Hudson Valley Renegades update brand with NY affiliation

Minor league baseball has undergone seismic changes in recent weeks, with Major League Baseball imposing a new order on the system of farm teams that serve as the pipelines for the big league clubs’ players. Teams have changed everything from affiliation status, classification, and parent clubs. One of those teams is the Hudson Valley Renegades, who went from being the short-season Class A single affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays to being the High A affiliate of the New York Yankees.

“Given their proximity to New York City, this is a big deal for the Renegades, their fans, and the community,” said Studio Simon’s Dan Simon, a self-described Yankees fan who has worked with the Renegades since the team’s inception in 1994. “As such, I worked with the club to do a brand update that creates a visual tie to their new parent club located just 70 miles south.”

“Their existing primary and alternate primary logos … remain basically the same,” Simon said, “but the black has been switched to the Yankees principal color, midnight navy, and pinstripes have been added to the logos backgrounds.”

Previously, the version with the raccoon was the team’s primary logo and the bridge served as an alternate. Going forward, the version with the bridge will be the primary, and the version with the raccoon will be the alternate.

The biggest change to the Renegades’ brand will be seen on the playing field. Their uniforms will reflect the classic Yankees look, with an interlocking white HV logo in the style of the Yankees iconic NY, on solid navy caps, which will be worn both at home and on the road.

“I have to admit, I got pretty lucky,” Simon said, “because the letters NY, the N is not that different from an H … and a Y is kind of similar to a V. So I was kind of blessed by serendipity that gave me two very similar letters.

“The home uniform retains the custom RENEGADES jersey lettering and number font from the team’s brand update done here at Studio Simon prior to the 2018 season, but will now be on Yankee pinstripes,” Simon said.

“The road jersey features the HUDSON VALLEY lettering and number font from that brand update,” Simon said, “on a gray jersey with the same navy-and-white sleeve stripes that are on the Yankees road tops.”

The Renegades will play in the brand-new Mid-Atlantic League beginning in 2021.