Baltimore Clippers NHL

[gueman]

In the mid 60's the NHL was going to expand by 6 teams, the "Next 6". One of the leading candidates was Baltimore, it had a strong hockey background with the USCG Cutters in the 40's-50's to the AHL Baltimore Clippers. In 1962 the city built the Civic Center to lure the NBA and the NHL. Well the NBA came, but when the NHL toured the facility NHL President Clarence Campbell was noted as saying it was inadequate for the NHL, and the Baltimore bid was sunk. Supposedly the cities on the bubble were St. Louis and Baltimore. Although I think that Pittsburgh would have been dropped if Baltimore had a adequate facility.

So here are my concepts. They are an evolution of what might have been from 1967 to today.

"The Baltimore Clippers came into the NHL in 1967 as part of the "Next 6" with Oakland, LA, St. Louis, Minnesota and Philly. The team took the ice in a contrasting uniform style. The dark uniform was traditional, the white uniform was very unique, from the logoless front to the ships wheel numbers on the sleeves and back. Instead of the traditional logo on the front, the jersey featured a unique chest stripe that incorporated the distinctive pattern from Lord Baltimore's coat of arms. This would be a feature that would appear in some form on every Baltimore Clipper uniform."

"In 1985 the team and the city could not come to an agreement on building a new arena to replace the out dated Civic Center. So in protest they changed their name to the Chesapeake Clippers, dropping all references to Baltimore. They even began to play 18 games a year in hockey starved Washington DC, who had been passed over 3 times in expansion."

"By 1995 the City of Baltimore and the new ownership of the Clippers reached and agreement to build a new facility as part of the Camden Yards complex. The new arena would be built using part of the B&O Warehouse, creating a unique joint structure with Oriole Park. The team unveiled some of the most unique uniforms ever in the NHL. Do to the unusual striping the team became the first to have die sublimated jerseys. The "dark" jerseys were a shimmery silver color, and both sets featured silver breezers. The alt. jersey was truly unique, once again a logoless jersey, that highlighted the Lord Baltimore pattern, and WHITE breezers."

"With the league wide uniform redesign in the 2007 season the team decided to mix the old with the new and brought back the ships wheel logo from the original jerseys, and pared it with a modern uniform design."

Well I hope you like my fun little project. I wanted it to be unique, so that is why I didn't use the Baltimore Clippers AHL colors or logo. Also thanks to LewJ for the template. Oh and after I finished I noticed that the Columbus Clippers kinda used a double C. But that was a fluke I was more inspired by Shippensburg U logo for the clipper ship.

[Ted Cunningham]

I love the story and progression of the uniforms. Alternate histories are cool, especially in terms of sports teams. I also like the designs. As you said, they are unique. I could see a crazy idea like the ship's wheel containing the numbers flying in the 1960's. That makes sense. The use of Lord Baltimore's crest is also well done: not overdone, but certainly not too subtile, either. Things I like the most: the original uniforms and logo, the late 90's third and the C-version of the logo (both the Chesapeake and Baltimore versions). As for dislikes, I don't care for the clipper ship logo, and the word mark that goes with it is very weak.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this. Are you going to do any more alternate histories?

[TalktoChuck]

This is a great idea. I love seeing the progessing of a team and their uniforms. Great job.

[DelayedPenalty]

I think you've done a great job at capturing the progression of uniform design throughout the years. The only one that I'm not too fond of are the 1995-2007, they're a little too far out for my taste, and the NHL's. Perhaps those could be for their AHL/ECHL affiliate?

[gueman]

Thanks for the positive replies. First off I don't understand why the images are small. I posted them to Photobucket larger than what is showing here oh well.

Second I don't think I will do anything like this again, just because I always thought the Baltimore Clippers would have been such a great identity. They had one of the coolest AHL logos in the 60's and 70's but it never became a jersey patch. I do hope this starts a new trend on here though. I would love to see what the "pros" and Pros on here could come up with. Third, I agree that the 95-06 is the weakest if the bunch logo wise. I am not the best at drawing on here. But I liked the idea of the sail making a B.

[DelayedPenalty]

Thanks for the positive replies. First off I don't understand why the images are small. I posted them to Photobucket larger than what is showing here oh well.

Second I don't think I will do anything like this again, just because I always thought the Baltimore Clippers would have been such a great identity. They had one of the coolest AHL logos in the 60's and 70's but it never became a jersey patch. I do hope this starts a new trend on here though. I would love to see what the "pros" and Pros on here could come up with. Third, I agree that the 95-06 is the weakest if the bunch logo wise. I am not the best at drawing on here. But I liked the idea of the sail making a B.

You've inspired me to try this for my fantasy hockey team!

[burgundy]

Very nice progression. I like the double C logo.

I posted them to Photobucket larger than what is showing here oh well.

Do you see the drop-down box that says "reduce to" when you're uploading? Make sure it's at its largest setting or else your images will shrink if they're too big.

[gueman]

Very nice progression. I like the double C logo.

I posted them to Photobucket larger than what is showing here oh well.

Do you see the drop-down box that says "reduce to" when you're uploading? Make sure it's at its largest setting or else your images will shrink if they're too big.

Thanks for the tip. Fixed it now.

[johnnygriswold]

great stuff. those 90's jerseys are DEFINITELY 90s jerseys! haha.

[Riot!]

This is a great concept. I'd like to see more people go this in depth with their conepts.