Raysox's States Baseball League 33/52 (DE, PA, IA)

[MJD7]

• South Dakota: I actually like the original version more, the font reminds me of that new “Strange Worlds” Disney movie that I haven’t seen. The only thing I would maybe bring over from the update would be the brighter colors of the gradient.
• Idaho: This is another team where I’m not sure what I would’ve done, but the Anaheim Ducks colors work well for them. I dig it.
• Rhode Island: Similar to South Dakota, and like @johne9109 & @coco1997, I actually prefer the original version more. The one upgrade in the update to me is the rope on the cap, that looks awesome.

I’d be curious to see what a Minnesota update would entail, because I think the original was pretty much perfect!

[raysox]

Thanks for the comments gang. Noting your comments, specifically about Rhode Island. I'll keep an open mind to work on that monogram, but I do think it's much better than the old RI because it's simpler. Updates may come.

 

On 5/21/2023 at 12:22 PM, MJD7 said:

I'd be curious to see what a Minnesota update would entail, because I think the original was pretty much perfect!

I think I just didn't develop the M cap logo enough, it may be a case of removing some outlines. I know the Twins have a new logo that's the M-star and I could do that, but don't expect wholesale changes.

 

Oregon 28/52

Early on, Oregon had a great suggestion to use the colors from a license plate. I haven't had the pleasure of going to Washington and Oregon, but I needed to make them different and this was a good start. The idea was a funky looking font, but went with something that felt more outdoors-y, while still looking unique. The O's feature a illustrated tree. The torso of the jersey has a faint plaid design like the old New York Giants uniforms, but I felt that if any state could pull it off, it would be Oregon.

 

Mississippi 29/52
I took a pretty long break between Oregon and the next one. But when i got back on my file, I saw a half completed Mississippi design. The idea was an M with the features of a steam boat you'd find on the Mississippi river. Overall this set is simple. It uses Modesto with some spurs on the side to add some depth.

North Carolina 30/52

I knew I wanted to put JUST Carolina on this one, just to differentiate it from South Carolina. It would be a much easier script to design around. That being said, I didn't want to use Carolina blue. So many surrounding states have shades of blue, so I felt like using red and black would work. There's not too much red in this project, and this would relate back to teams like the Hurricanes and Wolfpack (my dad wen to NC State too, so definitely no Carolina blue).

With just the script and an interlocking NC, it felt really classic and I was happy to go with it. But it didn't have much meaning. What I did was slant the cap logo forward and go with sleeve stripes similar to the Angels City Connect. This gave a sense of speed and boldness, which relates to North Carolina's stock car history. We can just say it looks like Dale Jr's old car.

[coco1997]

How do you keep topping yourself?! Oregon and Mississippi are some of your best work yet. LOVE that color scheme for Oregon (and the subtle plaid design gives the jersey a ton of personality) and both teams' cap logos are things of beauty. I think MO is one team that could benefit from some front numbers, maybe in that lighter blue?

 

Your "Carolina" script is just gorgeous, too, especially that swoopy letter "C."

 

Keep up the amazing work! 

[sky1324]

I'm fine with NC's general design (though the keystone-like serifs on the cap logo don't really match anything else on the jersey) but I can't get behind not using blue at all. Even making powder blue the base of the jersey and keeping everything else the same would work. Blue is such an intrinsic part of NC sports that even though plenty of states use blue you could opt for a mid-tone blue (similar to Oklahoma or Utah on your map or the Carolina Panthers) and it would feel right at home and stand out amongst the rest of the Southeast. I understand why you went for red, but the Canes and NC State are so insignificant (no offense) compared to the history of some shade of blue.

 

I also get what you're doing with Oregon but the royal blue plaid isn't working for me - it's fighting a lot with the navy. Maybe instead try a more sublimated version of it with a darker shade of navy? I love the cap logo though, that's really nice and the shade of teal is great.

 

I agree with coco about adding a front number to MS. Excellent set besides that, great colors and I love the font + logo pair.

 

Quick edit because I got hit with inspiration: You could, instead of swapping red for blue, try swapping black for blue. Keep the unique emphasis on red but tie furthermore into the state instead of only representing one single university.

[Spunky Brewster]

I know you specifically said you were trying to avoid Carolina Blue in your NC design but I gotta say it feels like it could use at least a hint of it- the color is named for the state after all! Right now it looks like an NC State design where if you even just added Carolina Blue outlines/shadows I think it would pay homage to both schools and stand out with a unique color palette. The Hickory Crawdads use these colors as well if you want to look to them as an example. Great work regardless though I've been loving this series! 

[MJD7]

• Oregon: I love the color scheme, wordmark, & use of a plaid/flannel pattern. My only recommendation would be to extend that pattern to the sleeve, as I had a similar but opposite issue with the Astros' City Connect. A pattern like that stopping at the sleeves just feels off to me.
• Mississippi: I love the logos and color scheme. I do agree that it needs something more, a front number would help, but I would go further & try to add stripes of some kind or something like that. Maybe light blue pinstripes and/or sleeve stripes would really put this one over the top.
• North Carolina: I love that script, is it a font? If so, I would love to know the name of it. I agree with everyone above that carolina blue should be incorporated somewhere, & I think red & carolina blue is the way to go. It's a great, underused color scheme that I don't believe you've used yet (beyond maybe Texas, which includes navy)

Great work as always!

[raysox]

Lol well I will say the comments on North Carolina were frustratingly predictable, to no ones fault. I heard the same thing on twitter from UNC fans.

I've been trying to figure out how to address them for a few days. I feel like i'm receptive to feedback as a whole. That being said, I think I just like the red and black more? I tried a few quick ideas, the Hickory Crawdads comment was a good shout. It was definitely a mistake to tie it to the Hurricanes and Wolfpack in my comments because these all are agnostic from existing pro teams. I can just see North Carolina being those colors. I felt Carolina blue was too tied to one specific team, a popular team no doubt, but I don't want to see this in game and just see a UNC uniform. Hell, it was a mistake having Tennessee orange and blue early on because I feel pretty similar. Hell, I had plans in my original color sheet to have a light blue, but moved away from it.

I'm still going to try and come up with some new ideas. I don't want to just add a stroke to the text and arm stripes because what I feel like is a strong 2 color identity immediately feels like a watered down 3 color identity with a color just to have it. I hope that makes sense, I totally get the feedback everyone had said and really appreciate the time it took to comment. 

Oh and Mississippi was designed simple, but of course Oakland and St. Louis have numbers so i'll see what they look like on Mississippi too.

Delaware and Pennsylvania are really cool, i'm excited to show you all in a few days. The last 15 or so have felt really strong and it's made me look back on the older ones and consider pushing more. Oh and @MJD7, the font is called Strikers Swash.

EDIT

 

What about something like this?

 

[sky1324]

8 minutes ago, raysox said:

Lol well I will say the comments on North Carolina were frustratingly predictable, to no ones fault. I heard the same thing on twitter from UNC fans.

I've been trying to figure out how to address them for a few days. I feel like i'm receptive to feedback as a whole. That being said, I think I just like the red and black more? I tried a few quick ideas, the Hickory Crawdads comment was a good shout. It was definitely a mistake to tie it to the Hurricanes and Wolfpack in my comments because these all are agnostic from existing pro teams. I can just see North Carolina being those colors. I felt Carolina blue was too tied to one specific team, a popular team no doubt, but I don't want to see this in game and just see a UNC uniform. Hell, it was a mistake having Tennessee orange and blue early on because I feel pretty similar. Hell, I had plans in my original color sheet to have a light blue, but moved away from it.

I'm still going to try and come up with some new ideas. I don't want to just add a stroke to the text and arm stripes because what I feel like is a strong 2 color identity immediately feels like a watered down 3 color identity with a color just to have it. I hope that makes sense, I totally get the feedback everyone had said and really appreciate the time it took to comment.

This all makes sense and I don't disagree. My advice would be to avoid "Carolina blue" and use a different shade, like navy or a Panthers blue-esque midtone shade. You mention that Carolina blue is too tied to one team, but to me (a resident from the opposite part of the state) red and black belongs solely to NC State and doesn't feel representative of the state as a whole. Maybe this is my biases coming into the picture but I've always felt that NC is a "blue" state and I feel like it represents the state best.

 

I think a red and navy scheme with navy replacing black would be a strong, unique palette that ties into the state flag and still stands apart from other teams via color hierarchy. In another direction, literally just changing the base of the jersey from white to powder blue could work - the only other powder blue team you have is Texas so the set remains mostly unique and still true to the state.

 

I like the set but if you're pivoting, maybe you can include the racing stripes you referenced for Indiana? I know Ohio uses them too but that might be a comfortable direction. (I also wonder if switching Georgia back to black would help the color distribution nationwide.) Beyond that, maybe looking to NASCAR could help? Petty Blue, Intimidator black, there's a wide variety of colorful cars to use as inspiration. Of course, I'm a NASCAR fan and from what I've heard people in the Eastern part of the state really don't care for the association with the sport but there's a reason the association is so strong.

[MJD7]

I thought adding carolina blue to the existing set might work, but I do agree that it waters it down quite a bit. I really think you could afford to substitute black for carolina blue entirely, but I get it if you prefer the red & black. It is your series, after all!

 

EDIT: I kind of dig the idea of just making the entire base carolina blue, too. 

[sky1324]

For what it's worth, I don't dislike the set with Carolina blue strokes and I think it would work just fine, but agreed that it's a stronger set without it. I actually do really like the logo with the light blue highlights, it adds some nice depth.

[MilSox]

On 5/24/2023 at 9:07 PM, raysox said:

Lol well I will say the comments on North Carolina were frustratingly predictable, to no ones fault. I heard the same thing on twitter from UNC fans.

I've been trying to figure out how to address them for a few days. I feel like i'm receptive to feedback as a whole. That being said, I think I just like the red and black more? I tried a few quick ideas, the Hickory Crawdads comment was a good shout. It was definitely a mistake to tie it to the Hurricanes and Wolfpack in my comments because these all are agnostic from existing pro teams. I can just see North Carolina being those colors. I felt Carolina blue was too tied to one specific team, a popular team no doubt, but I don't want to see this in game and just see a UNC uniform. Hell, it was a mistake having Tennessee orange and blue early on because I feel pretty similar. Hell, I had plans in my original color sheet to have a light blue, but moved away from it.

I'm still going to try and come up with some new ideas. I don't want to just add a stroke to the text and arm stripes because what I feel like is a strong 2 color identity immediately feels like a watered down 3 color identity with a color just to have it. I hope that makes sense, I totally get the feedback everyone had said and really appreciate the time it took to comment. 

Oh and Mississippi was designed simple, but of course Oakland and St. Louis have numbers so i'll see what they look like on Mississippi too.

Delaware and Pennsylvania are really cool, i'm excited to show you all in a few days. The last 15 or so have felt really strong and it's made me look back on the older ones and consider pushing more. Oh and @MJD7, the font is called Strikers Swash.

EDIT

 

What about something like this?

 

 

What if you just replaced the black with light blue, essentially making it the secondary color after red.

 

That way you have the state's famous shade of blue represented, but no one would mistake this team for UNC.

 

 

[raysox]

Still beefing up the back catalog before I post another set of 3. There's a few I have half of an idea for, but want to push them further.

But for now, I made some league logos for the OOTP save. As I said at one point, I have three main leagues of 20-16-16 divided by skill level with promotion and relegation between them. Then there's a massive 36 team Class A league that's the top minor league to acting to develop players, or provide a reserve roster for bigger states. The teams in this league are branded as real minor league identities and it's kind of fun to see them all together. Then finally, four regional Rookie Leagues to develop draft picks and anyone under 22. For smaller states like Montana and Vermont, this is their top level of minor league since the player pool is so shallow. Even then I have to auto fill the rosters with fake players.

The top league has California and Texas win about 120 games a season, with Georgia and Florida battling it out in the South Division of it. California won the first two titles over Florida, then Georgia just beat Texas in year 3.

League 2 is interesting because it's the most competitive. League 3 has 4 or so teams that dominate the smaller states but get dominated in League 2 upon moving up. I think i'm about to take over League 3 Utah and see if I can develop their minor leagues to get to the top league and challenge the establishment.

[maxwasson]

3 hours ago, raysox said:

Still beefing up the back catalog before I post another set of 3. There's a few I have half of an idea for, but want to push them further.

But for now, I made some league logos for the OOTP save. As I said at one point, I have three main leagues of 20-16-16 divided by skill level with promotion and relegation between them. Then there's a massive 36 team Class A league that's the top minor league to acting to develop players, or provide a reserve roster for bigger states. The teams in this league are branded as real minor league identities and it's kind of fun to see them all together. Then finally, four regional Rookie Leagues to develop draft picks and anyone under 22. For smaller states like Montana and Vermont, this is their top level of minor league since the player pool is so shallow. Even then I have to auto fill the rosters with fake players.

The top league has California and Texas win about 120 games a season, with Georgia and Florida battling it out in the South Division of it. California won the first two titles over Florida, then Georgia just beat Texas in year 3.

League 2 is interesting because it's the most competitive. League 3 has 4 or so teams that dominate the smaller states but get dominated in League 2 upon moving up. I think i'm about to take over League 3 Utah and see if I can develop their minor leagues to get to the top league and challenge the establishment.

 

When you're done with this project, will you layout a full league structure of each state's teams and their farm clubs?

[raysox]

5 hours ago, maxwasson said:

 

When you're done with this project, will you layout a full league structure of each state's teams and their farm clubs?

Hell that might be something I so waiting to do concepts! The Rookie League teams are just named like Texas Rookie Texans and use the primary branding.

Put all the caps together in one spot for you all, nearly spelled a bad word too.

[sky1324]

I think Louisiana is probably still my favorite but I am loving Ohio's logo as well. Just really well-made. I'm a fan of the league logos as well!

[raysox]

Delaware 31/52
For the first state, I wanted to lean into JUST white and blue to stand out from everyone else so far. I went for a germanic font that I cleaned up a little bit, and put a 1 in the D, to represent being the first state. Originally, I planned on doing a Delaware Blue Hen logo, but thought it was too fun to drop that I put it on the sleeve.

Pennsylvania 32/52

I was always planning to only put PENN on these jerseys because Pennsylvania is such a long term. I tried tens of fonts and couldn't land on one I really loved. I stumbled upon this colonial looking font that was really sloppy. I took the opportunity to completely redraw it to make a clean script. Notably, the Keystone is featured on nearly everything here. The keystone P cap logo, the dot on the I, and enclosing the front number. 

 

Iowa 33/52

This concept initially spawned from a throw away joke sketch of making an I an ear of corn. But little did I know how much I would end up loving that idea. I used a fun-farmer style font to fit the short name. The colors originally were black and yellow but I felt it was too Hawkeyes. I went with a deep midnight blue. Lastly, the piping on the sleeves were replaced by a row of corn.

[Megildur]

Love Delaware! It's one of my favorites and it just has a classic feel to it. I love the addition of the hen on the sleeve especially.

[GriffinM6]

Love all three, but Iowa is probably the most creative one yet. Absolutely fantasic. 

[coco1997]

Fantastic work all around. I always look forward to updates in this series of any kind.

 

I love that you took Iowa, which has an unfair reputation of being a "middle of nowhere" state, and turned it into one of your most creative designs in this series. The letter "I" emerging from the corn husks and the kernel patterns are strokes of genius. 

[sky1324]

I adore the hen sleeve patch on Delaware. Honestly I'd love to see more sleeve patches in general. The Pennsylvania script is great as well.