Packid's MLB Concept Series (ATHLETICS posted!)

[Packid]

I thought I'd start a thread both so I can keep all of my MLB uniform ideas in one place and so I don't end up flooding the concepts forum. This topic will be updated sporadically, although I eventually intend to get to all 30 teams. As of right now I've got 11 complete. These concepts will not feature anything outlandish or unusual - these are supposed to be uniforms I could realistically imagine teams using. Most will be pretty traditional as far as design elements go.

MIAMI MARLINS

I have posted these Marlins concepts before in a separate thread, but I'll repost them here for the sake of completeness. You can read more about this set here: http://boards.sportslogos.net/topic/103004-miami-marlins-uniform-concepts/. The only change is that I'm now using the BP uniform template that was used in this year's ASG.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS

This website has really made me do a 180 on the curly W. I used to love it, but now I realize how terrible and imbalanced it looks on the uniform. I went back to the original Nationals identity and made some tweaks. The most noticeable one is the lack of a gold bevel. I don't necessarily dislike the idea of a bevel, but I would have preferred something a little more subtle. The second big change is the new cap logo. Originally, the Nationals were supposed to use a Copperplate-ish W with a gold bevel on their caps. Personally, I think that was definitely the way to go; however, the team received pressure from the league to switch to the throwback curly W and, ultimately, they decided to make the change. I attempted to recreate the original W for use in my concepts, which can be seen below. The piping is the same style currently used by the Angels.

Thank you very much for looking! Comments and critique are much appreciated.

[davidmiller5]

I don't really like when teams wear all red at home and all away on the road. I suggest you pick one color to emphasize or improve the color balance on the jerseys.

[mamiller99]

Instead of using the W logo, I think you should use the interlocking DC logo on the caps. I do think that shade of navy with the grey kinda muddles the look, personally I'd go with a lighter grey or navy. Maybe the home alt could be based of the DC flag, it'd give unique alt that most other teams would have.

Now for my least favorite team in all of professional sports, the Marlins. I think a little bit of orange would be the cherry on top with this set. To contrast against the Mets regular shade of orange, I'd use either an orange-yellow or burnt orange. I just think with Miami being a more modern team, it needs to look a little more "Miami-ish"

Also, where did you get that template?

[TVIXX]

How about using the w from the Washington script for the cap

[jrcollis714]

Nice job, I really like what you did to both teams so far.

[Packid]

Thanks to everyone who replied!

davidmiller5: I understand that. In this particular set, I think having the red home uniform and blue road uniform woks really well. The blue lends itself well to the darker road jersey, IMO. I believe the use of the same W logo, patch, and wordmark style is enough to make it one cohesive set. However, below is what the uniform would look like with red as the primary color. If I were to use this in the final version of this concept, I would probably get rid of the road alt uniform altogether - it would be odd to have a blue jersey in a set that completely emphasizes red. The current home alt would be be switched to both home and road.

mamiller99: I've never really liked the DC stuff. After all, the team name is the "Washington Nationals", not the "Washington D.C. Nationals". The W should really be emphasized, IMO. I love the idea of a D.C. flag-inspired alternate, but there are already some really well-made concepts like that on this board.

The original Nationals road uniform used a warm, unique shade of gray. The gray in my concept is the one currently used on their road set. Here is the same uniform using that original shade:

I think this might be better because blue is a cool color and the warm gray provides a nice contrast.

As for the Marlins, orange would make them look too similar to the Dolphins. The football team has a long history of using light blue and orange. Why would someone buy a Marlins t-shirt when they can buy a Dolphins t-shirt in the same colors? With a franchise that has such a well-established identity in the same town, the Marlins really need their own distinct look. Teal, black, and white provides that.

This template is the one used in the MLB Style Guide. The front and back are available in this post: http://boards.sportslogos.net/topic/28651-templates/?p=883388. It's listed as " Uniform Template Converted by rmered". Sorry, I don't think I can give out the sides. Honestly it's kind of a pain to use.

TVIXX: That font works well in a wordmark, but the letters are too tall and thin to work well on a cap. That "W" just isn't distinctive enough, IMO.

jrcollis714: Thanks!

For those who like the blue emphasis for the Nationals road uniform: Should the hat be a single color?

[RCMacc]

I really like the light blue grey on the away uniform as it hints at the powder blue in their original Expos away uniforms without making it outrageous and makes them more unique. The all blue hat works with it, the two colors aren't necessary on it.

[Lumbergh]

If I woke up one day and the Marlins changed to these, I'd probably feel like a kid on Christmas I think it would be a good idea to add orange though and see how it works. I think a teal, black, orange color scheme would be a home run forsure. There is no other franchise in sports (other than the Clipparts of course) whose current look just irritates me every time I see it than the Marlins.

[Packid]

Thanks for the comments, RCMacc and miltonANDlumbergh. I think I will go with the all-blue hat.

I've gotten so many requests to add orange to the Marlins that I guess I have to try it, LOL. I'm not sure of the best way to do it, though. Simply replacing the black with orange doesn't look good. I could go with a double-outline (black and then orange). Perhaps an orange dropshadow? Maybe I could drop the black completely and go with Dolphin-ish white and orange outlines.

[Packid]

Still not sure what I want to try with the Marlins. I'm leaning towards the all-blue cap with the warm gray jersey for the Nationals' road uniform, but I haven't decided.

Anyways, it's been a long time since I posted a concept, so here's something new.

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS

Basically I tried to clean up the current set. None of the jerseys have the name on the back and they all have the same style of piping. The orange-billed cap now only appears in practice. I brought the '80s home uniform back as a throwback alt (like what the Pirates and Brewers currently do), but I'm not completely sure if I want to include it in the set. To me, the Giants primary color is black, so I got rid of the orange alternate and instead used black as a base. The road alternate is gone.

[RCMacc]

The Giants uniforms are really nice. My only complaint is about the home alternate, it is far too similar to the home jersey. I'd recommend adding an orange brim to the hat to help differentiate the two. Otherwise great work.

[Silence of the Rams]

No Orange Friday

[Packid]

@RCMacc: Since the home alt's a throwback, I'd prefer to keep it as-is or just ditch it altogether. I think I'll do the latter; you're right, it's just too similar to the regular home jersey. I thought it might provide a nice contrast to the rest of the set, but there's not enough to differentiate it.

@Silence of the Rams: Correct, no Orange Friday in this set. The Giants (in my eyes) have black as their primary color, so that was my choice for the alt.

New stuff!

SAN DIEGO PADRES

Full rebrand in brown and gold. I kept the current "SD" logo and brought back the 1996-2011 Swingin' Friar, as I believe both fit well in this set. For the type, I attempted to replicate the font of the Daytona Tortugas; it reminds me of the curves in the Gaslamp Quarter logo as well as the design of the streetlights found in that area of San Diego. I like the current double-piping pattern, so I kept that. I also brought back the sand road uniforms, as I think the warmer base matches well with the warm logo colors. The motif of larger letters on the edges of the logos comes from their old road uni.

[mamiller99]

I missed the Giants reveal, oh no. Either way, the Giants look good. There really isn't anything too extraordinary about the set, other than that it's clean and looks good. For the Padres, I usually like their current getup (mainly their script), however I find this set to be too retro. I think a primarily sand with navy as the secondary would look pretty great, however this is your series so you do whatever you want. The new scripts look pretty good

EDIT: And just some orange would make the Marlins look great, like and orange bill on one of the hats, or as the number outlines

[Carolingian Steamroller]

I love that Padres script but I think it would be improved if all the letters were the same size or if only the first letter was capitalized. The bookend look usually doesn't pay off. Also an emphatic no to brown shoes. You want to avoid the team looking like they're in loafers.

[WissX]

DO the Brewers?

[KittSmith_95]

Padres look good, but I'd prefer to see orange used honestly.

[Packid]

@mamiller99: Yeah, I think the Giants are close to a really solid set as-is and I didn't want to make change for the sake of change, so this is the result: several tweaks and a new alternate uniform. Glad you like the Padres' scripts. I'd prefer to stay away from the navy/sand combo - just too boring for me.

@Carolingian Steamroller: Obviously this just boils down to pure subjective opinion. IMO, the bookend look provides a good sense of balance. It doesn't work in every situation, but it does for the Padres. As far as the cleats go, they wouldn't be pure brown in real life. I'm sure players would get them customized with plenty of gold - the template is just supposed to indicate that the base color should be brown. Thanks for the comment about the typeface.

@WissX: Eventually I'll get to the Brewers.

@KittSmith_95: I think orange works fine for the Padres in a vacuum. With the Giants in the same division, though, they need a different color to help differentiate them, and the gold/yellow works well for that.

[Packid]

It's been over a month since I last posted a concept, so today I'm posting an AL team.

MINNESOTA TWINS

The weird gold stuff is simply unnecessary. As a result, I went back to the old style of home uniform. I thought pinstriped road unis looked good on the Twins, but I decided to create a new matching wordmark instead of using the vertically-arched "MINNESOTA." The alternate jersey is pretty much the same as the home alt used by the team from 2010-2014. The big change I made was using the "M" hat logo instead of the "TC." It matches the wordmarks so much better and appears clearer on the cap due to the white outline.

[HoopsCoach55]

Minnesota looks great, it's just weird to not see the TC logo anywhere. Maybe have it at least as a sleeve or BP logo?