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Minor League Spins on MLB Identities


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The Appleton Foxes are an interesting case study for this.  They became a White Sox affiliate in the late 70s, leading to this interesting spin on the Sox infamous "disco collar" jerseys.
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They got a little more contemporary (at least by 80s standards) with the Sox switching to the beach blanket look.
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By the end of the decade, they became a Royals affiliate. They kept the red logo but switched to royal blue.
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Finally, the Foxes were a Mariners affiliate for the last couple years of their existence.  This resulted in a full palette swap to the then-new Mariners look.  Ironically, this is the look most casually associated with them due to it coinciding with the first pro gig for a future HOFer and one of baseball's most notorious figures.
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18 hours ago, Mingjai said:


It reminds me of when my hometown Idaho Falls Braves switched affiliations from the Braves to the Padres but kept the Braves name for a few seasons but applied the Padres’s branding. After having gone through many name changes ever few years as the short season Rookie team changed affiliates, the Braves name was popular in IF because we all had TBS and could watch every Atlanta game. When the affiliation finally changed after many years, the local club tried to keep the branding as long as they could. They finally switched to the Idaho Falls Padres with the non-localized swinging friar branding, which never really caught in a predominantly Mormon community. The silver lining is that we ended up getting pretty solid Chukars branding (though they really need an interlocked IF logo, if just as a secondary) out of the failure of the Padres to catch on.


Atlanta
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San Diego

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In the late 80s and early 90s, Atlanta had two rookie affiliates, Idaho Falls (Pioneer Lg.) and Pulaski (Appy Lg.) Clubs would typically just use hand-me-downs that the big-league club gave them, but here, neither wore exact copies of the Braves' unis. Idaho Falls had pleasant-looking tomahawk-less tops, while Pulaski got these homebrew-looking things. Weird.

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9 hours ago, Bmac said:

 

"Baseball City" is a name right out of the current Brandiose-style naming formula.

True but at the time it was also home to the Boardwalk and Baseball amusement park in the late 80s early 90s.  Davenport or Haines City just never sounded right.

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On 5/8/2020 at 11:13 AM, TBGKon said:

There were also the Sarasota Reds

 

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I think for the most part the entire FSL up untill recently could fit here.

Also the Appalachian League

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^Personally, I think the reason they stuck with the dalmatian logo is because this was around the time when the Native American mascots debate reached its peak, around the year the NCAA made its famous ruling.

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My favorites have to be the Indianapolis Indians who've had the name since 1902 and were only affiliated with Cleveland for 5 yrs in the 50s, and the Spokane Indians who've had the name since 1940 and were never affiliated with Cleveland. As far as I can tell, they are the only MiLB teams to share a nickname with a MLB team they aren't affiliated with.

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9 hours ago, MBurmy said:

^Personally, I think the reason they stuck with the dalmatian logo is because this was around the time when the Native American mascots debate reached its peak, around the year the NCAA made its famous ruling.

Yes, I'm sure that's why they initially went to the dalmatian. It's just interesting to me that they had the same logo with a cardinal in it, but chose not to go back to it when rejoining St. Louis. Speaks more to the lessons learned about the volatility of affiliates than a bird mascot with a few extra feathers in it that could be easily removed.

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On 5/17/2020 at 1:57 AM, sportsfan7 said:

My favorites have to be the Indianapolis Indians who've had the name since 1902 and were only affiliated with Cleveland for 5 yrs in the 50s, and the Spokane Indians who've had the name since 1940 and were never affiliated with Cleveland. As far as I can tell, they are the only MiLB teams to share a nickname with a MLB team they aren't affiliated with.

I think you're right for current teams. It's happened a few times in the past (the Salem Redbirds don't technically "share a nickname," but they weren't a Cardinals affiliate.)

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Also, the Chattanooga Lookouts won the 2015 Southern League championship wearing Dodgers-inspired uniforms as a Twins affiliate:

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I believe they wore their red-billed road hats at home in the playoffs that season to evoke the Twins just a touch more than adding a patch did.

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