Orioles 2012 Changes

[Bmac]

Sorry, but some of these statements are ridiculous. Just because something was one way in the past does not make it great now. If a logo is poorly designed, it is poorly designed, no matter what the teams did on the field or how much fans love it. I am a diehard Minnesota Vikings fan, I love the primary logo, but it needs an update big time. Some teams (Toronto, for example) do a great job of updating an older look, fixing some of the minor details that kept it from being perfect. With that said, I feel like the Orioles did a pretty good job of this. The carton bird logo was nicely updated, an upgrade over the previous versions. But just because the team has chosen to go with an identity based on a previous look does not mean they have to back to exactly what was used in that era. My motto is move forward, not back. Draw from past identity aspects, but move forward with a newer, stronger brand.

[Bill813]

having 2 different birds is weird to me

Isn't it one bird on two different caps or am I missing your point?

I'm reading a lot of complaints about the O's going with the old school bird, but the funny thing is I don't remember seeing any about the Blue Jays upcoming change. Things that make you go hmmm

[HighCheese]

having 2 different birds is weird to me

Isn't it one bird on two different caps or am I missing your point?

I'm reading a lot of complaints about the O's going with the old school bird, but the funny thing is I don't remember seeing any about the Blue Jays upcoming change. Things that make you go hmmm

the hats have the same bird

but the primary is still this

[MC2]

It's cool I guess, but I don't like how theres 3 orange jerseys in the league now.

[rvrdgsfn]

I LOVE the black & orange hat. The Bird is back and as for the cap....

[BigBubba]

I used to hate the cartoon bird and love the current ornithologically correct bird, but now the cartoon bird is really growing on me. However, it's dumb to have the orinth. correct bird as the primary but use the cartoon one for the caps.

[Mings]

The front panel doesn't work. As for the rest, they really could have screwed up the cartoon bird, but its very nice. While I think an updated full bird is better, this is fine. It doesn't scream 70s but still alludes to that era of Orioles baseball.

[gueman]

I used to hate the cartoon bird and love the current ornithologically correct bird, but now the cartoon bird is really growing on me. However, it's dumb to have the orinth. correct bird as the primary but use the cartoon one for the caps.

Have you seen the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Braves, Phillies, Pirates,... there are many teams that have a cap logo that is different from the primary logo.

[Gfonk04]

Just because something was one way in the past does not make it great now... My motto is move forward, not back. Draw from past identity aspects, but move forward with a newer, stronger brand.

That's a good point, but I look at it from the opposite side of the coin. I think moving forward would have been to fix the problems with the realistic bird rather than cashing in on the nostalgia aspect a lot of O's fans are feeling right now and trying to resurrect the cartoon bird. I said it before in this thread and I'll say it again: I wish we would have stuck with the unique realistic-looking bird on the cap (maybe with a few changes, to his curled up toes especially), and then have built a team to make that look last. People will love it if they love the team.

People generally like the cartoon bird (from a fan's perspective) because it goes to an era when we were winning. People like buying and wearing and seeing that merchandise at Camden Yards because it reminds us of a winning club, or youth, or we like the novelty. But every day for six months? I don't get it and I don't think(/hope mostly) the bandwagon will last long. And this is coming from a guy who purposely wore a cartoon bird t-shirt at the birth of his two children.

The rest of the uniform is getting there. I don't like the extra italicization (is that a word?) of the road script. A wordmark at the same angle as the previous wordmark with the perspective issue fixed would have been great.

Orange alt is a huge win. I panicked a few pages back about black-on-orange lettering, I'm glad the black lettering came with an orange jersey instead of on the white jersey. I think the piping on the sleeves on the orange should be black-white-black instead of black-orange-black. I think the orange would be better with the black hat instead of the white front panel.

The Maryland flag logo has gotten some flak, but as a son of the Old Line State, I'm glad it's there. Sure it doesn't match, but that's the price you pay for the best State flag in the country and a unique sports team palette (would you prefer we were red, white and blue and called ourselves the Eagles or something? Or that we changed our flag to the State Seal on a blue field?).

I don't like the white front panel cap. It's too dated. I know, technically they had the all black hat before the white panel, but I think having a tri-color hat belongs in the past with elastic wasitband pants and form-fitting pullover jerseys.

I'm on the fence about the "O's" logo on the Oriole's cap. Unlike a lot of people around here, I like the "O's" logo, but part of me wishes they'd gone "Inception" style and made an infinite progression of Oriole heads. The logo on the cartoon cap is obviously meant as an improvement and refinement of the original intent of the logo, I just can't decide how necessary I think it was. A plain black cap could work fine, I think. A lot of people don't like the lack of a stroke on the bird's lower beak, but I really like it. If you start from the end of his smile and image it as one continuous pencil stroke or whatever, it gives some fluidity to the bird. The overall shape is a little too round for me, but I was against the bird returning from the outset, so I guess I can't nitpick too much.

As for the unchanged primary logo: Ugh. C'mon guys. If you're gonna go, go big. The only thing worse than a return to the cartoon bird is a half-hearted return to the cartoon bird. I would have loved to see a primary to go with this that included an update of the cartoon bird swinging the huge bat (magnet's on the fridge, no big deal). Instead they changed the cap but not what is considered the primary logo. Weak sauce.

Finally, the OP@CY patch needs more bricks with a smaller "OP@CY" wordmark in the foreground. And maybe some pine green to mimic the signs and seats at the stadium. And the Maryland Lotto "Hit it Here" sign from way back when.

I'm glad we've stopped talking about the Blue Jays for a little while on this board. (Although people keep trying to sneak them in here... I'm on to you Canadians...)

[TheOldRoman]

I used to hate the cartoon bird and love the current ornithologically correct bird, but now the cartoon bird is really growing on me. However, it's dumb to have the orinth. correct bird as the primary but use the cartoon one for the caps.

Have you seen the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Braves, Phillies, Pirates,... there are many teams that have a cap logo that is different from the primary logo.

Yes, but none of them have two different, contradictory versions of mascots. The realistic bird and the cartoon bird look like they are different sets. That's because they are.

[pmoehrin]

I love it.

I don't think the more modern Oriole was that bad, but the cartoon bird is their best look.

Only thing I don't like is the double patch. I really don't think you need a 20th anniversary patch for Camden Yards on the jersey. The state of Maryland flag can stay though.

[Trevell]

It's cool I guess, but I don't like how theres 3 orange jerseys in the league now.

The Orioles and Giants seem to be slightly different shades of orange though.

And the Marlins script makes it so different from the other two, I don't think there will be any confusion.

[Fox]

3 jerseys of one color isn't a lot for one league. Atleast it's not enough to be a problem. I believe that both the Giants and Orioles have the right to have an orange alternate, and I would say the same for the Mets if they wanted to add one some day.

[shoejohn]

Very well done. I think the whites are delicious!! A plus! Classic/Clean/Crisp/Original They don't look like ANYONE else. Love the tri-colored caps too.

[BigBubba]

I used to hate the cartoon bird and love the current ornithologically correct bird, but now the cartoon bird is really growing on me. However, it's dumb to have the orinth. correct bird as the primary but use the cartoon one for the caps.

Have you seen the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Braves, Phillies, Pirates,... there are many teams that have a cap logo that is different from the primary logo.

Yeah, but those are all letters. This is a completely drawn design. Those are all poor examples. It's not like the "O" is on the cap. That's like the Pirates putting this on their caps.

[The Six]

I always thought Earl Weaver looked silly going on tirades with a ridiculous smirking minstrel on his cap. I do like the black with white paneling on the cap, though.

[piratesfan16]

Pros:

-Darkened Orange

-Baltimore script doesn't compress at the end.

-Orange Alternate

Cons:

-Orange alternate should have had white lettering with a black outline. It's more uniform with the rest of the set. Orange goes where white is, and white goes where orange is.

-Huge gap between 'l' and 't' in "Baltimore" script.

-Cartoon bird

-Cartoon bird bleeds into outline. Should have had a outline around it that was the same width of the beak outline.

-White-paneled cap with black stiching where white stiching should be.

-So many logos.

C- for me. Too many things that they need to fix. Some of these are strictly a matter of opinion, but the big three are:

1) The gap in Baltimore.

2) So many logos

3) The cartoon bird being horrible designed.

Very lazy execution on a pretty good idea.

[DCDuck]

-So many logos.

Brewers and Padres fans might have to disagree on that one.

As for the cartoon bird, the only thing I don't like is the bill of the cap on his head. It's too long and slants downwards, making it look awkward.

[sisdog]

maybe a new primary should be on the docket. having 2 different birds is weird to me

Three - they still have this logo in their set:

They should have cleaned him up as well to match the cap logo.

None of their various bird logos look good together, which is a big problem I have with this set.

The swinging bird logo is classic and they shouldn't mess with it. It never matched up exactly with the previous versions of the cartoon bird logos either, so I don't see a problem with it now.

I love the swinging bird, but I had to see what it would look like.

[MC2]

It's cool I guess, but I don't like how theres 3 orange jerseys in the league now.

The Orioles and Giants seem to be slightly different shades of orange though.

And the Marlins script makes it so different from the other two, I don't think there will be any confusion.

I'm not saying it will be confusing, it will just be pretty excessive.