MJD7 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Hello everyone! With pitchers and catchers starting to report, I'm excited to start a new series that explores how I would like to see Nike handle their upcoming takeover of Major League Baseball in 2020, now that the deal is official. Throughout this series, I'm going to try to modernize the looks of MLB in a way that looks clean and sleek, like the best of Nike's redesigns in other sports have been, and hopefully not too overbearing or out-there, like some of their less well-received designs have been. Effectively acting as a Part II to my original MLB Tweaks series, these are the parameters/goals I operated under when making these designs: Each team is going to have Nike-inspired methods of striping, patterns, logos, and sock designs that are representative of the team name, history, or city. I attempted to give each team their own unique number font as well, a seemingly Nike trademark among their redesigns. Following in the footsteps of the NFL's Color Rush and the NBA's City Edition designs, MLB will have its own "Turn Back the Clock" designs as an option for teams to wear for select games of their choosing. The designs won't be straight throwbacks, but will rather be inspired by designs of the team's past while fitting into the current branding, whether by logos or color scheme. In this series, I tried to keep the color schemes of all the red/blue teams intact, while also making efforts to distinguish each of them from the other teams through color distribution. Each red & blue team (the Braves, Red Sox, Cubs, Indians, Angels, Dodgers, Twins, Phillies, Cardinals, Rangers, Blue Jays, and Nationals, to be exact) will also have a "Part II" to their set where I try out a slightly different scheme for each to make Major League Baseball less red-&-blue-heavy. The away uniforms of each team, as opposed to being solid monochromatic colors as they were in my MLB Redesigns series, will all be gray but tinted towards a color befitting to each team. This is hopefully a more modest approach that still helps each team's away uniform be more unique and distinguishable among the league. Being in the age of social media, where profile picture, minimalist logos are so important, each team will have a batting practice jersey with a main logo front & center, allowing for greater visibility even from the upper levels of the stadium. These uniforms were greatly inspired by @bkknight95's designs in his very own MLB by NIKE series, which I encourage you all to check out, so credit goes to him for the original idea. He also designed the cleat template that @Carolingian Steamroller and I have used in the past and that I will be using for this series. In short, I just want to thank him for all of the inspiration he provided me for this series. I'd also like to thank @SFGiants58 for the inspiration and help he provided me on designs throughout this series, which I'll be sure to bring up throughout. Thanks go out to @Victormrey, @Carolingian Steamroller, @coco1997, and @Paul Lucas as well, for offering their much-needed advice on various designs. With that, let's get into the series! We'll be starting in the Junior Circuit, and going East-to-West through both leagues. I hope you all enjoy these concepts as much as I enjoyed making them! MLB x NIKE American League East Baltimore Orioles Boston Red Sox New York Yankees Tampa Bay Rays Toronto Blue Jays American League Central Chicago White Sox (Update) Cleveland Indians Detroit Tigers Kansas City Royals Minnesota Twins American League West Houston Astros Los Angeles Angels Oakland Athletics Seattle Mariners Texas Rangers National League East Atlanta Braves (Part II Update) Miami Marlins (Update) New York Mets Philadelphia Phillies Washington Nationals National League Central Chicago Cubs Cincinnati Reds (Update) Milwaukee Brewers (Throwback Set) Pittsburgh Pirates St. Louis Cardinals National League West Arizona Diamondbacks Colorado Rockies Los Angeles Dodgers San Diego Padres San Francisco Giants Expansion Charlotte Knights Indianapolis Blues Las Vegas Aviators (Update) London Lions Louisville Bats Mexico City Diablos Montreal Expos Nashville Sounds New Orleans Zephyrs Portland Beavers Rome Wolves Salt Lake Bees San Antonio Missions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJD7 Posted February 16, 2019 Author Share Posted February 16, 2019 First up, we have the Baltimore Orioles! This set ended up very similar to @bkknight95's version of the Orioles in his series. The O's already have a great identity, so all there really was to do was thicken the piping on the sleeves and pants a little bit and flip the colors on the orange alternate to better match the home jersey. The away uniform has a brown-ish tint to it, reflective of the bricks of the warehouse that juts into Camden Yards (NikeSpeak, I know, but you'll have to bare with me on this). The number font is Consort Extra Bold Condensed, the old Expos font, which I felt fits the Orioles old-fashioned identity they have going for them in their branding and in Camden Yards (one of my new favorite parks I've been to in baseball, without a doubt.) The BP design features the newly-designated primary cartoon bird, along with a throwback-style for the BP cap. The “Turn Back the Clock" uniform is based on their all-orange road look that the team trotted out during the early 70's. It's a pretty clean and simple look for the Orioles to start off, but any comments or criticisms you may have, as always, are greatly appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Lucas Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Spoiler alert: This is gonna be good!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victormrey Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Nice start! I can already tell this series is going to be great I'm specially looking forward to see the BP unis! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco1997 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 This series is going to be great! I'm on board with pretty much everything you've done with Baltimore, and I love that each team will have a BP and throwback set. My only minor nitpick is for the throwback, I'd use the actual script from the '70's uniforms: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinturner95 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 Big fan of the start already! Can't wait for the rest of the teams Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WavePunter Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 I vehemently oppose that number font, but the rest is fantastic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Section30 Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 22 minutes ago, WavePunter said: I vehemently oppose that number font, but the rest is fantastic I agree about the font, and I also think that the throwback should use the older script but other than that it is a great look for the O's Minnesota Amateur Hockey League MAHL Wiki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prrams95 Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 I'm not very exited about Nike taking over as they are going to put the creep on the chest but also looking at some jerseys that Nike do for college teams I dont really like the Jersey Cuts they have, but we'll have to wait and see what they do for the MLB. Anyway I like these, as some other people have said the number font isn't the best, But I actually really like the BP jersey. It reminds me of the Turn Ahead the Clock games but done better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJD7 Posted February 18, 2019 Author Share Posted February 18, 2019 On 2/16/2019 at 12:07 AM, Paul Lucas said: Spoiler alert: This is gonna be good!!! On 2/16/2019 at 11:07 AM, Victormrey said: Nice start! I can already tell this series is going to be great I'm specially looking forward to see the BP unis! On 2/16/2019 at 3:55 PM, bkknight95 said: Big fan of the start already! Can't wait for the rest of the teams Thank you guys! I hope you enjoy it! On 2/16/2019 at 1:46 PM, coco1997 said: This series is going to be great! I'm on board with pretty much everything you've done with Baltimore, and I love that each team will have a BP and throwback set. My only minor nitpick is for the throwback, I'd use the actual script from the '70's uniforms: 23 hours ago, Section30 said: I agree about the font, and I also think that the throwback should use the older script but other than that it is a great look for the O's Thank you both! I updated the throwback with the old time script above, but I've got to admit, the little tail above the "O" has always bugged me in that wordmark, so I decided to remove it. 23 hours ago, WavePunter said: I vehemently oppose that number font, but the rest is fantastic 13 hours ago, prrams95 said: I'm not very exited about Nike taking over as they are going to put the creep on the chest but also looking at some jerseys that Nike do for college teams I dont really like the Jersey Cuts they have, but we'll have to wait and see what they do for the MLB. Anyway I like these, as some other people have said the number font isn't the best, But I actually really like the BP jersey. It reminds me of the Turn Ahead the Clock games but done better. Thank you both very much! To be honest, I'm quite surprised at the distaste for the number font, just because I thought it was a pretty safe choice for them. Those who suggested a change, do you have any suggestions other than MLB Standard Block? I felt the Expos font fit pretty well, but I'm open to other options. I just want to avoid having to resort to the generic block fonts for this series in particular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WavePunter Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 1 minute ago, MJD7 said: Thank you guys! I hope you enjoy it! Thank you both! I updated the throwback with the old time script above, but I've got to admit, the little tail above the "O" has always bugged me in that wordmark, so I decided to remove it. Thank you both very much! To be honest, I'm quite surprised at the distaste for the number font, just because I thought it was a pretty safe choice for them. Those who suggested a change, do you have any suggestions other than MLB Standard Block? I felt the Expos font fit pretty well, but I'm open to other options. I just want to avoid having to resort to the generic block fonts for this series in particular. I don't have any off the top of my head, but I'll think about it.. also, as for the throwback script, I could go either way on it.. historical accuracy is fine since it IS a throwback after all, but I'm also ok with some creative license for perceived improvements Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJD7 Posted February 18, 2019 Author Share Posted February 18, 2019 8 minutes ago, WavePunter said: I don't have any off the top of my head, but I'll think about it.. also, as for the throwback script, I could go either way on it.. historical accuracy is fine since it IS a throwback after all, but I'm also ok with some creative license for perceived improvements Sounds good! And for sure, I will say that in this series most of the “throwbacks” (really fauxbacks, as you’ll see) I have planned keep logos similar to their main set for brand consistency, but there will be some where I more directly reference the throwback sets they’re based off of. In the O’s case, with the throwback already being so similar to the regular orange alt (and with a lot of discussion currently in the MLB Changes thread about the old wordmark being great), it makes sense to utilize the old script for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WavePunter Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 4 hours ago, MJD7 said: Sounds good! And for sure, I will say that in this series most of the “throwbacks” (really fauxbacks, as you’ll see) I have planned keep logos similar to their main set for brand consistency, but there will be some where I more directly reference the throwback sets they’re based off of. In the O’s case, with the throwback already being so similar to the regular orange alt (and with a lot of discussion currently in the MLB Changes thread about the old wordmark being great), it makes sense to utilize the old script for them. To me, the standard MLB Block is just so perfect for them, but I understand wanting to come up with something unique for each team.. so for the O's, I have a suggestion.. Perhaps use the Houston Texas' number font as your starting point, but square off all the pointy serifs.. the shape of those numbers echoes the MLB Block nicely for most of the numerals, and its rounded form should mesh nicely with the script wordmark and rounded logos.. just my 2 cents though.. Also, back to the throwback/fauxback wordmark.. since fauxbacks are pretty much fair game for your series, and a potential mashup of eras may be in your plans for certain teams, I'd be curious to see how your throwback set would look with the '54 wordmark (seen on Chris Davis in the MLB Changes thread).. kinda eliminates the issue you're having with that wonky tail above the O, and personally I've never been too big on that 70's/80's script anyway.. just a thought, but I certainly understand you keeping it a little more historically accurate if you so choose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJD7 Posted February 19, 2019 Author Share Posted February 19, 2019 On 2/18/2019 at 2:45 AM, WavePunter said: To me, the standard MLB Block is just so perfect for them, but I understand wanting to come up with something unique for each team.. so for the O's, I have a suggestion.. Perhaps use the Houston Texas' number font as your starting point, but square off all the pointy serifs.. the shape of those numbers echoes the MLB Block nicely for most of the numerals, and its rounded form should mesh nicely with the script wordmark and rounded logos.. just my 2 cents though.. Also, back to the throwback/fauxback wordmark.. since fauxbacks are pretty much fair game for your series, and a potential mashup of eras may be in your plans for certain teams, I'd be curious to see how your throwback set would look with the '54 wordmark (seen on Chris Davis in the MLB Changes thread).. kinda eliminates the issue you're having with that wonky tail above the O, and personally I've never been too big on that 70's/80's script anyway.. just a thought, but I certainly understand you keeping it a little more historically accurate if you so choose It’s funny you mention the Houston Texans’ number font, as what you suggested is exactly what I did with another team later on... though I can maybe try a rounded version of the MLB block font and see how that looks. For now though, I think I like the Expos’ font, as it too matches a lot of the shaping of the script. As for the fauxbacks, there will definitely be some teams where I take more creative liberties and possibly sort of combine eras, so definitely keep those suggestions coming, I love hearing different ideas! For this case though, I think I want to keep at least a little bit of historical accuracy still present, especially since the wordmark is one that is beloved by so many. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJD7 Posted February 19, 2019 Author Share Posted February 19, 2019 Next up are the Boston Red Sox! The main uniform set takes the form of the Red Sox 1937 set, adding a bit more of a unique flavor to the placket piping. The alternates take on the striping pattern as well. The away uniform has a slight green tint to it, in honor of the Green Monster. This might be a bit of an unexpected move, but I didn't anticipate a navy blue tint or a red tint working as well as green does for the team. The BP set is sort of a throwback on its own, with the large socks on the jersey being reminiscent of the Sox 1908 set. The "Turn Back the Clock" design was a pretty easy choice for me, as it's probably my favorite Red Sox uniform of all time, the late 70's set, complete with the red cap and the "pullover" jersey. For the Red Sox Part II of trying a different scheme, this one was pretty simple. As many others have before, myself included, I just replaced the navy with forest green to give the Sox a unique look while staying true to their history and their location. Another fairly straightforward set here, but I'd love to hear what you all think! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WavePunter Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 2 hours ago, MJD7 said: It’s funny you mention the Houston Texans’ number font, as what you suggested is exactly what I did with another team later on... though I can maybe try a rounded version of the MLB block font and see how that looks. For now though, I think I like the Expos’ font, as it too matches a lot of the shaping of the script. As for the fauxbacks, there will definitely be some teams where I take more creative liberties and possibly sort of combine eras, so definitely keep those suggestions coming, I love hearing different ideas! For this case though, I think I want to keep at least a little bit of historical accuracy still present, especially since the wordmark is one that is beloved by so many. Yeah, I'm looking forward to possibly seeing that rounded version.. those serifs just stray too far from their current look imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carolingian Steamroller Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 Both Baltimore and Boston look great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco1997 Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 Great job on Boston. I'm a big fan of the green set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSU151 Posted February 21, 2019 Share Posted February 21, 2019 That Boston BP jersey is a very unique idea and really in the realm of on-field possibility in 10 years. Smart is believing half of what you hear. Genius is knowing which half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJD7 Posted February 22, 2019 Author Share Posted February 22, 2019 On 2/19/2019 at 3:12 PM, Carolingian Steamroller said: Both Baltimore and Boston look great! On 2/20/2019 at 3:33 PM, coco1997 said: Great job on Boston. I'm a big fan of the green set. On 2/20/2019 at 9:33 PM, WSU151 said: That Boston BP jersey is a very unique idea and really in the realm of on-field possibility in 10 years. Thank you all! I honestly would not mind seeing something like these BP sets on the field. The Yankees should be up in a little bit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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