Indians block C: current vs early 80's

[chakfu]

When I was a kid...I loved Chief Wahoo and thought the early 80's block C cap just looked awful and bland. But the current block C caps, I really love...partly because I've grown disgusted with Chief Wahoo as my politics have drifted from neutral to left; but they just look classy and clean now. The old one still look generic, bland, and a little loud to me. Maybe it's just residual old feelings about boring terrible teams and uniforms from before my time...but what are the real differences between the caps?

I see 2 main differences that make the current one seem much better:

1. The red bill makes it too busy; the current BP cap looks much worse than the game cap.

2. The white outline on the old one makes it too busy.

The upshot being that busy and simple at the same time is a bad combo.

[oldschoolvikings]

I agree... I have no idea why I like the plain C so much, but I do. And I'm not normally one who likes plain baseball uniforms (football, yes, but not baseball).

[JohnnySeoul]

I'm the opposite. I liked the block "C" with the white border versus their current bland "C". That, and I 500% love Chief Wahoo!!!!

Too bad those Indians pull-over jersey tops are impossible to find and M&N has never made a duplication. I'd love to add that to my collection.

[Sport]

Speaking of that block C, these are the worst hats in baseball

[infrared41]

I'm with Chakfu on this. I much prefer the plain C to the outlined C; provided we're talking about the blue hats. I don't think the plain C looks bad at all with the red bill on the BP cap, but it does look a lot better on the solid blue hat.

Since we're talking outlines on the C, does anyone else think that adding a white outline to the C on the red hats they wear with the cream alts would take that uniform from kind of awful to really nice? Then again, they could just solve the entire problem and go with blue hats with the cream alts.

[McCall]

I've always liked Wahoo on the caps, home and away were 2 of the best in baseball, but I find myself really liking the navy cap with the single colored red block 'C' quite a bit. Part of it may also be that they actually use the midnight navy instead of the lighter navy, which looks terrible for them. If they made them the primary cap (maybe the red billed one ala the current bp wouldn't be too bad, not as good as the all navy), then I think that wouldn't be too bad to shut up the PC people. Though as seen on the roads, Wahoo does make a pretty nice sleeve patch.

[JohnnySeoul]

I've always liked Wahoo on the caps, home and away were 2 of the best in baseball, but I find myself really liking the navy cap with the single colored red block 'C' quite a bit. Part of it may also be that they actually use the midnight navy instead of the lighter navy, which looks terrible for them. If they made them the primary cap (maybe the red billed one ala the current bp wouldn't be too bad, not as good as the all navy), then I think that wouldn't be too bad to shut up the PC people. Though as seen on the roads, Wahoo does make a pretty nice sleeve patch.

I do agree with all of this except for the plain "C"...really needs a border, IMO. The lighter blue is really bad when combined with red. Midnight navy lets other colors pop out. Their '95 World Series uni era was their best.

[Milo Meningocele]

I've really enjoyed seeing the block "C" become more prominent. It's especially nice on the navy caps, and does look better without a border. Even if they never change their nickname, I think Cleveland (especially being an older franchise) could really pull off being the Indians without any actual Indian imagery (a la the Tigers).

[andrewharrington]

I've always liked Wahoo on the caps, home and away were 2 of the best in baseball, but I find myself really liking the navy cap with the single colored red block 'C' quite a bit. Part of it may also be that they actually use the midnight navy instead of the lighter navy, which looks terrible for them. If they made them the primary cap (maybe the red billed one ala the current bp wouldn't be too bad, not as good as the all navy), then I think that wouldn't be too bad to shut up the PC people. Though as seen on the roads, Wahoo does make a pretty nice sleeve patch.

I do agree with all of this except for the plain "C"...really needs a border, IMO. The lighter blue is really bad when combined with red. Midnight navy lets other colors pop out. Their '95 World Series uni era was their best.

The 'C' hat is midnight navy. Only the Wahoo hats are the lighter navy blue, which is why the blue 'C' hat is the best in baseball and should absolutely not get a white outline. That would completely ruin the road uniform, much like unveiling a red version ruined the home alternate. If there's enough contrast (and there is definitely enough between midnight navy and red), then let it be.

The '95 uniform was good, for the 90s, but that version of the Indians script was too gimmicky. It should stay in the 90s.

[Mongoose]

I like the old one better, because the white outline help the C stand out more, but both are too generic.

[vmd9]

The hats are perfect right now I think. Love that they changed the home alt to red, matches the cream jerseys better just as the blue matches the aways. Outlines would ruin them and look outdated. If you look at the most iconic caps in the MLB, Yankees, Braves, etc none have outlines. The C is on it's way to becoming iconic in Cleveland.

Not to mention, for a money reasons the red hats have been selling like crazy ever since they were unveiled. Love them! best addition to the Indians uniform since the 90s redesign

[McCall]

The hats are perfect right now I think. Love that they changed the home alt to red, matches the cream jerseys better just as the blue matches the aways.

Not to mention, for a money reasons the red hats have been selling like crazy ever since they were unveiled. Love them! best addition to the Indians uniform since the 90s redesign

The navy caps looked a lot better with the creams than the red ones do. It looks so out of place with entire set. The navy C looks awkward on the red background, nowhere near as good as the red C on the navy. The Indians are not a red first team. That's the other Ohio team. Honestly, I'd say they should be navy marks trimmed in red more than the Twins.

[JohnnySeoul]

Not to mention, for a money reasons the red hats have been selling like crazy ever since they were unveiled.

Got a link to back that claim? I'd love to see it, cause I'm not buying it. Maybe I'm wrong.

[Lights Out]

The '95 uniform was good, for the 90s, but that version of the Indians script was too gimmicky. It should stay in the 90s.

Gimmicky? Perhaps. But the '90s set was also iconic. When I think of the Indians, I don't think of racing stripes or the block "C" immediately, I think of these uniforms:

Substitute brown in place of navy and this would be one of the greatest baseball uniform sets of all time.

[vmd9]

The hats are perfect right now I think. Love that they changed the home alt to red, matches the cream jerseys better just as the blue matches the aways.

Not to mention, for a money reasons the red hats have been selling like crazy ever since they were unveiled. Love them! best addition to the Indians uniform since the 90s redesign

The navy caps looked a lot better with the creams than the red ones do. It looks so out of place with entire set. The navy C looks awkward on the red background, nowhere near as good as the red C on the navy. The Indians are not a red first team. That's the other Ohio team. Honestly, I'd say they should be navy marks trimmed in red more than the Twins.

No, the red is much better with the cream. Look at the cream uniforms, what color is the wordmark? red. Numbers? red. Not to mention the chief wahoo logo is 80% red. The navy hats didn't match the cream, because there is barely any blue on those uniforms except for outlines. The grey are just the opposite, blue hats work because the wordmark, name, and numbers are blue

Indians have the right to use red as much as they want. I don't know how you can say that when they had all red uniforms in the past? Not to mention their hats have a red bill and like I've said the Chief wahoo logo is primarily red and the block C secondary is red too when used around the ballpark. Just because Cincy has the name "reds" doesn't mean they are the only team allowed to use the color.

[demondg1]

I think I might be the only person that likes the cursive "I" mark better than the block "C". Something about it's shape and uniqueness I guess.

[McCall]

The hats are perfect right now I think. Love that they changed the home alt to red, matches the cream jerseys better just as the blue matches the aways.

Not to mention, for a money reasons the red hats have been selling like crazy ever since they were unveiled. Love them! best addition to the Indians uniform since the 90s redesign

The navy caps looked a lot better with the creams than the red ones do. It looks so out of place with entire set. The navy C looks awkward on the red background, nowhere near as good as the red C on the navy. The Indians are not a red first team. That's the other Ohio team. Honestly, I'd say they should be navy marks trimmed in red more than the Twins.

No, the red is much better with the cream. Look at the cream uniforms, what color is the wordmark? red. Numbers? red. Not to mention the chief wahoo logo is 80% red. The navy hats didn't match the cream, because there is barely any blue on those uniforms except for outlines. The grey are just the opposite, blue hats work because the wordmark, name, and numbers are blue

Indians have the right to use red as much as they want. I don't know how you can say that when they had all red uniforms in the past? Not to mention their hats have a red bill and like I've said the Chief wahoo logo is primarily red and the block C secondary is red too when used around the ballpark. Just because Cincy has the name "reds" doesn't mean they are the only team allowed to use the color.

The "red not going with the creams" has nothing to do with the color of the marks but rather the cream itself. It just looks off. The navy looked so much better. And I never sed they couldn't use red, it's just not them to use it as a dominat color. As a compliment to navy is more them. And it's probably not wise to bring up the horrid all-reds, considering they were some if the worst in baseball history. Btw, they didn't even wear all red caps with them, so why can't a navy/red cap be worn with a cream jersey with red marks? The C on the cap is red so it goes fine with all the lettering on the jersey.

[Magnum]

The current one is just fine. I think the white outline gives it an outdated look, to be honest. The only thing I'd change would be to get rid of those awful navy on red hats ... It's an eye sore.

[Milo Meningocele]

Gimmicky? Perhaps. But the '90s set was also iconic. When I think of the Indians, I don't think of racing stripes or the block "C" immediately...

Might just be the time I grew up in, but I do think of racing stripes first...even though they haven't worn them for so long.

[winghaz]

I agree with Lights Out in that the uniforms with the script and Chief Wahoo cap really say Cleveland Indians more than any other look.

To me, the block C is bad, whether or not it has an outline. The best C on a cap, to me, was in the 1970s when Frank Robinson managed the Indians.