United Baseball Association - 3/3 Memphis Posted

[teeray01]

What division is the Las Vegas Scorpions in?

[Megildur]

I'm back with a completed concept this time. Will I add another soon? Who knows, but for now,  here's New York City's most populous borough: Brooklyn!

 

 

Brooklyn, Baltimore, and Philadelphia have shared the same division since the UBA began play in 1921. Yet, as Baltimore and Philadelphia have each wracked up double-digit championship totals (12 vs 11) and winning records (.530 vs .520), the Brooklyn Admirals have long been stuck behind the two, with just three titles (1921, 1937, 2013) and an overall .474 winning percentage. The Admirals current .490 pace would be their best since 2014, coincidentally their last playoff appearance. With the addition of two wildcards to the playoff structure in 2022, fan sentiment in Brooklyn is positive nearing the trade deadline for the first time in a long while.

 

(The original concept had cream instead of white...)

 

The future is finally bright for the Admirals. Across the diamond, Brooklyn has used their recent spate of struggles to take high draft picks and to fine tune their player development system. Aaron Mann, the 6th-best 3B in the UBA, was Brooklyn’s 2022 All-Star, and is a fan favorite. Brooklyn signed Mann out of an independent league in 2017 as a 24-year-old. SP Corey Brenon, UBA’s 18th-ranked prospect heading into the season, has already made a huge impact in the team’s starting rotation. Brenon should be joined soon in the rotation by 6th-ranked UBA prospect Marco Peralta, who was drafted 2nd overall just last year, but has already found some  success at the Triple-A level this season. Meanwhile, perennially underrated SS Dereck Gonzalez is leading the team with a .321 batting average and SP Ethan Hughes, 2019 MVP and Pitcher of the Year in Chicago, has just returned after two weeks on the IL with shoulder soreness.

 

The Brooklyn Navy Yard was in operation from 1801 to 1966, with particular importance during WWII. Nowadays, the Navy Yard is on the National Register of Historic Places, and serves as a commercial and industrial area that’s used by the New York City government. The Brooklyn ballclub named itself the Admirals after the highest US naval rank in 1921. The striping in the roundel and on the jersey sleeves emulates the four stripes adorning the uniforms of the four-star admiral. The numbers come from the hull numbers on US navy ships, while the red and navy come from the US flag. In terms of usage, Brooklyn prioritizes their white home and gray away, wearing their alternates roughly once during every three game series.

 

 

 

 

 

Fun Fact: The Brooklyn Admirals and New York Emperors have met once in their history (as there’s no interleague play in the UBA currently). In 1937, the Battle of the Big Apple took place, with the Admirals emerging victorious with their second ever championship after seven hard-fought games. The Emperors have historically been the better team, though, especially recently as they won their 5th title last season.

 

The look of this team was always going to be based around making a more patriotic-themed team, but not over-the-top, kind of like the Nationals. I’ve used a lot of navy and other shades of blue in my teams so far, so I set out to prioritize the red in this.

 

I originally used cream instead of white throughout. Atlanta, Cleveland, and Philadelphia’s retro alts in recent years helped inform that color balance, while the Angels’ recent city connect showed that wonky striping patterns can work in the majors. The originals with cream are in this spoiler:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

'Til later!

 

Edited September 16, 2022 by Megildur
updated with white instead of cream

[sky1324]

Great to see you back! I'm liking most of what I see for Brooklyn, just a couple things I would tweak. First is the red text on the navy alt - I like mixing things up but this is hard to read on a big screen, I can't imagine how tough it would be at a distance. Second, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually don't really like the use of cream here. For whatever reason it doesn't work for me here, which is strange, because I love using cream in sports. I love the striping pattern you're using as well as the emphasis on red. Nice work as always, can't wait to see your next work!

[jbird669]

Welcome back! Love the unis, history and colors. 

[teeray01]

I love the tie to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  This is how a Brooklyn uniform should look.  I would agree with a previous comment that the red numbers on a blue jersey is hard to read.  I think flip the shadow and number colors and it will be perfect.  I'm hoping you will continue because this is my favorite series.  I hope this will be one that goes to the finish.  Great work!

[Megildur]

On 7/28/2022 at 9:48 AM, CDCLT said:

Great to see you back! I'm liking most of what I see for Brooklyn, just a couple things I would tweak. First is the red text on the navy alt - I like mixing things up but this is hard to read on a big screen, I can't imagine how tough it would be at a distance. Second, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually don't really like the use of cream here. For whatever reason it doesn't work for me here, which is strange, because I love using cream in sports. I love the striping pattern you're using as well as the emphasis on red. Nice work as always, can't wait to see your next work!

 

I love cream in sports too and part of the reasoning behind using it here was to help differentiate the team from cross-town Emperors. You're right, though, I think the red is interacting weirdly with the cream, making it off in some way. The easy fix to really set the Admirals apart from the Emperors would be to add pinstripes in place of the cream, butttt with Philly already with pinstripes and probably Baltimore (spoiler), that would be three striped teams in a division of four. 

 

So, here's the new home jersey with cream replaced with white:

 

 

On 7/29/2022 at 7:11 AM, teeray01 said:

 I would agree with a previous comment that the red numbers on a blue jersey is hard to read.  I think flip the shadow and number colors and it will be perfect.  

 

If the white home is preferred, I'll go ahead and update the rest of the set. That would more easily allow me to change the order of colors on the away alt, as I previously didn't like the idea of cream lettering on a jersey with gray pants.

 

On 7/28/2022 at 10:12 AM, jbird669 said:

Welcome back! Love the unis, history and colors. 

 

Thank you. I appreciate you (and y'all) commenting and liking!

[sky1324]

Yeah, I think the white is a better look here. Hadn't even considered how weird cream lettering would look with gray pants but you're right. I wish you could keep the cream but sadly I don't think it fits for the Admirals.

[ItsSlothy]

Glad to see you came back to us! I missed this thread!

[Megildur]

 

From their inception in 1921 up through 1995, the Cleveland Greens made the playoffs 8 times and had zero titles to show for their seven-plus decades in the league. Then came the late 90’s and early 00’s, a period of time in which the Greens made the playoffs from 1996-99 and then from 2001-05, with titles coming in 1996, 2002, 2003, and 2009. The Greens would play sub-.500 ball from 2010-18, but have since returned to dominance in the past few seasons and have already clinched a playoff spot with 15 games remaining in the '22 season, while leading Chicago by 7.5 games in the CL North Division.

 

Cleveland sports the Continental League’s top offense, by measure of runs scored, batting average, on base percentage, and home runs. Their lineup is in its prime, with an average age of 27 and stars throughout. The Rookie of the Year from 2019, 26-year-old Mike Jewell, mans centerfield, while arguably the best righty batting first baseman in the league, Alex Garcia, bats behind Jewell in the cleanup spot. Atop the rotation,  Sumiya Yamada is one of the oldest players on the team at 34, but is 7-2 in 12 starts since being acquired from San Diego in July. Young Evan Thompson and Mike Sevcik round out the top three starters in the 'pen.

 

The Greens have four jerseys and one cap. Built around an old English letter C, the club is primarily green, with gray here and there. Cleveland has long been called "Forest City" due to its public parks and greenery, hence the moniker, "Greens". The state tree of Ohio, the buckeye, fills an outline of the state for a secondary/shoulder logo. Important to note is that Cleveland is the only Ohio team in the UBA. The home pinstripes and away gray are worn the vast majority of games, while the two alternates are sporadically featured, with no home/away designation to either. The second alternate, an addition in 2018, features the text of the city's cool script signs that can be found in various spots in Cleveland.

 

 

 

 

 

I based this team off of the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox. Also, the old English C isn't necessarily new to professional baseball either, as both the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds wore variations in the early 1900s too. Something else that I'd like to mention is that I tried switching around the gray and white on the two green alts, but preferred the white-with-gray-outlines more.

 

A rough(er than usual) mockup of the home jersey in action, modeled with a faux-2007 Topps card:

Spoiler

 

If you're concerned that the green-focused look of Cleveland may be too similar to my Seattle concept, have no fear, as I'll be uploading my (already completed) Cascades update in the next few days!

[Dion Jones Jr.]

I don't think the links are working. Team sounds great tho

 

[Megildur]

1 minute ago, Dion Jones Jr. said:

I don't think the links are working. Team sounds great tho

 

Just fixed! Thanks for the heads up

[Megildur]

On 7/28/2022 at 11:48 AM, CDCLT said:

Great to see you back! I'm liking most of what I see for Brooklyn, just a couple things I would tweak. First is the red text on the navy alt - I like mixing things up but this is hard to read on a big screen, I can't imagine how tough it would be at a distance. Second, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually don't really like the use of cream here. For whatever reason it doesn't work for me here, which is strange, because I love using cream in sports. I love the striping pattern you're using as well as the emphasis on red. Nice work as always, can't wait to see your next work!

 

I updated Brooklyn following your advice and it definitely looks better!

[Kooky01]

Hey first time checking this series out, and I like what I'm seeing! Cleveland in particular looks really nice, especially the fourth jersey. Does Texas have any teams the the UBA?

[sky1324]

Digging Cleveland, a nice, classic set that's nothing special but doesn't need any major changes. That said, I do think having two green alts is ultimately kinda pointless, maybe try making one of them white or even cream? I think mixing it up in some way would be nice.

 

The updates to Brooklyn are excellent, keeps what made the set work while making the right updates. So great to see you back at it and excellent work as always!

[teeray01]

I like your Cleveland sets.  My hometown is close to Cleveland and I'm happy they are represented in your league.  I do agree that two green sets are too much.  Not sure if just eliminating one or changing one is the answer.  Maybe a black alternate?

[teeray01]

On 9/15/2022 at 11:03 PM, Kooky01 said:

Hey first time checking this series out, and I like what I'm seeing! Cleveland in particular looks really nice, especially the fourth jersey. Does Texas have any teams the the UBA?

I believe I read Houston somewhere in this post.

[Megildur]

On 9/15/2022 at 11:03 PM, Kooky01 said:

Hey first time checking this series out, and I like what I'm seeing! Cleveland in particular looks really nice, especially the fourth jersey. Does Texas have any teams the the UBA?

 

Thanks for popping in! Hopefully this update doesn't wreck your love for the 4th Cleveland jersey!

 

As for your question, yes, the UBA has two Texas teams, one in Houston and one in Dallas. I'm going with a space theme for one and a Western theme for the other, which despite being kind of cliche, will hopefully come off well!

 

On 9/16/2022 at 3:41 AM, CDCLT said:

Digging Cleveland, a nice, classic set that's nothing special but doesn't need any major changes. That said, I do think having two green alts is ultimately kinda pointless, maybe try making one of them white or even cream? I think mixing it up in some way would be nice.

 

The updates to Brooklyn are excellent, keeps what made the set work while making the right updates. So great to see you back at it and excellent work as always!

On 9/16/2022 at 7:34 AM, teeray01 said:

I like your Cleveland sets.  My hometown is close to Cleveland and I'm happy they are represented in your league.  I do agree that two green sets are too much.  Not sure if just eliminating one or changing one is the answer.  Maybe a black alternate?

 

I guess two green alts is a bit too much, even for a team called the Greens lol! While I think the cream idea is great, particularly for the logo-on-chest alt @CDCLT, I ended up changing the "Cleveland script" alt, as I always planned for the other three to fit a more cohesive look with the script jersey being more of a standalone/City Connect type alt. In that vein of thought, I've changed the green base to a light blue base as a nod to Cleveland's neighboring Lake Erie. It's not meant to be powder blue but rather *shudder* Tampa Bay Rays-ian in its usage as a jersey color. It'll be the primarily home alt, with the now sole green alt able to be worn home or away. Pinstriped pants stay because I have an unsafe obsession with green pinstripes lol, though I did add some blue and white to the socks.

 

 

Thoughts?

[sky1324]

I like it! Not sure about powder blue over white but it's fun nonetheless. Better than it being green IMO.

[teeray01]

I actually like the light blue alt.  Good work!  

[Megildur]

3 hours ago, CDCLT said:

I like it! Not sure about powder blue over white but it's fun nonetheless. Better than it being green IMO.

 

For sure! I try to base the UBA around the overall MLB aesthetic, so I think there's room for some wonkiness for alternate jerseys, though I do agree with you about the blue-over-white thing.

 

A big reason I chose not to do a light green alt instead is because I revisited Seattle, and kept the light green alt for them, while going double green throughout to make sure the Cascades and Greens couldn't be mistaken as the same team.

 

****

 

 

I've tinkered a lot with Seattle since first posting a Cascades concept in July 2020. The original version has the original logo in its spoilers, as well as version 3/return-to-v1, which added a throwback uniform and was posted in December 2020. In between the original concept and the most recent Seattle post, I posted the potential update/version 2 version of the Cascades. I can barely follow that timeline, so in short, this update is technically version 4 and combines all of the Seattle stuff I posted before. The double-green Cascades are back, with drop shadows, a darker forest green color, a two-tone cap, and the increasingly garish '90s/'00s-inspired BFSB throwback jersey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, Seattle is finished, hopefully for good this time. And, they look markedly different from Cleveland, which was intentional considering they both play in the Continental League.