MLB x Negro League Baseball (Homestead Grays x Pirates 7/24)

[coco1997]

A while back, I was inspired to create a series of MLB x Negro League mashup designs. Unlike @Carolingian Steamroller's fantastic Negro League Teams in the Present Day project, which sought to imagine what NLB teams would like today had they been absorbed into MLB, this series seeks to combine Negro League identities with the aesthetics of the Major League teams with whom they shared (or would eventually share) a city. 

Without further ado, here are the Miami Giants:

MIAMI GIANTS HOME:

 

MIAMI GIANTS ROAD:

 

MIAMI GIANTS HOME ALT:

 

MIAMI GIANTS ROAD ALT:

 

Notes:

 

- My Giants design is heavily influenced by the 1996-99 Florida Marlins, with ocean blue replacing teal and pink/magenta replacing silver. 

- While the actual Miami Giants allegedly wore black, blue and red, I took a little artistic license and went with a more Miami Vice-centric color scheme. 

- The scripts come from the Miami Giants fauxback jersey offered by Ebbets Field Flannels. 

 

C&C appreciated as always! Another team will be up soon. 

[Coiler]

Since I love the "Vice Neon" colors, great job.

Also, was getting the often-used "Giants" (according to Bill James' Historical Baseball Abstract, it was a frequent code word) out of the way in the first post intentional?

[coco1997]

On 5/16/2023 at 1:00 AM, Coiler said:

Since I love the "Vice Neon" colors, great job.

Also, was getting the often-used "Giants" (according to Bill James' Historical Baseball Abstract, it was a frequent code word) out of the way in the first post intentional?

Thanks! And rest assured, there are more teams called the "Giants" where this set comes from.  

 

Next up are the Detroit Stars!

DETROIT STARS HOME:

 

DETROIT STARS ROAD:

 

Notes:

- In keeping with the Tigers' MO, there are no alternates, just a home and road set. 

- The away set is basically the lovechild of the Stars' home uniforms and the Tigers' 1984 road look. 

 

C&C appreciated! 

[Victormrey]

Great start! I love how these 2 first designs are contrasting:

• Miami feels very fresh. Incredible job with both home and road wordmarks and the sleeve pacth  The Miami Vice colour palette is the cherry on top of the cake!
• Detroit feels very classy, and I think you maneged to get a great blend of identities.

I can't wait to see more!

[coco1997]

2 hours ago, Victormrey said:

Great start! I love how these 2 first designs are contrasting:

• Miami feels very fresh. Incredible job with both home and road wordmarks and the sleeve pacth  The Miami Vice colour palette is the cherry on top of the cake!
• Detroit feels very classy, and I think you maneged to get a great blend of identities.

I can't wait to see more!

Thanks so much!

 

Up today are the Milwaukee Bears:

BEARS HOME:

 

BEARS ROAD:

 

BEARS HOME/ROAD ALT:

 

Notes:

 

- For the Bears, I rolled in several elements from the team's uniform history, including raglan style sleeves, colored belt loops and a diamond design on the cap, while substituting royal blue with the Brewers' current navy and gold color palette.

- I couldn't decide whether to go with pinstripes or without, so I compromised and went with subtle pins, a la the new Twins' road set. 

 

C&C appreciated! 

[Coiler]

Detroit looks like the Astros moved north, while Milwaukee looks kind a little too Brewers-like in terms of color for my tastes.

(They're both still good, just not as good as the First Team Named The Giants)

[coco1997]

On 5/19/2023 at 6:30 PM, Coiler said:

Detroit looks like the Astros moved north, while Milwaukee looks kind a little too Brewers-like in terms of color for my tastes.

(They're both still good, just not as good as the First Team Named The Giants)

Fair criticism. How's this? 

 

 

Yes, it's still very Brewer-y, but this distances the design a bit more from the Crew's current set. I also went powder blue for the road. 

[Coiler]

Looks much better. Love the Classic Brewers look.

[coco1997]

On 5/21/2023 at 5:29 PM, Coiler said:

Looks much better. Love the Classic Brewers look.

Good to hear. I have plenty of navy teams planned for this project, so putting the Bears in royal blue was probably the right call. 

 

Also, I told you there would be more teams in this series called the "Giants," so here's #2!

ELITE GIANTS HOME:

 

ELITE GIANTS ROAD:

 

ELITE GIANTS HOME ALT:

 

ELITE GIANTS ROAD ALT:

 

Notes:

 

- This one is a fairly straightforward swap of the Orioles' black and orange with black and red. For reference, here's an example of how some of the original Elite Giants uniforms looked, which is not too different from the Orioles'. 

- The Maryland flag roundel features "Elite Giants Baseball" in place of "Orioles."

 

C&C appreciated! One of my favorite designs in this series is on deck. 

[Coiler]

Conservative design but not a bad one at all.

[coco1997]

On 5/25/2023 at 1:28 PM, Coiler said:

Conservative design but not a bad one at all.

Thanks!

Finishing up the week with the St. Louis Stars!

ST. LOUIS STARS HOME:

 

ST. LOUIS STARS ROAD:

 

Notes:

 

- The Stars' look is strongly inspired by the 1940s Cardinals and makes use of the Browns' gorgeous 1952-53 road script. 

- Just like the Cardinals, no alts, and the road is just a gray version of the home set. 

- The real Stars uniforms changed colors a bit over the years, so I went with a royal blue and red color scheme to distinguish them from the Detroit Stars. 

 

C&C appreciated! Another "S" team is up next. 

[Coiler]

Was looking forward to the Stars and they did not disappoint!

[coco1997]

On 5/27/2023 at 1:54 PM, Coiler said:

Was looking forward to the Stars and they did not disappoint!

Great to hear!

I'm back today with the Seattle Steelheads!

STEELHEADS HOME:

 

STEELHEADS ROAD:

 

STEELHEADS HOME/ROAD ALT:

 

Notes:

 

- The  Steelheads only existed for three seasons in the 1940s, but I nevertheless wanted to include them in this series, especially considering the M's have thrown back to them on several occasions. 

- It wasn't planned this way, but this is the second team in a row with T-bars. I've been using T-bars for a lot of my Mariners concepts lately, and this wasn't going to be an exception. I especially like how they look on the alt. 

- The "Steelheads" wordmark was recreated using Seattle's current typeface, sans the compass, of course. 

 

C&C appreciated! We'll stay out west for the next team. 

[coco1997]

Next up are the San Francisco Sea Lions!

SEA LIONS HOME:

 

SEA LIONS ROAD:

 

SEA LIONS HOME ALT:

 

SEA LIONS ROAD ALT:

 

Notes:

 

- The Sea Lions shared a similar color scheme to the Giants, so this one wasn't a huge leap. 

- I thought about using a Giants-esque "SF" cap logo but decided that going logo-less, like the original Seals caps, would be the bolder move.

- Front numbers are added to balance out the lack of cap logo. 

 

C&C appreciated! 

[Coiler]

While the colors are obviously pretty Giants-y (whose style I like) , I love the name, which reminds me of an alternate history in-joke. Operation Sealion was the proposed German invasion of England in WWII, which every serious enthusiast knows was unviable because, to be blunt, the British had an navy and the Germans didn't. Thus the sea lion has become a symbol of that community.  And since this is baseball alternate history...

[coco1997]

On 6/3/2023 at 8:35 PM, Coiler said:

While the colors are obviously pretty Giants-y (whose style I like) , I love the name, which reminds me of an alternate history in-joke. Operation Sealion was the proposed German invasion of England in WWII, which every serious enthusiast knows was unviable because, to be blunt, the British had an navy and the Germans didn't. Thus the sea lion has become a symbol of that community.  And since this is baseball alternate history...

I never knew about Operation Sea Lion, so thanks for that. Also curious to hear your thoughts on the Seattle Steelheads.

 

Let's start the week with another Giants team, the Chicago American Giants!

CHICAGO AMERICAN GIANTS HOME:

 

CHICAGO AMERICAN GIANTS ROAD:

 

CHICAGO AMERICAN GIANTS HOME/ROAD ALT:

 

Notes:

 

- Decided to pair dark navy with red rather than sky blue so my design wouldn't look like a total copy of @Carolingian Steamroller's excellent American Giants concept.

- At one point the American Giants used a Tuscan style "CHICAGO" wordmark that was just about identical to the one worn by the White Sox in the early 1930s and late '70s.

- The diagonal "CHI" logo comes from Ebbets Field Flannel's CAG varsity jacket, which, in the time since I put together this concept, seems to have been scrubbed from their website for some reason. 

 

C&C appreciated! Another Central team is up next. 

[Carolingian Steamroller]

Very intrigued by the drop shadowed CHI, that's a great aesthetic.

Love the deep blue shade.

[coco1997]

On 6/5/2023 at 9:58 AM, Carolingian Steamroller said:

Very intrigued by the drop shadowed CHI, that's a great aesthetic.

Love the deep blue shade.

Thanks! I love the "CHI" logo, too.

 

Next up are the Cincinnati Tigers!

 

TIGERS HOME:

 

TIGERS ROAD:

 

TIGERS HOME ALT:

 

TIGERS ROAD ALT:

 

Notes:

- Cincinnati's Negro League club existed from 1934-37 and boasted an identity very clearly inspired by the Reds, including a wishbone "C" and Tuscan style road wordmark.

- In keeping with the actual Tigers' uniforms, I amped up the level of black a bit more than what the Reds currently use. 

- The home alt features a script "Tigers" taken from Detroit's current wordmark logo, while the sleeve design includes the 1999-2006 version of Mr. Redlegs with a tiger head. 

 

C&C appreciated! We had back west for the next team. 

[coco1997]

Finishing off the week with the Oakland Larks:

LARKS HOME:

 

LARKS ROAD:

 

LARKS HOME ALT:

 

LARKS ROAD ALT:

 

Notes:

 

- The Larks were another one-year wonder from 1946, and their dark green & gold identity meshes naturally with the Athletics'. 

- An Old English "O" replaces the traditional "A's" cap and jersey logo. 

- The sleeve design features a lark perched on a baseball, inspired obviously by the A's alternate logo, but also by the original Orioles primary logo. 

 

C&C appreciated!

 

Just a small programming note: I've been saving most of the better known NLB teams (such as the Monarchs, Black Crackers and Royal Giants) for the second half of the series, which we're approaching. 

[JG36]

Love the English O alternate, and the lark on ball logo works really well.