Phillies embracing old logo and wordmark

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

I just completed my second round-trip bike ride from New York to Philadelphia.  The weather was glorious! And the riding in Philly was extremely pleasant on account of the politeness -- as compared to New York standards -- of the drivers.  (Believe it!  The town famous for booing Mike Schmidt and even Santa Claus is polite in comparison to New York.)

 

While I had been to the stadium area on my previous visits to Philly, I hadn't gone into the team store before.  Doing so, I was immediately struck by the fact that the team has fully embraced its former wordmark and logo.  The old wordmark is even shown alongside the current one on the outside of the store.

 

 

And inside there are plenty of items with the old logo, such as these pillows.

 

 

 

They have jerseys in the old style.  But I was disappointed to find that these jerseys are missing the front number!
 

 

If I am going to pay $150 or whatever it was, I want a jersey that is correct.

 

Parked near the stadium was a team car that was painted in the style of the old logo and road uniform.

 

 

 

While I was riding around town, I noticed that the cab company called Freedom Taxi has cars painted in the same colour scheme, and even has its phone number displayed in a number font that is very similar to the Phillies' font of that period.

 

 

 

 

Also seen in the wild was a bumper sticker announcing support for the 1974 Phillies!  This must have been some kind of recent promotion, because neither the sticker nor the car it was stuck to date from 1974.

 

 

 

 

So, it seems that the Phillies are doing a pretty good job keeping up awareness of the old logo, wordmark, and colour scheme.  Now, if only they would wear the actual uniforms more often!  Ideally they should move back to that style full-time.  But, failing that, they should do what the Brewers do and wear that style's home uniform on a regular basis, perhaps every Friday and Saturday.

 

[WSU151]

45 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

They have jerseys in the old style.  But I was disappointed to find that these jerseys are missing the front number!
 

 

If I am going to pay $150 or whatever it was, I want a jersey that is correct.

 

Majestic's replica player jerseys don't have front numbers, at all, for any team.  Seems like they should, though.  Hopefully UA fixes that, along with missing sleeve patches.

 

Also, the Phillies wore throwbacks twice this month, which might be why you see more stuff in the shop.  It's a great look, I'm glad they're selling more of it, and also wish the color combo would come back, as I assume the swirly P will stay in the Cooperstown Collection.

[JayMac]

This area loves the throwback look.

[ScubaSteve]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 The town famous for booing Mike Schmidt and even Santa Claus is polite in comparison to New York.

 

 

Thanks for the kind words! It's frustrating because people are literally being nearly beaten to death at sporting events on the West Coast, but every time we have a nationally-televised game the announcers always have a good chuckle at how 40 years ago some drunk fans threw snowballs at santa. Can't wait until the Xmas game this year....

I think what you saw was a combination of the recent throwback series, along with a love for those designs. A lot of people in the area prefer the previous looks of the Phillies and (moreso) the Eagles so that merch tends to still sell very well.

[JayMac]

Ah, the good ole Santa Claus incident. My dad was at that game in 1968 (or 1969?). He said the guy appeared to be drunk so he probably had it coming to him anyway.  

People act like he was the real Santa Claus. It's funny how a stigma hangs around for nearly 50 years.

[leopard88]

1.  It's interesting to me that powder blue seems to be embraced now as if it was a team color as opposed to just the base of the road uniform.  I don't picture any Cardinals fans acting as if powder blue was a team color in 1978.

 

2.  I was kind of hoping you were talking about this one.

 

[ScubaSteve]

5 minutes ago, leopard88 said:

2.  I was kind of hoping you were talking about this one.

 

 

I agree. If the Phils switch anything about their current identity I would just want it to be back to this more classic, wispy text

[BrianLion]

23 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

I just completed my second round-trip bike ride from New York to Philadelphia.  The weather was glorious! And the riding in Philly was extremely pleasant on account of the politeness -- as compared to New York standards -- of the drivers.  (Believe it!  The town famous for booing Mike Schmidt and even Santa Claus is polite in comparison to New York.)

 

 

The people in the City here are generally pretty nice, and not really representative of the mouth-breathers that come in from the suburbs on game days (especially Eagles games). 

 

Although I will say, having met him, Mike Schmidt is kind of a jerk.

[OnWis97]

23 hours ago, leopard88 said:

1.  It's interesting to me that powder blue seems to be embraced now as if it was a team color as opposed to just the base of the road uniform.  I don't picture any Cardinals fans acting as if powder blue was a team color in 1978.

That's a good point.  I think it's probably because that powder blue road look provided a unique and attractive color scheme.  But you are right that the cars and the memorabilia are, technically, homages to the road uniform, not that era.  And I suppose young fans (or maybe fans of any age) who don't happen to be dorks like us probably don't realize this at all.

[leopard88]

59 minutes ago, OnWis97 said:

That's a good point.  I think it's probably because that powder blue road look provided a unique and attractive color scheme.  But you are right that the cars and the memorabilia are, technically, homages to the road uniform, not that era.  And I suppose young fans (or maybe fans of any age) who don't happen to be dorks like us probably don't realize this at all.

 

Who are you calling a dork?

 

Okay . . . Guilty as charged.

[OnWis97]

42 minutes ago, leopard88 said:

 

Who are you calling a dork?

 

Okay . . . Guilty as charged.

It's cool because I was also calling myself (and anyone that would come on here and be able to guess within three years when any team made a uniform overhaul) a dork.  And I meant it.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

4 hours ago, BrianLion said:

Although I will say, having met him, Mike Schmidt is kind of a jerk.

 

Yow!  Sorry to hear that.  Never meet your heroes.  (I was so nervous when I met Paul Stanley at a book signing, for just this reason -- I didn't want my dream shattered.  But I was lucky that he was very personable.)

Despite Schmidt's jerkishness towards you, I hope you don't mind that I picked up this doll as a memento of my trip.

 

[Sport]

I don't get why the Phillies don't wear that color scheme and exist as the only burgundy team in major league baseball and choose, instead, to be just another red-hatted club. 

 

 

[oldschoolvikings]

2 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

Yow!  Sorry to hear that.  Never meet your heroes.  (I was so nervous when I met Paul Stanley at a book signing, for just this reason -- I didn't want my dream shattered.  But I was lucky that he was very personable.)
 

 

 

 

Good thing you didn't meet Gene Simmons.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

1 minute ago, oldschoolvikings said:

2 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

Yow!  Sorry to hear that.  Never meet your heroes.  (I was so nervous when I met Paul Stanley at a book signing, for just this reason -- I didn't want my dream shattered.  But I was lucky that he was very personable.)
 

 

Good thing you didn't meet Gene Simmons.

 

You got that right!

[OnWis97]

3 hours ago, McCarthy said:

I don't get why the Phillies don't wear that color scheme and exist as the only burgundy team in major league baseball and choose, instead, to be just another red-hatted club. 

 

 

I love, love, love the 1980s Phillies look, but I think I get it.

 

I can't deny that the logo screams "1970s" and that I probably like it for nostalgia.   But I do.  Even if they go back to burgundy, this logo may not be the way to go.

 

Most of the Phillies history is in red.  So I'd trust their fanbase more than myself whether 1) going to burgundy is a non-starter and 2) if not, whether adding powder trim is a non-starter. 

 

I personally feel that it would look great to go with that color scheme, but we are talking about a team that's been around since the 1800s that switched colors during the "ditch tradition" 70s.  

 

I also don't feel that the uniforms have aged particularly well.  I'd never have imagined that the sleeve numbers would be around this long.  Other than that, they are not bad, but it's grown kind of stale, but that's just my opinion.  Just because the fans are buying throwbacks does not mean a nearly 150-year-old franchise should adopt them (I mean, I hope they do, but I understand why they don't).

[Sport]

1 minute ago, OnWis97 said:

I love, love, love the 1980s Phillies look, but I think I get it.

 

I can't deny that the logo screams "1970s" and that I probably like it for nostalgia.   But I do.  Even if they go back to burgundy, this logo may not be the way to go.

 

Most of the Phillies history is in red.  So I'd trust their fanbase more than myself whether 1) going to burgundy is a non-starter and 2) if not, whether adding powder trim is a non-starter. 

 

I personally feel that it would look great to go with that color scheme, but we are talking about a team that's been around since the 1800s that switched colors during the "ditch tradition" 70s.  

 

I also don't feel that the uniforms have aged particularly well.  I'd never have imagined that the sleeve numbers would be around this long.  Other than that, they are not bad, but it's grown kind of stale, but that's just my opinion.  Just because the fans are buying throwbacks does not mean a nearly 150-year-old franchise should adopt them (I mean, I hope they do, but I understand why they don't).

That's why I carefully chose my words to read "color scheme" and not "direct throwback to the 70's with nary a change". ?

 

I like that color for them better than red and I think that can happen without the swirly P, or the racing stripes, or the powder blue. I think their 1993 uniforms are stale, the bubble font numbers are silly, and the stripes on the road uniforms are out of date. I'd like to see a whole new approach centered around the dark red.

[OnWis97]

10 minutes ago, McCarthy said:

That's why I carefully chose my words to read "color scheme" and not "direct throwback to the 70's with nary a change". ?

 

I like that color for them better than red and I think that can happen without the swirly P, or the racing stripes, or the powder blue. I think their 1993 uniforms are stale, the bubble font numbers are silly, and the stripes on the road uniforms are out of date, and the sleeve numbers were terrible from day 1. I'd like to see a whole new approach centered around the dark red.

You forgot something.

 

I agree with everything you said here (though I was suggesting that even just a change to burgundy could be a non-starter; be curious to hear from Phillies fans).

 

Though I'd totally advocate for powder blue if there was enough will...

[Shumway]

On 7/24/2017 at 10:55 AM, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

The old wordmark is even shown alongside the current one on the outside of the store.

 

 

 

Not sure how I missed this - I was at last night's Phillies' game/rain delay and walked by the team store a number of times.

 

The 80s look's always been pretty popular around here, from what I've gathered. There's usually near the amount of retro merchandise as current in sporting goods stores.

[Proc]

I think the Phillies current look is nice. The throwback look is nice too, as it really sets them apart from the other "red" teams.  It was the Phillies look when I was in my baseball fan formative years.  However, the current look is fine.  It's a classy look.

 

I would hope the throwback continues to get put into the rotation on occasion though.  Its too good a look to dismiss.

 

With that said, I never liked the powder blue roads.  The grey version was better.  Just my opinion.  I never liked the powder blue road era for any team.