Minor league baseball, an Associated Press story states, is in a "golden age" of branding.

The piece highlights Brandiose, a California design firm that works with half of the 160 clubs in the minors. Two of them are owned by Fast Forward Sports Group — the Ken Babby-led company that operates the Akron RubberDucks and Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.

The two clubs rebranded within two seasons of Babby's respective purchases, and each name change — as is common — was met with resistance.

"They had been the Suns forever. But by the end of the (first) season, people were leaving with armloads of gear," Jim Pfander, president of Fast Forward Sports, told the AP of the change in Jacksonville, which occurred after the 2016 season.

The story got me thinking about a conversation with Babby in November 2016, shortly after the Suns, a Double-A team that competes in the Southern League, became the Jumbo Shrimp.

"You don't make these moves to sell T-shirts and hats, though the common belief is that's why you do these things," Babby said at the time. "The cost to change a brand is a much greater expense than it is to sell hats and T-shirts. It's a long-term initiative. It's something we put a lot of time and hard work into building. It's fun and quirky."

And both moves worked, but it wasn't because the new names were creative and the respective logos were cool.

Sure, that helped. But Babby and his team worked hard on improving the fan experience, and they invested heavily in the ballparks in Akron and Jacksonville.

At Canal Park, the private investment totaled $5.6 million within the first two years of Babby's October 2012 purchase. At the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, the tally was $1.8 million in the first two years.

In 2013, the first season with Babby's group at the helm, the Aeros' average attendance was 4,221. That marked a gain of several hundred from the previous three seasons, which had gate norms that ranged from 3,772 to 3,916.

Since the Aeros became the RubberDucks, a Double-A affiliate of the Indians, in 2014, the year-by-year attendance norms are as follows:

• 2014: 5,157

• 2015: 5,013

• 2016: 5,074

• 2017: 5,202

• 2018: 4,996

The gains weren't quite as rapid in Jacksonville, but the Jumbo Shrimp eventually made a mark.

In 2015 and '16, when the Babby-owned club was still the Suns, the respective gate norms in Jacksonville were 4,128 and 4,197. The averages were down from the previous three seasons, which checked in at 4,309 (2012), 4,407 ('13) and 4,624 ('14).

The last two seasons, however, the gate averages in Jacksonville have resembled the numbers in Akron.

The Jumbo Shrimp's attendance soared by almost 1,000 per game, to 5,171, in 2017. Last season, the norm was also above 5,000 — 5,037.

Yes, the "gritty duck" and the oxymoronic Jumbo Shrimp are fun.

Babby and his crew, though, have been adept at making sure everything else is enjoyable, too — from the pricing to the amenities.

Plus, you can't go wrong with a Fowl Territory.