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United Baseball Association - 3/3 Memphis Posted


Megildur

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  • 3 months later...
On 7/24/2020 at 11:44 PM, Megildur said:

Wow, I'm rather blown away by all the input! Thanks for all your help and hopefully y'all like the colors I picked...

 

Without further delay, I present to you the Minnesota Vikings Los Angeles Lakers LSU Tigers...New Orleans Crescents:

 

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Out of the eleven UBA teams without a title in their franchise history, the 1972 expansion team from New Orleans has the most postseason appearances. The CL South Division is typically weak, but currently has three teams over .500, including New Orleans at 18-15. Sadly, this is only good for third place, as the Crescents are 2 games behind the surging Houston ball club. Yet, New Orleans has actually been pretty good since the turn of the millennium, with seven postseason appearances and only two finishes below second place since 2000. A couple of those second place finishes have been with a below .500 record though, evidence of the status of the South Division as weak. Despite their successes, the Crescents have failed to turn it into titles, losing to Washington in 2010 in their first and only finals appearance so far.

 

The Crescents have a top-notch offense, but a basement-dwelling pitching staff. The two main offensive threats are five-time All-Star 3B Will Langmore, the face of the franchise, and 27-year-old LF Eduardo Capirossi. The 33-year-old Langmore is the #3 third baseman in the league (behind Merritt of Seattle and Tony Aguilar of Chicago), and has been extremely well-rewarded for his role in New Orleans' recent successes, as he’s in just year two of a $30 million per year contract through his age 36 season. While he’s brought star-level talents to the team for nearly a decade now, Langmore also accounts for nearly a third of the Crescents’ payroll. Like Langmore, Capirossi is a homegrown, nationally popular star too. He’s currently on pace for a 49 HR season, which would easily eclipse his personal record of 39 HR two seasons ago and certainly increase his currently affordable $4.4 million deal from arbitration. The contract demands of Langmore and the lack of recent success at developing homegrown starters is why 31-year-old SP Dave Haegele is considered the #1 starter in New Orleans. Haegale pitched to just a 4.77 ERA last season across 28 starts and this season is not any better, as he holds a 6.39 ERA through 7 starts so far.

 

New Orleans features three logos, of which the roundel and interlocking NO get the most use. The roundel is solely a shoulder logo for the jerseys, while the NO is used for the caps. The fleur-de-lis, found in the city flag and the heraldry of the city’s namesake, the Duke of Orléans, features prominently in the roundel, partly surrounded by a crescent from the city's police badges. The actual team name, the Crescents, comes from the city’s nickname as “the Crescent City,” which originates from the city’s initial crescent-shaped geography along the Mississippi River. The orientation of the crescent in the roundel matches that geography. The fleur-de-lis was formerly used as a standalone logo, but has in recent years been relegated to just its placement in the roundel. The throwback recognizes the days where the fleur-de-lis had more importance though, as it adorns the cap of the throwback set from the Crescents' Continental League Pennant winning-season in 2010. That season was one of the last seasons in which the Crescents wore vests and utilized a more bronze-y gold. New Orleans wears the alternate at both home and away games, though not often. The yellow-billed cap is worn at home only, either with the home or alt uniforms. 

 

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As I mentioned before, the interlocking NO is directly inspired by this Notre Dame logo. As for the fleur-de-lis, it is my own sketch that I created after looking at various fleur-de-lis designs and making my own version. If the UBA were to exist in the same universe as the NFL and NBA, then New Orleans would have a cool little thing going with the Saints, Pelicans, and my Crescents all featuring different versions of the symbol. The recommendation of the athletic gold was a solid recommendation that I appreciate a lot, considering that I was hoping to save metallic gold for San Francisco eventually and I hadn't thought of athletic gold for New Orleans before. I had fun stealing the color scheme of LSU to really connect the Crescents to another Louisiana-based team too.

 

I've got some fun stuff in the works -- a metallic gold San Francisco team, a classic teal team from Florida, and a Mr. Met / Mr. Red homage -- as well as an update to the Seattle primary logo and shoulder logo too. Hope y'all are staying healthy and that you like New Orleans! C&C is appreciated as always.

 

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Version 1 (posted on 7/24):

 

Original Description -

"New Orleans features two logos that receive almost equal attention across their jerseys and caps. The fleur-de-lis, found in the city flag and the heraldry of the city’s namesake, the Duke of Orléans, is the logo for the home cap. The interlocking city abbreviation adorns the front of the home uniform in a bold gold and purple color scheme. The actual team name, the Crescents, comes from the city’s nickname as “the Crescent City,” which originates from the city’s initial crescent-shaped geography along the Mississippi River. The Crescents are one of the few UBA teams to wear vests on a regular basis and to not have a single jersey with their nickname written across the front. There are three caps, of which the fleur-de-lis cap is solely worn at home, while either NO cap can be worn at home or away. New Orleans wears the alternate at both home and away games, often with the golden billed cap."

 

Intro -

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Home -

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Away -

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Alt -

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Schedule -

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I'm curious about the Mr. Met/Mr. Red Homage concept you had planned.  Is this still a possibility?

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/14/2023 at 10:04 PM, teeray01 said:

I'm curious about the Mr. Met/Mr. Red Homage concept you had planned.  Is this still a possibility?

 

Yep, it is the plan, I've just had some difficulty designing it so far.

 

On 2/1/2023 at 4:37 PM, N8theGR8 said:

I especially like the Cleveland Greens. Maybe as an alternate hat they could add white front panels and a green “C”. I really think that would add even more to an already amazing uniform line-up

 

I like the sound of that (and thanks for the compliment). I'll draft that up when I'm working on it next.

 

****

 

Unfortunately, I don't necessarily know when I'll have the next teams out. I'm a bit slow with this, though I'm always doodling designs for it.

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12 hours ago, Megildur said:

 

Yep, it is the plan, I've just had some difficulty designing it so far.

 

 

I like the sound of that (and thanks for the compliment). I'll draft that up when I'm working on it next.

 

****

 

Unfortunately, I don't necessarily know when I'll have the next teams out. I'm a bit slow with this, though I'm always doodling designs for it.

Can you give us a hint of what you have in the works like you did previously about the Miners & Tridents?

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On 2/14/2023 at 4:51 AM, weirdguyace said:

This is a fantastic concept series. Most of the time I can do without red/white/blue concepts but everything you did for the Admirals' identity is unbelievably clean. One of the nicest I've ever seen here to be honest!

 

Thank you! Glad to know it was a hit.

 

On 2/14/2023 at 9:43 AM, TheSquirrel said:

Can you give us a hint of what you have in the works like you did previously about the Miners & Tridents?

 

Yeah, absolutely! I've got the following planned for eventually:

- the previously mentioned Mr. Met / Mr. Redlegs homage, who will go by the name "Monsieur Montréal",

- a National Park-related team out of Phoenix,

- a Milwaukee team with a bird logo based on that of the Norwich City Football Club

- and a team from Washington D.C. that is rather patriotic, but not because it's red, white, and blue.

 

I also have the following updates that I want to make:

- abandoning the pinstripes for Philadelphia's away and alternate jerseys,

- adjusting San Francisco's monogram so the S is above the F, to read more clearly as SF and not FS,

- fixing up Jacksonville's cursive script,

- and finishing Las Vegas, which includes scrapping the circle-around-the-number and improving the primary logo.

 

No guarantees on when this will happen, but that's what my list looks like at the moment!

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On 2/20/2023 at 2:33 PM, Megildur said:

I've got the following planned for eventually:

- the previously mentioned Mr. Met / Mr. Redlegs homage, who will go by the name "Monsieur Montréal",

- a National Park-related team out of Phoenix,

- a Milwaukee team with a bird logo based on that of the Norwich City Football Club

- and a team from Washington D.C. that is rather patriotic, but not because it's red, white, and blue.

 

****

 

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Did you know the Phoenix Suns were founded in 1968? I didn’t, until before this project. How's that relevant to the UBA universe? Well, the Phoenix Saguaros were established even earlier, beginning play in 1960 alongside division foe Atlanta. The Saguaros didn’t have a winning season until 1972, their first championship appearance until 1977, and have had a mostly “eh” existence in the UBA. Their lone championship came in 1999, in their sixth playoff appearance of the 90’s, which is certainly Phoenix’s most successful decade by far. The Saguaros’ spot as the Federal League’s first Wild Card in 2024 marks the team’s fourth playoff appearance of the 21st century and their 12th overall.

 

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Brandon Martin, who’s the longest-tenured Saguaro after joining the team via trade in December 2016, leads the #2 ranked pitching staff in the Federal League. Homegrown 5-time All-Star Edgar Leon has also been with the team for awhile, finishing 2nd in the FL Rookie of the Year Award voting back in 2018. Both stars are a major reason why Phoenix has made the playoffs this season. Yet, both will also be free agents this offseason.

 

Phoenix has a retro style look, with a simple blue-and-orange logo and a Western script on the front of their jerseys. Their primary cap is blue with a simple orange ‘P’, while the secondary hat is typically worn with the club’s alternates and in Spring Training. Note that the concept here has the Wild Card Series patch on the jersey’s right sleeve, as Phoenix prepares to face off against Detroit in a best-of-three series.

 

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Phoenix has had five different ‘eras,’ so to speak, in terms of their design identity. From 1960-71, the Saguaros rocked green and yellow. That decade of suck resulted in the franchise switching colors and names in advance of 1972, taking on “Arizona” as their location identifier with blue and orange as their new colors. The name and colors would stick through a logo change for the 1985 season, before a dramatic redesign in 1996 saw the team return to “Phoenix” and swap out blue for purple, black, and yellow. As a part of a larger movement of returning to past logos for inspiration, the 2012 redesign saw the Saguaros return to blue and orange again, with the logo largely based off the team’s 1972-84 look. As this season marks the 25th anniversary of the club’s lone championship in 1999, the team sports a throwback from that year.

 

The inspirations here come most clearly from the Seattle Mariners’ 1977-80 logo, the Texas Rangers’ 1972-81 logo and jerseys, and the retro-y rebrands of the Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays, and Houston Astros in the early 2010s. The spoiler contains the Saguaros’ past looks, alongside the logos I used for inspiration.

 

Spoiler

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C&C appreciated. Hope you enjoy!

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  • Megildur changed the title to United Baseball Association - 2/25 Phoenix Posted
On 3/1/2023 at 5:46 PM, coco1997 said:

The Saguaros look great, but it's kind of odd for a team named after cactuses to not wear at least some green. 

 

Thanks for the comment!

 

I absolutely agree with that sentiment. I originally was thinking a green-and-yellow color scheme, but it just didn't fit with my view of a team from Phoenix. The orange-and-blue color scheme came from seeing images of Saguaro National Park at sunset, with the orange being the sunset and the blue being inspired by the silhouettes of the cacti (with some artistic interpretation involved lol).

 

For reference (taken from Google images):

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One of my goals behind this fictional league was to include some cities that had Big 4 / Big 5 teams, but no MLB team. And, with that, to bring them early into the UBA so they have long franchise histories. Some of that was possible by not letting certain cities have multiple teams (Chicago), while also having the league be 32 teams rather than 30. With that being said:

 

MLB cities without a UBA team: Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Oakland, Miami, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh

UBA cities without a MLB team: Montreal, New Orleans, Memphis, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Vancouver, Portland

 

Now, I did involve some of those ‘MLB cities without a UBA team’ as starting points for franchises that would eventually move elsewhere. That’s all part of the lore of the league that I try to get into a little bit (but not too much!) with my concepts. I’ll post the divisional alignment before the next team too.

 

Let’s get to the next team first, though. Next up: Swingin’ King Tut and the Memphis Pharaohs…

 

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The UBA expanded by two teams in 1984, with San Francisco and Memphis joining the Continental League in advance of the season. While the Miners got a quick title in 1989 and have a franchise .493 winning percentage, Memphis has been straight up awful. 2024 marks the Memphis Pharaohs’ 2nd postseason appearance ever and they only made it via a Game 163 victory over California. The franchise sports a .442 winning percentage, worst amongst all 32 teams in the UBA. Still, even as the second wild card team, fans in Memphis are excited and the Pharaohs’ young core gives them plenty to be happy about beyond this season. The team will need to get beyond divisional foe New Orleans in the Wild Card Series to advance.

 

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In Game 163, Sam Welsh threw 7 scoreless innings against California, allowing just 2 hits and striking out 6. That performance, followed by a 2-inning save from Marty Bergquist, was vital for the Pharaohs as the final score was 1-0. Mid-season acquisition George Shepperd has the only playoff experience for the Pharaohs’ starting rotation, while right fielder Travis Schommer has the only ring amongst the team’s position players (last year with San Diego).

 

The black and yellow color scheme is derived from Memphis’ city seal, which also can be found on the city flag. The city of Memphis is named after Memphis, Egypt, which is where the Pharaohs nickname comes from. The main logo, affectionately known as “Swingin’ King Tut,” has sometimes led fans of the team to believe that the club is cursed due to its use of the Pharaohs’ moniker. As a younger team, though, Memphis wears their alternates just as often as their main home and away jerseys. The yellow-brimmed cap is also worn just as frequently as the black-brimmed cap.

 

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Swingin’ King Tut is based off Mr. Red, the Padres’ Friar logo, and this older Orioles’ logo. The black and yellow use is very reminiscent of Pittsburgh’s use of the colors. And don’t worry, I’m still planning to make a “Monsieur Montreal” logo too!

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  • Megildur changed the title to United Baseball Association - 3/3 Memphis Posted

Really liking this concept thread, I do have an idea for what the Kansas City team could be called, I saw this name in a Sports Alternate History forum, and I thought it could stick for KC.

 

Name suggestion: Kansas City Imagineers

 

Name origin: "Imagineer" is a reference to the "Imagineers" that design theme park rides at Disneyland and Disney World, the name is Disney-related because Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse co-creator Ub Iwerks got their start in Kansas City at the Laugh-O-Grams Studios on East 31st Street. Ub Iwerks was also a Kansas City native, Walt Disney grew up both in Marceline and Kansas City as well, the old Disney family home is also located on East 31st street.

 

So this would be unique to have a Disney-inspired team name in the Midwest, because there's already the Anaheim Ducks (NHL) on the west coast near Disneyland the Orlando Magic (NBA) on the east coast near Disney World.

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15 hours ago, maxwasson said:

Really liking this concept thread, I do have an idea for what the Kansas City team could be called, I saw this name in a Sports Alternate History forum, and I thought it could stick for KC.

 

Name suggestion: Kansas City Imagineers

 

Name origin: "Imagineer" is a reference to the "Imagineers" that design theme park rides at Disneyland and Disney World, the name is Disney-related because Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse co-creator Ub Iwerks got their start in Kansas City at the Laugh-O-Grams Studios on East 31st Street. Ub Iwerks was also a Kansas City native, Walt Disney grew up both in Marceline and Kansas City as well, the old Disney family home is also located on East 31st street.

 

So this would be unique to have a Disney-inspired team name in the Midwest, because there's already the Anaheim Ducks (NHL) on the west coast near Disneyland the Orlando Magic (NBA) on the east coast near Disney World.

 

 

MLB cities without a UBA team: Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Oakland, Miami, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh

UBA cities without a MLB team: Montreal, New Orleans, Memphis, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Vancouver, Portland

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On 3/3/2023 at 12:41 PM, Megildur said:

 

Thanks for the comment!

 

I absolutely agree with that sentiment. I originally was thinking a green-and-yellow color scheme, but it just didn't fit with my view of a team from Phoenix. The orange-and-blue color scheme came from seeing images of Saguaro National Park at sunset, with the orange being the sunset and the blue being inspired by the silhouettes of the cacti (with some artistic interpretation involved lol)

 

Thanks for the explanation. Makes total sense!
 

22 hours ago, Megildur said:

One of my goals behind this fictional league was to include some cities that had Big 4 / Big 5 teams, but no MLB team. And, with that, to bring them early into the UBA so they have long franchise histories. Some of that was possible by not letting certain cities have multiple teams (Chicago), while also having the league be 32 teams rather than 30. With that being said:

 

MLB cities without a UBA team: Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Oakland, Miami, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh

UBA cities without a MLB team: Montreal, New Orleans, Memphis, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Vancouver, Portland

 

Now, I did involve some of those ‘MLB cities without a UBA team’ as starting points for franchises that would eventually move elsewhere. That’s all part of the lore of the league that I try to get into a little bit (but not too much!) with my concepts. I’ll post the divisional alignment before the next team too.

 

Let’s get to the next team first, though. Next up: Swingin’ King Tut and the Memphis Pharaohs…

 

spacer.png

 

The UBA expanded by two teams in 1984, with San Francisco and Memphis joining the Continental League in advance of the season. While the Miners got a quick title in 1989 and have a franchise .493 winning percentage, Memphis has been straight up awful. 2024 marks the Memphis Pharaohs’ 2nd postseason appearance ever and they only made it via a Game 163 victory over California. The franchise sports a .442 winning percentage, worst amongst all 32 teams in the UBA. Still, even as the second wild card team, fans in Memphis are excited and the Pharaohs’ young core gives them plenty to be happy about beyond this season. The team will need to get beyond divisional foe New Orleans in the Wild Card Series to advance.

 

spacer.png

 

In Game 163, Sam Welsh threw 7 scoreless innings against California, allowing just 2 hits and striking out 6. That performance, followed by a 2-inning save from Marty Bergquist, was vital for the Pharaohs as the final score was 1-0. Mid-season acquisition George Shepperd has the only playoff experience for the Pharaohs’ starting rotation, while right fielder Travis Schommer has the only ring amongst the team’s position players (last year with San Diego).

 

The black and yellow color scheme is derived from Memphis’ city seal, which also can be found on the city flag. The city of Memphis is named after Memphis, Egypt, which is where the Pharaohs nickname comes from. The main logo, affectionately known as “Swingin’ King Tut,” has sometimes led fans of the team to believe that the club is cursed due to its use of the Pharaohs’ moniker. As a younger team, though, Memphis wears their alternates just as often as their main home and away jerseys. The yellow-brimmed cap is also worn just as frequently as the black-brimmed cap.

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

Swingin’ King Tut is based off Mr. Red, the Padres’ Friar logo, and this older Orioles’ logo. The black and yellow use is very reminiscent of Pittsburgh’s use of the colors. And don’t worry, I’m still planning to make a “Monsieur Montreal” logo too!

 

Memphis turned out awesome. Love the very Swinging Padre/Mr. Redlegs-esque King Tut logo. My only nitpick is that the bat the mascot is wielding seems oversized, unless that was a deliberate choice. 

Keep up the awesome work! 

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On 3/3/2023 at 9:41 PM, Kooky01 said:

Really like this one, that logo just screams retro in a good way. Overall very basic, but it works for sure!

 

On 3/4/2023 at 7:50 AM, teeray01 said:

Pretty cool stuff here.  Looking forward to seeing what you do with

Montreal.

 

Thanks y'all, glad you like the recent designs!

 

On 3/3/2023 at 4:00 PM, maxwasson said:

Really liking this concept thread, I do have an idea for what the Kansas City team could be called, I saw this name in a Sports Alternate History forum, and I thought it could stick for KC.

 

Name suggestion: Kansas City Imagineers

 

I appreciate the idea (and the compliment!), though I don't plan to have a KC team in the UBA.

 

On 3/4/2023 at 2:19 PM, coco1997 said:

Memphis turned out awesome. Love the very Swinging Padre/Mr. Redlegs-esque King Tut logo. My only nitpick is that the bat the mascot is wielding seems oversized, unless that was a deliberate choice. 

Keep up the awesome work! 

 

Thanks! And yeah, the oversized bat is deliberate. It is a little chunky though, haha.

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