The 2008 Minor League Baseball Season

[totc]

This was inspired by picking up a Bowie Baysox schedule in a Chinese restaurant yesterday.

I see the Baysox will wear pink this year (June 29) for breast cancer awareness, and have a Negro League night (June 14) and game-used jersey auction like they did three years ago (I got a No. 20 Homestead Grays -- just like Josh Gibson!).

They also have a Jamaican Me Crazy night, but I didn't see a special jersey for that. They also haven't done Christmas In August (with special jersey) for some time. And, as far as I know, their Bob Barker Night did not involve a jersey like the Fresno Grizzlies wore.

So, put your special jerseys and logos in this thread!

[BallWonk]

This was inspired by picking up a Bowie Baysox schedule in a Chinese restaurant yesterday.

I see the Baysox will wear pink this year (June 29) for breast cancer awareness, and have a Negro League night (June 14) and game-used jersey auction like they did three years ago (I got a No. 20 Homestead Grays -- just like Josh Gibson!).

They also have a Jamaican Me Crazy night, but I didn't see a special jersey for that. They also haven't done Christmas In August (with special jersey) for some time. And, as far as I know, their Bob Barker Night did not involve a jersey like the Fresno Grizzlies wore.

So, put your special jerseys and logos in this thread!

The Baysox are doing Vintage Baseball Day on May 18. The vintage baseball team I play for (the Chesapeake and Potomac Base Ball Club) will be playing an exhibition game before the main event, and there will be vintage-themed activities throughout the game (including, I am told, "vintage prices" at the concession stands). I don't know anything yet about whether Bowie or the visiting Connecticut Defenders will be getting into the act with throwback uniforms of their own.

[JaMike81]

Here are the new uniforms for the Quad Cities River Bandits:

[Gothamite]

Not bad.

I'd rather see road grays, but on the whole the scheme's pretty solid.

[polsce]

Here are the new uniforms for the Quad Cities River Bandits:

These uniforms are weak. They look thrown together!

[sacker12]

Judging from what I just saw in their team store, the Biscuits are getting a new BP hat this year. I sure hope it will be navy with the "M" on it. The old hat was gray with the "M" on it, which looked ugly.

I also saw that the Biscuits are also switching to the polyester hats. I'm glad that I grabbed my wool home hat when I did.

[Island_Style]

No pictures but here is an idea of the special jerseys the Jacksonville Suns will be wearing this year. This is from their website.

"the Suns will also pay tribute to Jacksonville's special place in Rock'n'Roll history with a special jersey on Southern Rock Night on June 28. The 11th Annual Jimmy Buffett night with a Buffett-themed jersey and post-game concert will take place on July 26 to benefit the Children's Home Society, and by popular demand, the Suns will again don teal, black and gold football-style jerseys on August 23. "

[simpsontide]

Birmingham Barons new uniforms.....

[totc]

Here are the new uniforms for the Quad Cities River Bandits:

These uniforms are weak. They look thrown together!

The whole "Swing" brand identity was kind of thrown together, too. Who swing dances in Iowa anymore?

[BallWonk]

Here are the new uniforms for the Quad Cities River Bandits:

These uniforms are weak. They look thrown together!

The whole "Swing" brand identity was kind of thrown together, too. Who swing dances in Iowa anymore?

Wrong kind of swing.

But no, the Swing uniforms were not nearly as thrown-together-looking as these. I'm hugely disappointed in these uniforms. They look like a men's beer-league team. Vests, sleeves, placket stripes, no stripes -- quite a comprehensive disaster. The shame of it is that there are some decent graphic elements buried among the wreckage. I realize that given time constraints on the team's renaming process, these were literally thrown together on a tight deadline. But this is a great example of why short deadlines require greater focus; if the team had tried to do less with its uniforms, it would have produced much better results. Keep it simple, and spend the next year thinking about how you want to fancy it up with alts and whatnot.

Kudos to Birmingham for showing how it's done.

[eRay]

No pictures but here is an idea of the special jerseys the Jacksonville Suns will be wearing this year. This is from their website.

"the Suns will also pay tribute to Jacksonville's special place in Rock'n'Roll history with a special jersey on Southern Rock Night on June 28. The 11th Annual Jimmy Buffett night with a Buffett-themed jersey and post-game concert will take place on July 26 to benefit the Children's Home Society, and by popular demand, the Suns will again don teal, black and gold football-style jerseys on August 23. "

in addition:

May 17- The Suns will wear commemorative pink jerseys that will be auctioned off after the game to support the fight against breast cancer.

Presented by St. Vincent's, Comcast, Lite 96.1

they also have a picture on their main site that is shown with the story about the release of the promo schedule that shows a white jersey that says "Sweet Home Jacksonville" on it with some red shape under it. there is also a sleeve patch that i can't decipher, but looks like it features a guitar.

[cappital92]

they also have a picture on their main site that is shown with the story about the release of the promo schedule that shows a white jersey that says "Sweet Home Jacksonville" on it with some red shape under it. there is also a sleeve patch that i can't decipher, but looks like it features a guitar.

The jersey should have a bird flying out of a cage on it.

[ElwoodCuse]

I bought a couple of minor league jerseys during the MLB.com sale last week and wow, they are so much better than the Majestic MLB replicas. They're $10 cheaper, include embroidered shoulder patches if applicable, and just generally look better. They're made by OT Sports, I picked up a Biscuits and an Isotopes.

[Island_Style]

No pictures but here is an idea of the special jerseys the Jacksonville Suns will be wearing this year. This is from their website.

"the Suns will also pay tribute to Jacksonville's special place in Rock'n'Roll history with a special jersey on Southern Rock Night on June 28. The 11th Annual Jimmy Buffett night with a Buffett-themed jersey and post-game concert will take place on July 26 to benefit the Children's Home Society, and by popular demand, the Suns will again don teal, black and gold football-style jerseys on August 23. "

in addition:

May 17- The Suns will wear commemorative pink jerseys that will be auctioned off after the game to support the fight against breast cancer.

Presented by St. Vincent's, Comcast, Lite 96.1

they also have a picture on their main site that is shown with the story about the release of the promo schedule that shows a white jersey that says "Sweet Home Jacksonville" on it with some red shape under it. there is also a sleeve patch that i can't decipher, but looks like it features a guitar.

That is the southern rock jersey. It is a tribute to Lynard Skynard. I can't wait to see the Jag one. I missed it last year.

[TruColor]

Wrong kind of swing.

No...he got it right. A trendy tribute to the swing dance craze...right down to the color choices:

[BallWonk]

Wrong kind of swing.

No...he got it right. A trendy tribute to the swing dance craze...right down to the color choices:

If I may be permitted a little proud-Iowan sarcasm, "Right, because zoot suits and big bands have nothing at all to do with the swing era in jazz, nor with Davenport's century-plus of history with jazz, blues, and the swinging music of the Mississippi valley."

However, if you have information from decisionmakers on the name change that they were going after the swing dancing craze, then I think we may have a new recipient for the stupidist baseball executive award, since the swing dancing craze was nearly five years dead by the time the Swing adopted their name. (Didn't "Swing" come from a fan suggestion, not the team itself, in 2003?) That part of the country, maybe a line dancing team would make sense -- "Line of the Quad Cities" -- but swing dancing? Not even in '98.

[TruColor]

If I may be permitted a little proud-Iowan sarcasm, "Right, because zoot suits and big bands have nothing at all to do with the swing era in jazz, nor with Davenport's century-plus of history with jazz, blues, and the swinging music of the Mississippi valley."

However, if you have information from decisionmakers on the name change that they were going after the swing dancing craze, then I think we may have a new recipient for the stupidist baseball executive award, since the swing dancing craze was nearly five years dead by the time the Swing adopted their name. (Didn't "Swing" come from a fan suggestion, not the team itself, in 2003?) That part of the country, maybe a line dancing team would make sense -- "Line of the Quad Cities" -- but swing dancing? Not even in '98.

I'm really not following you here...are you trying to differentiate between the swing era of jazz and the swing era dance fad? Sure - I understand that there are some differences (it WAS the busiest time of my professional musical career), but we're essentially talking about the same music. Just different applications. Some different trendy, newer bands (Squirrel Nut Zippers for one), but a lot of swing era standbys as well (Louis Prima, Cab Calloway, even Glenn Miller). When I was playing swing dance gigs back in the late '90s, it's was mostly swing era music, with a few newer trendy charts thrown in.

I have to say - as a professional jazz musician - I never thought I'd see the day when a room full of 20-somethings would scream for "In The Mood". I thought I was in the freakin' Twilight Zone...

[BallWonk]

I'm really not following you here...are you trying to differentiate between the swing era of jazz and the swing era dance fad? Sure - I understand that there are some differences (it WAS the busiest time of my professional musical career), but we're essentially talking about the same music. Just different applications. Some different trendy, newer bands (Squirrel Nut Zippers for one), but a lot of swing era standbys as well (Louis Prima, Cab Calloway, even Glenn Miller). When I was playing swing dance gigs back in the late '90s, it's was mostly swing era music, with a few newer trendy charts thrown in.

I have to say - as a professional jazz musician - I never thought I'd see the day when a room full of 20-somethings would scream for "In The Mood". I thought I was in the freakin' Twilight Zone...

Not gonna hijack the thread to explain the nature of my attempt at team-name-ribbing, except to say, what do you play? I dabble (badly) in tin pan alley era ukulele myself. Shame the team went with Swing instead of an even more Davenport-apt jazz name, like the Rags or the Bix or something.

[TruColor]

Not gonna hijack the thread to explain the nature of my attempt at team-name-ribbing, except to say, what do you play? I dabble (badly) in tin pan alley era ukulele myself. Shame the team went with Swing instead of an even more Davenport-apt jazz name, like the Rags or the Bix or something.

Me? Primarily trombone (since I was 9) and piano (since I was 4), but also play euphonium...also played drums for a while...dabbled with tenor saxophone for a while...and had to pass proficiencies (for my Bachelor's degree) on trumpet, french horn, tuba, clarinet, flute, oboe, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, bass, etc. Not that I can actually PLAY most of those (!). It is probably safe to say that I am the only person on this board who has been recorded playing jazz Flugabone as well (!)...

One selfish, swing-era-related story to tell: when I was 14 (we're talking 1977), I played my first real "professional" gig - on statewide television at the Indiana State Fair with the Purdue U. Variety Band. We played on the main stage every night, and I would even play a solo during the credits. Pretty scary for a H.S. sophomore playing with a bunch of college guys on TV. Anyway, every night, there would be some celebrity guests on the program, and one night there were these two older guys that the Purdue director insisted on meeting me. They were real nice, and seemed to have an interest in how a young trombone player like me could be interested in jazz, and be playing with this band, blah, blah, blah.

Who were they? Tex Beneke and Cab Calloway.

I had no idea who they were.

[Gothamite]

Ouch.

A good friend of mine is an alto player, and as a teenager he was in a competition judged by Art Pepper. Pepper said about him "He has no idea what he's doing, but when he figures it out he'll be great."

Of course, my friend being a teenager and all only heard "this guy sucks" and so stomped off in a huff, not even bothering to meet the man properly.

He still regrets that.