City-Nickname Monograms in Baseball

[MilSox]

I imagine this is a bit of an unpopular opinion, but I actually like it when teams incorporate their nickname into their monogram.  There's just something so quintessentially "baseball" about interlocking letter monograms; and for cities with only one word in their name, incorporating the nickname allows them to have interlocking letters.  I also think it allows for a bit more creative freedom, and makes it less likely that you'll have to share your monogram with another team, which makes it (presumably) more marketable.

This is a much more common practice in Japan, but it's not completely unheard of Stateside.  My Brewers have had a couple (the BiG and "Motre Bame"), and the Rockies have never not used a "CR." But my favorite of all time has to be the California Angels because it had the added bonus of spelling out the postal code for California.  It makes me wonder what the Rangers might do with a "TX" or the Diamondbacks could do with a "AZ."



Thoughts on this?

[OnWis97]

I like interlocking letters but I actually like that only a select number of teams really can use them.  I would not want to see them overused.

 

I absolutely do not want to see TX, AZ, etc.  Then' we'll get alts with ATL, PHILA.  I am not a fan of postal codes and other abbreviations (especially on MLB hats if they get to be more than two letters). 

 

Using the nicknames and cities...I'm generally not a fan, but it makes more sense to me than interlocking a postal code.  I kinda like the "CA" above (and the short-lived version just before the "winged-A" disaster).  I'm not a fan of the "CR" in theory, but in practice it at least looks OK.  The "Motre Bame" hat is the only bad part of an otherwise great look from 1994-1999.  I thought that hat was awful.

 

There are a couple of midwestern quirks:

• The BiG.  I know that's an "M" and a "B" but obviously, they designed a "clever" logo and while I don't like it as much as some do, I don't consider it bad that they had both letters on the hat, as they arrived at it in a different way.
• The Twins "TC."  This is one of the most unique cap logos in baseball in that it doesn't include the city (state) name at all and from a literal standpoint, should not represent "Minnesota Twins." But part of its charm is that it's rooted in the confusion of how to handle the whole "Minneapolis/St. Paul" issue. The Twins were the first team in North American team sports to take the field with a non-city name.  Add to that that an "M" could have been seen as "Minneapolis" and not "St. Paul" and they ended up with a unique solution as the location of the "Twin Cities" is what prompted the whole mess to begin with.  Also...
  • I can't remember where I saw this...probably from someone here...I think they were considering calling themselves the Twin Cities Twins, which would have rendered that cap viable to the "city letter on the cap" norm.  But the American League did not sign on to that name (thankfully).  So they went with Minnesota but kept the hat.  If that's true, then that makes it an interesting story.

So, yeah, I kinda give my team a pass...

[cajunaggie08]

6 hours ago, NicDB said:

 But my favorite of all time has to be the California Angels because it had the added bonus of spelling out the postal code for California.

Say what now?

[Sykotyk]

1 hour ago, cajunaggie08 said:

Say what now?

He meant the 2 letter fips code. Also called an abbreviation. 

[Michael Bolton]

35 minutes ago, Sykotyk said:

He meant the 2 letter fips code. Also called an abbreviation. 

 

I spent way longer than I should probably admit squinting at that hat trying to make out numbers in the logo.

[WSU151]

2 hours ago, cajunaggie08 said:

Say what now?

 

Not to pile on...

 

But California Angels...CA, like the postal code. 

[SilverBullet1929]

Am I the only one that sometimes reads the Rockies cap CR as saying "ColoRado?" 

[DC in Da House w/o a Doubt]

The jokes would write themselves for an Orioles BO hat

[BadSeed84]

Just now, DC in Da House w/o a Doubt said:

The jokes would write themselves for an Orioles BO hat

 

Same if the Phillies or Pirates did PP

[rxmc89]

12 minutes ago, DC in Da House w/o a Doubt said:

The jokes would write themselves for an Orioles BO hat

 

10 minutes ago, EddieJ1984 said:

 

Same if the Phillies or Pirates did PP

 

Or if the Blue Jays had BJ.

[Mingjai]

13 hours ago, NicDB said:

This is a much more common practice in Japan, but it's not completely unheard of Stateside. 

 

Though technically, in the NPB, it’s an owner-nickname monogram, not a city-nickname one. Yomiuri Giants, Hanshin Tigers, Yakult Swallows, etc.

 

I would hate to see teams using two-letter postal abbreviations. I personally only use them for addressing mail, otherwise I use AP Style Guide abbreviations, which look better to my eye.

[Brian in Boston]

9 hours ago, OnWis97 said:

The Twins were the first team in North American team sports to take the field with a non-city name.

When the American Professional Football Association - which changed its name to the National Football League in 1922 - was founded in 1920, one of its charter franchises was the Racine Cardinals, named for the thoroughfare - Racine Avenue - upon which its home field was located.

During the NFL's 1922 and 1923 seasons, a team comprised of Native American athletes - including player-coach Jim Thorpe - joined the league. The franchise was owned by Walter Lingo, a leading breeder of Oorang Airedale Terriers. Lingo named the team the Oorang Indians to promote his LaRue, Ohio-based Oorang Kennels, which were - in turn - named for a championship dog, King Oorang.

The NFL's Frankford Yellow Jackets - members of the league from 1924 through 1931 - were named for a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania neighborhood.

The Staten Island Stapletons bore the name of a borough of the City of New York from 1929 to 1932.

And the National Basketball Association's Moline, Illinois-based team of the 1949 through 1951 seasons used the regionally-inspired Tri-Cities Blackhawks  name.
   

[DC in Da House w/o a Doubt]

58 minutes ago, rxmc89 said:

 

 

Or if the Blue Jays had BJ.

 

The Blue Jays were wise to move on from this guy

 

 

[VandyDelphia Mike]

1 hour ago, EddieJ1984 said:

 

Same if the Phillies or Pirates did PP

 

tangentially related?

[Mingjai]

17 hours ago, Brian in Boston said:

The Staten Island Stapletons bore the name of a borough of the City of New York from 1929 to 1932.

   

 

Also, Brooklyn was made a borough of New York City in 1898, so the Brooklyn NL franchise was technically named after a borough from 1898 on.

[McGlinchey23]

https://goo.gl/images/R1ZtzQ

 

Another quirky one. The Pittsburgh Pirates back in Aught Eight had an interlocking

P B C that stood for Pittsburg Baseball Club.

Edit: Dont know how to post pictures

[LMU]

I disagree here. I very much prefer that hat monograms represent the city/state as opposed to the nickname. If you want to incorporate the nickname add a touch to the monogram like the Brewers wheat or the leaping Marlin. 

 

The Rockies would look much better with just a C, perhaps with mountains inside of the letter. The White Sox would look great with an Old English C, and the Athletics should consider an O especially when they move into a new stadium. I give the Twins a pass since it’s at least representing the nickname of their area.

 

Heck, the Angels hat finally made sense when they went as Anaheim. Not so much now.

[MilSox]

On 2/28/2019 at 9:39 AM, LMU said:

I disagree here. I very much prefer that hat monograms represent the city/state as opposed to the nickname. If you want to incorporate the nickname add a touch to the monogram like the Brewers wheat or the leaping Marlin. 

 

The Rockies would look much better with just a C, perhaps with mountains inside of the letter. The White Sox would look great with an Old English C, and the Athletics should consider an O especially when they move into a new stadium. I give the Twins a pass since it’s at least representing the nickname of their area.

 

Heck, the Angels hat finally made sense when they went as Anaheim. Not so much now.

I'm not suggesting the Yankees should use a "Y" or "NYY."  I just like the variety and don't think expansion teams should necessarily be beholden to the early 20th century sensibilities of baseball uniform design.  Especially when they didn't even play in that era and plenty of teams (the A's and White Sox, most notably) have been skewering those standards since even before our grandparents' time.  

[Trapper John]

On 2/28/2019 at 8:39 AM, LMU said:

I disagree here. I very much prefer that hat monograms represent the city/state as opposed to the nickname. If you want to incorporate the nickname add a touch to the monogram like the Brewers wheat or the leaping Marlin. 

 

The Rockies would look much better with just a C, perhaps with mountains inside of the letter. The White Sox would look great with an Old English C, and the Athletics should consider an O especially when they move into a new stadium. I give the Twins a pass since it’s at least representing the nickname of their area.

 

Heck, the Angels hat finally made sense when they went as Anaheim. Not so much now.

So the White Sox would have an Old English C in the same division with Detroit?  Brilliant... 

[Gothamite]

On 2/12/2019 at 2:10 PM, Mingjai said:

Also, Brooklyn was made a borough of New York City in 1898, so the Brooklyn NL franchise was technically named after a borough from 1898 on.

 

True, but when the club was named Brooklyn was an independent city.  It and New York were the original Twin Cities, in fact.