Cleveland Barons NHL Logo and Uniform History Concepts

[thebigeh]

A while ago, I created a logo and a set of uniforms for the Cleveland Barons of the National Hockey League. Not the team from 1976-1978 when they were the transplanted California Seals, but a concept of what they would have been like had they entered the league from the American Hockey League in 1953 as was planned (the thread for that can be viewed here).

Someone had asked if I was creating a timeline of these uniforms. I actualy was doing just that, but they would be different from the one I originaly posted. I managed to get right up to the early 70s with logos and uniforms with more on the way (I promise). So I'll start at the beginning with some logos.

Primary Cleveland Barons logo:

Orange background version:

Plain version:

A shield logo:

And the plain version:

As I mentioned in the previous thread, the colors were meant to stand out from the other NHL teams that used plenty of red, white, and blue, which were the same colors the AHL Barons used. The colors were inspired by the city's other pro teams. The navy blue came from the Indians and the orange came from the Browns.

The script logo was something I came up with many years ago and had been fine tuning ever since. Script logos are common on hockey jerseys and I thought one would look good for an NHL team. This one looks rather classy, IMO.

[thebigeh]

Because I can't get them all in one shot, I'll post my uniform concepts, starting at the beginning.

1953-1955

Home:

Road:

These were created from the 1953 AHL Barons, their purported last in the league.

1955-1958

Home:

Road:

The inspiration for these were the uniforms of the Oshawa Generals, then of the Ontario Hockey Association (now the OHL). I've always found this style to be very good for hockey and thought it should be showcased more. This style would set the course for Barons uniforms for many years to come.

1958-1962

Home:

Road:

What's added here are the numbers on the sleeves.

[thebigeh]

The last sets (for now).

1962-1970

Home:

Road:

What's different here is that the number of stripes on the socks have been reduced to half.

1970-1974

Home:

Road:

The white and orange uniforms have been switched for home and away, as was requested by the NHL at that time. Plus, the colors on the script and numbers were switched and the piping down the sides of the pants were reduced in half.

That's all for now. I will be coming up with some more logo and uniform ideas, starting with 1974 that will definetly stand out from the others. In the meantime, C&C are welcomed.

[undead]

That's a really cool "what if". Can't wait to see '74 on.

[Number 8]

I applaud you sir! This must be a very tedious task and you are creating a very realistic ''what if?'' scenario

[SenatorJake]

Very interesting idea here. I eagerly await the follow up.

As a side note: Didn't the NHL mandate that players' names had to be included on the back of the jersey in 1972?

EDIT: Nope, turns out it was 1977.

[bulldogbarks55]

The last sets (for now).

1962-1970

Home:

Road:

What's different here is that the number of stripes on the socks have been reduced to half.

1970-1974

Home:

Road:

The white and orange uniforms have been switched for home and away, as was requested by the NHL at that time. Plus, the colors on the script and numbers were switched and the piping down the sides of the pants were reduced in half.

That's all for now. I will be coming up with some more logo and uniform ideas, starting with 1974 that will definetly stand out from the others. In the meantime, C&C are welcomed.

Great work. I saw the A.H.L. Barons play in Rochester against the Amerks from 1959 until they moved to Jacksonville in 1973. The Barons that I saw used Royal and White as their colors. Their sweaters had zebra-striped shoulders from '59-'61 and from 1962-on were basically a Toronto Maple Leafs-style with the cartoon Mr. Baron logo.

You should get a copy (on Amazon for $16.80 used) of Gene Kiczek's book FORGOTTEN GLORY: The Story of Cleveland Barons Hockey. It has team photos and action shots year-by-year. The only thing is that they're all B&W pictures. The Barons did have a trim color to go with the Royal and White in the '40s and early '50s. I would assume it was Columbia Blue from the pictures. There's also the complete story of the building of Cleveland Arena by the Barons. No government money was used. It was all private funds. A great book for any real hockey fans.

[thebigeh]

To contiue on with my Cleveland Barons "what if?" concepts.

I pick up in 1974. That was the year the Richfield Coliseum opens between Cleveland and Akron. To mark this new era, ownership does a complete overhaul of the Barons image with a new logo, uniforms, and altered colors. To start, I present the logo.

Primary Logo:

And on a dark background:

This, of course, is the somewhat familiar logo the real NHL Barons used in their two seasons in the mid seventies. The differences is that instead of red, I used a darker shade of orange so as to not stray too far off from my original concept. And instead of the Old English B inside the map of Ohio, I created a somewhat similar handrawn B to use as a carryover from the original script logo. One could believe that the map of Ohio would symbolize the location of the new arena as the Barons attempt to make their team Ohio's. Notice that the dot on the top stem of the B is right on Cleveland.

Because none of the existing logos avaliable were of any quality or to my liking, I recreated it using Inkscape. It was quite the challenge, but I feel pleased with the results.

EDIT: I did up the real Barons NHL logo and pasted it onto the Sports Logos thread which you can view here.

[thebigeh]

And now for the uniforms.

1974-1976

Home:

Road:

Like the logo, the uniforms were somewhat similar, except for the color. Plus the map of Ohio, which was on the sleeves of the players for real in 1976-77, was move up to the shoulders with the drawn B inside it making for a nice secondary shoulder patch. I put in a dark outline on the numbers to make them stand out.

1976-1978

Home:

Road:

The names were added to the back of the jerseys in accordance with the NHL rules.

That's it for now. My next set will bring back a "semblance of normalcy". In the meantime, C&C is always welcome.

[Number 8]

Keep up the great work. Amazing series

[SenatorJake]

I really like that new B in the 70's logo. I think it works better with the other fonts in the logo than the one they had in the actual logo.