they’re selling T-shirts with DOYERS on them,” he added.

And as it turns out, “Los Doyers” is just as nostalgic for many Latino fans as watching Jaime Jarrín. Yes, the Ecuadorian-American sportscaster for the L.A. Dodgers is the voice so many grew up with, and both parts of the fandom go hand-in-hand.

“Every time I listen to Jaime Jarrín I’m transported to being a kid,” one X user wrote. “We cheered on for los Doyers.”

And when the team released official “Los Dodgers” jerseys back in 2021, the response was largely: “Should’ve been Los Doyers.”

In fact, according to The Wrap, many fans met the 2021 “Los Dodgers” unveiling with disappointment. Some wrote “Can’t believe they missed the opportunity to do ‘Los Doyers.'”

The “complicated relationship” between Latinos and L.A. Dodgers fandom

Still, the story of “Los Doyers” can’t be told without mentioning the history of the Battle of Chávez Ravine.

In the 1950s, the City of Los Angeles forcibly removed 300 families from their homes in Chávez Ravine. The community, largely made up of Mexican-Americans, was bulldozed to make public housing. However, officials later changed course — and sold the land to then-Brooklyn Dodgers owner, Walter O’Malley, to build Dodgers Stadium in L.A.

As harrowingly described by the Zinn Education Project, the families of Chávez Ravine were initially promised the first choice in the planned housing project. They had to give up the homes they knew and loved — but at first, were at least offered apartments in the new building.

The people of Chávez Ravine were promised residence in the planned 10,000 public housing units. Even then, many received measly sums — or nothing at all — for giving up their homes.

Matters soon got worse. Politicians began coining the public housing project as “socialist,” and L.A. mayor Norris Poulson vowed to stop it. Officials later used Chávez Ravine’s land to build Dodger Stadium, and countless people were displaced.

As per the National Museum of American History, though, both Ecuadorian-American commentator Jaime Jarrín and Mexican baseball star Fernando Valenzuela changed Latino sentiment towards the team. They both became icons, bringing in more Latinos as Dodgers fans than ever before.

Still, as Smithsonian Magazine once put it, Latinos’ relationship to the L.A. Dodgers’ history will always be “complicated.”