Brian in Boston

While not as bad as Energy, Wild Ones or Wonder, the Black Bears name strikes me as a thoroughly "meh" choice. As a result this team's identity is going to really have to rely upon the visual elements to sell the package. Personally, I'd prefer to see them go the route of the American Hockey League's Hershey Bears and adopt a simple, classic, more refined primary mark.

The new Kokomo, Indiana-based team in the summer collegiate Prospect League has unveiled its name and logo. The Jackrabbits identity is a tip-of-the-hat to the Apperson "Jack Rabbit" brand of automobiles, which were manufactured in Kokomo during the early 1900s.

1) Coal Kings 2) Canaries

The Holly Springs Salamander logo is yet another outstanding design effort from Skye Dillon - aka, CCSLC member cward - of Skye Design Studios. In addition to the Salamanders' mark, Skye's other work on behalf of collegiate summer baseball clients includes logos for the Edenton Steamers (Coastal Plain League), Valley Blue Sox (New England Collegiate Baseball League), Springfield Sliders (Prospect League), Wilson Tobs (Coastal Plain League), and Wisconsin Woodchucks (Northwoods League).

News stories I have read state that this may not exactly be the final logo. Due to the timeframe at hand and the approvals that have to be done for logos thru MILB, USPTO, etc. they were able to provide this as a defacto placeholder. We'll see. For what it's worth, this is what the team's owner - Tim Berlin - reportedly had to say: Berlin also unveiled a new logo for the team that he described as the model that the team expects to use in the design of new uniforms, apparel and other South Bend Cubs branded items. "We're moving fast," added Berlin. "Officials gave South Bend a special waiver so that we could show you this today, but something as important as a logo needs to be approved by the league and by the Chicago Cubs. So, I can’t call it official yet, but it is what you’re likely to see on all our uniforms, apparel, advertising and merchandise from now on." There could well be some tweaks, but "from now on" gives the impression that the logo unveiled today is going to, at the very least, be incorporated into a more permanent mark.

The Class A Midwest League franchise formerly dubbed the South Bend Silver Hawks are now the South Bend Cubs.

The newly-launched independent, minor-pro East Coast Baseball League has revealed the names of its first two member-franchises. The team set to play in Newburgh, New York has been dubbed the Newburgh Newts. The team located in Welland, Ontario will be called the Niagara Wild. ECBL officials have also announced that the creation of logos for the teams will be handled by graphic designers from Zephyr, the official hat supplier to the league.

Oklahoma City's Triple-A baseball team was actually dubbed the 89ers for 36 years, not the 86ers.

The Ottawa Champions of the independent minor Can-Am League have unveiled their logos. And the cap logo...

The Virginia Beach Neptunes have officially unveiled their logos. 

Well, this has cropped-up on the Virginia Beach Neptunes' website... There are days when, as a branding enthusiast, my soul dies a little bit.

Biloxi, Mississippi's new minor league baseball team (the relocating Huntsville Stars of the Double A Southern League) has announced the finalists in its Name-The-Team contest: Biloxi Beacon - A symbol of resilience, the “Biloxi Beacon” honors the Biloxi beach lighthouse, which has weathered nature’s mightiest storms since 1848. Beacon embodies Biloxi's can-do attitude, shared by Coastians throughout the region. Biloxi Black Jacks - Combining the fun of Minor League Baseball with casino & seafood industries, the “Biloxi Black Jacks” pays homage to the “rare” black-colored gulf coast Jack fish. Biloxi Mullets - A tribute to Biloxi bacon and the popular Biloxi fish, the “Biloxi Mullets” falls in line with the Lugnuts, Biscuits and other wacky names Minor League Baseball is known for. Biloxi Schooners - The “Biloxi Schooners” celebrates the legendary Biloxi-built boats known for their speed and windward ability. This workhorse became a way of life for fishermen along the Mississippi Coast. Biloxi Shrimpers - The Gulf Coast shrimp gave birth to Biloxi’s famous seafood industry in the 1920s and 1930s. The name “Biloxi Shrimpers” embodies Biloxi's reputation as the hub of the Gulf’s shrimping industry. Biloxi Shuckers - The “Biloxi Shuckers” celebrates Biloxi’s legacy as the original “Seafood Capital of the World.” Raw, fried, steamed, or broiled -- shucking oysters has been synonymous with Biloxi for generations. http://www.baseballbiloxi.com/castyourvote.htm

The Norwich, CT-based Connecticut Tigers - Class A New York-Penn League affiliate of the Detroit Tigers - have unveiled a pair of new alternate marks. Both logos depict team mascot C.T. the Tiger. Amongst the symbolic touches gracing the second mark: a rose-shaped patch on the jersey sleeve which pays homage to the City of Norwich being known as the "Rose City", four stripes on C.T.'s left arm signifying the Detroit Tigers' four World Series titles, and eight spikes on the mascot's left cleat representing the eight counties within the State of Connecticut. The marks were designed by Brandiose.

The Sioux Falls Canaries of the independent American Association have unveiled a pair of new alternate logos.

Joplin, Missouri's entry in the American Association has a name and logo... The franchise - which relocated from El Paso, Texas - takes the field in 2015.

Don Garber pulled no punches while addressing the 2014 IMG World Congress of Sports on Wednesday. MLS Commissioner Don Garber yesterday said the decision to award Qatar the '22 FIFA World Cup and the potential that the event may have to move from summer to winter because of weather was a "monumental disaster" for soccer worldwide. He added that he hopes the event is moved. "We certainly would be happy to host it here and have a lot of big stadiums that could turn it around and host on very short notice," said Garber, who spoke on the opening panel of the '14 IMG World Congress of Sports. "But we're going to be on the sidelines on this and hope that FIFA can resolve this in a way that is good for the sport." http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2014/03/20/Events-and-Attractions/World-Cup.aspx

With regard to the recent deletions in this thread... I can't speak for any other members of the Moderating Team, but amongst the top complaints I find filling my PM inbox on a regular basis from the CSSLC membership in general are those focused on the subject of threads being dragged off-topic. It is easily a "Top 3" beef amongst those members of this community who have turned to me when voicing their discontent. So, that being said, one of the moderating tasks that I try to undertake whenever possible is to keep threads focused on the subject at hand. In a best-case scenario, I'll not only delete posts that have absolutely nothing to do with a thread's stated topic, I'll also post a brief reminder of what said thread's topic is and request that CCSLC members make every effort to stay focused on that topic. That said, there are days - many of them, in fact - when I find my career pursuits draw me away from regular visits to the CCSLC via my desktop or laptop computers. At such times, I'll engage with the CCSLC via my smartphone, which - mea culpa - isn't necessarily the latest and greatest generation of said devices. I bring this up because when a need to engage in CCSLC housekeeping catches my eye at such times, I'll sometimes engage in a "quick-and-dirty" clean-up (sorry about the oxymoron). Whether because my time or the efficiency of my smart-phone is limited, I'll be forced to cut some corners. In the case of the recent deletion of comments regarding The Admiral's absence that had appeared this thread, had I been on my home computer with more time available to me, I'd have elected to split said comments off into their own new thread with a post explaining why I'd done so. Unfortunately, I was in between business-related appointments, interfacing with this site via a tiny screen on my painfully-dated smartphone, and - in the moment - I elected to engage in a "quick-and-dirty" edit of said thread's content. I can assure you that there was no motive for my actions beyond simple CCSLC housekeeping. My sincerest apologies for leaving the reasoning behind my thread-edit unexplained. Please, feel free to carry on with the task of analyzing L'affaire de Coyotes de Phoenix ridicule. Brian

The Wilson Tobs of the summer-collegiate Coastal Plain League have unveiled a new logo package. The marks were designed by Skye Dillon - aka, the CCSLC's cward - of Skye Design Studios. Additionally, Skye designed a logo to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Tobs' home ballpark, Fleming Stadium. Skye Design Studios is no stranger to creating brand identity packages for summer-collegiate baseball teams, having previously designed logos for the Edenton Steamers (Coastal Plain League), Holyoke Blue Sox (New England Collegiate League), Springfield Sliders (Prospect League), and Wisconsin Woodchucks (Northwoods League).

The Akron Rubber Ducks have unveiled their uniforms. http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140209&content_id=67593812&vkey=pr_t402&fext=.jsp&sid=t402

The Omaha Storm Chasers have announced that June 7, 2014 will be "What If? Night" at Werner Park. The team will take the field sporting specialty jerseys of the Omaha Commanders, one of the finalist identities that lost out to Storm Chasers when the franchise rebranded from the Royals moniker.

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders have announced that August 8, 2014 will be "What If? Night" at PNC Field. The team will take the field sporting the uniforms of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Trolley Frogs, one of the finalist identities that lost out to RailRiders when the franchise rebranded from the Red Barons moniker.

While not minor-league, the Wilmington Sharks of the summer-collegiate Coastal Plain League have unveiled new logos and uniforms. The new brand identity was designed by Dan Simon and the team at Studio Simon. PRIMARY MARK SECONDARY MARK WORDMARK UNIFORMS

Ballpark Business is reporting that the Nogales Desert Ghosts of the all-but-defunct independent American West Baseball League have apparently been resurrected as the Yuma Desert Ghosts of the proposed indy Western Association of Professional Baseball. Flynnagain Productions is responsible for designing the team's new logo package. http://ballparkbiz.wordpress.com/2013/12/31/nogales-desert-ghosts-and-new-league-take-on-yuma/

The "rock" in Rock Cats has never referred to stone, nor has the team's mascot ever been meant to be a mountain lion. When cartoonist Gil Gilchrist helped the New Britain Red Sox rebrand in 1994, he chose the name Rock Cats as a tip-of-the-hat to rock 'n' roll music. When he learned that the team's owner - Joe Buzas - had purchased his first minor-league team in the 1950s, Gilchrist hit upon the idea of paying homage to the decade that birthed the term "rock 'n' roll" by creating a guitar-strumming, sunglass-wearing, pompadour-sporting feline mascot - "Rocky". Gilchrist combined the logo with the Rock Cats moniker and the place-name Hardware City, long a nickname for New Britain. Because few people outside of Connecticut knew that Hardware City referred to New Britain, the place-name was eventually changed and a new logo, incorporating stylized "NB" initials, was unveiled to go with it. The Rock Cats' current primary mark... ... was designed by Dan Simon and introduced in 2007. So, by portraying the Rock Cats' mascot as a singer in an Elvis-inspired jumpsuit, Brandiose actually brought the team's identity back to its original inspiration. Incidentally, Gilchrist designed the logos for the Portland Sea Dogs, Norwich Navigators, and Binghamton Mets, as well as the mascot for Shimizu S-Pulse of soccer's J-League. http://articles.courant.com/2009-05-17/news/cthistory0517.art_1_cat-s-face-cool-cat-new-britain-red-sox