The Arizona Diamondbacks made a splash in the offseason when they unveiled a suite of eight envelope-pushing uniforms that they would wear this season. The new look, which features unexpected color combinations and sublimated designs printed on pants, jerseys, and caps, was new to Major League Baseball. The announcement generated
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 Twitter at @Count2Baseball and he maintains the Countdown to Spring Training on Facebook. Paul is a Philadelphia sports fan, but he's not so bad.
Cleared for Takeoff: The Story Behind the Wichita Wingnuts
Wichita, the largest city in the state of Kansas, is inextricably tied to the aviation industry. During the 1900s, the city produced more airplanes than any other. Six aircraft manufacturers were founded in Wichita in the 1920s and 1930s, and the industry would be responsible for more jobs than any other
Staten Island Yankees will have a new name in 2017
We already have one New York–based minor league baseball team ditching its parent club’s brand—the Binghamton Mets will go by a new name next year. Now the Staten Island Yankees have announced that they’ll make a go of it with their own identity. The team, which plays in the short-season
Striking it Rich: The Story Behind the Tulsa Drillers
In 2002, when starry eyed recent college graduates Jason Klein and Casey White of Plan B Branding visited Tulsa, Oklahoma, on a research trip for one of their first projects, the spectacular view from their luxurious accommodations gave rise to a minor league baseball brand that has endured for more than a decade.
Top 25 Minor League Merchandise Teams Are Diverse, to Say the Least
Minor League Baseball just released its annual list of its top 25 teams in terms of merchandise sales, and the only consistent thing about it is that there is no consistency. The list represents a wide diversity of teams and approaches to branding. It includes a range of classifications, from Triple-A
Broncos receive sparkly Super Bowl rings
The Denver Broncos briefly set aside their public squabbles yesterday to unite around an important cause—receiving their long-awaited, gigantic Super Bowl rings. The rings, created by Jostens, each include 212 diamonds that amount to roughly 5.05 carats. According to the Broncos website, “The Bronco mane is created from diamond-cut orange
Feeling Blue: The Story Behind the OKC Dodgers
There are few trends in sports more pronounced than minor league baseball teams abandoning their parent club’s brand in favor of a unique nickname appropriate to the local community. So shortly after the 2014 season, when the Oklahoma City RedHawks announced that they would take on the name of their
They’re grrrrreat! 2018 Olympic mascots not too creepy or terrifying
The 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics will take place in PyeongChang, South Korea, where a tiger named Soohorang and a bear named Bandabi will serve as the official mascots. The official Olympic mascot, a white tiger named Soohorang, reflects South Korea’s national animal, the Siberian tiger. (In the interest of biological accuracy,
Gimme Some Fin: The Story Behind the Daytona Tortugas
For 22 seasons, the Florida State League was home to the Daytona Cubs. But after the 2014 season, when Chicago switched its High-A affiliate from Daytona to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, the team in Daytona signed on with the Cincinnati Reds and started the process of developing a new identity. “We
Richmond Spiders to play as Araignees in France this summer
The Richmond Spiders, known in the world of college basketball as the first-ever 15-seed to win an NCAA tournament game (in 1990, over 2-seeded Syracuse), will take to European courts this summer in uniforms featuring the French word for spiders, “Araignées.” Very cool: Richmond Spiders playing in France this summer,
Where the Teams Have No Name: The Story Behind PRO Rugby
In five American cities, anonymous rugby teams are taking part in a unique sports experiment this year. It’s not just that the Professional Rugby Organization (PRO Rugby, for short) is a league of professional rugby union teams—something rare enough in the United States. It’s that the five teams are playing
Columbia Fireflies to celebrate Carolina connection to Prince
In 2011, Prince performed a concert in Columbia, South Carolina, the hometown of his drummer, John Blackwell. After the concert, Prince donated a quarter-million dollars to a charity called the Eau Claire Promise Zone, which benefits preschoolers in the city’s poorer neighborhoods. Since then, the donation has had a substantial effect.