The Colors of the Wrigley Field Scoreboard Flags

[disman00911]

A signature feature of Wrigley Field has been the scoreboard on center field.  On top of the scoreboard are the colored flags which are ordered based on the current standings.  Prior to 1969, the left side is the “First Division” with the top flag representing 1^st place and the right side represents the “Second Division” with the bottom-most team flag representing the last place team.  Also note the flags have the city names of the teams rather than the team names themselves.

 

Here’s an interesting ad of the flags of Wrigley field in 1945.

 

Left Side

Cubs - Navy or Dark Royal Blue

Cardinals - Dark Red

Brooklyn Dodgers - Orange

Pirates - Black

 

Right Side

NY Giants - Dark Blue (the same as the Cubs)

Boston Braves - Green

Reds - Light Red

Phillies - Light Blue

 

In 1969, division play began, and the newly NL East team flags were on the left side and the newly NL West team flags were on the right side of the scoreboard.

 

B&W image from 1969 (NL East team flags only)

 

In 1994, the wild card/3 division format debuted, and the flags were divided based on division with the NL Central teams in the left, NL West teams in the center, and the NL East teams on the right.  Also, flags now display each team’s name rather than the city or state they play in, although its possible the change happened either in the 70s or 80s.

 

Wrigley Field sometime between 1994 and 1997. 

 

By 1998, the NL West and NL Central team flags swapped places with the NL West team flags.  To this day, the NL West team flags are on the left, the NL Central team flags are on the center and the NL East team flags remain on the right side.

 

Below is each team’s scoreboard flag:

 

Cubs - blue with red letters

Cardinals - White with red letters

Reds - Red with white letters (an inverse of the Cardinals flag)

Pirates - black with yellow letters

Brewers - yellow with navy blue letters

 

Mets - Orange with blue letters

Braves - Navy Blue with red letters

Phillies - Maroon with white letters (even after the team changed their colors from maroon to red/blue in 1992)

Marlins - was black with white letters from 2012 to 2018.  Originally teal with black letters from 1993 to 2011.  Not sure what the flag is now due to the team’s rebrand this year.

Nationals/Expos - White with red letters (the same as the Cardinals although the red is a tad lighter).  When they were the Expos, the flag was white with blue letters (an inverse of the Dodgers flag)

 

Dodgers - Blue with white letters

Padres - Navy Blue with khaki letters since 2004.  Beforehand, the flag was brown with yellow letters, even during the 90s when the team changed its colors to navy/orange

Diamondbacks - Currently orange with white letter since 2016, although orange is not one of the Diamondbacks colors.  The flag was previously Dark Red with sand letters from 2007 to 2015.  Not sure what the flag colors were from 1998-2006. Can’t find an image from that period

Rockies - Purple with white letters

Giants - Black with orange letters

 

Astros - Gold with dark red letters from 2000 to 2012.  Prior to 2000, the flag was orange with blue (navy?) letters, the same as the Mets flag even when the Astros changed their uniform/colors in 1994.  The flag was removed when the Astros moved to the AL in 2013.  I guess its back to orange with blue letters like it had been before?

 

2008 Wrigley Field scoreboard

 

2016 Wrigley Field scoreboard

 

I have no idea about the other AL teams since Wrigley Field’s scoreboard does not include them.  However, the entrance includes the flags of the Cubs (and the flags of Chicago and Illinois) and the flag of their opponent (and city and state flags).  Since Inter-league Play began in 1997, there have been occasional flags of AL teams whenever they visit Wrigley Field.

 

White Sox - black with white letters (like the 2012-present Marlins)? Maybe its inverse?

Indians - Navy with red letters (like the Braves flag).  This one I’m certain of due to the 2016 World Series.

Tigers - navy with orange letters?

Twins - navy/red or red/navy? Maybe it's navy/white instead?

Royals - blue with white letters (like the Dodgers)?  Maybe its powder blue with blue letters?

Yankees - navy with white letters or inverse?

Red Sox - red with navy letters?

Orioles - orange with black letters? (or inverse like the Giants flag)

Blue Jays - blue with red letters or blue with white letters (or inverse)?

Rays - navy with light blue letters or inverse? navy/white or navy/gold?

Angels - red with white letters or inverse?

Athletics - Green with yellow letters?

Rangers - blue with red letters (like the Cubs)?

Mariners - Navy with teal letters or inverse?

 

Do other MLB teams display team color/logo flags in their stadiums (past or present)?  I know the White Sox don’t as the only ballparks I’ve ever attended are Wrigley and New Comiskey/the Cell.  They just display flags of White Sox’ logo history at the Cell/New Comiskey.

[Sec19Row53]

In the past it was logos on outfield walls. These days, not so much.

[leopard88]

The Orioles have displayed AL flags at Memorial Stadium and Camden Yards.

 

At Memorial Stadium, they displayed team flags around the top edge of the stadium in the order of the standings.  There were actually two sets of flags -- one on the third base side and one on the first base side.  One set used city names, and the other used team names.  You can see some of them in this picture of the Frank Robinson "Here" flag.

 

 

At Camden Yards, they are displayed on the flag court in right field, again by the order of the standings.

 

[The_Admiral]

1 hour ago, disman00911 said:

I have no idea about the other AL teams since Wrigley Field’s scoreboard does not include them.  However, the entrance includes the flags of the Cubs (and the flags of Chicago and Illinois) and the flag of their opponent (and city and state flags). 

 

This is a really cool feature, even if lots of city/state flags aren't great. There's a nice formality to it.

 

Speaking of formality, I wish the standings flags would be redone to use the city names instead of the team names. You could probably do some kind of trim on them for teams that need a third color represented.

[TBGKon]

Tropicana Field has small flags above the videoboard as you can see in the photo below.  There is one for each AL team, but I cannot recall if they added a 15th for Houston when they moved to the AL .  You'll see four bunches of three in the pic below and two in the middle, but IDK if they tacked on a third one there or not.

 

[pianoknight]

There's something magical about the flags being used this way.  Has a very old timey feel (because it IS an old tradition) and it's great. 

[panthers_2012]

9 hours ago, leopard88 said:

The Orioles have displayed AL flags at Memorial Stadium and Camden Yards.

 

At Memorial Stadium, they displayed team flags around the top edge of the stadium in the order of the standings.  There were actually two sets of flags -- one on the third base side and one on the first base side.  One set used city names, and the other used team names.  You can see some of them in this picture of the Frank Robinson "Here" flag.

 

That's just great. I love that "Here" flag.

[Around the Horn]

The new Yankee Stadium has team flags on the the roof (I presume in standings order)

 

[cheo25]

The Mariners had this for a while above the left-field seats. But they had an Astros flag grouped with the rest of the AL West teams when I visited Seattle in 2013. Not sure if the Mariners still do this.

 

[Gothamite]

11 hours ago, Around the Horn said:

The new Yankee Stadium has team flags on the the roof (I presume in standings order)

 

 

Yes - they're grouped first by league, then by division, and then in current standings order.  It's one of the things I love about the Stadium.

[BC985]

I think the Cardinals had a flag for every MLB team and the Cards minor league teams on the top of Busch Stadium II. They auctioned them off in 2005. I can’t find a great picture at the moment. Today, I think the current Busch only has flags for the minor league affiliates. 

[DrAwesomeberry]

I can't find a good picture of it, but the Ballpark in Arlington used to have flags for all 30 teams in standings order above the office building in center field, along with their meager collection of AL West champion flags. For the 2010 playoffs, they replaced all of them with Texas state flags, and it's remained that way ever since. I think they've won enough stuff over the past decade so that there's no longer enough space for every team, regardless.

[mjd77]

On 4/1/2019 at 12:48 PM, Sec19Row53 said:

In the past it was logos on outfield walls. These days, not so much.

 

Yeah...guess they had to make room for the advertising.

[tommytimp]

On the personal, a friend's father's business made the flags at Wrigley. She couldn't tell me why the Phillies flag is still maroon.

[Krz]

On 4/3/2019 at 5:19 PM, DrAwesomeberry said:

I can't find a good picture of it, but the Ballpark in Arlington used to have flags for all 30 teams in standings order above the office building in center field, along with their meager collection of AL West champion flags. For the 2010 playoffs, they replaced all of them with Texas state flags, and it's remained that way ever since. I think they've won enough stuff over the past decade so that there's no longer enough space for every team, regardless.

Sigh, that’s a beautiful ballpark, I’m gonna miss it (but not the sun)

[mjrbaseball]

A few things about Wrigley...

When the Cubs won their 10,000th game in 2018, an additiuonal "win" flag was seen:

 

Also, when the Blue Jays are in town, the flags are apparently re-positioned so that the U.S. and Canadian flags can be at equal height, as protocol dictates"

 

And a question. When the Blackhawks played in the Winter Classic, what flags flew above the scoreboard? I found two photos, but can't tell from either of them.