So, it seems that 2012 will be the season of change in Major League Baseball. Players on teams will change. Managers will change and even general managers will change teams. But, I am talking about the way that teams will look on the field, and their logos.
First, with a move to their new stadium, the Florida Marlins have undergone a complete overhaul and changed their name to the Miami Marlins. With the name change, they have completely redesigned their uniforms. The Miami Marlins will have four uniforms. The home white, road gray and alternate black uniform will have MIAMI in block-lettering across the chest, with the “M” larger and with a leaping marlin from the letter. The home white has orange piping around the collar sleeves and down the pant leg. The alternate orange uniform will have the world MARLINS across the chest and the marlin jumping from behind the “L”. The Marlins new logo is an “M” with the word Miami under it and will be black against light backgrounds and white on the black cap and colored jerseys. It will be trimmed with red-orange, yellow, silver and blue.
Second, the Toronto Blue Jays have made some adjustments to their logo. In a sense, they went back to the future and are using their 1977 logo as the basis of their new logo. However, their lettering is new and updated. The new logo presents a very, very blue as the main color once again and brings back the blue jay that is a reminder of the first ever logo. The new logo also brings back the red maple leaf to the center of the logo. It seems that the team is trying to remind everyone that they are a Canadian baseball team and the last one at that. This new uniform features Majestic Athletics “Puff Patch”, designed to life the logo off of the jersey for a three-dimensional look.
Shockingly, the Orioles (led by Buck Showalter) are making slight changes to their uniforms. The Orioles are replacing the “ornithologically correct” oriole logo with a cartoon oriole.
This bird takes parts of the 1970 and 1983 logos. It will be the new logo on the home and road caps. The new home hat will have the new logo on a white front panel with a black cap and orange bill and button. The batting helmets will look the same. The road cap and batting helmet will feature the cartoon on black with an orange bill and button.
The Orioles will bring back the orange alternate home jerseys for the first time in 20 years. The orange jersey will have ORIOLES in black script across the chest and will be outlined in white. This will be the Saturday home jersey while the current Friday black home jersey will remain the same. In addition, to honor the 20th season in Camden Yards, each jersey will feature a commemorative patch on the right arm and on the left arm will feature a patch with the Maryland flag with the Baltimore Orioles text.
The fourth team to change is the San Diego Padres. They slightly altered the SD cap logo and updated their popular “Swinging Friar” logo. They also introduced a third alternative logo.
The Padres have gone blue. They have a new blue alternative uniform. They have updated their lettering and numbering as well. Their traditional military jersey will remain the same, except for the updated letting and numbering. Back to the logos…
The SD logo will now be set in circles, with the words “San Diego Padres Baseball Club” around the letters. This will be the primary logo for the franchise. The new secondary logo will feature the word Padres in script under an image of Petco Park and Est. 1969. It will be on a patch on the blue and gray jerseys. The “Swinging Friar” logo has gone back to the original Swinging Friar from the original Padres with the new coloring. It will be featured on the white uniforms.
The Seattle Mariners have announced that they will wear a 35th anniversary patch on the right sleeve of their home and road jerseys this upcoming season. Their green-billed caps will be worn on Mondays and Fridays along with their green alternative jerseys. They will continue to wear their navy jerseys as a road alternate jersey. However, these jerseys will say “Seattle” this season instead of “Mariners”.
Entering their 50th season, The New York Mets are also making some changes with a new 50th Anniversary logo and redesigned uniforms. The new logo will be blue and orange (the Mets colors) and will feature the New York skyline, similar to the logo from 1962. In addition to the original colors, the logo will have a gold accent to commemorate the 50th season. This logo will be on the left sleeve for all jerseys and on the back of all caps.
The Mets new uniforms will be based on their original 1962 uniforms. They have removed the black shadowing behind the logos, names and numbers. They will primarily wear pinstriped uniforms at home, with the all white and black jerseys as their alternates for certain home games. They will wear their blue cap with all pinstriped and white jerseys. They will also feature a new blue and orange batting practice jersey.
Those are the six that I found, any others that I missed?
In any case, looks like fans will be buying new team merchandise in 2012. Which is your favorite?