San Diego Padres focus-grouping new uniforms for 2020

[Around the Horn]

Why did they change out of the blue and gold uniforms from 2016? That was a gorgeous look and the only real bad thing about it was the SD on the home unis.

[ChicagoOakland]

13 hours ago, kroywen said:

And to think that the Kansas City Royals have existed just as long, and have an unmistakable brand that seems almost as traditional as that of older teams.

 

The brown and gold is unique and obviously beloved among fans. Long past due for the organization to similarly embrace it as well.

To be fair, the Royals' identity was designed by an artist at Kansas City staple Hallmark (of greeting card fame) and the Padres were owned by a local tuna magnate and the person who shaped McDonald's.

[FiddySicks]

2 hours ago, Around the Horn said:

Why did they change out of the blue and gold uniforms from 2016? That was a gorgeous look and the only real bad thing about it was the SD on the home unis.

 

Because the Padres are stupid.

[Ray Lankford]

7 hours ago, SFGiants58 said:

I’m just surprised navy/orange wasn’t more liked. Remember 1998, the first bits of sustained success for the team, and the latter half of Tony Gwynn’s career?

This is almost shocking. Most Padres fans seem pretty fond of the 98 throwbacks and the players seem to love it. 

[Gothamite]

3 hours ago, Ray Lankford said:

Most Padres fans seem pretty fond of the 98 throwbacks 

 

“Pretty fond” doesn’t seem to translate into actually wanting them back, though. 

[kroywen]

27 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

 

“Pretty fond” doesn’t seem to translate into actually wanting them back, though. 

 

Doesn't help that they're rather dated. The wordmarks are very 80's:

 

 

 

 

You can probably make some massive updates to bring these wordmarks into the 21st Century, but I think they're just so painfully dated that there's not going to be much of a groundswell to bring them back.

[Matito]

14 hours ago, Gothamite said:

 

I not aware of the PCL club ever wearing it. But it would look good. 

 

And be good call on the SD flag.  This is also a fantastic color scheme. 

 

I don't want this, simply because it would ruin my insane pipe dream of the Rays finally coming to their senses, rebranding as the Pelicans, and wearing the Senior League throwbacks full-time.

[kroywen]

7 hours ago, ChicagoOakland said:

To be fair, the Royals' identity was designed by an artist at Kansas City staple Hallmark (of greeting card fame) and the Padres were owned by a local tuna magnate and the person who shaped McDonald's.

 

True, but McDonald's is a perfect example of how to have an instantly recognizable brand. I'm sure Ray Kroc had access to plenty of branding experts during his years owning the Padres. The guy owned a company with whom the red-and-yellow color scheme is permanently associated - he could've built a consistent, successful brand for the Padres.

[Cardsblues02]

Hope its the Navy and White! They need to move past the brown.

[MilSox]

3 minutes ago, Cardsblues02 said:

Hope its the Navy and White! They need to move past the brown.

 

Can I buy some pot from you?

[Gothamite]

37 minutes ago, kroywen said:

True, but McDonald's is a perfect example of how to have an instantly recognizable brand. I'm sure Ray Kroc had access to plenty of branding experts during his years owning the Padres. The guy owned a company with whom the red-and-yellow color scheme is permanently associated - he could've built a consistent, successful brand for the Padres.

 

He did. 

 

And the year after he died, the Padres dropped gold and started downhill. 

[OnWis97]

52 minutes ago, Cardsblues02 said:

Hope its the Navy and White! They need to move past the brown.

I don't agree. 

 

But given how polarizing brown is...it might be a rational choice to move past the brown.  But if so, does it have to be blue and white?  That's what irks me about all of this.  The focus group should be "we're moving on from blue and white...we want to be distinctive with a color scheme we'll keep for the next 50 years."  The All-Star blue and yellow could be considered given that that color scheme is long dead (thank you Brewers).  Or even something out of the box like the red and yellow discussed above.  

 

But blue and white is the absolute worst thing they can do.  They are probably the least-distinctive team in MLB.  They play out west.  They are the only team in sports that can say they are the fifth-most-important team in the league in their own state.  They need to do something to be different.  I understand (though will be disappointed) if they don't go brown.  But status quo should not be an option.

[oldschoolvikings]

2 hours ago, Matito said:

I don't want this, simply because it would ruin my insane pipe dream of the Rays finally coming to their senses, rebranding as the Pelicans, and wearing the Senior League throwbacks full-time.

 

I know it's a different team, but can we get some dopey birds up there?

 

[Lights Out]

The blue-and-gold look has become very overrated, in all honesty. They still looked boring and derivative; the only difference was that they were trying to rip off the Rays instead of the Yankees. Plus, what people always leave out when they pine for the 2016 look is that gold still wasn't used on the road uniforms or anywhere else outside of the brown-and-gold fauxbacks (which were the actual best part of that set). It was just another half-assed attempt at a rebrand, like everything else the Padres have done since they ditched brown.

 

At the end of the day, until the Padres go back to their roots and embrace the brown-and-gold color scheme, they will never truly have an identity.

 

[Cardsblues02]

1 hour ago, OnWis97 said:

I don't agree. 

 

But given how polarizing brown is...it might be a rational choice to move past the brown.  But if so, does it have to be blue and white?  That's what irks me about all of this.  The focus group should be "we're moving on from blue and white...we want to be distinctive with a color scheme we'll keep for the next 50 years."  The All-Star blue and yellow could be considered given that that color scheme is long dead (thank you Brewers).  Or even something out of the box like the red and yellow discussed above.  

 

But blue and white is the absolute worst thing they can do.  They are probably the least-distinctive team in MLB.  They play out west.  They are the only team in sports that can say they are the fifth-most-important team in the league in their own state.  They need to do something to be different.  I understand (though will be disappointed) if they don't go brown.  But status quo should not be an option.

 

2 hours ago, NicDB said:

 

Can I buy some pot from you?

I get where you guys are coming from. Just my personal opinion, the Brown/Yellow is ugly as hell. Navy fits the Padres better.

 

I will admit it’s probably because my entire life the Padres have been in Navy Blue and Sand. If you were born pre 1995, I understand why you would love the brown. 

[Gothamite]

4 minutes ago, Cardsblues02 said:

 

I will admit it’s probably because my entire life the Padres have been in Navy Blue and Sand. If you were born pre 1995, I understand why you would love the brown. 

 

Being a child of the AL in the days before cable, I have almost no memory of the Padres in brown.  And absolutely no first-hand memory of the days before they added orange.  I just think the color combination looks better, and has the added benefit of being unique in baseball.

[MilSox]

^Same.  Apart from the occasional baseball card of a Padres player from the late 80s, I have no memories of the Padres in brown.  The navy and orange 90s unis are what come to mind for me as "the Padres uniforms."

But from a branding perspective, it makes a whole helluva lot more sense to own a color no one else is using than to be yet another team using the sport's most common color.  The Rockies lack of willingness to go all in on purple frustrates me for the same reason.

[Gothamite]

2 hours ago, OnWis97 said:

But given how polarizing brown is...

 

But that's the interesting thing about these focus groups - brown isn't polarizing.  Quite the opposite, actually.  From the original article:

 

Quote

Brown and yellow was the favorite with blue and white close behind. Neither had a majority. Brown and yellow also was the least disliked. And the people that favored brown and yellow did so to a greater degree than those who preferred any other combination.

 

From this, sure seems as though it'll be easier for the club to form a consensus around brown than around any other color.  

[Ray Lankford]

1 hour ago, Lights Out said:

The blue-and-gold look has become very overrated, in all honesty. They still looked boring and derivative; the only difference was that they were trying to rip off the Rays instead of the Yankees.

Uhhhh

What?

[OnWis97]

1 hour ago, Lights Out said:

The blue-and-gold look has become very overrated, in all honesty. They still looked boring and derivative; the only difference was that they were trying to rip off the Rays instead of the Yankees. Plus, what people always leave out when they pine for the 2016 look is that gold still wasn't used on the road uniforms or anywhere else outside of the brown-and-gold fauxbacks (which were the actual best part of that set). It was just another half-assed attempt at a rebrand, like everything else the Padres have done since they ditched brown.

 

At the end of the day, until the Padres go back to their roots and embrace the brown-and-gold color scheme, they will never truly have an identity.

 

One would assume that they'd integrate the gold into the road and dark-blue alternates.  I don't think anyone means they should simply go back to that home jersey with the blue-only road jersey.

 

I agree with this.  If they go to something like blue/gold and stick with it for a couple of decades, they could eventually establish it as an identity.  But if they go to brown (brown and anything), they will re-establish their identity instantly.  They've made far too many changes at this point to be "established" any other way.  Kinda like the Astros, whose latest change instantly told us who they were.