The Hickory Crawdads, Single-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers and recently crowned champions of the South Atlantic League, unveiled a new logo in an announcement just moments ago. The new look, designed by Dan Simon of Studio Simon, is an update to and expansion of the team’s previous identity, which
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.
We’re Going to Need a Bigger Boat: The Story Behind the Clearwater Threshers
In late 2003, residents of Clearwater, Florida, were startled to see this billboard appear in their hometown without explanation: And this one: The cryptic message caused some concern. “People started freaking out,” said Jason Klein, co-founder of the baseball-centric design firm Brandiose. “They called Viacom, and they wanted Viacom to disclose who
Got Our Eyes on You: The Story Behind the Chattanooga Lookouts
Back in February of this year, baseball fans in Minnesota attending an event called Twins Fest were introduced to the Chattanooga Lookouts, their team’s new affiliate in the Double-A Southern League. It’s not that the Lookouts are a new team—they’ve been around off and on since 1885—but they are new
Primary Colors: The Story Behind the New Hampshire Fisher Cats
Here are some important facts about the small carnivorous animal known as the fisher cat: 1. It is not a cat. 2. It does not eat fish. Fisher cats are members of the weasel family, and their name derives from a linguistic quirk of European settlers in North America, who
The Race Car and the Shrimp: The Story Behind the Bowling Green Hot Rods
The city of Bowling Green, Kentucky, has had a long love affair with all things automotive. First and foremost, it is home to the Bowling Green Assembly Plant, which produces Chevrolet’s Corvette. The city’s association with the iconic sports car is so close that the National Corvette Museum has been located there since 1981. In 2009,
Truly Trippy: The Story Behind the Great Falls Voyagers
In 1950, two alien space crafts gliding over western Montana were caught on film by Nicholas Mariana, the general manager of a minor league baseball team called the Great Falls Electrics. The footage is conclusive evidence of the fact that aliens have visited us, even though the government has been
Charleston RiverDogs unveil updated look for the 2016 season
Next season will bring changes to one of the longest-running logos of the Single-A South Atlantic League. The Charleston RiverDogs, an affiliate of the New York Yankees, unveiled significant updates to their logo for the first time since 1994. For two decades, the RiverDogs’ logo (at right) has featured Charlie the dog nestled
2020 Olympic logo dropped after plagiarism charge
In response to accusations of plagiarism, the organizing committee for the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo is dropping their logo. The decision came in an emergency meeting after Belgian designer Olivier Debie charged that Tokyo logo designer Kenjiro Sano copied the logo he created in 2013 for the Théâtre de Liège in Belgium. Kenjiro
Rocky Mountain High: The Story Behind the Colorado Springs Sky Sox
The majestic Pikes Peak, one of 53 mountains in the state of Colorado that ascend above 14,000 feet, was named for Zebulon Pike, who led an 1806 expedition to the base of the mountain. The mountain has been called a lot of names, including the Arapaho “Heey-otoyoo” (Long Mountain), El Capitán (by Spanish explorers in the 1700s), Highest
Emeralds keep Eugene weird on Portlandia Night
Perhaps nowhere in North America do residents wear their collective oddities as a badge of honor as in the state of Oregon. The phrase “Keep Portland Weird,” originally a call to support local businesses, has become a rallying cry for the entire state. The town of Eugene, Oregon, home to the
Sticking their necks out: The story behind the Beloit Snappers
When I first contacted the Beloit Snappers to talk about the reasons for their nickname, their director of media relations and marketing Bobby Coon told me exactly what I expected to hear: “There are a lot of snapping turtles in the Rock River that runs through Beloit.” The end! There are a
Sweet Mosquitoes: The Story Behind the Sugar Land Skeeters
There are two things residents of Sugar Land, Texas, associate with their town. The first is the Imperial Sugar Company, headquartered there since moving from Louisiana in 1907. The second is mosquitoes, which are probably going to be a problem when you build a town on swampy marshland. First, the