The Vermont Lake Monsters (Oakland A’s Single-A) of the New York-Penn League have unveiled their new home, road, and batting practice uniforms. This following the unveiling of their new logos earlier in the off-season.
The new package was designed by Brandiose, the star of the Minor League branding world at the moment, also responsible for the new looks of the Akron RubberDucks, El Paso Chihuahuas, and Lehigh Valley IronPigs (among several others).
It’s a clear departure from what the team had been using in years past, a much more cartoonish, kid-friendly look, with the focus placed entirely on “Champ” the mascot.
“Like Sponge Bob and Mickey Mouse, they want Champ, their lake monster mascot, to be the star of the brand.”, Brandiose designer Casey White posted on their site when announcing the rebrand.
Fellow Brandiose partner Jason Klein added via the comments on that page, “Vermont is home to one of those situations that only happens in Minor League Baseball: their mascot is WAY more popular than the team. Fans and staff wanted to see more of Champ, so Champ it is!”
The home uniform is white with blue and lime green side panels, the “Lake Monsters” wordmark across the chest in green and player number below in blue. “Champ” is on the sleeve shown running while holding a bat and a baseball. The cap is navy blue with a white front panel and “Champ” lurking in the waters.
For road games, it’s a grey jersey with blue and white side panels. Again, paired with the white-panelled cap (although shown with an all blue cap in at least one photograph — this all blue cap is listed as an alternate cap on the official team store). “Vermont” is scripted across the front of the jersey in lime green with player number below in blue with white outline. Like the home, “Champ” is on the sleeve in his same pose.
It wouldn’t be a Brandiose re-brand if there wasn’t something we haven’t seen before, and in the Lake Monsters package it’s on their new batting practice cap:
That’s an extreme closeup of “Champ” right there. My first thought seeing this was, those “The Game Big Logo” caps from the 1990s are finally a reality:
Someone out there has to remember these.
But let’s remember, it’s a batting practice cap, a *MINOR LEAGUE* batting practice cap. They’re supposed to be kinda silly.
Not much to say about the BP uniform itself, it would work quite well as an alternate jersey with this set.
Wanna see what they wore last season? Okie dokie:
The Lake Monsters’ new uniforms will take the field for the first time on June 12th.