2013 Houston Astros Uniforms

[Arts11]

I actually like the 1990s navy and gold set best of all. It was clean, yet modern. I really hate the current set since it's trying to so hard to escape its nickname.

I think the Astros can go in many ways. They can go steampunk, Jules Verne with black and bronze. Move forward a few years and they could go art deco, Flash Gordon with silver and black. Go to 1960, and they can go with a Jetsons look like the Lancaster Jethawks.

My guess is, though, the team will go with something safe, like a tweaking of the 1960s design.

I'm actually a little surprised to hear so many people (not just in this thread, but in others) like the '90s gold and navy look. I thought the jerseys themselves were a little too bland (I don't remember any sort of striping/piping or even patches on those things), but I thought the logo/wordmark was just atrocious. I'm not a big fan of the Astros' current set, but at least the star logo looks well-rendered.

[loogodude90]

I'm actually a little surprised to hear so many people (not just in this thread, but in others) like the '90s gold and navy look. I thought the jerseys themselves were a little too bland (I don't remember any sort of striping/piping or even patches on those things), but I thought the logo/wordmark was just atrocious. I'm not a big fan of the Astros' current set, but at least the star logo looks well-rendered.

I think the popularity of that look is related to a few things.

1) Its use of metallic gold. I don't think any other MLB team embraced metallic gold as much as the Stros did with that set. In the bland MLB anything that stands out a little, without looking ridiculous, will get some applause. Also, metallic gold goes really well with navy.

2) It embraced their identity well. It had a Star-Trekky feel to it. Their identities before and after did not really embrace the space theme well, whatwith the clown colors and childish "Astros" wordmark before, and the Shining Time Station look they have worn ever since.

3) I think also that at the time they changed their look, they were so overdue for an identity update that it made their 1994 set look that much better. I can't believe what they were still wearing in 1993, and I am sure I was not the only one.

Aside from all that, I would hardly call that wordmark bland - I would say it has more character and even evokes more feelings of "action" than most wordmarks in the league today. I mean look at their current wordmark - it looks so generic. They didn't even try.

[Firefly]

I'm actually a little surprised to hear so many people (not just in this thread, but in others) like the '90s gold and navy look. I thought the jerseys themselves were a little too bland (I don't remember any sort of striping/piping or even patches on those things), but I thought the logo/wordmark was just atrocious. I'm not a big fan of the Astros' current set, but at least the star logo looks well-rendered.

Looking back, yeah, the 90's set had flaws but it looked exciting. The dark midnight blue had such a deep look (as opposed to black which just fades to ugh in the Texas sun). It also occurred during a heady time of Astros baseball and it was NEW at the time. It replaced the long standing H-star and the then played out rainbow stripes.

Really, it wasn't until I tracked down a cap online a few years ago that I found how much nostalgia played into my love of the 90's look.

Is there anything to take from that set? That midnight blue. Add in orange and you'd have something nice for the future.

[Arts11]

I'm actually a little surprised to hear so many people (not just in this thread, but in others) like the '90s gold and navy look. I thought the jerseys themselves were a little too bland (I don't remember any sort of striping/piping or even patches on those things), but I thought the logo/wordmark was just atrocious. I'm not a big fan of the Astros' current set, but at least the star logo looks well-rendered.

Looking back, yeah, the 90's set had flaws but it looked exciting. The dark midnight blue had such a deep look (as opposed to black which just fades to ugh in the Texas sun). It also occurred during a heady time of Astros baseball and it was NEW at the time. It replaced the long standing H-star and the then played out rainbow stripes.

Really, it wasn't until I tracked down a cap online a few years ago that I found how much nostalgia played into my love of the 90's look.

Is there anything to take from that set? That midnight blue. Add in orange and you'd have something nice for the future.

I got into baseball probably a year or 2 before they transitioned to the gold+navy look (but I never saw them actually play in the old unis since this was before interleague,so most of my exposure was via trading cards and the like), so I guess I never really got tired of the old designs, while the gold+navy became a bit too ho-hum really fast with the advent of interleague play and just wider TV coverage.

[Cody21]

How about the 90's era with the fire arm days? i don't know why but i'd like that.

[sorcerer77]

I'm actually a little surprised to hear so many people (not just in this thread, but in others) like the '90s gold and navy look. I thought the jerseys themselves were a little too bland (I don't remember any sort of striping/piping or even patches on those things), but I thought the logo/wordmark was just atrocious. I'm not a big fan of the Astros' current set, but at least the star logo looks well-rendered.

Looking back, yeah, the 90's set had flaws but it looked exciting. The dark midnight blue had such a deep look (as opposed to black which just fades to ugh in the Texas sun). It also occurred during a heady time of Astros baseball and it was NEW at the time. It replaced the long standing H-star and the then played out rainbow stripes.

Really, it wasn't until I tracked down a cap online a few years ago that I found how much nostalgia played into my love of the 90's look.

Is there anything to take from that set? That midnight blue. Add in orange and you'd have something nice for the future.

If I'm not mistaken, the 90s set also marked the debut of the first alternate jersey and hat for the Astros. The jersey was blue, with the huge star on the chest, no numbers. The hat featured a blue crown with a gold bill.

[McCall]

I'm actually a little surprised to hear so many people (not just in this thread, but in others) like the '90s gold and navy look. I thought the jerseys themselves were a little too bland (I don't remember any sort of striping/piping or even patches on those things), but I thought the logo/wordmark was just atrocious. I'm not a big fan of the Astros' current set, but at least the star logo looks well-rendered.

Looking back, yeah, the 90's set had flaws but it looked exciting. The dark midnight blue had such a deep look (as opposed to black which just fades to ugh in the Texas sun). It also occurred during a heady time of Astros baseball and it was NEW at the time. It replaced the long standing H-star and the then played out rainbow stripes.

Really, it wasn't until I tracked down a cap online a few years ago that I found how much nostalgia played into my love of the 90's look.

Is there anything to take from that set? That midnight blue. Add in orange and you'd have something nice for the future.

If I'm not mistaken, the 90s set also marked the debut of the first alternate jersey and hat for the Astros. The jersey was blue, with the huge star on the chest, no numbers. The hat featured a blue crown with a gold bill.

That was their second one. The first one had the Astros wordmark in white and they just wore their regular caps. I forgot what year the altered the roads to have the Houston mark going into the big star and changed the alts and added the (hideous) gold brimmed caps.

[piratesfan16]

The Astros have the easy way out when it comes to options. There are so many great concepts on these boards that have the potential to be used in real life. They can stay simple and true to themselves with an updated "H-Star" logo, or they can do something completely new. What ever it is, failure is not an option.

[DustDevil61]

I'm actually a little surprised to hear so many people (not just in this thread, but in others) like the '90s gold and navy look. I thought the jerseys themselves were a little too bland (I don't remember any sort of striping/piping or even patches on those things), but I thought the logo/wordmark was just atrocious. I'm not a big fan of the Astros' current set, but at least the star logo looks well-rendered.

Looking back, yeah, the 90's set had flaws but it looked exciting. The dark midnight blue had such a deep look (as opposed to black which just fades to ugh in the Texas sun). It also occurred during a heady time of Astros baseball and it was NEW at the time. It replaced the long standing H-star and the then played out rainbow stripes.

Really, it wasn't until I tracked down a cap online a few years ago that I found how much nostalgia played into my love of the 90's look.

Is there anything to take from that set? That midnight blue. Add in orange and you'd have something nice for the future.

That's what I was thinking when I thought of ways to freshen up the Astros' mid-late-1990s set. Navy, Metallic Gold, and Orange wouldn't be a bad direction to go in. Perhaps you could also add Metallic Gold trim in with a Navy/Orange scheme, and that would look good if done right.

On another note, I personally hope that the Astros emphasize Orange over Navy and have an Orange hat for a primary (likely home); the A's are far too lonely in being the only MLB team whose primary hat color isn't Blue, Black, or Red.

Another personal wish I'd like to see them consider is a Graphite-like Gray (IMO 1 of the only good things about the previous Blue Jays set), as it would go well with an Orange/Navy color scheme and looks modern/futuristic enough for a team named the Astros. I probably wouldn't advise any head-to-toe uniforms colored Graphite, but imagine a Graphite hat with an Orange button and star logo (current or updated H-Star) with Navy trim worn with the home uniform--that would look pretty sharp IMO.

[McCall]

I don't think navy and graphite would look as good together a you think. They're rather similar enough that contrasting might be difficult. I'd say navy and orange with metallic gold accents.

[evanmaldonado]

Brick Red and Orange. Depending on the shade of orange that could look potentially awesome.

But they'll probably just adopt the orange and navy, use that awful awful shooting star, and alter the font. I'd rather see a complete rebrand with new colors, ideas, etc.

[Bouj]

I'm actually a little surprised to hear so many people (not just in this thread, but in others) like the '90s gold and navy look. I thought the jerseys themselves were a little too bland (I don't remember any sort of striping/piping or even patches on those things), but I thought the logo/wordmark was just atrocious. I'm not a big fan of the Astros' current set, but at least the star logo looks well-rendered.

Looking back, yeah, the 90's set had flaws but it looked exciting. The dark midnight blue had such a deep look (as opposed to black which just fades to ugh in the Texas sun). It also occurred during a heady time of Astros baseball and it was NEW at the time. It replaced the long standing H-star and the then played out rainbow stripes.

Really, it wasn't until I tracked down a cap online a few years ago that I found how much nostalgia played into my love of the 90's look.

Is there anything to take from that set? That midnight blue. Add in orange and you'd have something nice for the future.

If I'm not mistaken, the 90s set also marked the debut of the first alternate jersey and hat for the Astros. The jersey was blue, with the huge star on the chest, no numbers. The hat featured a blue crown with a gold bill.

That was their second one. The first one had the Astros wordmark in white and they just wore their regular caps. I forgot what year the altered the roads to have the Houston mark going into the big star and changed the alts and added the (hideous) gold brimmed caps.

The first time Houston wore an alt jersey was in the 80's. They wore a white version of their raod jersey starting in 1981 (Rainbow home, alt white home, road).

[ToyFrisbee]

Scroll down to "Uni Tweaks" and check out Matt Malinoski's updates for the AL West in 2013:

http://www.uni-watch.com/2012/05/27/sons-of-washington-vote-vote-vote/#more-29694

[Bouj]

Scroll down to "Uni Tweaks" and check out Matt Malinoski's updates for the AL West in 2013:

http://www.uni-watch.com/2012/05/27/sons-of-washington-vote-vote-vote/#more-29694

Interesting concept. I still think it ends up a Blue Jays-style re-invention of that set. I think Matt is on to something. I think they should keep the current TX-shaped sleeve patch in some form. They should not cede the state to the Texas Texas, but they don't need to wear a flag sleeve patch either.

EDIT: Just saw Firefly's avi again. That is a good idea for a 2013 Astros sleeve patch.

[habsfan1]

Brick Red and Orange. Depending on the shade of orange that could look potentially awesome.

But they'll probably just adopt the orange and navy, use that awful awful shooting star, and alter the font. I'd rather see a complete rebrand with new colors, ideas, etc.

I disagree. I like the current shooting star and I think that they should keep it and re-color it in classic Astros colors. The current shooting star logo is perfect to me. It's too good of a logo to get rid of.

I'm pretty sure that they are going to make plenty of secondary logos based off all of the classic logos as well. As for the colors, navy and orange is the way to go. The 90s navy and gold would be a terrible option to go with. They had that for like 5 years and they got rid of it fast. If it wasn't over with the people the first time around, it won't be the second time either. And with a color change, the D-Backs could be the sole maroon/sand/black team. So at least that nice color scheme won't be gone completely.

[NDwas]

Courtesy of NdWas... Best rebrand I've ever seen for the Astros. Please!

I like it!

As do I. Not a big fan of that subtle gradient, but otherwise I think it would make for a perfect set.

A navy blue cap, with a white H and orange ring - can someone mock this up? Maybe an orange cap too (but with a blue ring)

You mean, like this?

[ToyFrisbee]

Wow, Firefly's avatar is pretty much perfect for a patch. Totally agree.

[kmart717]

That look would be amazing, the font looks great. Only if the Astros would see this board.

[IceCap]

Courtesy of NdWas... Best rebrand I've ever seen for the Astros. Please!

I like it!

It's well made, but I don't think it works. The word "astro" means star. You've got to include a star on any Astros set.

[DC in Da House w/o a Doubt]

Courtesy of NdWas... Best rebrand I've ever seen for the Astros. Please!

I like it!

It's well made, but I don't think it works. The word "astro" means star. You've got to include a star on any Astros set.

the H/A is also a subtle star.