What If Every MLB Team Kept Its Original Look? (Houston Colts 2/26)

[maxwasson]

I wonder if the National League's Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox will also be in this series

[coco1997]

23 hours ago, maxwasson said:

I wonder if the National League's Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox will also be in this series

Wonder no more:

CHICAGO WHITE STOCKINGS (est. 1870)

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Notes:

 

- The Cubs ironically began life as the “White Stockings” a full thirty years before their crosstown rival joined the American League.
- For this design, I rolled elements of the South Siders’ current look into the Cubs’ uniforms, with black becoming the team’s primary color and red remaining the secondary color.
- The cap and home/alt jersey logo swaps out the bat-wielding bear from the North Siders’ 1908-14 primary logo for a sock.

 

C&C appreciated! 

[VampyrRabbit]

On 2024-01-01 at 4:59 PM, coco1997 said:

 

Are you referring to the Florida Marlins or the Miami Marlins of the International League? If it's the latter, I totally forgot about them, but I suppose they deserve to be included in this series, huh?

 

The latter.

[Coiler]

Love this White Stockings uniform as much as any real White Sox uniform.

(Also the White Stockings/future Cubs played in Lake Front Park, a ridiculously small stadium that generated lots of home runs).

[coco1997]

16 hours ago, Coiler said:

Love this White Stockings uniform as much as any real White Sox uniform.

(Also the White Stockings/future Cubs played in Lake Front Park, a ridiculously small stadium that generated lots of home runs).

Thanks!

 

20 hours ago, VampyrRabbit said:

The latter.

Stay tuned. 

 

BOSTON RED STOCKINGS (est. 1871)

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Notes:

 

- Like the Reds, the (Boston) Braves started off as the “Red Stockings” and went through several interesting name changes before becoming the Braves in 1912.
- The uniforms combine design elements of the Red Sox (McAuliffe numbers) with the Braves (triple piping), along with wordmarks in the style of Atlanta’s scripts.
- The sleeve patch is a recolored version of the White Sox’ 1926 cap logo, which evokes the crossed tomahawks from the Braves’ alternate logo.

 

C&C appreciated!

[johne9109]

7 hours ago, coco1997 said:

Thanks!

 

Stay tuned. 

 

BOSTON RED STOCKINGS (est. 1871)

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Notes:

 

- Like the Reds, the (Boston) Braves started off as the “Red Stockings” and went through several interesting name changes before becoming the Braves in 1912.
- The uniforms combine design elements of the Red Sox (McAuliffe numbers) with the Braves (triple piping), along with wordmarks in the style of Atlanta’s scripts.
- The sleeve patch is a recolored version of the White Sox’ 1926 cap logo, which evokes the crossed tomahawks from the Braves’ alternate logo.

 

C&C appreciated!

These REALLY work!

[GrayJ12]

I don't know why, but the Red Sox in the Braves script works really well. Also, the double socks logo is really nice as well. Well done!

[coco1997]

15 hours ago, johne9109 said:

These REALLY work!

 

3 hours ago, GrayJ12 said:

I don't know why, but the Red Sox in the Braves script works really well. Also, the double socks logo is really nice as well. Well done!

Thank you both!

BROOKLYN GRAYS (est. 1883)

 

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Notes:

 

- Brooklyn’s NL team started out as the Grays from 1883-87 before being known alternatively as the “Bridegrooms,” “Superbas” and eventually Dodgers beginning in 1911. 
- This one is a straightforward swap of the Dodgers’ blue for gray, while keeping the team’s iconic red TV numbers.
- I also added T-bars as a small nod to the Negro League club of the same name.

 

As always, C&C appreciated! 

[Victormrey]

The Grays turned out great! I'm a big fan of the grey-on-grey road uni, and the red front numbers really pop across the whole set.

 

As for some of the previous designs, amazing work for the Red Sox's home wordmark. A personal favourite is the Grand Rapid Rippers! I think the current Guardians' wordmark font/style really fits their name.

[coco1997]

On 1/5/2024 at 10:14 AM, Victormrey said:

The Grays turned out great! I'm a big fan of the grey-on-grey road uni, and the red front numbers really pop across the whole set.

 

As for some of the previous designs, amazing work for the Red Sox's home wordmark. A personal favourite is the Grand Rapid Rippers! I think the current Guardians' wordmark font/style really fits their name.

Thank you!

KANSAS CITY ROYALS (est. 1917)

 

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Notes:

 

- The original Kansas City Royals were a semi-professional Negro League team assembled by Chet Brewer in 1917, predating the MLB club of the same name by over fifty years.

- Sadly (but not surprisingly), photographic documentation of black ballclubs from this period is sparse at best. This is the only photo I could find of the Royals. 
- It's impossible to tell the uniform colors from that photo, so seeing as the Kansas City Monarchs' unis were seemingly influenced by the Royals' (note the arched block "ROYALS" and large "K" and "C" on the front of the jerseys) I opted for a Monarchs-esque navy and red scheme. 

 

C&C appreciated! Just a few teams left before I wrap up this series. 

[maxwasson]

21 hours ago, coco1997 said:

Thank you!

KANSAS CITY ROYALS (est. 1917)

 

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Notes:

 

- The original Kansas City Royals were a semi-professional Negro League team assembled by Chet Brewer in 1917, predating the MLB club of the same name by over fifty years.

- Sadly (but not surprisingly), photographic documentation of black ballclubs from this period is few and far between. This is the only known photo I could find of the Royals. 
- It's impossible to tell the uniform colors from that black & white photo, but seeing as the Kansas City Monarchs' unis were seemingly influenced by the Royals' (note the arched block "ROYALS" and large "K" and "C" on the front of the jerseys) I opted for a Monarchs-esque dark navy and red scheme. 

 

C&C appreciated! Just a few teams left before I wrap up this series. 

 

Wow, I didn't know that there was a Negro League Royals, and I'm the one that's doing a whole Kansas City-based concept series

[coco1997]

15 minutes ago, maxwasson said:

Wow, I didn't not that there was a Negro League Royals, and I'm the one that's doing a whole Kansas City-based concept series

Neither did I. There was also a California Winter League team from the '40s called the Royals.

 

MIAMI MARLINS (est. 1956)

 

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Notes:

 

- As suggested by @VampyrRabbit (and admittedly, totally forgotten about by me), the original Miami Marlins played in the International League from 1956-60. Hands down my favorite part of these uniforms is the playful Swingin’ Fish.
- The shades of blue & orange have been tweaked in order to make the team look less like the Mets.  
- One distinct feature of the Marlins’ road uniforms were the contrasting sleeve & headspoon piping, a detail I preserved here and also applied to the other two jerseys.
- While those original road jerseys featured an arched block wordmark, I opted for a new script “Miami” to match the “Marlins” one.   

 

C&C appreciated!

[VampyrRabbit]

This is more or less what I pictured when I suggested the OG Marlins and if it was a full set, it looks great with the tweaked orange and blue, and good call on the script for the road, to me any individual letter wordmark for the Marlins which isn't Art Deco inspired just feels off.
 

1 hour ago, coco1997 said:

- One distinct feature of the Marlins’ road uniforms were the contrasting sleeve & headspoon piping, a detail I preserved here and also applied to the other two jerseys.

 

I make a suggestion that the single stripe contrasting sleeve and placket piping is called "The Doby Style" from now on. 

[coco1997]

On 1/6/2024 at 2:05 PM, VampyrRabbit said:

This is more or less what I pictured when I suggested the OG Marlins and if it was a full set, it looks great with the tweaked orange and blue, and good call on the script for the road, to me any individual letter wordmark for the Marlins which isn't Art Deco inspired just feels off.

Thanks! 
 

On 1/6/2024 at 2:05 PM, VampyrRabbit said:

I make a suggestion that the single stripe contrasting sleeve and placket piping is called "The Doby Style" from now on. 

That sounds good to me. 

 

BALTIMORE ORIOLES (est. 1882)

 

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Notes:

 

- The original Baltimore Orioles (not the team that eventually became the Yankees) played in the American Association and later the National League from 1882-1899. 
- Various photos of the Orioles depict an Old English "B" logo and arched, block "BALTIMORE" wordmark, both of which I worked into this design. 

- One photo of the original O's seems to show a black cap with orange pinstripes, an intriguing look I applied to the alternate uniform. 

- The sleeves feature a recolored version of the present-day Orioles' Baltimore flag roundel. 

 

C&C appreciated! One team left before I wrap up the series. 

[Coiler]

Orioles: Like it, like the color scheme

Marlins: Love it and the color scheme too.

Grays: Have a soft spot for all-gray, so it's simple but works

Royals: This is the miss amongst the hits for me, if only because of the blue and red being similar to a lot of other uniforms. (The Monarchs and real Royals have managed to avoid this, which makes it more jarring)

[coco1997]

4 hours ago, Coiler said:

Orioles: Like it, like the color scheme

Marlins: Love it and the color scheme too.

Grays: Have a soft spot for all-gray, so it's simple but works

Royals: This is the miss amongst the hits for me, if only because of the blue and red being similar to a lot of other uniforms. (The Monarchs and real Royals have managed to avoid this, which makes it more jarring)

Thanks! I get what you're saying about blue and red being overdone; however, the bolded part isn't entirely accurate. See this jersey, for example. 

 

Wrapping up the series today!

PITTSBURGH ALLEGHENYS (est. 1882)

 

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- The Alleghenys began play in the American Association in 1882 before becoming the first AA team to switch to the NL in 1887. The team formally adopted the “Pirates” nickname in 1891.  
- I’ve gotten a bit bored doing variations on the Pirates in black and gold, so I instead used the Alleghenys’ black & purple. Perhaps in this alternate timeline, black and gold never became the unofficial colors of Pittsburgh’s sports teams.
- I leaned into the Pirates’ City Connect uniforms a bit with this set, pairing all three jerseys with black pants.
 

And that's the series! If there are any other teams you feel are worthy of inclusion in this series, please let me know. Thanks again for following along!

[Coiler]

A Pittsburgh team not bound by Yellow and Black!

[Dozap17]

Excellent work on this series

[coco1997]

On 1/9/2024 at 2:39 PM, Coiler said:

A Pittsburgh team not bound by Yellow and Black!

It's weird to see, isn't it?
 

On 1/9/2024 at 5:15 PM, Dozap17 said:

Excellent work on this series

Thank you!

 

It occurred to me that in this series I tackled a few teams' original, defunct identities, but not their present day, MLB ones. With that being said...

BOSTON RED SOX (est. 1908)

 

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Notes:

 

- While Boston's AL team began life in 1901, the team wouldn't adopt the "Red Sox" name until 1908, when owner John Taylor had his players take the field in red stockings for the first time. 

- Those 1908 jerseys famously featured a laced collar and oversized red sock on the front, but since the sock wouldn't work on a modern, button up jersey, I compromised with a two-button pullover, a la Oregon's uniforms. 
- The home jersey features a "RED SOX" wordmark within the sock, while the road alt keeps the "BOSTON" mark from those original unis. 
- I considered putting an "R" and "S" on the road jersey to mimic the "B" and "A" (standing for "Boston Americans") on Boston's 1908 home/road set, but that looked off, so I added TV numbers on the opposite of the jersey logo. 

- The white crowned home cap is loosely inspired by these one and dones from 1997. 

 

C&C appreciated! I should have one or two more teams ready to go soon. 

[Coiler]

I'm a little surprised there haven't been more 1908 Red Sox throwbacks given how obvious and "logo-y" (one of the first of its kind!) the sock is.

And maybe it's just wanting variety, but I think some form of the sock would look good on the cap instead of the familiar B.