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Are the Cleveland Indians a red team or a blue team?


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12 hours ago, -Akronite- said:

Cursive at home, block on the road as well currently. I like that about our identity personally.

 

Me, too.  I liked when the Brewers did it in reverse in the 80s. 

 

The home and road don’t have to be identical designs on white and gray.  Sometimes a good design has different elements that compliment each other when viewed as a whole. 

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1 hour ago, Gothamite said:

 

Me, too.  I liked when the Brewers did it in reverse in the 80s. 

 

The home and road don’t have to be identical designs on white and gray.  Sometimes a good design has different elements that compliment each other when viewed as a whole. 

 

Historically, that works better when the road is the more plain of the two designs.  Generally (not always) with just the city name spelled out in some plain-ish font.  

 

There are exceptions to this - the OG Marlins had mismatched home and roads, and the roads weren't really that plain, but I thought it worked really well for them.

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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13 hours ago, Dolphins Dynasty said:

I ask myself the same question about the Browns. Are they primarily brown or orange? Brown is used as the base color for their jerseys (mainly the home ones now), and for merchandise. Orange is used a lot for them on TV networks via scorebugs or stat boxes. They might as well be 50/50, but I always associate them with brown-first.

 

The Indians to me, are primarily navy. Red is used a lot on the home uniforms, but navy is the dominant color with their away uniforms, merchandise, and TV networks.

 

Browns have always been an Orange team in my head. 

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So, let's dive into this a bit with some assistance from Dressed to the Nines. This is long, so I'm going to wrap it in spoiler tags so I don't take up your entire screen if you don't want it. ;)

 

 

 


Red had appeared on Indians jerseys a couple times early in the club's history, but it truly came into the palette in 1933 -- before then, the Tribe were a blue and white team.

al_1933_cleveland.gif

 

From that point forward, red's been included in just about every Tribe home jersey, and over time, red took a stronger role in the identity. The '48 World Series-winning jerseys were still predominantly navy, but there was a good bit of red involved with the bill of the cap, lettering/numbering, piping and sock stripes all incorporating red. This is maybe a 60/40 blue split.

al_1948_cleveland.gif

 

The Tribe actually pivoted back to more navy over the next decade or so -- the 1954 pennant-winning team lost the red bills and went for plain navy socks, for instance, creating a look where blue had the clear dominance in a traditional primary/secondary arrangement.

al_1954_cleveland.gif

 

1963 was the first year where you could make a case that the Indians were a "red" team, wearing the below jerseys with red sleeves.

al_1963_cleveland.gif

 

And by 1965, the case didn't need to be made, with the Indians pivoting to being a very predominantly red squad.

al_1965_cleveland.gif

 

1970 returned the Indians to a predominantly navy set, though, launching a decade where the Indians waffled back and forth.

al_1970_cleveland.gif

 

By 1972, the Tribe were back leaning toward being more of a red team again.

al_1972_cleveland.gif

 

And in 1973, they were right back to being navy-dominant. (Side note, the Indians had different jersey sets in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1973 -- the middle three lasting one season each. Other side note, while I've always liked this look and where it went from an aesthetic standpoint, I still lament the loss of the wishbone C, which has now moved to being exclusively the Reds' thing in baseball.)

al_1973_cleveland.gif

 

1975 was where the "crooked C" set included the most red. In 1974, the red jersey and cap with a red bill were introduced, but 1975 saw that cap extended to the whole set, plus the red pants. The navy jersey also came on board here, muddling the color balance a little, too. I'd say this was another lean navy, but mostly equal section.

al_1975_cleveland.gif

 

By 1978, though, the Tribe were back to being navy-dominant.

al_1978_cleveland.gif

 

That was probably true in the Major League jerseys, too, introduced in 1986. (Another side note: Wahoo didn't stand alone on a cap until here.)

al_1986_cleveland.gif

 

But then when the Tribe moved to the Jake in 1994, they adopted the predominantly red at home, navy on the road look, and of course had a lot of success with it.

al_1994_cleveland.gif

 

They went back to a more navy-driven approach at home in 2002 with blue piping on the home jersey.

al_2002_cleveland.gif

 

Over time, they got back to introducing more red at home, but staying with pretty much all navy accents (bill, undershirt, socks) on the road, which can be seen even with the navy jerseys.

 USATSI_9556578-213x320.jpg vs images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT14L3Vv7w7kYyar5czdpl

 
 

 

Overall, it's pretty clear that the Tribe have gone back and forth a little bit over time, but that they've been predominantly navy more than they've been predominantly red, but that it's also rare that one color has overwhelmed the other. The '60s set was the greatest emphasis on one color (red in that case), probably, and the '90s really established the red dominance at home, blue dominance on the road.

 

That said, I think that on the whole, it'd be apt to classify the Indians as a proper blue and red team, with either color available for primary use in a marketing campaign, fan gear, etc. -- for example, they've pushed fans wearing red the last few years in the postseason, even though the team is typically wearing blue jerseys. I think both of those uses work well, actually, because the red pops on the fans, but the navy is a better on-field look.

6fQjS3M.png

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Born in ‘80, been an Indians fan my whole life. Always considered them navy with red accents until the move to Jacobs Field. With the switch to the then new Indians script that was heavy on the red, along with red stirrups and cleats changed my opinion. A few years later, navy was dominant again. I might be one of the few that liked the silver trim addition. Currently, I’d just call it a mess.

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In other news...

 

Are the Patriots a Red or Blue team?

Are the Bills a Red or Blue team?

Are the Texans a Red or Blue team?

Are the Braves a Red or Blue team?

Are the Rangers a Red or Blue team?

Is Ole Miss a Red or Blue team?

...

...

...

 

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5th in NAT. TITLES  |  2nd in CONF. TITLES  |  5th in HEISMAN |  7th in DRAFTS |  8th in ALL-AMER  |  7th in WINS  |  4th in BOWLS |  1st in SELLOUTS  |  1st GAMEDAY SIGN

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Is Pennsylvania a Red State or a Blue State?

Is Michigan a Red State or a Blue State?

Is Ohio a Red State or a Blue State?

 

trump-clinton-split.jpg

UyDgMWP.jpg

5th in NAT. TITLES  |  2nd in CONF. TITLES  |  5th in HEISMAN |  7th in DRAFTS |  8th in ALL-AMER  |  7th in WINS  |  4th in BOWLS |  1st in SELLOUTS  |  1st GAMEDAY SIGN

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Isn't the answer to this question usually the crown of the cap? When is it not? Boston, I guess, but I maintain that they should still have a lot of navy blue.

♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫

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If there was a single banner to be made for the team, what color would it be?  What color would the border of a team poster be?

 

if you look up Indians banners, literally every single one is navy.  If you look up posters, nearly every one is predominantly navy.

 

I'm assuming that their branding guide specifies colors to use in certain applications, and I'd bet that it specifies a navy base in all cases where base color is a factor.

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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Not to veer off topic but this is actually a really good question because I think having primary identity colors are really important to the brand. And then secondary supporting colors.  But that’s not to say the identity can’t be two colors... for example the nationals are a red and blue team, while the NY giants are a blue team with red as a secondary. Either is fine but it’s important people can identify which is which. 

 

I started a convo a while back why I think the OKC thunder have the worst identity in pro sports. And it’s not just because their logo is bland and pointless. TBH how much different in brand identity (not design, brand identity) is their logo really than say the Dodgers or Knicks primary logo?   It didn’t say anything other than we are a basketball team. 

 

But can anyone tell me what color the Oklahoma City thunder are?  I tend to think they want to be light blue and that/red-orange with yellow secondary.  But then they have so much navy in their alt uniforms and if you look at their website and stuff they lean so heavy on the navy. I think it goes without saying their identity is a mess because of the terrible logo and the inconsistent uniform styles but to me the biggest problem is no one even know what color they are. That’s an issue that every rec league that gives out different colored TOWNSHIP REC BASKETBALL T-shirts solves on the first day. 

 

goforbroke_zpsb07ade0a.jpg
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If you have to pick one, then I'm pretty confident that the only answer is blue.

 

The thing is, they're designed (and with the exception of the obvious red era) to need both colors, and couldn't easily switch the importance or useage.  So the true answer is "yes", though if you were to apply percentages, it's like 51-49.

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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2 hours ago, MCM0313 said:

You'd think given the name...nah, I'll pass on that low-hanging fruit.

 

Except you didn’t. 

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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I think, like the Montreal Canadiens (who ever thought those two looks would be in the same thought?), they are a BALANCE team. Red and blue are in (relatively) equal amounts, and that is part of the look.

 

And having one color weigh heavier at home or heavier on the road doesn't mean anything, because look at the New York Giants.

Image result for giants home

I'll respect any opinion that you can defend.

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11 minutes ago, hockey week said:

I think, like the Montreal Canadiens (who ever thought those two looks would be in the same thought?), they are a BALANCE team. Red and blue are in (relatively) equal amounts, and that is part of the look.

 

And having one color weigh heavier at home or heavier on the road doesn't mean anything, because look at the New York Giants.

 

There are several other "balance" teams in the majors:

 

Orioles-New-Uniforms.jpg photos.medleyphoto.11027513.jpg 

 

8_Reds_vs_Cardinals_4_11_1428787772921_16590102_ver1.0_640_480.jpg 5bbed50eb364f.image.jpg

 

Notice how most of them are navy/red teams. Cleveland takes it a little further, with the color flip on the home and road set's lettering.

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