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MLB: The Defunct Saga - Bibliography Added


SFGiants58

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On 11/27/2018 at 3:00 PM, coco1997 said:

Yeah, I actually don't mind the darker green for the TB A's. The Devil Rays used a fairly dark shade of green in the early 2000s and I don't recall people complaining it didn't look "Tampa Bay" enough.

 

The new T is a big upgrade!

 

Thanks!

 

Here we go!

 

Tampa Bay Sweepstakes Intro

 

FLORIDA WHITE SOX - Cigar Sox, Verde Flavor

 

This is one of the big ones, one of the ones that doesn't need excessive amounts of rabbit hole diving. I won't go into too much detail here, as there are well-researched New York Times and Chicago Tribune articles about it. The outline of the scenario is that the White Sox had fallen onto hard times again. The Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn ownership had failed to follow up on the success of the 1983 team, while also fighting the rot that years of financial neglect had left on Comiskey Park (bits were falling off of the interior, such as the home dugout). Not willing or unable to perform a Fenway or Wrigley-style renovation, Reinsdorf and Einhorn looked at publicly-financed options throughout Illinois (e.g., a dome in Addison and a shared stadium with the Bears in Chicago proper), all of which failed with government and voters.1 

 

In late-1987, the Sox looked to St. Petersburg's (still fighting with Tampa over getting a team) new Suncoast Dome as a home. The team leadership entered into talks with Rick Dodge and the other St. Pete stadium leaders, trying to grasp the marketing potential of the Tampa Bay area and Florida. Seeing that this threat was serious, government officials in Illinois entered into negotiation with Reinsdorf/Einhorn, with efforts intensifying after the Florida legislators approved a $30 million package for the team in 1988. Seeing that the team was nearly gone, the Illinois legislature opted to vote on a $167 million package of public money to build a new stadium. If the deal didn't get approval by the end of June 30, 1988, the Sox would flee to Florida. Illinois Governor Jim Thompson decided that the best course of action was strong-arming the opponents of the bill to get the 30 senate and 60 house votes necessary to pass it.2 As David Haugh wrote,

 

Quote

In sports terms, this was crunch time. Thompson says he literally rolled up his shirt sleeves and started working the room and earning his reputation as a deal maker. Democratic Speaker Michael Madigan joined him to make a powerful one-two combination of clout.3

 

Through a combination of lobbying opponents and stopping the clock at 11:59 PM (the debate went to 12:03 AM), the stadium bill passed and the White Sox stayed in Chicago. We even have an audio recording of the event:

 

 

The White Sox stayed and St. Pete had their hopes brutally dashed. However, what if the bill failed or had never been proposed in the first place? What would have happened to the Pale Hose?

 

For starters, the team would have adopted the "Florida White Sox" name. We know this through both the establishment of "Florida White Sox Broadcasting, Inc."4 and these shirts (thank you @B-Rich for calling these to our attention):

 

s-l3001.jpgct-cell-at-25-haugh-spt-0522-20160521

 

While the logo is a bit "country club" for my tastes, the Forest Green/Orange (and maybe gold) looked like an intriguing direction for the team's identity. It would have "Florida-ified" their final stint with navy/red. I decided to implement these colors, albeit with modifications (orange giving way to the Marlins' red-orange and gold becoming an accent color). The other big component of the design was the font, inspired by cigar boxes from Ybor City. It's fitting for a charter American League franchise that's trying to adopt "regional character:"

 

TAMPA-COMMERCIAL-brand-lot-cigar-box-labels.jpg

 

The font's name is Caniste Semibold. I used it to build the classic components of the White Sox's identity (e.g., an interlocking "Sox" crest and wordmarks). The sock patch is the secondary, while a logo invoking the late-1980s (using a modified vector rendering of the state) appears as a retro design.

 

TlFk0Wr.png

 

The home and road set features striping to highlight the three colors, along with double-outlined numbers and single-layer NOB's. The socks use my standard "white socks" patterning. I used my powder blue-tinted road grey, for a "cooler" look.

 

9PAb8xW.png

 

The red-orange and green tops feature the "Sox" insignia, with the red-orange top featuring a red-orange bill on the cap. The original image with messed-up striping on the green jersey is here.

 

QTcNJ31.png

 

The throwback alternates include both the 1917 uniform emulation and my simulation as to what the 1989 Florida White Sox (playing at Al Lang Stadium for a year before moving to the dome) would look like. It's a green/orange take on the 1987-90 home uniform (which sort of coincided with the move attempt), which is lacking enough of the White Sox's traditional design to work as a transitional set.

 

LuuMdYp.png

 

The primary jacket features a "White Sox" wordmark and arm striping to mimic the socks, while the 1917 jacket from my Milwaukee White Sox concept returns.

 

2swaHcc.png AvlcWyE.png

 

The White Sox's pre-1990 identity crisis gave me plenty of room to add some "local character" to the look. While I vastly prefer the Sox's post-1990 identity, they could still look distinctive in Florida. C+C is appreciated, as always!

 

Up next, "Yeahman, we got one dang'um relocation attempt!"

 

1 Bob Andelman and Lori Parsells, Stadium For Rent: Tampa Bay’s Quest for Major League Baseball, 2nd edition (St. Petersburg, FL: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015), 8-11; David Haugh, “White Sox Saved for City in Their Own Version of the Chicago Way - Chicago Tribune,” Chicago Tribune, May 22, 2016, https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-cell-at-25-haugh-spt-0522-20160521-column.html; Michael Martinez and Special To the New York Times, “White Sox Are Safe at Home,” The New York Times, July 2, 1988, sec. Sports, https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/02/sports/white-sox-are-safe-at-home.html; Eric Okurowski, “StadiumPage.Com - Unrealized Concepts,” Stadium Page, 2012, http://www.stadiumpage.com/concepts/index.html; Marc Topkin, “From White Sox to Giants to Devil Rays, It’s Been a Long Trip - How the Team Was Won,” Tampa Bay Times, March 31, 1998, sec. Sports. 

2 Andelman and Parsells, Stadium For Rent, 12-34; Haugh, "White Sox Saved for City in Their Own Version of the Chicago Way;" Martinez and Special To the New York Times, “White Sox Are Safe at Home."

Haugh, "White Sox Saved for City in Their Own Version of the Chicago Way."

4 Andelman and Parsells, Stadium For Rent, 19.

 

P.S. I've made high-resolution versions of the t-shirt script, for posterity's sake/removing the logo from the rabbit hole. It's not the best recreation (I'm sure somebody could make it smoother), but it's better than low-res renderings and t-shirt photos.

 

O0kxPFn.pngSfpEbc5.png

 

Also, I’d like to give a big shout-out to @raysox for workshopping the design with me. Thanks, man!

Edited by SFGiants58
Fixed striping order error on the green jersey.
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  • SFGiants58 changed the title to MLB: The Defunct Saga - Florida White Sox Added

Wow, the Florida White Sox are beautiful! This is definitley a highlight of the series for me. I love the font and color scheme; the addition of yellow and the switch to red-orange are both great moves. I’d be curious to see how just green & orange looks, just because, though I imagine the addition of yellow makes the look better. It’d also be good to see at least one jersey (probably the home or the green alt) with that beautiful “White Sox” wordmark from the jacket. Wonderful job!

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FINALLY!!!

 

I love pretty much everything about this concept, from the color scheme to the scripts to the new “Florida-fied” S-o-x logo. @MJD7 took the words right out of my mouth—that “White Sox” script from the dugout jacket is too good to not use on one of the jerseys—ideally the green alt. 

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On 11/30/2018 at 3:03 PM, BellaSpurs said:

Disappointed you didn’t use the original font, although i Love the Florida script you did come up with. The colors also look amazing!

 

Thanks! I'm not a big fan of the "country club" logo. It looks too corny for my tastes, much like the original Arrows set. 

 

I also was glad to get that color scheme (with some help from @raysox, whose latest series you guys should totally see), which really screams "Florida" in a way that teal/black/silver and the Rays'/post-2002 Marlins' looks didn't.

 

21 hours ago, coco1997 said:

FINALLY!!!

 

I love pretty much everything about this concept, from the color scheme to the scripts to the new “Florida-fied” S-o-x logo. @MJD7 took the words right out of my mouth—that “White Sox” script from the dugout jacket is too good to not use on one of the jerseys—ideally the green alt. 

 

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. While I'm not a fan of the Sox ever using a "White Sox" wordmark on a jersey, it does look nice here:

 

bpIXUtN.png

 

19 hours ago, Dalcowboyfan92 said:

That White Sox throwback logo over the state of Florida; simply magnficent.

 

Thanks! I wanted something that looked period-appropriate and classy, which I think I got.

 

17 hours ago, Jimmy Lethal said:

This might just be the most gorgeous baseball concept you've ever done. I'm in love with that color scheme.

 

Thanks! I'm glad that you like the color scheme and the fonts. 

 

19 hours ago, appleclock said:

HECK ABSOLUTELY YES.  Sorry southsiders, but I wish this had actually happened. I love how you just threw all that history out and said, you know what? This is Florida’s team and we gonna do it our way. Well done, sir!

 

Thanks! I can see why somebody would want this to happen, but for all of New Comiskey's problems, at least it wasn't built on a toxic dump, didn't go insanely over budget, and didn't have to have renovations before play started like The Trop did. I found this video that covers the process of building the monstrosity (at about 10 minutes in):

 

 

This is everything I could hope for out of a late-'80s/early-'90s news feature. The fashion, the imagery, the editing, etc. all play to that aesthetic.

 

The Trop was the period's equivalent to the Carson stadium plan in the NFL's relocation roundelay. They would both be built with public money in a problematic location, having to clean up toxic waste, and would turn into a headache for fans and the league (Raiders/Chargers was a stupid pairing, IMHO). Heck, two guys named Jerry advocated for these plans (Richardson in the NFL, Reinsdorf in the AL - especially after construction finished), but only the baseball one succeeded.

 

On 11/30/2018 at 4:21 PM, MJD7 said:

Wow, the Florida White Sox are beautiful! This is definitley a highlight of the series for me. I love the font and color scheme; the addition of yellow and the switch to red-orange are both great moves. I’d be curious to see how just green & orange looks, just because, though I imagine the addition of yellow makes the look better. It’d also be good to see at least one jersey (probably the home or the green alt) with that beautiful “White Sox” wordmark from the jacket. Wonderful job!

10 hours ago, KittSmith_95 said:

I gotta say, I really like this design.... I'm just not sure if the scheme needs both Yellow & Orange. I'd like to see the same look minus the Yellow, just Green, Orange & White. I feel it'd pop more and wouldn't be as cluttered..... it's still pretty, though! 

 

Thanks! I had a lot of fun producing it. If you're wondering what Forest Green/Red-Orange would look like, here you go!

 

LuJUo60.pnglFj6gdv.png

zBFtgvE.png9V81LTS.png

C5ThUCJ.png

 

While I like it, I think the yellow adds the perfect "oomph" to the design.

 

9 hours ago, ChicagoOakland said:

Their socks are actually white!!!

 

Thanks! That's always been a goal for my White Sox concepts, making sure that the socks are white-bottomed (a la the old Red Sox). I've even prepared a compilation image of all of my White Sox concepts, to see how I've changed their looks for each city. Click it for a high-res edition:

 

IiFtotM.png

 

My one constant is that they have the same pattern for white socks, while also shifting for each city (black/red/gold in Milwaukee, navy/greenish teal in Seattle, and dark green/red-orange/yellow in Tampa Bay/Florida).

 

I'm just dreading how big the A's version of this image will be by the time the series ends (Philadelphia, Kansas City, Oakland, then Los Angeles - after I redo it, Dallas, Louisville, San Diego, Seattle, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Chicago, Denver, Phoenix, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, San José, and Portland - the last being speculation).

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On 11/21/2018 at 10:29 AM, SFGiants58 said:

Simply put, the name has to go. There are more than two big cities in the Tampa Bay area (e.g., Tampa, St. Petersburg, Ybor City, etc.), so the nickname of "Twins" is out.


The reality is that Tampa and St. Petersburg are the dominant municipalities in the area. Clearwater is a distant third in importance. Tampa (pop. 335,709) has more than three times as many residents as Clearwater (pop. 107,685); St. Pete (pop. 244,769) is more than twice as populous as Clearwater. Ybor City is simply a neighborhood within Tampa.

Bottom line? Tampa Bay Twins - paying homage to the cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg - would have worked just fine as an identity if Minnesota's American League franchise had relocated to the region.

If ownership felt the need to acknowledge that the Metropolitan Statistical Area is technically the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA, the team could have been dubbed the Tampa Bay Triplets.

By the way, that green, orange and white Chicago White Sox identity package is sharp!

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19 hours ago, SFGiants58 said:

I'm just dreading how big the A's version of this image will be by the time the series ends (Philadelphia, Kansas City, Oakland, then Los Angeles - after I redo it, Dallas, Louisville, San Diego, Seattle, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Chicago, Denver, Phoenix, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, San José, and Portland - the last being speculation).

 

The A's to Portland isn't just a recent "development". They've been tied to speculative relocations for at least 15 years. Certainly, the Expos were the focus of the group(s) trying to bring MLB to Portland, but the A's came up as well. We know that their stadium woes aren't new, either.

 

I recall doing a Portland A's concept way back when, although I doubt I posted it here. It was pretty shoddy execution, but my idea was taking the A's cap logo, and replacing the apostrophe with the rosebud and stem from the Portland Rockies cap:

 

FullSizeRender.jpg

 

Feel free to snag or modify that concept for your Portland A's!

4409811293_559b1d05dd_o.jpg

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Hey guys, sorry about the delay. My work schedule has been getting really hectic lately, and I haven't had as much time to devote to this series. However, I will be posting more frequently over the next few weeks to complete the Tampa Bay Sweepstakes and the various other "fill-in" concepts.

 

On 12/1/2018 at 9:31 PM, coco1997 said:

Seeing the concept now without it, I can definitely appreciate the inclusion of the yellow. Really adds some pop to the design.

 

Thanks! I like both myself, but the yellow gives it a special boost.

 

On 12/1/2018 at 10:10 PM, Brian in Boston said:


The reality is that Tampa and St. Petersburg are the dominant municipalities in the area. Clearwater is a distant third in importance. Tampa (pop. 335,709) has more than three times as many residents as Clearwater (pop. 107,685); St. Pete (pop. 244,769) is more than twice as populous as Clearwater. Ybor City is simply a neighborhood within Tampa.

Bottom line? Tampa Bay Twins - paying homage to the cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg - would have worked just fine as an identity if Minnesota's American League franchise had relocated to the region.

If ownership felt the need to acknowledge that the Metropolitan Statistical Area is technically the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA, the team could have been dubbed the Tampa Bay Triplets.

By the way, that green, orange and white Chicago White Sox identity package is sharp!

 

Thank you! That's a research blunder on my part. I didn't look as deeply into the demographics/civic populations as thoroughly as I should have. It does make sense for the Morsani group to keep the name, given how none of the articles I found mention a name change (including the one that suggested red/orange uniforms) and how he'd try to patch things over with the St. Petersburg stadium groups/residents. Finding out about the Tampa - St. Pete rivalry was a big revelation for me in the research, as I'd long thought the community was more homogeneous than that. "Twins" would be a demonstration of good faith to both big cities (given Clearwater's distance in population). 

 

However, in my defense, does anybody really call Tampa and St. Pete "twin cities" in the same way that they do for Minneapolis and St. Paul? I maintain that a name change would have been a good idea for the move. I'm not changing the main concept, but thanks to your suggestion (@Brian in Boston, thank you), I now present the Tampa Bay Twins!

 

TAMPA BAY TWINS - Hi Paulie, I'm Tammy!

 

This first rendering maintains the navy/red color scheme and the scripts from my Minnesota  Twins  concept from Project 32, albeit with the cap insignia from the Tarpons. I've adjusted the primary logo to reflect the new location (Tampa Bay replacing the Mississippi River and a "T" on Minnie's jersey). The stripes on the socks are now an outlined tri-stripe, while the pinstriped road alternate uses a "T" instead of an "M." I also adapted the original "TC" for the purposes of an alternate cap.

 

kEBSsHj.png

 

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NQBQBX5.png WB75MrQ.png

 

The identity translates well enough, but I'm not as big a fan of it as the Tarpons. "Twins" just evokes the Minneapolis-St. Paul relationship so much that it's hard to separate from that location (even if the Tampa Bay area replicates it to an extent).

 

I've also provided variants in the proposed red (which I changed to maroon, for contrast reasons) and orange (the Bucs' creamsicle shade), alongside the Tarpons' forest green/sky blue. Both sets use the Twins' 1973-86 home wordmark - in all of its jankiness - for their fauxbacks, while the green/blue set features the "T Stp" jersey with dark green pinstripes.

 

q1hwG4p.pngg67hDjM.png

tEwEPte.pngARB8TQe.png

8U9iPOu.pnghJtwaGx.png

 

The orange pinstripes were a nice touch, putting a non-traditional spin on a traditional element.

 

jCK6JXk.pngY8pkomJ.png

15STF3R.pngM7wE5fk.png

1dHanrF.pngk8NFjqn.png

 

I've also got the red/orange and navy/red (per @BellaSpurs's suggestion) variants of the Tarpons!

 

Dh3EqOY.pngDDKpnz5.png

VLrmscR.pngSjdvNBr.png

OX8cW9z.pnguWzEH9u.png

 

The maroon/orange variant:

 

5NTtdQa.pngwvlWMkJ.png

LLuK2NO.png5sj4j2M.png

Z95QTFb.pngsFESeO7.png

 

The set translated well to both color schemes, but I have to give the edge to the modified creamsicle color scheme. It fits with the region, while also avoiding the navy/red hegemony.

 

On 12/2/2018 at 11:35 AM, KittSmith_95 said:

Now that I've seen both, I do stand corrected! The Yellow definitely adds a little extra oomph the Green & Orange alone lacks. 

 

Thanks!

 

On 12/2/2018 at 2:00 PM, Frylock said:

 

The A's to Portland isn't just a recent "development". They've been tied to speculative relocations for at least 15 years. Certainly, the Expos were the focus of the group(s) trying to bring MLB to Portland, but the A's came up as well. We know that their stadium woes aren't new, either.

 

I recall doing a Portland A's concept way back when, although I doubt I posted it here. It was pretty shoddy execution, but my idea was taking the A's cap logo, and replacing the apostrophe with the rosebud and stem from the Portland Rockies cap:

 

FullSizeRender.jpg

 

Feel free to snag or modify that concept for your Portland A's!

 

Thanks, I had no idea that the courtship had been going on for that long! I'll definitely consider using your idea for the Portland A's, to give it a bit of local flair.

 

On 12/2/2018 at 8:54 PM, MJD7 said:

I’m actually not sure which I like better! They’re both great, but the inclusion of yellow definitely makes it feel more “Florida,” and is a rare case where a double outline actually helps it seem more readable. 

 

Thanks! The double outline really helps define the letter shapes.

 

On 12/2/2018 at 9:33 PM, Carolingian Steamroller said:

It's way too tough a call on the yellow v. no-yellow front. 

On 12/3/2018 at 9:34 AM, Carolingian Steamroller said:

Taking the ISS-eye view of @SFGiants58's Sox concepts, I think the red/black Project 32 design is probably still my favorite. Though perhaps its not the direction I would go, I still think it feel like the one that most effectively updates the Sox. 

 

Thanks! I've enjoyed all of my White Sox designs, but I still find myself coming back to the black/red. It has historical relevance for the team, while also being a good fit for the region. 

 

The next team should arrive later in the day!

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