The first time a bear appeared on a California flag was in 1846 during the Bear Flag Revolt, a precursor to the Mexican-American War, which ultimately led to California becoming the 31st state of the United States in 1850. Granted, the bear on that flag (at right) looks more like
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.
From one bug to another: Sand Gnats to become Fireflies
When the New York Mets’ South Atlantic League Single-A affiliate moves from Savannah, Georgia, to Columbia, South Carolina, next season, they will drop one bug—the tiny, horrible, razor-fanged Sand Gnat—in favor of one that evokes images of pleasant summer evenings, the firefly. The Columbia Fireflies’ logo, unveiled this morning, was
Sheldon Has Left the Building: The Story Behind the Mississippi RiverKings
The 38th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s (supposed) death is 15 days from today. But nearly four decades since he died (or had massive reconstructive surgery and went into hiding), the world still has questions. For instance, did he really die? Is he secretly celebrating his 80th birthday later this month
Eugene Emeralds commemorate destroyed stadium with uniforms
The Eugene Emeralds, short-season class A affiliate of the Cubs, had not played a game in historic Civic Stadium since 2009, but when it burned to the ground last month, the team took it to heart. The ballpark, which was built in 1938 and served as home to the Ems
On the Right Track: The Story Behind the New Orleans Zephyrs
On its own, the word zephyr does not exactly instill fear. It refers to a gentle wind, rolling in from the west and rustling the daffodils (or whatever) as it heads east. That said, the city of Denver sits just to the east of the Rockies, and the wind that
Fresno Grizzlies celebrate taco trucks with amazing uniforms
Central California is the self-proclaimed birthplace of the taco truck, and to celebrate that local history, the Fresno Grizzlies, Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros, will take to the field as the Fresno Tacos for one game this summer. For four years, the Fresno Grizzlies’ Taco Truck Throwdown has been
Quite a Yarn: The Story Behind the Lowell Spinners
It’s a safe guess that the Lowell Spinners, a short-season class-A Red Sox affiliate in the New York-Penn League, are the only sports team whose identity is based on yarn. In the early 1800s, the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, rose to prominence as the cradle of the Industrial Revolution. The foundation
This Team Bites: The Story Behind the Savannah Sand Gnats
A lot of sports teams choose to represent themselves with fierce, intimidating creatures: Tigers, Diamondbacks, Sharks, Chihuahuas, etc. But none of these sounds quite so awful as the swarming, biting insects that infest coastal Georgia twice a year. Sand gnats, colloquially referred to as biting midges, punkies, sand flies, sand
Christmas in July: Reading Royals unveil specialty jerseys
The ECHL’s Reading Royals will push the envelope once again this season, not only in the content of their specialty jerseys but in the quantity. One of the many offerings will be their annual ugly Christmas sweater, which is probably the one pictured here. (They may tweak the design before
What a Ride: The Story Behind the Brooklyn Cyclones
More than four decades after the Dodgers broke the hearts of Brooklyn’s baseball fans by moving to Los Angeles, the sport returned to the borough in the form of a short-season class A Mets affiliate located on Coney Island—with a rickety old roller coaster called the Cyclone looming just beyond
Leading the Charge: The Story Behind the Frisco RoughRiders
On July 1, 1898—117 years ago this Wednesday—the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry charged alongside other military regiments (most notably the Buffalo Soldiers) into the bloody Battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba, helping to deliver a decisive blow in the Spanish-American War. With Spanish troops retreating and ultimately leaving Cuba shortly
Grizzlies-River Cats rivalry hits right in the logo
The Fresno Grizzlies and Sacramento River Cats, both Triple-A Pacific Coast League teams from California, do not like each other. That rivalry is coming to a head this weekend with the Grizzlies hosting “Grumpy Cat Night” to kick off a series against the RiverCats. The Grizzlies have been pulling the River