Casper Rockies now the Casper Ghosts

[powersurge]

Y'know I just took a look at the Lake Elsinore Storm logo and OH MY! Thats a bad logo....but I can see how it would be popular as was previously mentioned.

Doesn't it trouble anyone else that the team went with such a blatantly awful sports logo in favor of merchandising? It really is a horrible logo in so many ways. So are you telling me that if pink elephants were popular amongst children and young teens that its acceptable for a minor league baseball team to change their identity to the pink elephants to sell more stuff? Bad example, but I hope you get my point.

[Gothamite]

I do get your point and no, I don't like it either.

Pink elephants would be an improvement.

[-kj]

I'm apparently the only one that kinda likes this. But I have no taste. Carry on.

[Gothamite]

Ah! Again, I fail to make myself clear.

I hate the Elsinore Storm logo because it's obviously about promoting marketing potential over the team itself.

As for the Casper Ghosts, I'm not sold on the ghostball logo, but I absolutely love the name, the wordmark and the jersey (presuming what we see on Plan B's website is the real deal).

[Gothamite]

More info, this time from The Jackson Hole Star-Tribune (via UniWatch), including this interesting little ditty:

Two of the Ghosts' new logos will look familiar to even the most casual baseball fan.

Casper the Friendly Ghost is incorporated into two of the logos. The Ghosts teamed up with Classic Media, the image and name rights owner of the cartoon, to created a family- and child-friendly separate souvenir line. In one of the logos the cartoon ghost has a cowboy hat and is holding two pistols high in the air. In the other, Casper is riding a horse with one hand on the saddle and the other waving his hat in the air.

Players will not wear gear featuring the cartoon.

"I think that professional adult baseball players would be a little hesitant to have a cartoon character," Haughian said. "Ball players always like something a little more fierce, a little more intimidating."

Chalk another one up for Pantone....

[winghaz]

But when it comes down to the actual playing, will Casper stand a ghost of a chance?

[BallWonk]

Ah! Again, I fail to make myself clear.

I hate the Elsinore Storm logo because it's obviously about promoting marketing potential over the team itself.

As for the Casper Ghosts, I'm not sold on the ghostball logo, but I absolutely love the name, the wordmark and the jersey (presuming what we see on Plan B's website is the real deal).

Maybe it's just me, but I've had no problem following what you're saying here.

But I'm a bit frightened of your last sentence, since I hadn't even questioned whether the jersey script visible on Plan B's project page is the real deal. Since most of the art on that page seems not to have made it to production, now I'm worried. Because that is a great jersey. The only thing I really don't like about this new team identity is the choice of cap logos -- and even then I don't think the cap logos we've seen are bad, I just think the other work Plan B has shown us is so immensely better.

As far as recent team rebrandings go, I would rate this ahead of the 2007 Cedar Rapids Kernels (better execution) but maybe a little behind the 2007 Myrtle Beach Pelicans. I'll defer until we see actual uniforms, but for now I'm giving the Casper Ghosts a B-plus grade. Very good for a rookie-level team.

Interesting related links:

Casper StarTribune story, with pics, including a Casper the Friendly Ghost alternate. Can ghosts really hold Colt's single-actions?

"Casper Ghosts" fantasy baseball team, dating to 1997.

[Gothamite]

Couldn't notice the last paragraph of the Star-Tribune article, which read simply:

The Rockies were 22-53 last season in the Pioneer League.

[Gothamite]

But I'm a bit frightened of your last sentence, since I hadn't even questioned whether the jersey script visible on Plan B's project page is the real deal. Since most of the art on that page seems not to have made it to production, now I'm worried. Because that is a great jersey. The only thing I really don't like about this new team identity is the choice of cap logos -- and even then I don't think the cap logos we've seen are bad, I just think the other work Plan B has shown us is so immensely better.

Oh, the wordmark is legit - we've seen that confirmed - I just wonder if this is actually the Ghosts' final jersey or another prototype:

I'm leaning towards the final product, because of the way it's positioned on the page.

[CubsFanBudMan]

From the article:

The first image with the cartoon showed the ghost with a cowboy hat and two pistols.

The images with Casper will not be worn by the players, rather they are for a separate souvenir line intended for families and children.

So I'm reading correctly that the cartoon logo with the guns is the one for the kids?

[Gothamite]

Yep, that would be it.

Kinda surprised Harvey went for it - guess Casper stuff isn't really flying off the shelves....

[Burning River]

I kind of like this. In days of "Biscuits", "51s" and "Joe's"... this is kind of cool. I like the logos designed for team use. I think the kids logos is a bit much.

I can see it now: KIDS DAY PROMO... Players wear uniforms with the cartoon character on it! Ugh...

I agree, how funny.... The "kids logo" has guns. Very nice!

[slapshot]

I think the Plan B logo is better than the Casper ones.

[BallWonk]

From the article:

The first image with the cartoon showed the ghost with a cowboy hat and two pistols.

The images with Casper will not be worn by the players, rather they are for a separate souvenir line intended for families and children.

So I'm reading correctly that the cartoon logo with the guns is the one for the kids?

Absolutely. Single-action pistols are totally for kids. Or anyway it's way more fun to shoot single-action revolvers than double-action or semi-auto.

What I don't understand is how adults who want a logo that's "a little more fierce, a little more intimidating" would not be satisfied with the image of an undead spirit waving a pair of Colt's single-action army pistols around.

Pioneer League Player 1: "Hey, what's that on your cap?"

Player 2: "It's a chukar. It's a bird. Gets hunted."

Player 3: "I've got a smiling horsey with a red bandana."

Player 4: "My cap has a stalk of barley."

Player 1 again: "Well, I've got an undead ghoul armed with a pair of Colt's six-shooters."

How does Player 1 not win that conversation? Especially when the alternative to the well-armed ghost is a Scrubbing Bubble?

[Korkie]

The team name is clever and perfect for a minor league team. I do like wordmark, but wish they would stuck with the "ghost herd" idea instead of the ball. The Casper thing and the glow in the dark are fine for the minor leagues and is fun for kids. I am ok with it.

[BallWonk]

If the "rust orange" to be used in the uniforms is the rusty color in the foreground Casper logo, this should be a great jersey. If the "rust orange" is the bright, Giants orange shown in the cap illustrations, then I'll have to lower my grade on the final result. I'm going to have to commit a version of the foolish red-and-gree-looks-Christmassy sin and say that the bright orange would look to Halloweeny here, pushing the uniform into gimmick territory.

Unless there are a lot of orange groves in Casper, or unless the team is actually switching to the Giants or Orioles farm systems. But I'm not sure how bright orange will complement pale blue glow-in-the-dark thread. (Or it could be my own color biases here: For the kind of Western theme Casper seems to be going for, I'm a big fan of brown, red, and black, so of course I'd want the orange to be more red or brown than bright orange.)

[Gothamite]

I think the pale blue thread is intended to blend into the white as much as possible.

I'm guessing that Plan B's page shows the colors more or less accurately. I'd certainly trust a direct representation of the logo over a photo taken at the press conference.

Doesn't look like a bright orange to me.

[powersurge]

Casper looks eerily calm and demented brandishing those guns. Don't know if I believe in ghosts, but I do believe in guns. That logo kind of scares me a lil' bit.

[rams80]

"Remember kids! Guns don't kill people....Homicidal friendly cartoon ghosts with guns kill people!"

[illwauk]

I always liked the name "Ghosts," especially in this case. But I gotta admit, the logo has grown on me. It looks a lot better at a distance thought (which might even be what they had in mind, seeing as how MiLB teams don't usually play on TV).

And the truth is, I'm generally against minor-league teams using parent-club names, though I do like when the affiliates have names that are thematically related to the parent club. So, for example, I liked having the Harrisburg Senators and Savannah Sand Gnats in the Nationals system, but I'm not such a big fan of the Potomac Nationals. And while I am the proud owner of a Helena Brewers cap, I'd rather the team had taken a more localized alcohol-related name, like the Whiskeyjacks or something. So if I lived in Casper, I'd be happy about the new team identity, though not as happy as I would have been if they'd gone for a mountain-related name, or at least used the darn ghost steer idea.

I have a similar philosophy. Normally, I don't like it when the minor league club takes the name of the parent club, but I can deal with it if the name still makes sense in a local context.

To use the Helena Brewers example, I don't like it since Helena doesn't have a brewing history (at least not one that I know of). But if they were moved west to Olympia, I wouldn't mind it since Olympia does have a brewing history. Other than that, I like your idea of minor league clubs having names that relate to the parent club.