MLB Changes 2020

[WSU151]

The coolest part about the Astros' western look was the chain stitching on the wordmarks and logos (similar to Phillies and Cardinals). 

 

Other than that, I thought the whole look was a downgrade from to the 90s navy and gold. 

[The_Admiral]

I hated the Astros teams of the early 2000s (the Astros being my last hope to deny the 2005 White Sox was an exceedingly dark time in my baseball fandom) and I hated those uniforms. A drop-shadowed faux-cursive script with a weirdly attached underline, all on pinstripes? And a color scheme they'd never used on top of all that? Absolute garbage. Should be considered along the periwinkle Anaheim Angels as among the all-time worst, but only gets a pass because they picked up a pennant and a few wild cards. The uniform of prestige losing.

[FiddySicks]

The Astros “western” style look wasn’t perfect. I’ll definitely admit that the pinstripes were unnecessary and the word marks were overly intricate and could’ve used a change. Had they kept that color scheme (which was great for a space themed team) and made the word marks match the space theme a bit better, they would’ve looked fantastic. 

 

And while the uniforms were a bit of a head scratcher, the primary marks were fantastic. The non italicized Star was great because it conveyed basically the exact same thing as the italicized star, but it did it in a more aesthetically pleasing block of space. I also REALLY liked the alt logo with the star over Texas. 

 

 

It’s got one outline too many, but it’s close. 

 

[LordBigMad]

On 4/17/2020 at 6:14 PM, tohasbo said:

Using this as a road alternate cap or REPLACING the O's cap would be a step in the right direction...

 

On 4/18/2020 at 7:38 AM, Gothamite said:

Anything replacing the O’s cap would be a step in the right direction. 

 

Replacing the smiling Oriole bird is pure blasphemy IMO. Even though it's been several years now, it feels like we just (finally!) got it back.

 

it's perfect in every way IMO. Timeless, beautiful, unique. Especially the cap with the white crown. I hope it never changes.

 

I would not be opposed to *adding* an alternate cap or two with a "B" on it.

[CaliforniaGlowin]

I hated that the Astros had the same colors as the D-Backs. 

[FinsUp1214]

16 minutes ago, CaliforniaGlowin said:

I hated that the Astros had the same colors as the D-Backs. 

I didn’t like that color scheme for Houston either, but in their defense, they beat Arizona to it a few years before. Blame Arizona for the two having the same colors for a period of time, not Houston.

[Ridleylash]

50 minutes ago, FinsUp1214 said:

I didn’t like that color scheme for Houston either, but in their defense, they beat Arizona to it a few years before. Blame Arizona for the two having the same colors for a period of time, not Houston.

That version of the star is still pretty slick, though. Way better than the version they have now.

 

EDIT: Honestly, the Astros' brand is pretty bland overall. I'd love for them to go back to a more space-y style of logo like they had in the late 90's, instead of a generic block font roundel. Something akin to this quick little concept would be nice;

[FinsUp1214]

1 hour ago, Ridleylash said:

That version of the star is still pretty slick, though. Way better than the version they have now.

 

Oh yeah, I loved the 2000 version star too. I loved that, as has been posted earlier, it conveyed the same meaning as the 1994 star but in a simpler, almost modernist way. I just wasn’t as big a fan of the colors it went with. Maybe burnt orange, navy, and gold or sand would’ve worked better? Kinda Baron Davis era Warriorsy, but I think the Astros could rock that color scheme well with the abstract star.

[IceCap]

2 hours ago, FinsUp1214 said:

I didn’t like that color scheme for Houston either, but in their defense, they beat Arizona to it a few years before. Blame Arizona for the two having the same colors for a period of time, not Houston.

It fits the Diamondbacks better though. They're named after desert snakes. I feel like brick red, black, and sand is appropriate. 

 

The Astros shouldn't have such an earthy scheme. Sure, they had it first but Arizona was the team that should have kept it. Thankfully that's how it worked out. 

[SFGiants58]

2 minutes ago, IceCap said:

It fits the Diamondbacks better though. They're named after desert snakes. I feel like brick red, black, and sand is appropriate. 

 

The Astros shouldn't have such an earthy scheme. Sure, they had it first but Arizona was the team that should have kept it. Thankfully that's how it worked out. 

 

Of course, the real solution would be for Arizona to go with this:

 

 

...while letting the Arizona Cardinals adopt the brick red/black/sand look. Purple/turquoise/copper will always be the better choice for Arizona baseball, like navy/orange/Tequila Sunrise is for the Astros.

[FinsUp1214]

9 minutes ago, IceCap said:

It fits the Diamondbacks better though. They're named after desert snakes. I feel like brick red, black, and sand is appropriate. 

 

The Astros shouldn't have such an earthy scheme. Sure, they had it first but Arizona was the team that should have kept it. Thankfully that's how it worked out. 

While the color scheme does work, I have a hard time believing they couldn’t have come up with something different from the Astros that still evokes a desert theme. I’ve seen plenty of concepts with various desert schemes that pull it off without looking like the old Astros. They could’ve even swapped sand for turquoise (or even goldenrod/yellow/whatever) originally and that’d still be plenty different. 

[The_Admiral]

Houston's not even in a desert! It's a paved-over swamp. It might even be a dumber city than Phoenix, which is in a desert.

[Digby]

I thought the Lucky Peach foodie crowd was making Houston cool because of Viet-Cajun cuisine. Which is great but doesn't fix everything else about that city.

[FiddySicks]

That particular color scheme did work better for the D Backs than the Astros, but I still wish they had gone with a darker maroon than brick red. That’s probably my ASU fandom speaking, though. 

 

I just wish the Astros had a more unique color scheme. The orange and navy is already used by the Tigers and has always been kind of boring for the Astros IMO. I liked the cutout star in part because both sets featured color schemes that were somewhat unique to them at the time. The D Backs aped the second scheme, and I guess you could say the Brewers were pretty close to the Astros first scheme, but not really.

[monkeypower]

I'm fine with the current Astros colours and logos, though I do also really like the previous set too, but I find their jerseys too plain. I don't really know how to explain it, but I think it's mostly because of the single colour piping.

[Dynasty]

The arched block script isn't really inspiring either.

[DarthBrett]

4 hours ago, Ridleylash said:

That version of the star is still pretty slick, though. Way better than the version they have now.

 

EDIT: Honestly, the Astros' brand is pretty bland overall. I'd love for them to go back to a more space-y style of logo like they had in the late 90's, instead of a generic block font roundel. Something akin to this quick little concept would be nice;

 

I really like that! A nice blend that works and also represents the different eras of the franchise. 

[monkeypower]

My biggest problem with the previous Astros set was that I think they got too cute, or too Dodgers, with the front numbers. 

 

All these jerseys had numbers on the back that shared the colouring and outlines of the script and NOB, but then for some reason they went with plain, non-outlined, different coloured front numbers on the home and away and then flipped the colours for the front numbers on the red alternate.

 

 

But they had the "correct" numbers on the non-pinstriped alternate.

[The_Admiral]

25 minutes ago, FiddySicks said:

I just wish the Astros had a more unique color scheme. The orange and navy is already used by the Tigers and has always been kind of boring for the Astros IMO.

 

Orange/navy/yellow? I did that for a Hamilton Tigers concept once (except it was more of a faded tealish navy than a true navy blue). But elevating yellow to a team color and not just part of inconsistently deployed Tequila Sunrise accents might make the difference. Also, keeping the hierarchy as orange/navy would help to set them off from the Tigers, who are navy and only sometimes orange. It's a color scheme that makes sense: flaming balls of gas in a night sky. 

 

Oh, and the Kerry Wood game was on yesterday (because it was the anniversary, but sometimes I feel like every day of my life is spent commemorating the Kerry Wood game), and it was a reminder that those Astros uniforms sucked bad too. The uniforms: plain! The number set: ugly! The NOBs: looked cheaply applied! The scripts: that big star at the end was kinda weird! 

[Carolingian Steamroller]

That snow white Astros set was a better design than it deserved to be.