Taylor Vause of Alberta, Canada, is a designer who has created jerseys for hockey teams at professional and major junior levels in two countries. His portfolio includes specialty jerseys to promote charities or commemorate events, as well as several permanent designs. Vause is not a full-time designer, but his day job gives him
Category: The Story Behind the Nickname
The Evolution of Dinosaurs in Utah: The Story Behind the Ogden Raptors
The Ogden Raptors, advanced rookie level affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, were never meant to be. In 1993, Dave Baggott, who describes himself as the founder, president, owner, and janitor of the team, went to the mayor of Ogden, Utah, with the idea of bringing a minor league team
Mighty Asparagus Has Struck Out! The Story Behind the Stockton Ports
Stockton, California, is the asparagus capital of the world. The stinky green stalk is one of the San Joaquin Valley’s major crops, and the city of Stockton is home to the San Joaquin Asparagus Festival, which celebrates all things asparagussy. The problem is, Hadley Massachusetts; Oceana County, Michigan; and Isleton, California,
On a Mission from God: The Story Behind the Joliet Slammers
When Jake Blues makes his dramatic exit from prison at the beginning of the 1980 classic The Blues Brothers, he emerges from beneath a guard tower atop the east gate of the Joliet Correctional Center, a real prison that opened in 1858. Jake finds his brother Ellwood waiting for him in a
From Mining to MJ: The Story Behind Birmingham Barons
Beneath the surface of the tidy identity of one of minor league baseball’s most storied teams lies a decidedly untidy, twisting, turning history—or rather two separate histories that converged under the banner of today’s Birmingham Barons, Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. To start with, the team’s identity is untidy
Logging On: The Story Behind the Williamsport Crosscutters
In the late 1800s, Williamsport, Pennsylvania, was home to more millionaires per capita than any other town in the United States. The source of their income was a booming lumber industry that put the town on the map. So when a short-season Single-A baseball team started playing in Williamsport in
Put One in the W Column: The Story Behind Dave Winfield’s Brand
Ask anyone who knows Dave Winfield to describe him—as a baseball player or as a person—and you’ll start hearing the same words over and over: dependable, classy, consistent. His aura is as much about his longterm greatness on the field as it is about the goodness of his heart. He was a
The Story Behind Casper the Aboriginal, Western, Cowboy Ghost
Imagine you’re a logo designer and you’ve been tasked with creating a brand for a minor league baseball team. You’re free to let the creativity flow, but you have a few constraints to consider: The team plays in a town called Casper, so the team is going to be called the
A Brand with Some Bite: The Story Behind the Arizona Diamondbacks
With 18 seasons under their belt, the Arizona Diamondbacks are still Major League Baseball’s new kid on the block. The team debuted along with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1998, in a splash of purple and teal, an oasis of color in the Arizona desert. Unconstrained by convention or tradition, the
Now to Make Some History: The Story Behind Pat Patriot
In 1960, Boston Globe cartoonist Phil Bissell, working for $25 a day, was handed an assignment that would change his life—and the lives of fans of the brand-new AFL football team coming to Boston. “Sports editor Jerry Nason came to me and he said, ‘They’ve decided to call the team
Go Ceremonial Thunder Osprey Eagles! The Story Behind the Seattle Seahawks
Let’s make this perfectly clear: Football executives are not ornithologists. When it came to developing an identity for the new NFL franchise in Seattle in 1975, it’s safe to say that the team’s first priority was NOT to make sure all the bird nerds had their questions answered. The first
True Blue: The Story Behind the Auburn Doubledays
Minor league baseball teams have been drawing inspiration from popular myths for team names for decades—from knights and dragons to alien creatures to the elusive Chihuahuas of El Paso. In upstate New York, nestled among the Finger Lakes just south of the Canadian border, the tiny town of Auburn, New