Baltimore Mariners new logo

[JaMike81]

The Baltimore Mariners of the AIFA released a new logo with a darker blue and metallic gold. Could someone vectorize this for Wikipedia? Sorry for the number of my requests, but it is for the betterment for Wikipedia articles.

[KCScout76]

Seattle ripoff - sorry but that stinks. So much potential and it got wasted.

How lame!

[leopard88]

I think the bigger news here is that the Baltimore Mariners appear to be planning a second season. Considering the nearly non-existent media coverage they receive around here, that is fairly noteworthy. Maybe I'll even try to go a game next season.

[Firefly]

It's a double Seattle ripoff with the Mariner's compass rose AND the the Pilot's wheel.

"Don't worry, Seattle is wayyyy on the the side of the country."

[Gothamite]

Again, I think we need to wait until they post a cleaner version.

[BallWonk]

Seattle ripoff - sorry but that stinks. So much potential and it got wasted.

I'm not a fan either, but I think a careful look at this shows that they were actually trying really hard not to look like a Seattle Mariners ripoff. But the name "Mariner" is all about navigation and ships. Take away the compass rose and the ship's wheel, and you're left with a bunch of generic "boat" imagery that doesn't speak directly to the "Mariner" identity.

This logo therefore called for above-average imagination at the conceptual front-end. Instead, it looks to me like the team put themselves in a hole by sticking with the obvious imagery and then tried unsuccessfully to differentiate themselves from Seattle. (I imagine the process went something like, "All right, we've got a compass. What else can we do? So let's change the colors. Hmmm. OK, let's use a radically different font for our letter. No, still too similar. I know! Let's put that ship's wheel from that other concept on there too. See? Looks nothing like Seattle now, if you really look at it.")

Which is all just to say, I think the failure of design here is somewhat different than a simple logo ripoff. Rather, it looks to me like an unsuccessful attempt to avoid appearing completely derivative.

[BawlmerOreos]

I think the bigger news here is that the Baltimore Mariners appear to be planning a second season. Considering the nearly non-existent media coverage they receive around here, that is fairly noteworthy. Maybe I'll even try to go a game next season.

It's a minor league to a minor league sport...I'm also shocked they're trying a round two. All of my friends are huge sports fans and no one has ever uttered interest in going to a game. Although, with the new arena project starting (and the First Mariner Dump closing) this will be it for them.

A REAL AFL team could do very well here once the new arena opens.

[Gothamite]

Seattle ripoff - sorry but that stinks. So much potential and it got wasted.

I'm not a fan either, but I think a careful look at this shows that they were actually trying really hard not to look like a Seattle Mariners ripoff. But the name "Mariner" is all about navigation and ships. Take away the compass rose and the ship's wheel, and you're left with a bunch of generic "boat" imagery that doesn't speak directly to the "Mariner" identity.

This logo therefore called for above-average imagination at the conceptual front-end. Instead, it looks to me like the team put themselves in a hole by sticking with the obvious imagery and then tried unsuccessfully to differentiate themselves from Seattle. (I imagine the process went something like, "All right, we've got a compass. What else can we do? So let's change the colors. Hmmm. OK, let's use a radically different font for our letter. No, still too similar. I know! Let's put that ship's wheel from that other concept on there too. See? Looks nothing like Seattle now, if you really look at it.")

Which is all just to say, I think the failure of design here is somewhat different than a simple logo ripoff. Rather, it looks to me like an unsuccessful attempt to avoid appearing completely derivative.

I think the original logo was much more successful in that:

It's not great (really not great), but it has promise.

This rebrand tells me that they're trying to embrace the Seattle connection without copying them wholesale, adopting derivative imagery by making the compass rose the main logo instead of a very minor element.

For what it's worth, I can think of a couple ways they could have gone without using the compass rose:

Certainly they could have come up with something more unique. Even the skeletal pirate had been done before:

[leopard88]

For what it's worth, I can think of a couple ways they could have gone without using the compass rose:

They wouldn't have had to look very far --

[Gothamite]

There you go. The anchor motif would have been a good one.

[BallWonk]

For what it's worth, I can think of a couple ways they could have gone without using the compass rose:

I agree. But none of the examples you provide speaks to the word "Mariner" in any specific way. The compass rose and the ship's wheel kind of do. I mean, the old logo is not a mariner, it's a pirate. The other examples you show are good logos for nautical themes -- except the Admirals one, which just looks like Napoleon -- but not for the specific navigation-related aspect of the word "mariner." You've got a fisherman, cartoon Bonaparte, a ship's wheel, a ship, and a jolly roger; none of them says "mariner."

I'm just arguing that the fault here is not ripping off Seattle; the fault is settling for the most obvious iconography and thereby backing oneself into the design dead-end of trying not to look like a Seattle ripoff using the same basic symbols.

Given Baltimore's harbor, I think something like the Columbus Clippers' use of ship's rigging would have been a better place to start, or the anchor logo. (Even though the anchor logo carries a meaning nearly opposite that of "mariners," since the point of an anchor is to stop a ship from going anyplace.) Or a skipjack, the boat not the fish, which is a distinctive maritime image unique to the Chesapeake Bay area.

[Gothamite]

Mariner doesn't have to mean solely a navigator. In common parlance, it's a synonym for "sailor."

Any nautical imagery could work, but they went with the one symbol used by the major league team which shares their name. Doesn't really look good.

Or, they could really get creative and continue Baltimore's literary bent, and use an albatross on their logo.

[leopard88]

Or, they could really get creative and continue Baltimore's literary bent, and use an albatross on their logo.

If they did that, they'd need to add some really old players to their roster. Does Gaylord Perry play football?

[BallWonk]

Mariner doesn't have to mean solely a navigator. In common parlance, it's a synonym for "sailor."

Any nautical imagery could work, but they went with the one symbol used by the major league team which shares their name. Doesn't really look good.

Or, they could really get creative and continue Baltimore's literary bent, and use an albatross on their logo.

Um, just have to ask: In what state of the union is "mariner" common parlance for anything? Is that like a Long Island thing, throwing the word "mariner" around? Outside of merchant-marine-related contexts, I pretty much only ever hear the word "mariner" used to describe ancient explorers like Cabot or Drake.

Also, the more I look at it, the greater the shame the new logo is: It's actually much better than Seattle's compass rose. The same technical talent, applied to a more original conceptual framework, could have produced a truly outstanding logo.

On a serious note, and absolutely not apropos to Baltimore, but speaking of albatrosses, I think it's a shame nobody uses a frigatebird either as a team name or a logo or mascot. It's a beautiful bird that speaks to a maritime identity even better than a seagull or albatross.

[gueman]

I doubt they want to put any more money in the design of the logo. Yea they made it this season, but they had about 1500 or so bodies at each game and I doubt that more than 500 bought the tickets. They don't seem to have any marketing other than print. I remember when the Blast came to town in the early 80's they had players and other team staff at a zillion events. From small town carnivals to the State Fair, buy the time the season came people were excited.

As for a new arena...I won't be holding my breath.

[Gothamite]

Um, just have to ask: In what state of the union is "mariner" common parlance for anything?

Hey, you'll find Ritchie Valens fans in every state.

[Cianfrocco]

A compass is not the only image that conjures up a mariner. Seattle used the trident for half their history. Also, there are different ways of drawing a compass, other than the style they copied from Seattle.