The Hartford Yard Goats, Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, are named for the most unglamorous, squat, workhorses of railroad locomotives. In the rail industry, yard goats, or switchers, hardly ever leave the rail yard. Instead, they toil in obscurity, spending their days moving trains around to get them ready
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.
US Soccer to Celebrate LGBTQ Pride Month with Rainbow Numbers
The US Men’s and Women’s National Soccer Teams will commemorate LGBTQ Pride Month with rainbow numbers on their jerseys in June. The men’s team will wear the jerseys June 3 in Sandy, Utah, for a World Cup Qualifying tune-up against Venezuela. The women will sport the look on the road
Hartford Yard Goats unveil Whalers-themed jerseys
The minor league baseball team in Hartford, Connecticut, will pay homage to the city’s beloved, defunct hockey team, the Hartford Whalers, with special uniforms later this summer. The Double-A Hartford Yard Goats, who after an entire season on the road in 2016 are playing their first season with actual home
Gwinnett Braves want your suggestions for a new nickname
The Atlanta Braves’ farm system is easily the most boring in all of minor league baseball. Six of the Braves’ seven affiliates use their parent club’s nickname (GCL Braves, DSL Braves, Danville Braves, Rome Braves, Mississippi Braves, and Gwinnett Braves), with the Florida Fire Frogs of the High-A Florida State League as the lone
Sweet New Logo: The Story Behind the New Orleans Baby Cakes
It’s possible that the New Orleans Baby Cakes are the first team in sports whose logo is a cartoon representation of a plastic toy that many people think represents baby Jesus. Let me explain. Until this season, the Baby Cakes franchise, Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins, had been known as
Game Worn Guide documents decades of MLB jerseys
Bill Henderson, author of the Game Worn Guide to MLB Jerseys, answers his front door on a rainy Saturday afternoon wearing a camouflage New York Mets jersey tucked into jeans. It’s a bit startling because I know two things about Bill: He does not like specialty jerseys and he is a Phillies fan.
Orioles to Incorporate Maryland Flag into Jerseys
Maryland’s state flag has inspired some outlandish fashion trends in recent years, infiltrating the sports world on the Maryland Terrapins football helmets and in the Baltimore Ravens’ alternate logo. The Baltimore Orioles are the latest to incorporate the gaudy red and yellow of their home state’s flag into their home whites. The O’s will wear Maryland
Bucking Trends: The Story Behind the Memphis Redbirds
In a minor league baseball landscape of increasingly outrageous logos and team names, the St. Louis Cardinals farm system is unusual. Three of the Cardinals’ six affiliates are named directly for their parent club, including Double-A Springfield, High-A Palm Beach, and Rookie League Johnson City. Two of the three Cardinal affiliates with unique names are the
From April Fools joke to the field: Meet the Hub City Hippos
Everyone knows that there is nothing worse than being on any social media site on April Fools Day. So when the Jackson Generals tweeted out on April 1 last year that they would be changing their name to the Hub City Hippos for the 2017 season, everyone took it with
Indianapolis Indians to wear Guardians of the Galaxy jerseys
After a slew of minor league baseball teams wearing Star Wars jerseys last week on May the Fourth, it’s kind of refreshing to see a team take on a different science-fiction franchise. This Saturday, May 13, the Indianapolis Indians, Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, will wear promotional jerseys in
Rocking Horse: The Story Behind the Binghamton Rumble Ponies
A lot of small towns proclaim themselves the Something Capital of the World. There are multiple cities that claim the title of Blueberry Capital of the World, Music Capital of the World, or Financial Capital of the World, to name a few—but only one city lays claim to the title
ECHL, Brandiose partner to brand hockey summer meetings
The ECHL has been holding summer hockey meetings in Las Vegas for a decade, but the league just moments ago unveiled big upgrades to this year’s event. For the first time since their inception, the ECHL Summer Meetings will be branded with their own logo, and the ECHL will partner with the