TheGiantsFan Posted October 29, 2021 Share Posted October 29, 2021 Alton Baseball League2021 season ALTON LEAGUE West Alcea City Hawks Birmingham Colonials Garrison Cadets Henderson Founders Larfa Entrepreneurs Central Central City Coyotes Jacksonville Cattlers Valle Buena Condors Valley Hills Blues Windport City Cosmos East Chatfield Silverbacks Etiwanda Cultuners Marina Bay Armada Paradise Stallions St. Catherine Saints UNITED LEAGUE West Claraville Whalers Los Altos Capitals Princeton Monarchs Rattick City Rebels Santiago Bay Merchants Central Farlin Shamrocks Gallinne Roarers Hila Paramounts Lakent Lumbers Lewisville Hearts East Abrii Triad Forebay Shells Granby Twenties Homestead Sun Sox Portside Sailors LEAGUE MAP Spoiler --- Original Hand-Drawn ABL Concepts --- BEHANCE | PORTFOLIO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGiantsFan Posted October 29, 2021 Author Share Posted October 29, 2021 Hey y'all! At the conclusion of my California Soccer League series a few weeks ago, I was scrambling to figure out my next project. By popular demand, I decided to go into my fictional universe and digitize my eight-year-old Alton Baseball League concepts that I hand-drew during my high school years My baseball thread back then composed of both fictional jersey sets and hand-drawn stadiums, but for now I will just be focusing on the jerseys because of the intense time commitment for the stadium stuff. As far as the setting of this league, it's in my fictional country of Los Altos on a continent located just west of South America. I don't remember if I went into the lore of this fictional land all too much back then, but I'll be sure to fill in any gaps this time around. Here's the little intro blurb that I wrote about this many years ago: Spoiler For the baseball league, here's the map of my fictional country, Los Altos, with the locations of all the teams in the Alton Baseball League (ABL): http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7342/9754890743_e6d7929c0c_c.jpg --- Many years have passed from the original concept series to the 2021 season, so there will be several changes in the jersey sets. I'll try to keep it faithful as I could to the original sets while modernizing many aspects to new design styles I kinda struggled to find the right Illustrator template that matched the style I wanted, so I combined the soccer template that I used with elements from this ancient baseball template by @Bmac With that said, here is the first digital concept! United League WEST Princeton Monarchs Princeton, York ORIGINAL DRAWING: Spoiler Princeton is located in the southern part of Los Altos that remained more loyal to the English crown (unlike the northern part of the country wanting a democratic government during colonial times). The teams in this metro area follow a more "regal" theme in terms of nicknames. I wanted to start with a simpler team just to test this template out, and the biggest change is the font and a logo change. I changed the roundel "P" logo to a home plate logo that contains the team wordmarks and a crown. The new font is a slightly blackletter-style font with a drop shadow added in some applications. The home and road jerseys remained pretty much the same aside from the deletion of the front numbers. A new blue jersey has been added to the rotation as well. --- Hope y'all enjoy this new series! BEHANCE | PORTFOLIO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sky1324 Posted October 29, 2021 Share Posted October 29, 2021 Loving the Monarchs! They remind what I imagine a Charlotte baseball team could look like. A couple nitpicks, though. Not really feeling the all-gold cap with the blue alt (and gold socks), especially when that blue crown/gold bill cap would look excellent with it. The other thing is that the road jersey is a little hard to read, I'd either try and add some white to the wordmark/numbers or lighten the gray. Still a great look, I'd be all over the blue jersey if it was real. the user formerly known as cdclt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo_prankster Posted October 29, 2021 Share Posted October 29, 2021 Nice to see this series make its return. Although, I was looking forward to seeing an updated map of all the teams. The Fictional Story of Austus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsSlothy Posted October 30, 2021 Share Posted October 30, 2021 This was one of my favorite series on the boards, and I’m glad to see it return digitally! Hopefully we’ll get more background info on Los Altos and the history of the teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megildur Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 I'm excited to see this get digitalized, especially after seeing your California Soccer League series. I never commented on those Alton threads -- they're before I made this account -- but they're some of my favorite concepts I've seen here. As for some C&C on Princeton, I like most of the team. The font choice, drop shadow, and jersey design are the highlights for me. I do think the colors need some tinkering though. I think the gold is too yellow and/or the blue is too light, which isn't really working for me. For a smaller nitpick, I think the road jersey may benefit from blue piping. I can't wait to see more. Go Monarchs! United Baseball Association | the MLB Ferris Wheel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDTrey4 Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 Excited to see this entire series! For Princeton, I really like the home plate/royal banner look. I think you could make the crown a little more apparent on the P and M logos. Not sure if that means making it gold or making it a little larger. Also, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, that gold alt is so ugly and it would look great on a baseball field. One of those jerseys that I think people would love to hate and hate to love. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGiantsFan Posted November 3, 2021 Author Share Posted November 3, 2021 On 10/29/2021 at 11:31 AM, QCS said: Loving the Monarchs! They remind what I imagine a Charlotte baseball team could look like. A couple nitpicks, though. Not really feeling the all-gold cap with the blue alt (and gold socks), especially when that blue crown/gold bill cap would look excellent with it. The other thing is that the road jersey is a little hard to read, I'd either try and add some white to the wordmark/numbers or lighten the gray. Still a great look, I'd be all over the blue jersey if it was real. I'm glad you liked Princeton! I changed the all-gold cap to the blue/gold cap for you, but I kept the road grays as-is because the Dodgers seem to pull the blue-on-gray jersey pretty well without an outline Spoiler On 10/29/2021 at 12:10 PM, neo_prankster said: Nice to see this series make its return. Although, I was looking forward to seeing an updated map of all the teams. Thank you very much! I have an updated map of all the teams for you (I never realized that the hand-drawn map was an outdated one without the new team names), and I'll post it in the OP as well Spoiler On 10/29/2021 at 5:56 PM, ItsSlothy said: This was one of my favorite series on the boards, and I’m glad to see it return digitally! Hopefully we’ll get more background info on Los Altos and the history of the teams. I'm glad to have you along for the ride! Frankly, I never realized how popular my old hand-drawn baseball series was on here On 11/2/2021 at 4:37 AM, Megildur said: I'm excited to see this get digitalized, especially after seeing your California Soccer League series. I never commented on those Alton threads -- they're before I made this account -- but they're some of my favorite concepts I've seen here. As for some C&C on Princeton, I like most of the team. The font choice, drop shadow, and jersey design are the highlights for me. I do think the colors need some tinkering though. I think the gold is too yellow and/or the blue is too light, which isn't really working for me. For a smaller nitpick, I think the road jersey may benefit from blue piping. I can't wait to see more. Go Monarchs! Glad you liked the original series! I originally brought over the color scheme from the hand-drawn jerseys, hence the odd shade of blue originally used. I went ahead and darkened the blue to a royal blue, so here you go! Spoiler On 11/2/2021 at 9:15 AM, MDTrey4 said: Excited to see this entire series! For Princeton, I really like the home plate/royal banner look. I think you could make the crown a little more apparent on the P and M logos. Not sure if that means making it gold or making it a little larger. Also, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, that gold alt is so ugly and it would look great on a baseball field. One of those jerseys that I think people would love to hate and hate to love. Thank you very much! I did play around with a larger crown on the P and M logos, but it ended up looking rather disproportionate compared to the rest of the wordmark. Thanks for your opinion on the gold jerseys, though! --- Moving on to the first team in the Alton League! Alton League CENTRAL Windport City Cosmos Windport City, Monquin ORIGINAL DRAWING: Spoiler Windport City is located in the northern prairies of Los Altos, and the flatlands provided the perfect base for the Alton space program. Similar to Houston in the real world, the teams in this area carry a space theme to their names without the use of cheating in their gameplay The Cosmos are one of my favorite ABL teams because of how cool space imagery was to work with. The new logo set features the star from the cap logo in a more central role as a keystone for the primary logo. The secondary logo rotates the primary roundel to match the "WPC" cap monogram The biggest change to the Cosmos' jersey set is the addition of subtle stars-and-pinstripes on the home jersey. The road jersey reconfigures the long "Windport City" wordmark to match the stacked style used by the Oklahoma City Thunder. The navy blue alt remains for weekend night games, and a new road alt jersey (matching the style of the Giants' discontinued road alt jerseys) has been added. The alarm clock number font remains from the original jersey set BEHANCE | PORTFOLIO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sky1324 Posted November 3, 2021 Share Posted November 3, 2021 Funky cap logo, but I'm digging this! The subtle pinstripes are a neat touch, and I'm really liking the wordmark you've got. Excellent update of your original design. the user formerly known as cdclt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDTrey4 Posted November 3, 2021 Share Posted November 3, 2021 Really like what you've got with the Cosmos. Have you tried other base colors for the cap? This color scheme would lend itself well to a white panel front hat or even an all yellow hat could be unique. Overall a really solid design Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megildur Posted November 4, 2021 Share Posted November 4, 2021 Big fan of the Cosmos here, as well as the updates to Princeton. +'s for the Cosmos: the subtle stars-and-stripes pinstripes; alarm clock numbers; color scheme; and the interlocking WPC logo -'s for the Cosmos: the secondary/shoulder logo (which I think should just be stripped down to the letters and the star) In the Alton universe, I would gladly wear the Cosmos home cap. Great work! United Baseball Association | the MLB Ferris Wheel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo_prankster Posted November 4, 2021 Share Posted November 4, 2021 Nice job with the Cosmos. I'm curious to know if any MLB teams had ever played exhibition games against ABL teams. The Fictional Story of Austus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGiantsFan Posted November 5, 2021 Author Share Posted November 5, 2021 On 11/3/2021 at 4:01 PM, QCS said: Funky cap logo, but I'm digging this! The subtle pinstripes are a neat touch, and I'm really liking the wordmark you've got. Excellent update of your original design. Thank you very much! The pinstripes are definitely my favorite part of the refreshed Cosmos, and I'm glad you really liked it! On 11/3/2021 at 4:20 PM, MDTrey4 said: Really like what you've got with the Cosmos. Have you tried other base colors for the cap? This color scheme would lend itself well to a white panel front hat or even an all yellow hat could be unique. Overall a really solid design Thank you! To honor your request, I added a white panel hat as an alternate home cap option: Spoiler On 11/4/2021 at 3:05 AM, Megildur said: Big fan of the Cosmos here, as well as the updates to Princeton. +'s for the Cosmos: the subtle stars-and-stripes pinstripes; alarm clock numbers; color scheme; and the interlocking WPC logo -'s for the Cosmos: the secondary/shoulder logo (which I think should just be stripped down to the letters and the star) In the Alton universe, I would gladly wear the Cosmos home cap. Great work! I'm glad you like the two teams (especially the Cosmos) so far! As for the sleeve logo, I personally think that the WPC secondary roundel would balance the sleeve a little better than the standalone monogram, as the monogram is more horizontal than it is wide On 11/4/2021 at 12:25 PM, neo_prankster said: Nice job with the Cosmos. I'm curious to know if any MLB teams had ever played exhibition games against ABL teams. Thank you! I don't know if MLB plays exhibition games against other domestic leagues IRL, but they probably could play against ABL champions for a series! --- From outer space, we land back onto the ranch for this next team... Alton League CENTRAL Jacksonville Cattlers Jacksonville, Rialto ORIGINAL DRAWING: Spoiler The southern plains of Los Altos provide excellent land for the country's cattle industry, and so Jacksonville's baseball team sports a look that evokes the rugged, ranch lifestyle. The Cattlers (which was shortened from "Cattlemen" through the years) sport a cattle brand-style "J" as their primary/secondary/cap logo, and have always had their brown-and-gold color scheme. The wordmarks have been updated to a more traditional-looking serif font with the addition of underlines, and the Astros-style number font remains. To differentiate themselves from the real-life San Diego Padres, the Cattlers have a cream-colored home jersey and a gray road jersey (though I was very tempted to make it khaki-colored like the Padres). The gold and brown alternate jerseys have remained, and all the jerseys now have a trim with a subtle nod to barbed wire in its dashed lines. BEHANCE | PORTFOLIO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grish Posted November 11, 2021 Share Posted November 11, 2021 Why Alton ? Like what I see so far. "Try not to have a good time ... This is supposed to be educational."- Charles Schulz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGiantsFan Posted November 17, 2021 Author Share Posted November 17, 2021 On 11/11/2021 at 8:53 AM, Grish said: Why Alton ? Like what I see so far. Thank you, though I'm not sure exactly what you mean by the first sentence, per se... If you're referring to the name of the country/league, it's inspired by a real-life place name that I ran into quite a bit in my childhood and thought sounded cool. I lived an hour and a half away from Los Altos, CA, and naturally the demonym for Los Altos became "Alton" --- United League EAST Granby Twenties Granby, New Mifaria ORIGINAL DRAWING: Spoiler The city of Granby has one of the newest franchises in the ABL, so they have a pretty modern, expansion-style look. The team's name stems from their stadium's location on 20th Street in downtown Granby. The overall logo set and the black/lime green color scheme remains the same The jerseys overall stay the same as well, but the front number has been removed from the road jersey because of how heavy the "y" on the "Granby" script is. On the black jersey, the "g" logo has been moved to the right side of the jersey with a front number added to the left side; a new green hat as been added to the mix as well! The popular 1920s "fauxback" jersey remains on the set BEHANCE | PORTFOLIO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbird669 Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 I'm digging the logo, colors and unis, and while I understand the reasoning behind the name, it just sounds strange to me personally. But all in all, I love this series so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sky1324 Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 It's funny, Jacksonville's font is really throwing me off, but I love the rest of the set. As for the 20s, it feels weird to me to have drop shadow only sometimes but for whatever reason I think it works here. Good stuff! the user formerly known as cdclt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDTrey4 Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 There's something about the top of the G that misses for me. I think it's just a little too flat and I'm reading it as a Y. Love the unique name and color set though and the uniforms are perfect on this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGiantsFan Posted December 9, 2021 Author Share Posted December 9, 2021 On 11/17/2021 at 9:55 AM, jbird669 said: I'm digging the logo, colors and unis, and while I understand the reasoning behind the name, it just sounds strange to me personally. But all in all, I love this series so far! Glad you liked Granby! It was a little strange naming Granby's team that, but it adds some character to the league! On 11/17/2021 at 10:52 AM, QCS said: It's funny, Jacksonville's font is really throwing me off, but I love the rest of the set. As for the 20s, it feels weird to me to have drop shadow only sometimes but for whatever reason I think it works here. Good stuff! For Jacksonville, I wanted to go with a classy ranch theme without going for the cliche cowboy font, so it definitely is a little different from what you would expect I tried the "Granby" road script without a drop shadow, but it felt like it needed a little more to stand out against the darker gray background Glad you still like both teams, though! On 11/18/2021 at 8:11 AM, MDTrey4 said: There's something about the top of the G that misses for me. I think it's just a little too flat and I'm reading it as a Y. Love the unique name and color set though and the uniforms are perfect on this one. I see what you mean about the top of the "G", but I'm glad the rest of the set redeems it! --- United League CENTRAL Lakent Lumbers Ralph, Lakent ORIGINAL DRAWING: Spoiler Nestled in the forested mountains of the state of Lakent, Ralph's team is inspired by the logging industry that comes naturally with its location. The green/brown/white color scheme remains, but the mixed-case identity of the past has been eliminated in favor of an all-caps, slab-serif look inspired by the 1987-2009 Minnesota Twins. The old primary logo has been demoted to secondary, and a new primary logo with the baseball pines has been added. The home jersey is now a cream jersey with pinstripes reminiscent of tree bark (similar in concept to my Mountainmen SC concept). The gray and green jerseys remain, but all the front numbers have now been removed. A new all-brown jersey (coloration inspired by the first version of the Giants' "Fade to Black" jerseys). BEHANCE | PORTFOLIO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vtgco Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 I think the dark brown and green are fighting each other a tad with the Lumbers... Perhaps trading shades of brown with Jacksonville might help...? Also, the logos and font feel a tad too perfectly geometric for the woodsy vibe, though the switch to all-caps was probably the right call. I'd love to see a whiteless uniform for the all-brown, with tan numbers and brown caps perhaps... I love the shooting star pinstripes for Windport City; I'd love to see a touch of that on the other uniforms (maybe a single star at the top of the pant stripe?) Also, the font choices are my favorite yet, and the stacked "Windport City" wordmark looks great on a jersey. The cap logo is solid, but I think the W & P want a touch more distinctness and dynamism (perhaps I could suggest this?) Anyways, regardless, this is the shining star () of the series so far! Jacksonville has a nice classic look! I think the wordmarks wanted to be arched, and the C in "Cattlers" wants to extend above the other letters like the J in "Jacksonville" does. The sleeve logos are too big IMO, though I'd rather see either nothing or a different logo design there (a full-body cow? a cowbell? idk) I'm with @QCS about Granby's dropshadow; it feels out of place. The green cap with the black jersey is kinda fun, I like it. I'm curious if black script with green outline would look good at home...? The 1920s fauxback seems appropriate : D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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