Padre ponderings?

[hawk36]

The Friars' robe (in this case) is a Dark Red or Maroon. It's not Brown.

Why couldn't they go with a Maroon based color scheme? The Phillies certainly aren't Maroon anymore; Maroon would be unique in baseball, and fairly unique in the major sports.

Well, I still like to hold out hope that the Phillies will go back to maroon and light blue, so I'm against any other team doing so first.

But to the question of "the Padres should look like a missionary in a robe," even if we grant the validity of this very silly claim -- do the people who claim this of the Padres object to the Tigers wearing blue instead of black? -- it does not require that the team use brown as a primary color. Historically, cassocks have usually been black, not brown, in the Catholic church. Most missionary priests or friars -- or padres -- would have worn mainly black robes, rarely red or white. In rarer cases, undyed sackloth or other primitive material might be worn when finished cloth was not available, but in that case we'd be talking about something that would look like light tan. Which the Padres already wear. Franciscans typically wore brown robes with white cords. But Benedictines, Jesuits, Dominicans, and ordinary priests and friars would more commonly wear black. And since most of the "padres" in old California were priests and friars, not Franciscan monks, "the Padres should look like their namesake" actually requires San Diego to adopt black as the primary color.

The first mission in San Diego was founded by Franciscans led by Junipero Serra, so the brown robe is historically accurate.

http://missionsandiego.com/

Thank you. I was just about the say the same thing.

As for the Tigers, Cubs, etc. I'd say those design solutions would be more successful if they did use colors that fit better with their mascot. Can you imagine the Bengals in blue and red? Doesn't have to be exact but should at least compliment or allude to the mascot to be a 100% successful design solution. Yankees work in all navy and by having a logo that incorporates the red too.

[CubsFanBudMan]

I like Braden's concept. I think if they went with those colors it would get the Padres back to being the Padres without going too gaudy. Even the camos might fit in that scheme.

As others have said, they could own brown in baseball, but not navy. It got worse when they dumped the orange, but at least adding sand improved the look -- and loosely returned some brown.

I was always a fan of their 1985 brown and orange redesign. But after looking through that newspaper presentation, their original brown and gold might be the best ones. Those could work today.

That article nails it. I've been to one game at Petco and it described the confusion of colors in the stands perfectly. Why not embrace brown?

[The_Admiral]

Because it doesn't look good and it's not 1978?

[Gothamite]

While you are correct that it is not 1978, brown does indeed look good.

In my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

[hawk36]

Because it doesn't look good and it's not 1978?

We all know that sports is now about merchandise and brown clothing sells. Just look in the men's department of Macy's, Nordstrom, Sears, etc. probably half of their clothing is brown or tan based. You're saying people won't wear brown? I just don't believe that's true.

[BBTV]

Because it doesn't look good and it's not 1978?

We all know that sports is now about merchandise and brown clothing sells. Just look in the men's department of Macy's, Nordstrom, Sears, etc. probably half of their clothing is brown or tan based. You're saying people won't wear brown? I just don't believe that's true.

Maybe where you are, but that's not what I'm seeing.

[The_Admiral]

I wear brown, so no, I'm not saying that. I just don't think it suits the San Diego Padres in 2009 and beyond as well as the current identity, with revisions, would.

[tajmccall]

Brown is an acquired taste. I happen to like it. I find Earth tones to be quite appealing, but they have a certain effect on people that causes strong opinions on both sides. Rare is the person that cares about color, that doesn't have a strongly stated side in the argument.

[rentz]

Well, yeah, 90% of Men's (at least business) clothing is brown, dark blue or black. We saw black and navy trends sweep sports within the decade (perhaps because of merchandise--men are more likely to wear navy over royal, etc) so brown may be the future. As silly as that sounds

[hawk36]

To the tan/brown point. The rave green and bright blue Seattle Sounders FC had a tan cap for sale with their logo on it and it's sold out. Personally I didn't like it but it was popular enough to sell out.

[BallWonk]

Well, yeah, 90% of Men's (at least business) clothing is brown, dark blue or black.

Remember, most of the "black" business suits you see are actually very dark navy. Blue and brown are really the dominant colors of men's clothing, and have been for a couple of decades. Prior to the 1970s, it was black and brown, and that was true for more than two centuries. The one constant is brown, which in men's clothing has always been the predominant color for casual or sporting clothes.

Bringing it back to the Padres, San Diego's road alt jersey makes players look like they're wearing tan slacks and a blue polo shirt, which is more or less the official uniform of American manhood. Every male salesman, amateur golfer, and casual-Friday officeworker wears that outfit. Which is why the Padres would be better off wearing their standard road jerseys more often.

[Gothamite]

Well, yeah, 90% of Men's (at least business) clothing is brown, dark blue or black.

Remember, most of the "black" business suits you see are actually very dark navy.

That's how they're made, but they're sold (and bought) as black. Admittedly, it's been several years since I was in the suit business, but there were a lot of guys who came in looking for a black suit.

[WideRight]

Well, yeah, 90% of Men's (at least business) clothing is brown, dark blue or black.

Remember, most of the "black" business suits you see are actually very dark navy. Blue and brown are really the dominant colors of men's clothing, and have been for a couple of decades. Prior to the 1970s, it was black and brown, and that was true for more than two centuries. The one constant is brown, which in men's clothing has always been the predominant color for casual or sporting clothes.

Bringing it back to the Padres, San Diego's road alt jersey makes players look like they're wearing tan slacks and a blue polo shirt, which is more or less the official uniform of American manhood. Every male salesman, amateur golfer, and casual-Friday officeworker wears that outfit. Which is why the Padres would be better off wearing their standard road jerseys more often.

So, it is the official uniform of "The Man", or of selling your soul to suburban soulless clone-hood. Hmmm. Maybe the Padres should wear Denim blue pants and a black sleeveless jersey with AC/DC on it. At least it reaches a different demographic.

Sorry, feeling a little Euro-socialist and anti-conformity today. Nothing a visit to The Gap won't mindwipe me of.

[Fjm]

I think it's the yellow that makes the brown & yellow combination look 70's-ish, if you want to go that route. Personally I like it, but I could see that argument for merchandising reasons.

Perhaps the Padres could return to brown but downplay the yellow. Go with brown and white at home, and brown and yellow on the road grays. And two different caps to match. (Similar to the Tigers' different home & road color schemes.)

Then they could sell merchandise with just brown and white, which I think would look very sharp, as well as brown and yellow.

[rentz]

So, it is the official uniform of "The Man", or of selling your soul to suburban soulless clone-hood. Hmmm. Maybe the Padres should wear Denim blue pants and a black sleeveless jersey with AC/DC on it. At least it reaches a different demographic.

Sorry, feeling a little Euro-socialist and anti-conformity today. Nothing a visit to The Gap won't mindwipe me of.

Within a baseball context, adopting brown uniforms would be very non-conformist... much more than their current color scheme.

[Bouj]

I know I've been critical of brown for the Padres, but I think it might just be the way they used brown. I'm a big fan of the St. Louis Browns, specifically what they wore towards the end (Brown/White/downplayed Orange). Brown would probably work if they blew out everything they did in the 80's and toned down the yellow or eliminated it as much as possible.

In retrospect, it wasn't the brown I had that big a problem with, it was the cavalcade of ugly designs that they wore after that first original set (which still used too much yellow for my taste, but not too much to make it look dated).

[Gothamite]

Well, yeah, 90% of Men's (at least business) clothing is brown, dark blue or black.

Remember, most of the "black" business suits you see are actually very dark navy. Blue and brown are really the dominant colors of men's clothing, and have been for a couple of decades. Prior to the 1970s, it was black and brown, and that was true for more than two centuries. The one constant is brown, which in men's clothing has always been the predominant color for casual or sporting clothes.

Bringing it back to the Padres, San Diego's road alt jersey makes players look like they're wearing tan slacks and a blue polo shirt, which is more or less the official uniform of American manhood. Every male salesman, amateur golfer, and casual-Friday officeworker wears that outfit. Which is why the Padres would be better off wearing their standard road jerseys more often.

So, it is the official uniform of "The Man", or of selling your soul to suburban soulless clone-hood. Hmmm. Maybe the Padres should wear Denim blue pants and a black sleeveless jersey with AC/DC on it. At least it reaches a different demographic.

Sorry, feeling a little Euro-socialist and anti-conformity today. Nothing a visit to The Gap won't mindwipe me of.

No, The Man never wore brown suits. His uniform has always been gray flannel.

Brown is the color of private detectives and jazz musicians. Outsiders, struggling against their society. Men of mystery and action.

[hawk36]

Nothing wrong with this. And, he even has the suddenly fashionable flat bill.

[Burmy]

Personally, I don't care which look they adopt...I JUST WANT THE FRIAR TO STAY!

(being a Catholic, I have a thing for that...the classic brown & yellow would be SWEET!)

[CubsFanBudMan]

Nothing wrong with this. And, he even has the suddenly fashionable flat bill.

Yeah, this looks even better in the photo than in the Okkonen mockup. Very nice. They could even keep the khaki roads with this...