There’s a lot we don’t know about what affiliated Minor League Baseball will look like in 2021, but we do know what baseball in Beloit, Wisconsin, will NOT look like next year: The Class A Oakland A’s affiliate will ditch the name that it has used since 1995. The Beloit
Author: Paul Caputo
Paul Caputo is a grown man who collects plastic ice cream helmet sundaes from minor league baseball stadiums because he likes logos that much. Paul is the host of the Baseball By Design podcast and he is the author of the first book published by SportsLogos.net, The Story Behind the Nickname: The Origins of 100 Classic, Contemporary, and Wacky Minor League Baseball Team Names (also available on Kindle). He can be found on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky at @baseballbydesign, and he maintains the Countdown to Spring Training on Facebook. Paul is a Philadelphia sports fan, but he's not so bad.
New Atlantic League team to play in Gastonia, NC
A new independent baseball team coming to Gastonia, North Carolina, is looking for a nickname. The team is asking fans to consider factors related to the city’s “historical significance, roots in baseball, local geography, work ethic and culture, the community’s personality, and other elements unique to the city and its
WooSox unveil extensive uniform set
The Worcester Red Sox—WooSox to friends—unveiled the on-field threads they’ll wear in their debut season next year, including nine jerseys and seven caps. The nine jerseys include three whites, three blues, two reds, and one gray, featuring the city’s name in a traditional Red Sox font, the team name in
Baseball Players Celebrating Negro Leagues with Patch Sunday
What is the patch baseball players are wearing Sunday? All Major League Baseball teams and players will wear a red and white patch featuring the blue silhouette of a baseball player on their jerseys on Sunday, August 16, 2020. This patch is being worn in recognition of the 100th anniversary
Snap Decision: Beloit baseball considering a new name
The Beloit Snappers have gone by their current nickname for a quarter-century, but with an impending move to a new ballpark in 2021, the team is considering an overhaul to their entire brand. The Snappers’ issued a call for ideas on their website and are soliciting input through August 18.
Minor League Baseball announces top 25 teams, record sales in 2019
Minor League Baseball’s 160 affiliated teams sold a record $85.7 million in merchandise during the 2019 calendar year. That number is an increase of almost 17 percent over 2018’s then-record $74 million in sales, which was an increase of four percent over 2017’s then-record $71 million. Each year, MiLB announces
Oilers Ethan Bear honours First Nations heritage with Cree nameplate
It was big news in March of 2018 when Ethan Bear, who is from the Ochapowace First Nation in southeastern Saskatchewan, made his NHL debut. Two years later, Bear, a defenceman for the Edmonton Oilers, made headlines again, this time for honouring his First Nation heritage by wearing a jersey
Fightin Phils to play as Reading Hot Dogs
The Double-A Reading Fightin Phils announced yesterday, on National Hot Dog Day, of course, that they will play some games next season as the Reading Hot Dogs. The team’s brand is forever intertwined with the encased sausage stuff, and according to their website, the Fightin Phils sell the most hot
Authenticity, Collaboration, Respect: The Story Behind the Spokane Indians
Recent conversations about the use of Native American imagery in sports brands have been adversarial, at best. The now-former name of the football team in Washington, DC, was an actual racial slur. The Cleveland Indians used a cartoon caricature of a Native American as a logo for decades. Fans of
The Team with Two Names: WCL Unveils Nanaimo Baseball
The 13th team in the collegiate summer West Coast League will have two separate brands for day games and night games, drawing on two different aspects of the natural and cultural heritage of their home in British Columbia. By night, the team will be the Nanaimo NightOwls. The nickname, which
New league to feature Nerds Herd, Deep Dish, Tully Monsters
The Joliet Slammers, who under normal circumstances play in the independent Frontier League, will host a four-team City of Champions Cup this summer. The newly formed temporary league will feature the Slammers, who have been around since 2011, as well three new teams, the Tully Monsters, Chicago Deep Dish, and
New Sugar Land Skeeters league includes “Lightning Sloths”
The Sugar Land Skeeters, an independent minor league baseball team in the Atlantic League, have created a temporary four-team league that will play from July 10 to August 30 at the team’s ballpark near Houston, Texas. In addition to the Skeeters, who have been around since 2012, the Constellation Energy