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MLB: The Defunct Saga - Bibliography Added


SFGiants58

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On 8/30/2018 at 7:53 PM, coco1997 said:

Oh man, that "Seattle" script is friggin' gorgeous. The Old English "S" makes for an amazing cap logo! I think my favorite overall look is the home set with the white cap. 

 

I assume San Diego is next, so I really hope we get a Surfing Stomper primary logo. ?

 

Thanks! I don't think you'll be disappointed with the direction I've taken.

 

On 8/30/2018 at 8:43 PM, MJD7 said:

Wow! Like @coco1997 said, that Seattle script is absolutely gorgeous, and I also love the white cap look and the updated elephant logo. I think I like the version with yellow slightly more, but both look great.

 

Thanks, and thanks for the consult on the San Diego A's!

 

On 8/30/2018 at 9:04 PM, NicDB said:

I m absolutely in love with the straight up kelly green and white. Such a shame no MLB team has actually tried it (apart from the Dodgers, who gave up on it way too quickly).

 

Thank you. I like the kelly green Dodgers, and I wish they'd throw back to it during Spring Training (St. Patrick's Day).

 

On 8/31/2018 at 10:03 AM, Carolingian Steamroller said:

I'd absolutely go with the green/white version!

 

My only tweak to the logo would be to drop the extra line from the tail of the "S"

 

Thanks! I tried to drop the tail line, but the logo looked a little imbalanced.

 

JkSxizd.png

 

It also gives them a little separation from the White Sox (who'll find their way to Seattle in this series).

 

On 8/31/2018 at 11:37 AM, vtgco said:

You did a really great job, and it works really well and in both color schemes.

 

That Pike Place Market font is perfect for Seattle, and the primary logo is great.

 

The S works well as a cap logo. I like the road jersey and Rainiers fauxback alt, especially in green only! Thanks for trying that scheme out!

 

Really good work! It makes the thought of the Seattle A's much more palatable.

 

I agree with

@coco1997, surfing Stomper for SD! I'd imagine the SD A's as yellow primarily, but I'm eager to see what you come up with!

 

Thank you! I'm glad I was able to make it more palatable.

 

On 8/31/2018 at 12:30 PM, TrueYankee26 said:

Who knows, maybe there will be a New York Athletics haha

 

Given how Arnold Johnson ran the A's, that wouldn't be an out-of-place suggestion.

 

On 8/31/2018 at 12:49 PM, Dalcowboyfan92 said:

The Green and White concept is a little dull, I feel like it's lacking another color, perhaps bringing back yellow as just a simple trim color?

 

I can see that sentiment, but I like green and white more as a Seattle-ified look. 

 

On 8/31/2018 at 4:56 PM, ChicagoOakland said:

I wonder what it would look like if you arched the "Seattle" lettering in the logo on the road jersey instead of the Seattle script...I feel like Seattle as a city always tries to be modern and a step ahead with style.

 

I mocked it up, but I like the script style a little more. The cursive/Old English fits more with Safeco Field's neo-retro aesthetic.

 

nW4Ir2Y.png

 

On 8/31/2018 at 5:16 PM, neo_prankster said:

Man, if we could've gotten Finley to move the A's here, maybe, just maybe, we would've been spared 50 years of Padres futility.

 

At the very least, the A's stadium situation would be a lot better! ?

 

Speaking of the San Diego Athletics, here they are!

 

SAN DIEGO ATHLETICS - Surfin' Stomper

 

At this point in the series, it should come as no surprise that good ol' Charlie O. was looking at nearly every viable market to move the A's. San Diego was on this list, with the PCL Padres' owner (C. Arnold Smith) planning to expand Westgate Park to 40,000 - 48,000 seats in 1961 (like with Sick's Stadium, good luck with that).1 This didn't really get beyond the speculation stage, but it does present an intriguing development. What if the expansion of the stadium went through, with the team moving to the Murph and Petco Park later in life?

 

The first big change is that the team never adopts green, but sticks with the royal blue of the late-1920s/early-1930s Philadelphia A's (286 C - according to Colorwerx). I rationalized it with Smith insisting that Finley limit his "branding" in the team's appearance. Yellow still appears in the identity, as it fits with the whole "beach/surfer" look. Yellow (well, Athletic Gold) is co-dominant with royal, a unique look in the majors. Powder appears in the logos, as well as a lighter yellow. The team would adopt a bit of a surfer theme in the 1990s, which carried over to their move into Petco Park.

 

The primary logo features my Swingin' Stomper (modified from the Milwaukee A's modification of the Leigh Valley Iron Pigs's mascot) logo on a surfboard, riding the waves. It's my way of doing an A's version of the Swingin' Friar, albeit more tied to the surfing theme. The sun is behind him, and the wordmark (Badger Light w/ outline) is above him. It's my take on the Padres' Swingin' Friar, albeit in a surfer context. The secondaries are both team and city insignias, while the tertiary is the elephant with a small wave. The scripts use a modified version of Seren Script by Type Faith Fonts, which I liked as a modern, flowing script style that conveyed the "surfer" aesthetic.

 

ea1uQZR.png

 

The uniforms feature the cursive scripts at the forefront, with Red Sox/Brooklyn Dodgers-style trim. Having yellow on the stripes would distract from its dominant presence on the lettering, sock stripes (following tincture, as yellow doesn't touch white), and cap bills. White cleats remain, as they fit with the bright colors. The number font is the block with serifs variant I've used on pretty much every San Diego Padres concept I've done. Also like my previous Padres concepts, the road uniform uses the sand/khaki color to help the colors stand out. The primary logo is on the sleeves.

 

ciFOHrU.png

 

The alternates are pretty simple, with the A's insignia on the chest and the "SD" cap for the blue alternate.

 

gCPUexB.png

 

The jacket features the "Athletics" script, with the insignias on each sleeve and the primary on the back.

 

 

99nIMUX.png

 

The A's identity would transition well to San Diego, allowing for a bright look that is in touch with both their history and their new setting. It's certainly better than the Padres' current bland offerings. C+C is appreciated, as always!

 

tumblr_oegb4t5Mqs1s9k30zo1_500.gif

 

Up next, we finally touch upon the black sheep of the defunct teams.

 

1John E. Peterson, The Kansas City Athletics: A Baseball History, 1954–1967 (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2012), 148. 

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Well worth the long wait for the Surfin' A's! I like everything you've done here, most notably the blue & gold color scheme. The primary logo is really fun and I love the interlocking Old English "SD" mark. My only suggestion would be to angle the scripts on the home and road jerseys. They look a little too static the way they are now. 

 

Curious who's up next. The KC Athletics? 

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@SFGiants58 Hey man.... once again, I'm late to a thread you have started and well, let's just say you continue to hit these out of the park. Every one of these designs looks amazing and would look awesome on any baseball field. 

Now, considering the Expos situation.... there was a few options of to where the team would move after they folded besides Washington (Norfolk, Virginia ; Portland, Oregon ; Monterry, Mexico & Las Vegas, Nevada according to this.) Could we see a few interpretations of what might have been from you in regards to to that scenario, maybe even with one of them choosing to keep the Expos name? 

new_orleans_krewe_player_sig___qb_donny_

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3 hours ago, SFGiants58 said:

I mocked it up, but I like the script style a little more. The cursive/Old English fits more with Safeco Field's neo-retro aesthetic.

Not to be pedantic but they wouldn't wear their road uniforms at Safeco Field ?

 

Everything you've done here has been awesome, though. This San Diego concept looks really good, although I'm sort of wondering what would happen if you tried to work the light blue in as an accent color? Excited for what I presume will be the Expos.

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On 9/6/2018 at 5:06 PM, neo_prankster said:

 

Will this be the Browns or the Expos?

 

Great job on the San Diego A's.

 

Thanks! I've already done the Browns in several  variations. I've also got an Expos concept from my previous thread, which I'll repost here when the time comes (chronological). I'll do a few further variants on them (e.g., one with the "elbM," one with something from the rejected name list, etc.)

 

On 9/6/2018 at 6:03 PM, Jimmy Lethal said:

Well, it's good to know it'll be something different. No offense to you, all of these concepts look fantastic... but I'm gettin' kinda sick of the A's.

 

Thanks. This one (in this post) should be the last of the A's for a while. Before getting into the project, I had no idea about how thoroughly that asshat Charlie O. Finley pimped out the A's to literally every viable market that didn't have a team. I'm legitimately sick of doing A's concepts, as it gets hard to make this damn team look different for each location. Luckily, the 1970s/80s will only have three relocation destinations for them (New Orleans, Chicago, and Phoenix). After that, it's just San Jose and Portland (that last one based on hella loose rumors from our Portland MLB thread). 

 

On 9/6/2018 at 6:29 PM, coco1997 said:

Well worth the long wait for the Surfin' A's! I like everything you've done here, most notably the blue & gold color scheme. The primary logo is really fun and I love the interlocking Old English "SD" mark. My only suggestion would be to angle the scripts on the home and road jerseys. They look a little too static the way they are now. 

 

Curious who's up next. The KC Athletics? 

 

Thanks! The primary logo was a joy to create. I did consider angled scripts, but I prefer the straight across. It looks more like a surfboard/surf shop graphic that way. Still, angled scripts look pretty good here.

 

NxFWVzO.png a8TvI4o.png

 

On 9/6/2018 at 6:42 PM, seancarter said:

I like see team in Nashville Tennessee don’t care which team u chose but Braves would be nice 

 

Yeah, that's not happening. I'm sorry, but unless there's verifiable evidence of a team attempting to move to a location, I won't put it in the series. It's a historical exercise that tries to remain grounded.

 

On 9/6/2018 at 7:21 PM, ChicagoOakland said:

It looks like Stomper is surfing on a banana.

 

I love it so much.

 

Thanks! It's goofy, but I love a good dollop of goofy.

 

On 9/6/2018 at 8:01 PM, KittSmith_95 said:

@SFGiants58 Hey man.... once again, I'm late to a thread you have started and well, let's just say you continue to hit these out of the park. Every one of these designs looks amazing and would look awesome on any baseball field. 

Now, considering the Expos situation.... there was a few options of to where the team would move after they folded besides Washington (Norfolk, Virginia ; Portland, Oregon ; Monterry, Mexico & Las Vegas, Nevada according to this.) Could we see a few interpretations of what might have been from you in regards to to that scenario, maybe even with one of them choosing to keep the Expos name? 

 

Thank you! I'm contemplating how to handle the Expos' potential relocations, and I've decided to follow Stadium Page's listings of Portland, Norfolk, and Northern Virginia. I'll probably combine the two Virginia locales under the state name and go with something state-related. In the "modern age of branding," I doubt the Expos name would really work anywhere else.

 

On 9/6/2018 at 8:32 PM, ItDoesntMatter said:

Not to be pedantic but they wouldn't wear their road uniforms at Safeco Field ?

 

Everything you've done here has been awesome, though. This San Diego concept looks really good, although I'm sort of wondering what would happen if you tried to work the light blue in as an accent color? Excited for what I presume will be the Expos.

 

Ha! Thanks. I did think about light blue as a more prominent accent, but I don't like adding additional outlines that would muddle up a look/blur with the royal blue or background color. My early version of the A's had powder blue as the blue shade, but I rejected it for looking too washed-out.

 

UOv1NjW.png

 

On 9/6/2018 at 9:54 PM, BellaSpurs said:

Love love love San Diego one of my favorites yet, the stomper is so quirky and unique, colors and wordmarks and all. Fantastic work!

 

Thanks!

 

Anyway, it's on to the least-beloved defunct team, the Kansas City Athletics!

 

KANSAS CITY ATHLETICS, PT. I - Kauffman Coughs up a Modernized Classic

 

When analyzing why the A's failed to gain traction in Kansas City and are the least well-remembered relocated team, there are two easy targets to blame. They are:

 

Asshat Owner #1 - Arnold "Yankee Fetishist" Johnson

 

Q91IP9y.jpg

 

As stated previously in the thread, the Athletics left Philadelphia as the result of family squabbles and financial problems within the Mack family, leaving them in the position for Arnold Johnson (owner of Yankee Stadium and Blues Stadium - home of the Yankee affiliate Kansas City Blues) to buy the team with the assistance of the Yankees' lobbying (also helped by squabbles within the various Philadelphia-based syndicates vying to buy the A's).1 While he sold his Yankee Stadium property, Johnson found other ways to benefit New York for his own gain. His ownership period of 1955-60 saw the team turn into an unofficial Yankees minor-league team, as the A's performing 16 trades with New York (including the infamous Roger Maris exchange).2 There were also rumors about him trying to move the team to Los Angeles, but that petered out around the time he died in 1960.

 

Johnson was one of baseball greatest villains, crippling a team for the "greater good" of the Yankees. Hearing about these shenanigans/obvious collusion makes it all too apparent why baseball faced popularity problems outside of New York (the 1950s were anything but a golden age for the sport). Arnold Johnson/Yankee owners Del Webb and Dan Topping's actions make the Stanton trade look like child's play. After Johnson:

 

Asshat Owner #2: Charlie "O Great this Pompous Chode" Finley

 

T8NdjUc.jpg

 

(Source: a movie that sort of misses the point of the original book)

 

While Johnson may put the Jeter group to shame, Charlie O. Finley makes guys like Stan Kroenke and Austin Precourt look tame by comparison. If this series has demonstrated anything, it's that Finley had very little confidence in the Kansas City market. He straight-up said this:

 

Quote

"This is a horse- :censored: town. No one will ever do any good here."

 

While it was stated under duress (fighting with the AFL's Chiefs and Kansas City over his lease at Municipal Stadium), Charlie O. clearly had no intention on ever staying in the market.3 While he set the stage for successes in Oakland (rebuilding the minors - something Connie Mack never did, upgrading the identity by adopting the green/yellow color scheme, and doing silly promotions), he also sowed the seeds of instability under his watch (managerial shake-ups, exacting his abrasive personality on everybody around him, being cheap, etc.). He left after the Truman Sports Complex received approval, getting what he wanted all this time, for better or worse. However, what if a certain owner came in to stop the bleeding?

 

51550703.jpg.0.jpg

 

Meet Ewing Kauffman, Kansas City-based pharmaceuticals magnate whose wife Muriel wanted him to find a hobby.4 Let's assume that his wife inquired about buying a team earlier, throwing a dump truck full of money at Charlie O. to f--k off. What if he and his people reshaped the team's visual (and competitive) identity?

 

The Kauffman ownership would undo much of what Charlie O. did to the team's identity. Kelly would leave the identity in favor of royal blue (288 C), with yellow-gold remaining as an accent (to prevent the Midwest Dodgers look). Much like the Royals, the team would experiment with powder blue road uniforms, cursive scripts (modernizing the Johnson-era look - Old English + cursive - without the stigma of his crapulence), and asymmetrical stripes (a 1980s/90s development, reinstated during the '00s - with a placket variant), all while maintaining Mack-style traits (the white elephant, Old English insignias, and a home uniform with the "A" crest) and not veering far from their core look.

 

The primary logo is a "royal" crest, featuring two baseballs, an Old English interlocking "KC," and the slightly-updated white elephant from my Louisville/Seattle concepts. The insignias are the secondary and tertiary logos. The wordmarks include both cursive and Clarendon Condensed marks.

 

EDIT: I updated the Old English C, thanks to @coco1997's suggestion. Here are the original images: logo sheethome and roadalternates one and two, and the dugout jacket.

 

EDIT #2: I updated the Old English "KC" and the elephant in the primary logo. Here is a comparison, and here are the second set of images: Logo SheetHome and Road uniformsAlternates set one and two (with throwback remaining the same), and the primary dugout jacket.

 

Nsqwp8Y.png

 

The home and road set features asymmetrical stripes on the sleeves, trousers, and placket. I assumed that it would be a 1980s creation, as a means of modernizing a pullover/sansabelt-era look. The primary is on the sleeve, while the tri-stripe (from the '20s-'30s Philadelphia teams) is on the socks. The home set has the "A" insignia, while the powder blue-tinted road uniform displays an Old English/cursive "Kansas City" script. Wilson Varisty numbers pair well with Rawlings Block NOB's.

 

rhEiDiv.png

 

The alternates include a powder blue top with the "Athletics" script. It's a little homage to the first KC A's team (the only honor Johnson was worthy of), paired with the 1970s "glory years" powder blue. There's no yellow-gold jersey, as I'm really sick of featuring them thought that management wouldn't want to indulge in a Charlie O.'s B R A N D of Fort Knox Gold. The "KC" cap has a gold bill, pairing well with the blue jersey.

 

A3yeh7J.png

 

The second set of alternates include the "KC" cap on the home uniform and a 1942  Kansas City Monarchs throwback.

 

QZkcQTQ.png

 

The jackets are pretty simple, highlighting the sock striping pattern on the trim of each uniform.

7pY0ksB.png vCOrjEA.png

 

The Kansas City Athletics were not beyond redemption and could have turned their identity around to produce a fantastic look. C+C is appreciated, as always!

 

For the first alternate take, put on your red shoes and dance the...

 

cc6L8im.png

 

1Robert D. Warrington, “Departure Without Dignity: The Athletics Leave Philadelphia | Society for American Baseball Research,” Society for American Baseball Research, accessed June 25, 2018, https://sabr.org/research/departure-without-dignity-athletics-leave-philadelphia.

2David L. Fleitz, “Baseball Almanac - The Corner of the Dugout : The Yankees and the A’s,” Baseball Almanac, accessed September 7, 2018, http://www.baseball-almanac.com/corner/c042001b.shtml; Jeff Zimmerman, “Valuing Trades Between the Kansas City A’s and New York Yankees,” Royals Review, July 12, 2010, https://www.royalsreview.com/2010/7/12/1565414/valuing-trades-between-the-kansas.

3John E. Peterson, The Kansas City Athletics: A Baseball History, 1954–1967 (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2012), 179.

4Max Rieper, “Fifty Years Ago Today, Ewing Kauffman Became the First Owner in Royals History,” Royals Review, January 11, 2018,  https://www.royalsreview.com/2018/1/11/16878996/fifty-years-ago-today-ewing-kauffman-became-the-first-owner-in-royals-history.

 

Edited by SFGiants58
I updated the Old English C, then performed a larger update some time later.
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The only thing that doesn't really work for me with the KC A's is the Old English "C." Could you try making the vertical stroke in the middle detached from the rest of the letter like this?

 

printable-letter-holyunion-c.jpg?v=2

I can already tell I'm going to love the alternate take. It's been a while since we've gotten one of your totally original identities, and you always hit them out of the park!

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On 9/6/2018 at 2:45 PM, SFGiants58 said:

 

nW4Ir2Y.png

???

 

That Surfin' Stomper is a lot of fun, as is the SD logo and yellow jersey! I'm curious about a yellow, blue-brimmed SD cap for the blue alt...

 

The Kansas City A's look really good, though I agree with @coco1997 about the C. That powder blue looks really good, and gotta like a colored-sleeves jersey like your Monarchs throwback. The KC hat is nice (more interesting than the A at this point... ?)

Honestly, KC just really looks good in double blue, so I imagine your upcoming Blues will be good!

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On 9/7/2018 at 8:18 AM, coco1997 said:

The only thing that doesn't really work for me with the KC A's is the Old English "C." Could you try making the vertical stroke in the middle detached from the rest of the letter like this?

 

printable-letter-holyunion-c.jpg?v=2

I can already tell I'm going to love the alternate take. It's been a while since we've gotten one of your totally original identities, and you always hit them out of the park!

 

Thanks! I implemented the updated “Old English C,” and it really improved the look! I’ve updated the original, and I’ve got a comparison here:

 

5YzbX3L.png

 

23 hours ago, KittSmith_95 said:

I was hoping for more hints towards the old Monarchs look.... mostly the 1920's "KC" as the cap logo instead of the A and a richer navy instead of Royal Blue. 

 

Yeah, I can see where you’re coming from with that. I wanted to create an A’s/Royals hybrid with more elements from the team’s pre-relocation history (brighter blue shades, scripts, and that format of “KC” logo). I couldn’t really see the Athletics adopting too many hallmarks of the Monarchs, especially when the A’s had a successful history of their own to fall back on for their identity. Don’t worry, you’ll get a nice touch of Monarchs for both alternate takes!

 

10 hours ago, vtgco said:

???

 

That Surfin' Stomper is a lot of fun, as is the SD logo and yellow jersey! I'm curious about a yellow, blue-brimmed SD cap for the blue alt...

 

The Kansas City A's look really good, though I agree with @coco1997 about the C. That powder blue looks really good, and gotta like a colored-sleeves jersey like your Monarchs throwback. The KC hat is nice (more interesting than the A at this point... ?)

Honestly, KC just really looks good in double blue, so I imagine your upcoming Blues will be good!

 

Thanks, I had a feeling you’d like the “I can’t believe it’s not Neutraface” road uniform! I’m definitely going to bring in a gold cap for a future update of the SD Athletics.

 

The Blues will be up later today!

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Big improvement on the new "C." Just like the updated "M" you did for the Milwaukee A's, it makes a huge difference. 

 

Can't wait to see the Blues! 

 

EDIT: Since the remaining A's relocations (Chicago, Phoenix, New Orleans) would have occurred in the '70s, does that mean you'll be switching to a pullover look for them?

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On 9/8/2018 at 10:50 AM, coco1997 said:

Big improvement on the new "C." Just like the updated "M" you did for the Milwaukee A's, it makes a huge difference. 

 

Can't wait to see the Blues! 

 

EDIT: Since the remaining A's relocations (Chicago, Phoenix, New Orleans) would have occurred in the '70s, does that mean you'll be switching to a pullover look for them?

 

Thanks! I'm weaning myself off of Liebe's guides for A's-style Old English letters, as they're often messy.

 

Oakland.gif

 

They're a good base, but they need expanding upon. As for the question of how I decide the eventual appearance of each team, I find myself looking to two things:

 

1. How the team looks now, as well as their successful periods in history (e.g., Minnesota Giants and Washington Sens/Nats).

2. What the team in the current location looks like, and how the history of the location and local owners may have shaped the look (e.g., Atlanta and San Diego Athletics).

3. What the team looked like when the move happened, and the initial reaction to said move.

 

Most of the A's relocations I've done involved the Kansas City period's experimentation after Johnson's generic script set. Had the move happened with the Swingin' A's pullovers (albeit in their steep decline), a more radical alteration may be possible. Chicago would involve the eventual sale of the team to Reinsdorf, while Coangelo may have bought the Phoenix equivalent. Such moves will prove to markedly change the A's aesthetics by the 1990s. Throwbacks will happen, but we'll see when we get there (after some time away to deal with a few other teams).

 

Anyway, it's time to put on your red shoes and dance the blues!

 

KANSAS CITY BLUES, PART II A - Royally Blued

 

When one thinks about Kansas City's musical history, one often turns to Jazz before the Blues. However, Kansas City has its own style of Blues music (which helped to found jump blues) that bred several of the genres' best performers (e.g., Pete Johnson, Jay McShann, and Big Joe Turner). Here are some examples of the style:

 

Big Joe Turner - Shake, Rattle, & Roll

Pete Johnson - Rocket Boogie

Jay McShann - Hootie Street Blues

 

It may not be as famous as the Blues from St. Louis, but it's still an influential school of composition that bled over into Jazz, R&B, and early Rock 'N Roll.1 It's an important part of the city's cultural influence. For further reading, here is the Wikipedia article on the style, as well as a link to the Kansas City Blues Society and an article from Experience Kansas City.

 

Unrelated to this musical tradition, the American Association team in Kansas City adopted the Blues name. The Kansas City Blues  were a Yankees affiliate, developing a few of the team's best players of the 1940s and '50s (e.g., Mickey Mantle for 40 games and Phil Rizzuto). Bleephead Arnold Johnson owned both Yankee Stadium and the Blues' stadium (Municipal Stadium), forcing the Blues to move to Denver once the A's relocated. While Johnson insisted on maintaining the Athletics name, let's assume that he decided to be way less subtle about his intentions for running the team, and renamed them the Blues.

 

I reasoned that the name would have stuck around during Johnson's tenure, with Finley maintaining/experimenting with it (think early attempts at double blue, perhaps inspired by the AFL's Oilers' use of powder blue, alongside several universities and the White Sox's 1966 road uniform). Kauffman, seeing the absolute mess the franchise was in by the time of his purchase in the late-1960s, would commission a complete redesign to rejuvenate the club.

 

New ownership would avoid falling back on the visual history of the Blues, as it was fairly conservative and Yankee-like:

53kanblu.png mantle+selkirk+51+blues.jpg

 

So, let's assume that much like the Royals, Kauffman turned to Hallmark to handle the new brand. Shannon Manning's designs (along with some other designers' influence) would win, with a guitar pick primary logo, an italicized cap logo, and cursive scripts. All of these elements would subtly incorporate music notes, similar to the "hidden letter" technique of the period (Expos, Canucks, Brewers, etc.). Much like the Royals, the brand would remain largely unchanged with the passage of time, only incorporating minor tweaks and maybe a navy-heavy phase (akin to the Royals' BFBS era).

 

The team uses a double blue color scheme, with a dark royal (294 C, like the Dodgers) and a well-saturated light blue (299 C). The guitar pick primary logo features a baseball with the "KC" logo, the sock stripes, team script, and a music note. The cap logo (a modified version of the Royals' design) is the secondary, while an imitation of a record label is the tertiary. It features the "KC" logo, a music note, a trumpet (based on this reference), a baseball (in the place of the spindle opening), and references to the team's former and current names (the only bit of the A's left in the identity). Clarendon Condensed remains for the wordmarks.

 

EDIT: I have updated the guitar pick logo to incorporate the updated sock stripes, while also moving the "Blues" script to the bottom (and turning it into a Clarendon Condensed wordmark, a la the 1969-78 Royals primary). The tertiary has been simplified, per @vtgco's suggestion. On the uniforms, I've shrunken the white stripes while providing better spacing, as suggested by @the admiral. Also, I flipped the color balance on the royal alternate to favor white with powder outlines (thanks, vtgco). Here are the original images: Logo SheetHome and RoadAlternates 1 and 2, and the primary dugout jacket.

 

kiCyqv9.png

 

The home and road set further the multi-blue angle, with powder cap bills, lettering (with royal outlines), and sock bottoms. The sock tops feature the 6-string stripe, a bit of a 1967 Pittsburgh Penguins cue. MLB Block with Serifs is the number font, while Rawlings Block appears for the NOBs. Sleeves feature the primary and a truncated version of the sock stripes, while the road uniform uses a powder blue base (to homage them wearing powder road uniforms for most of their existence).

 

9jhzP9U.png

 

The alternates play with the color scheme a bit. The powder jersey has the tertiary patch and a matching cap (not unlike what the Royals did for a while), while the royal outfit has the "KC" logo on the chest and a powder with white outlines color balance. 

 

txs5yPP.png

 

The second set of alternates features both an alt cap pairing for the home uniform and a Monarchs throwback. Since the AA Blues' visual history was so tied to the Yankees, I reasoned that a Monarchs throwback would be better-received by fans. This is my attempt to recreate the 1924 home uniform of the team, from when they won the Colored World Series for the first time. It was the Monarchs uniform with the most blue on it (save for that season's all-navy road uniform), so it worked with the AL Club's identity.

 

NcCb5zW.png

 

The primary dugout jacket has contrast-colored sleeves (with white shoulder inserts), while the throwback outfit uses the "Monarchs" script on the front.

 

zVOJPj4.png xx2po7h.png

 

These Blues not only pay tribute to the history of Kansas City baseball, but they also illustrate how the former A's/future Royals' identities could have adopted a more local focus. Having another team named "Blues" does leave a question as to what the St. Louis hockey team would look like. I'd presume that they'd have adopted another local name, such as Crusaders (for the city's namesake, Louis IX) or Pioneers ("Gateway to the West").

 

C+C is appreciated, as always! Up next, it's time for a coronation.

 

1Edward Komara, Encyclopedia Of The Blues, vol. 2, 2 vols. (New York, NY: Psychology Press, 2006), http://archive.org/details/EncyclopediaOfTheBlues.

Edited by SFGiants58
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Big fan of powder blue as a base color, a team should be doing that. My only concern is the six-string striping on the socks: it might be too busy to register as such. I was playing around with the Nashville Sounds in Perds yellow and navy the other day and thought maybe five blue stripes (a staff) on yellow socks could be a nice musical touch. So maybe just six stripes in white or royal on columbia?

 

Maybe the St. Louis Blues could have wound up as the Checkers if Purina had gotten in on the ground floor of that dodgy little enterprise: the expansion team no one but the Black Hawks asked for.

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

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I think this is one your best concepts to date! I’m a sucker for a music-themed identity and would love to see one in MLB. (Heck, you could take the Nashville Sounds, use one of their earlier uniform designs, tweak the colors a bit and promote them to the Majors and you’d have an instant classic.)

 

I love what you’ve done with the Royals’ “KC” logo by incorporating the music note head, and the logos and scripts are all perfect. I don’t think there’s a single thing I’d change. Bravo!

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I love that "Blues" script with the music note B! The KC monogram looks good too!

 

Great choice with the Monarchs jersey here, especially that hat!

 

I'm also a big fan of the light blue alt; it's got the best color balancing & contrast b/w the script & background.

 

I think the numbers & logo on the Navy alt ought to match the cap logo (white w/ LB outline).

 

I like the ideas behind your logos, but I think they're a bit busy, especially the tertiary. I'd focus on that trumpet! On the primary logo, maybe ditch the script?

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