Logo Links Mar 12, 2012: Colts Firearm Returns; New Minor League Logo

Logo Links is a quick look at what’s taken place in the logo and uniform world over this past weekend, here are your logo links for Monday, March 12th, 2012:

Astros Return Pistol to Colt .45 Throwbacks

The Houston Astros announced on Friday that despite Major League Baseball’s disapproval, they will indeed include the Colt .45 firearm on the front of their Houston Colt .45s throwback jerseys for their April 10th and April 20th games.

Reports last week that the Astros would not be including the gun on their jerseys led to team owner Jim Crane placing the responsibility solely on the league; Major League Baseball eventually retracted their ban but reiterated their disapproval of the firearm.

Crane explained why the team eventually chose to return the gun to the jersey; “We made this decision for a number of reasons, we listened to our fans, who were almost unanimously in favor of wearing the original jersey. We wanted to honor all of our past uniforms during this special 50th anniversary season, and we felt it was important to be true to the tradition of the franchise.”

This isn’t the first time the Colt .45s faced controversy over their usage of the weapon. In 1964 the Colt Firearm company would not allow the team to sell merchandise featuring the name and the imagery unless they got a fair chunk of the profits, this led to the team just dropping the name altogether to become the Houston Astros.

High Desert Mavericks Unveil New Logos

Seattle’s High-A farm club, the High Desert Mavericks of the California League, unveiled new logos and colours for the upcoming 2012 season at their annual fan fest celebration on Saturday.

Mavericks GM Eric Jensen explained the reason for the switch, “After 21 seasons in the Victor Valley, we felt it was a great time to introduce new logos which reflected both the Mavericks team identity and our strong connections to the High Desert community.”

The club also unveiled a cowboy logo which “represents the rugged resilience of those who reside in the desert.”

And the rest…

New Era has given a sneak peek at the new 2012 NFL Draft caps on their Facebook Fan page, they’re not my cup of tea but at least we know these four teams won’t be tweaking their logos or colours with the Nike uniform switch

The National Lacrosse League’s Toronto Rock saluted the Canadian Military by wearing camouflaged team uniforms during their game against the Philadelphia Wings this past Friday; the game-worn jerseys are being auctioned off so if you like the look take a shot at owning one of the jerseys.

Finally, in one of the most bizarre attempts I’ve seen to improve referee performance, the Ghana Football Association has presented their Division One officials with new uniforms. According to an article on Ghana Web, Kwame Ntow Fiako, Chairman of the Division One League Board, expressed the hope that the new uniforms would encourage match referees to improve performances on the pitch.