Minor/Independent/Collegiate League Baseball Logo/Uniform Changes

[The Mojo Maniac 50]

It's been official for several months now: the Portland, OR club of the collegiate-summer Great West League (beginning play next summer) will be called the Pickles.

http://portlandpicklesbaseball.com/

My reason for bringing it up now: the team website at one point said that there would be a "fan fest" at the still-being-renovated ballpark some time this month, but I can't seem to find the article anywhere. Anyone in the area able to investigate further? This could easily be one of the more intriguing collegiate-level baseball uniform/logo unveils of recent years, given that it's in a major market that would normally have a high-level minor league team, at the very least. It's been five years since the triple-A Portland Beavers left.

[Gothamite 24,606]

Still miss the Beavers. They had gorgeous uniforms.

And this is just bad, even by Collegiate summer league standards:

The exclamation point is nice, but everything else is a wasted opportunity.

[CDixonDesign 178]

Rumors swirling that the name for the Savannah Coastal Plain league team will be announced this week.

[The Mojo Maniac 50]

Still miss the Beavers. They had gorgeous uniforms.

And this is just bad, even by Collegiate summer league standards:

The exclamation point is nice, but everything else is a wasted opportunity.

I'm not entirely sure those logos are official. They may just be place-holders. I'll reserve all judgment until the full set comes out.

The Beavers did indeed have gorgeous unis though. I hope that, despite the eccentric name, they draw at least a little influence from the Beavers' final uni set (i.e. flowing script lettering, classic thick placket piping/shoulder stripes).

[Gothamite 24,606]

I hope you're right; there's so much that can be done with the name.

[FlyingLamprey 114]

Glad to see that God-awful Odgen logo is finally changed, but it does seem to fall a bit short. I'd have to see the whole package to make a good judgement. As for the Pickles... well, it's unique. Seem to have some color inconsistencies (blue and grey script but green logo).

Also, looks like the Hickory Crawdads (single-A Rangers) seem to be getting new logos, per their Twitter:

[Burmy 1,147]

Still miss the Beavers. They had gorgeous uniforms.

And this is just bad, even by Collegiate summer league standards:

The exclamation point is nice, but everything else is a wasted opportunity.

Next week (on the 11th or 13th), they'll be unveiling their new branding (I know because I'm on their e-mail list)

[Gothamite 24,606]

Great. Hope they can do something really fun with the name.

[sc49erfan15 2,389]

Hickory Crawdads new logos:

Work of Studio Simon.

[sc49erfan15 2,389]

Looks like my hometown team has upgraded it's logos... finally ditching the terribly outdated copperplate font.

Solid upgrade, except for the "Holy City" - I've never heard of someone actually refer to Charleston as that. "Chucktown," yes... but that wouldn't have made for a good alternate script either.

[Gothamite 24,606]

Hickory Crawdads new logos:

Work of Studio Simon.

Very nice, but that "H" monogram is a mess. The crawdad obscures the letterform, and it doesn't read clearly as a letter.

[BigEd76 329]

Looks similar to their SAL division rivals in Lakewood, but I guess there's only so many different ways to do a crustacean logo set

[Burmy 1,147]

Great. Hope they can do something really fun with the name.

Looked over the e-mail again...actually, it's this Saturday the 10th.

I have some pretty high expectations...

[SJAnfield 162]

River Cats have a new Sac Town alt. Yikes

http://ballparkdigest.com/2015/10/06/river-cats-unveil-sactown-alt-uniforms/

[The Mojo Maniac 50]

Great. Hope they can do something really fun with the name.

Looked over the e-mail again...actually, it's this Saturday the 10th.

I have some pretty high expectations...

Dang, I'll miss it by just a few days. Someone should provide some Persicope action for us during the unveil.

[FiddySicks 11,364]

Meh. If they absolutely insisted on doing a Giants themed alt set I wish they would've just used the Giants current cap minus the F. Also, they should've just used SACRAMENTO for the jersey rather than the dumb SACTOWN. I don't know anyone who actually calls Sacramento SacTown.

[-kj 2,411]

Heh, "Sac Town".

[TampaBayEverybodyLovesRays 7]

Per Uni-Watch, seems that the SWB Railriders logo will be relatively short lived.

The middle section of the article states, "The team will still be known as the RailRiders but will have a new logo “which really emphasizes SWB” for the 2016 season. Minor League Baseball, however, will not allow the team to unveil the logo until the end of this season."

Not looking good for the Porcupine conductor.

Damn, I thought their rebrand was pretty successful. I hope their next rebrand is even better.

Based on what I know about the team, the SWB merch sold better. The area was/is very attached to the classic interlocking SWB logo from the Red Barons days. IMO that logo was one of the best in minor league.

The top-seller in their store has been the SWB maroon hat. I also found this black cap with the gold SWB logo:

It's nice, but a little big. If they can return to a logo like the Red Barons days, I think it would be a major upgrade.

[The Mojo Maniac 50]

So this happened yesterday...

Here's the mascot, "Dillon the Pickle":

A news article where the full mascot concept was found suggests that the uni Dillon is wearing is indeed the home uni. My thoughts: clean, classic, but wish there was a little something more left-of-center to it. Still, I'll take it and I'm eager to see what a possible alt may look like.

The official colors are green, navy and gray. The script and the "P" logo seem to pay homage to the last Portland Beavers uni set, and the green squatchee on the cap is an interesting touch.

Either way, it's great to have some form of baseball back in a Northwest city that's had to say goodbye too many times.

[GFB 2,134]