MLB Logo&Uniform changes

[rmackman]

But, it seems like all the navy blues match together.

On my monitor, I see a clear distinction between the blues of the road cap and road alternate jersey.

So then the home and road alt are one navy (lighter) and the home alt (what navy is on there) and the road set are another navy (darker)? That would actually be worse than any mess the Nationals had. At least they didn't use different shades of the same color on each different uniform.

It's really not uncommon - most teams have this problem. The issue is trying to match different fabrics to the same color, which is tricky at best. You get it right under one set of circumstances (under sunlight), it doesn't work under artificial lights. If it looks good in person, it looks off on television.

Navy in particular is a tricky one. Look at the different-appearing shades of Brewer blue:

Very, very hard to match all colors across all platforms.

That happens in a lot of situations. Trying to match football helmets to jersey colors, baseball caps and jersey colors... Heck, sometimes your car is painted one color, but if your bumpers are made of plastic while the rest is metal, it might look like your car has different colors in the sunlight.

[JH42XCC]

Don't think this has been posted yet. Officially released on the Indians site:

L-R: Road Alt, Home Alt, Road, Home

Love the Indians new road unis. Though I'm not so sure about the red hats for the home alts.

[McCall]

But, it seems like all the navy blues match together.

On my monitor, I see a clear distinction between the blues of the road cap and road alternate jersey.

So then the home and road alt are one navy (lighter) and the home alt (what navy is on there) and the road set are another navy (darker)? That would actually be worse than any mess the Nationals had. At least they didn't use different shades of the same color on each different uniform.

It's really not uncommon - most teams have this problem. The issue is trying to match different fabrics to the same color, which is tricky at best. You get it right under one set of circumstances (under sunlight), it doesn't work under artificial lights. If it looks good in person, it looks off on television.

Navy in particular is a tricky one. Look at the different-appearing shades of Brewer blue:

Very, very hard to match all colors across all platforms.

That happens in a lot of situations. Trying to match football helmets to jersey colors, baseball caps and jersey colors... Heck, sometimes your car is painted one color, but if your bumpers are made of plastic while the rest is metal, it might look like your car has different colors in the sunlight.

The thing with the Brewers though is that it's the same shade of navy that just doesn't look the same across different fabrics/textiles. The Indians have TWO different shades of navy between the script jerseys/caps and the block jerseys/caps. It's not the same, it's worse.

[KJTALBOT]

Did Gordon Gund purchase the Indians? Whatever happened to teams having consistent identity? I'm looking at you Nationals, Rangers, Twins and Indians. Pick one hat (not wahoo). Pick one lettering color. Pick no more than two lettering styles. Pick one alt jersey at the most.

[McCall]

Did Gordon Gund purchase the Indians? Whatever happened to teams having consistent identity? I'm looking at you Nationals, Rangers, Twins and Indians. Pick one hat (not wahoo). Pick one lettering color. Pick no more than two lettering styles. Pick one alt jersey at the most.

The Rangers have probably the most consistent identity of anybody in baseball. All 4 uniforms are the same, just different colors, and only one (red) doesn't use blue as a primary color, but it is their secondary color.

[IceCap]

Did Gordon Gund purchase the Indians? Whatever happened to teams having consistent identity? I'm looking at you Nationals, Rangers, Twins and Indians. Pick one hat (not wahoo). Pick one lettering color. Pick no more than two lettering styles. Pick one alt jersey at the most.

*reads this post*

*reads your signature*

[LEWJ]

Don't think this has been posted yet. Officially released on the Indians site:

L-R: Road Alt, Home Alt, Road, Home

Love the Indians new road unis. Though I'm not so sure about the red hats for the home alts.

Here's a clip that shows thew neck piping on the road uni.

indians.com

[M59]

I kept thinking "something's off here" looking at the Cleveland set and then I realized...they're showing REPLICA jerseys. Look under Wahoo and what don't you see? The Majestic logo. The lettering on all these looks wrong...because it is wrong. Not a textile script, but a painted one.

[Gothamite]

Did Gordon Gund purchase the Indians? Whatever happened to teams having consistent identity? I'm looking at you Nationals, Rangers, Twins and Indians. Pick one hat (not wahoo). Pick one lettering color. Pick no more than two lettering styles. Pick one alt jersey at the most.

The Rangers have probably the most consistent identity of anybody in baseball. All 4 uniforms are the same, just different colors, and only one (red) doesn't use blue as a primary color, but it is their secondary color.

Can't agree with you there. The Rangers have a basic but huge problem - are they a red team with blue accents, or a blue team with red accents? They can't make up their mind, try to have it both ways, which makes their identity extremely inconsistent.

[McCall]

Why? They're not the only team who has an alternate in their secondary color. Giants, Braves, now Mariners just to name a few. The Rangers, when looking at their primary home and aways, are obviously blue primary, red secondary. Why they are consistent is beacause each jersey is the same layout with minor color changes (ie, blue/red piping on home/away and single white on both alts). Hell, the Red Sox would have to be considered a more confusing identity than them.

[Gothamite]

Why? They're not the only team who has an alternate in their secondary color. Giants, Braves, now Mariners just to name a few. The Rangers, when looking at their primary home and aways, are obviously blue primary, red secondary. Why they are consistent is beacause each jersey is the same layout with minor color changes (ie, blue/red piping on home/away and single white on both alts). Hell, the Red Sox would have to be considered a more confusing identity than them.

When the Red Sox wore blue socks, I would agree with you.

But the Rangers, while I will give them credit for typographic consistency (though stupid - what's a "Texa", anyway?), have two very different color identities.

[knnhrvy16]

Why? They're not the only team who has an alternate in their secondary color. Giants, Braves, now Mariners just to name a few. The Rangers, when looking at their primary home and aways, are obviously blue primary, red secondary. Why they are consistent is beacause each jersey is the same layout with minor color changes (ie, blue/red piping on home/away and single white on both alts). Hell, the Red Sox would have to be considered a more confusing identity than them.

When the Red Sox wore blue socks, I would agree with you.

But the Rangers, while I will give them credit for typographic consistency (though stupid - what's a "Texa", anyway?), have two very different color identities.

Eh, I don't know. To me, it's pretty easy to tell that they are a blue team with red accents, judging by the uniforms. True, the fans seem to embrace red in the stands, but it's no different than the Giants fans embracing orange. When I look at the Rangers, I see the same layout, same wordmark, same cap logo, on all four uniforms. One uniform just happens to be red. And it's not like they're wearing a blue cap at home, and a red one away, or mixing and matching. Three uniforms go with a blue cap, one goes with a red. To me, it just seems from a uniform standpoint that blue is the obvious primary color, with red secondary.

[Brian E]

I kept thinking "something's off here" looking at the Cleveland set and then I realized...they're showing REPLICA jerseys. Look under Wahoo and what don't you see? The Majestic logo. The lettering on all these looks wrong...because it is wrong. Not a textile script, but a painted one.

yes, i noticed that, too. it could definitely explain the seemingly disporportionate size of the "indians' block on the home alternate jersey.

[BBTV]

The Giants at least wear black caps with their orange jerseys. IMHO, I wish we could return to the days where the baseball cap was kind of like the football helmet in that it served as a representation for the team - a defacto primary logo if you will. Now that teams have 4 or 5 caps, that's simply impossible. If you must have a road cap, then so be it... but I'd really like to see no more than 2 caps per team, with the primary color being the same (maybe a different brim, but that's about it.) There's no need for a team (Cardinals, Nationals, etc.) to be red and white at home, and then blue and gray on the road.

[larrypep]

The Giants at least wear black caps with their orange jerseys. IMHO, I wish we could return to the days where the baseball cap was kind of like the football helmet in that it served as a representation for the team - a defacto primary logo if you will. Now that teams have 4 or 5 caps, that's simply impossible. If you must have a road cap, then so be it... but I'd really like to see no more than 2 caps per team, with the primary color being the same (maybe a different brim, but that's about it.) There's no need for a team (Cardinals, Nationals, etc.) to be red and white at home, and then blue and gray on the road.

[TheOldRoman]

The Giants at least wear black caps with their orange jerseys. IMHO, I wish we could return to the days where the baseball cap was kind of like the football helmet in that it served as a representation for the team - a defacto primary logo if you will. Now that teams have 4 or 5 caps, that's simply impossible. If you must have a road cap, then so be it... but I'd really like to see no more than 2 caps per team, with the primary color being the same (maybe a different brim, but that's about it.) There's no need for a team (Cardinals, Nationals, etc.) to be red and white at home, and then blue and gray on the road.

I agree, and I would go one step futher (and I know you agree with me on this). Teams should be required to wear batting helmets matching their game caps every single game. Eliminate the sublimated garbage of the Mets and Rockies and make teams look uniform whether they are batting or in the field. It is silly for teams to have looks which only see the field for half of the game (such as the Cardinals wearing their navy bird-on-bat cap with red batting helmets). I can almost excuse the laziness/cheapness of not getting matching helmets for caps worn once a week, but it is even more ridiculous when teams don't match a regular game cap, such as the road cap, to their batting helmets. I am looking at you, Reds, Twins and Athletics.

[larrypep]

The Giants at least wear black caps with their orange jerseys. IMHO, I wish we could return to the days where the baseball cap was kind of like the football helmet in that it served as a representation for the team - a defacto primary logo if you will. Now that teams have 4 or 5 caps, that's simply impossible. If you must have a road cap, then so be it... but I'd really like to see no more than 2 caps per team, with the primary color being the same (maybe a different brim, but that's about it.) There's no need for a team (Cardinals, Nationals, etc.) to be red and white at home, and then blue and gray on the road.

I agree, and I would go one step futher (and I know you agree with me on this). Teams should be required to wear batting helmets matching their game caps every single game. Eliminate the sublimated garbage of the Mets and Rockies and make teams look uniform whether they are batting or in the field. It is silly for teams to have looks which only see the field for half of the game (such as the Cardinals wearing their navy bird-on-bat cap with red batting helmets). I can almost excuse the laziness/cheapness of not getting matching helmets for caps worn once a week, but it is even more ridiculous when teams don't match a regular game cap, such as the road cap, to their batting helmets. I am looking at you, Reds, Twins and Athletics.

Hear Hear. If you're going to create several caps simply to increase revenue (and make no mistake, that is the only reason for all of this alt-cap mania), then the teams should be required to wear matching helmets too. Throw the Padres in there as well, although they do make an alternate green helmet (with a mismatched white SD), they do not make a road helmet with the sand-colored SD.

[Punch]

The Giants at least wear black caps with their orange jerseys. IMHO, I wish we could return to the days where the baseball cap was kind of like the football helmet in that it served as a representation for the team - a defacto primary logo if you will. Now that teams have 4 or 5 caps, that's simply impossible. If you must have a road cap, then so be it... but I'd really like to see no more than 2 caps per team, with the primary color being the same (maybe a different brim, but that's about it.) There's no need for a team (Cardinals, Nationals, etc.) to be red and white at home, and then blue and gray on the road.

I agree, and I would go one step futher (and I know you agree with me on this). Teams should be required to wear batting helmets matching their game caps every single game. Eliminate the sublimated garbage of the Mets and Rockies and make teams look uniform whether they are batting or in the field. It is silly for teams to have looks which only see the field for half of the game (such as the Cardinals wearing their navy bird-on-bat cap with red batting helmets). I can almost excuse the laziness/cheapness of not getting matching helmets for caps worn once a week, but it is even more ridiculous when teams don't match a regular game cap, such as the road cap, to their batting helmets. I am looking at you, Reds, Twins and Athletics.

Hear Hear. If you're going to create several caps simply to increase revenue (and make no mistake, that is the only reason for all of this alt-cap mania), then the teams should be required to wear matching helmets too. Throw the Padres in there as well, although they do make an alternate green helmet (with a mismatched white SD), they do not make a road helmet with the sand-colored SD.

The MLB won't ever require helmets to match the game cap. Why? Because the major leagues only make a substantial amount of revenue on the official team caps. This prompts the league to pump out as many different styles of caps as possible. On the other hand, the MLB makes significantly less (if any at all) on batting helmets and souvenir catcher's helmets. They don't want to make numerous versions of the different helmets because they know most people won't buy them. That is why the league will always have teams with 3 or 4 caps, while those same teams only have 1 batting helmet.

[TheOldRoman]

The Giants at least wear black caps with their orange jerseys. IMHO, I wish we could return to the days where the baseball cap was kind of like the football helmet in that it served as a representation for the team - a defacto primary logo if you will. Now that teams have 4 or 5 caps, that's simply impossible. If you must have a road cap, then so be it... but I'd really like to see no more than 2 caps per team, with the primary color being the same (maybe a different brim, but that's about it.) There's no need for a team (Cardinals, Nationals, etc.) to be red and white at home, and then blue and gray on the road.

I agree, and I would go one step futher (and I know you agree with me on this). Teams should be required to wear batting helmets matching their game caps every single game. Eliminate the sublimated garbage of the Mets and Rockies and make teams look uniform whether they are batting or in the field. It is silly for teams to have looks which only see the field for half of the game (such as the Cardinals wearing their navy bird-on-bat cap with red batting helmets). I can almost excuse the laziness/cheapness of not getting matching helmets for caps worn once a week, but it is even more ridiculous when teams don't match a regular game cap, such as the road cap, to their batting helmets. I am looking at you, Reds, Twins and Athletics.

Hear Hear. If you're going to create several caps simply to increase revenue (and make no mistake, that is the only reason for all of this alt-cap mania), then the teams should be required to wear matching helmets too. Throw the Padres in there as well, although they do make an alternate green helmet (with a mismatched white SD), they do not make a road helmet with the sand-colored SD.

The MLB won't ever require helmets to match the game cap. Why? Because the major leagues only make a substantial amount of revenue on the official team caps. This prompts the league to pump out as many different styles of caps as possible. On the other hand, the MLB makes significantly less (if any at all) on batting helmets and souvenir catcher's helmets. They don't want to make numerous versions of the different helmets because they know most people won't buy them. That is why the league will always have teams with 3 or 4 caps, while those same teams only have 1 batting helmet.

I realize that. The NFL also lets players take the field wearing tanktops with pads exposed, but it doesn't mean that is a good aesthetic decision, either. There is no reason not to have batting helmets to match all regular home, road and alt caps. Money isn't an issue, as I have heard thrown around. Sell the used helmets off at the end of the year at the team garage sale or fan fest. They would get their money back. And since almost all the alt hats are worn at home, carrying extra sets of helmets while traveling wont be an issue.

[Bmac]

I have always wanted to express this and now feels like the right time:

IMO, baseball is the perfect sport for alternates. They play a game almost everyday for several months. It is the perfect opportunity to change it up game to game. I'm not saying go all out and have 7 jerseys and 4 caps, but more than just 2 jerseys and a cap. From my standpoint (as fan and uniform nerd), that is boring as hell. I would much rather see an alternate or two worked in there. At least interchange the hats and jerseys. From a player standpoint (at least for me), I would like to have more than just 2 jerseys and a cap. I hate wearing the same hat all season.

Before it comes up, let me just say that I don't care about the old school traditionalist crap. People say something like "baseball is America's past time, it should look that way," or "baseball should look vintage, 1 hat, a white and gray jersey". But that is boring. And we are in 2010. Not 19anything. Why not have at least a team color alternate jersey? Or a road cap? If you say it dilutes the image, give specific examples. It's ok with me if the Yankees don't want a separate road hat. But their are ideas that would be great for alternates. Even if it's just a weekend throwback or something.

/End rant. Thanks for reading.