A Ray of Hope: The Tampa Bay Baseball Overhaul

[CS85]

I updated the Pikeheads concept:

[zoneranger]

I've updated my entry (you have to go back 2 pages though)

[Shumway]

I've been toying with the idea of changing the placement of "Tampa Bay" in the primary logo. I was thinking of putting it smaller on top of "Pelicans". Anyone think that'll work beter, or should I keep it as is?

[NDwas]

now presenting, your Tampa Bay Floridians:

(excuse the graininess, please)

[Gamingboy]

now presenting, your Tampa Bay Floridians:

(excuse the graininess, please)

Nice... simple... but effective.

[CS85]

I liked the concept, but the logo looks too much like T3 and the colors are too bluejaysish. I will give kudos with the T, a B, and the hidden F in the logo.

[LucaMaz3]

please welcome the Tampa Bay Fighting Citrus:

the figting citrus name is in reference to the striving citrus industry in that area. for more, see here. this team would be very well fit for tropicana field, which i would promptly nickname "the grove"

[BigShoop]

Honestly, these are all pretty bad. The other contests have been MUCH more competitive and MUCH more creative.

[aerodynamix]

I disagree, some of these concepts are kinda cool. Keep up the work, guys.

[therocheapproach]

Honestly, these are all pretty bad. The other contests have been MUCH more competitive and MUCH more creative.

So where is your great, awesome concept?

[NDwas]

Honestly, these are all pretty bad. The other contests have been MUCH more competitive and MUCH more creative.

Ummm...ex-squeeze-me? uh-baking-powder?

I won't be the first one to say that no news is good news. If you're gonna shame all of the work done here, then keep it to yourself. I mean, I understand where you're coming from: CCSLC members usually give their all for this kind of concept. But this is the TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS we're talking about here. This is a team that's been sitting in the American League cellar for all eight years of their existence. A team that's never seen a fully-attended crowd no matter where they play. A team that plays in a dome despite their residence in the "Sunshine State." And the team that traded Bobby Abreu to the Phillies for Kevin Stocker. Throw us a frickin' bone here.

[logodawg]

Honestly, these are all pretty bad. The other contests have been MUCH more competitive and MUCH more creative.

Ummm...ex-squeeze-me? uh-baking-powder?

If you don't like what you're seeing, why did you start this contest in the first place?

He didn't. This contest was started by myself and pooter. Might wanna check your facts next time...

And BigShoop, if you're not happy with what's been entered? Then make a concept yourself!

[FUNKAFIED]

Honestly, these are all pretty bad. The other contests have been MUCH more competitive and MUCH more creative.

You're lucky these guys have taken their time to submit great designs to polish the gigantic steaming turd known as "The Tampa Bay Devil Rays Professional Baseball Club".

So basically, yeah, what iamthedorf said. I just wanted to work the phrase "gigantic steaming turd" in there.

[FUNKAFIED]

I updated the Pikeheads concept:

I like this concept. I don't know if "Pikeheads" works for an MLB team name (maybe Gators?), but I love, LOVE the "STP" logo wordmark. Just like the Cards' STL or the Giants' SF, etc. This gives a barely-a-decade-old, bad franchise looking for an identity some old-time baseball flavor. Nice.

[AAO]

Honestly, these are all pretty bad. The other contests have been MUCH more competitive and MUCH more creative.

You've been here since October and had 161 posts, and never have you posted a concept. I will proudly be the first to say shut the :censored: up. On behalf of everyone that entered, I think there's plenty of competition here and the entries are looking great. Keep em coming.

Excuse my french.

[CS85]

I like this concept.  I don't know if "Pikeheads" works for an MLB team name (maybe Gators?), but I love, LOVE the "STP" logo wordmark.  Just like the Cards' STL or the Giants' SF, etc.  This gives a barely-a-decade-old, bad franchise looking for an identity some old-time baseball flavor.  Nice.

I knew the minute I started making the thing that I wanted an alligator reference for the team. They already wore green, and Florida's state animal is the American Alligator. But good luck finding a nickname. The Florida Gators is already taken, and Ridgebacks sounds too much like Diamondbacks, so I searched and searched for several hours and found a nickname for the American Alligator in southern florida is the "pikehead," and thus the name was born. It's not too pleasing, but suits for lack of a better nickname for now.

I thought that St. Petersburg sounded a lot better than the Tampa Bay Pikeheads, so I used it, and decided to go sort of Cardinalsish in simplicity. Variety and craziness is simply not baseball, and purple sucks so I went with the straight green and as a secondary threw in a faded green for contrast. The STP thing sorta created itself, I was fiddling around with fonts on msPaint and I think it was goudy or bookmans that the T & P blended in with each other, toss on the S and I was all set to go.

The look I wanted to go for I accomplished by using simplicity to the bone. Nothing shiny or crazy, a traditionalists cup of tea. After originally putting the PIKEHEADS text across the main home, I balked after feeling that the STP simply had to go on the main home uni, and moved the nick to the alternate. The number font switched to the Oilers alternate and I felt satisfied with it.

My main grudges with this one that I'm just going to live with is the anti-traditional nickname on the road uniform, and the stripes of the baseball don't match up with the bats. Damn. But I'm very pleased with it, this being only my second ever concept submission.

[CS85]

I've been toying with the idea of changing the placement of "Tampa Bay" in the primary logo. I was thinking of putting it smaller on top of "Pelicans". Anyone think that'll work beter, or should I keep it as is?

Shumway, I like the pelican, but the orange and green along w/ the font screams "miami hurricanes," as I think already mentioned, my apologies if it has.

Try dropping either the orange or the green and maybe tying in a sand or a pewter. The Tampa Bay on the top of the circle is somewhat obscured, give it some emphasis, and try using a font with more...erm how to say...motion, I guess? Some attitude? Flair? Heck, words fail me. It's a great concept, and I really like the hat logo. I can't wait to see your final concept.

[BallWonk]

I've been toying with the idea of changing the placement of "Tampa Bay" in the primary logo. I was thinking of putting it smaller on top of "Pelicans". Anyone think that'll work beter, or should I keep it as is?

On the primary, I would consider the following:

1. Move "Tampa Bay" around counter-clockwise so that it's Tampe WING Bay.

2. Move "Pelicans" just a bit to the right to offer some balance to the offset "Tampa Bay" and to convey a stronger sense of motion.

In general, I think you can avoid the Miami resemblance by treating the orange as your primary color, like, say, the Phillies treat red. Keep the green, but use it only as a highlight color. For example, reverse the colors of your Sunday home. Orange numbers with green outlines on the home unis. And make the cap mainly orange. A green pelican will give your TB letters more definition anyway; your current white on orange is pretty low-contrast. Right now, the green and orange seem to be equal partners, and I think that's why the concept looks so much like Miami.

All of that said, this is a sweet concept. "Pelicans" is an ungainly name -- fans and the press will call them the "Cans" for short -- but your uniforms make it worthwhile.

[pooter]

Honestly, these are all pretty bad. The other contests have been MUCH more competitive and MUCH more creative.

I guess that it is like the old saying....

"If I can't run it...I'll ruin it."

And of all people, you being fron the Tampa Bay area. I figured you would want to promote change from the current design.

[Shumway]

I've been toying with the idea of changing the placement of "Tampa Bay" in the primary logo. I was thinking of putting it smaller on top of "Pelicans". Anyone think that'll work beter, or should I keep it as is?

On the primary, I would consider the following:

1. Move "Tampa Bay" around counter-clockwise so that it's Tampe WING Bay.

2. Move "Pelicans" just a bit to the right to offer some balance to the offset "Tampa Bay" and to convey a stronger sense of motion.

In general, I think you can avoid the Miami resemblance by treating the orange as your primary color, like, say, the Phillies treat red. Keep the green, but use it only as a highlight color. For example, reverse the colors of your Sunday home. Orange numbers with green outlines on the home unis. And make the cap mainly orange. A green pelican will give your TB letters more definition anyway; your current white on orange is pretty low-contrast. Right now, the green and orange seem to be equal partners, and I think that's why the concept looks so much like Miami.

All of that said, this is a sweet concept. "Pelicans" is an ungainly name -- fans and the press will call them the "Cans" for short -- but your uniforms make it worthwhile.

Thanks Ballwonk and ChicagoShawn. I'll try some stuff out and we'll see what happens. I like the idea of using orange as the primary rather than the green. I like the idea of making it "Tampa (WING) Bay". I don't know that I'm going to change the colors, I like them as is, but I'll do some toying around. I might try an obscure color scheme and see if it looks any better. I'll probably do some messing with the fonts, even though I'm pleased with it now. Hopefully withing the next few days I'll get an update.

Edit: Hey, how do I do a text wrap to do the Tampa (wing) Bay? The last time I just arched it, but now it's not working right.