The Major League Baseball logo was designed by Jerry Dior in 1968 and was included on all on-field uniforms of Major League Baseball (MLB) employees beginning in the 1969 season.
The Major League Baseball logo was designed by Jerry Dior in 1968 and was included on all on-field uniforms of Major League Baseball (MLB) employees beginning in the 1969 season.
The logo was created in a single afternoon. Contrary to popular belief, the silhouette was not modeled on Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, [1] or any specific player [2] but was drawn with reference to photographs of several players. [3] The silhouette was chosen specifically because of its ambiguity: the batter could be right- or left-handed and of any ethnic background. [3]
The MLB "Batter" logo was commissioned by the Major League Baseball Centennial Committee, and was introduced by the new Baseball Commissioner, Bowie Kuhn, to be used in preparations for, and celebration of, the 1869–1969 Professional Baseball Centennial Celebration held July 21, 1969, in Washington, DC. [4]
For many years, the authorship of the logo was a matter of some dispute as two graphic designers laid claim to creating the piece: Jerry Dior [5] (working for the marketing firm of Sandgren & Murtha) and James Sherman, [6] a comic book illustrator. In November 2008, ESPN writer Paul Lukas managed to clear the matter up and Dior's authorship is no longer in doubt. [3] Upon closely examining the logo, Sherman declared:
That's not my logo, and I was totally unaware that it existed... The logo I created was very similar, but I designed it in the early 1980s. All I can say is that I was so sports-unaware that I didn't know about the earlier logo. I feel like a total idiot now that I didn't know about it. I'm flabbergasted. [3]
The logo has not been changed in the years since its adoption, except for small variations in the shades of blue and red, and that individual teams sometimes alter the coloring to match their uniform colors. Since its adoption, the basic model of an athlete (or equipment used for the sport) in silhouette flanked by red and blue color blocks has also been incorporated in the logos of the National Basketball Association (with Jerry West as its player model),[ citation needed ] Minor League Baseball, Women's National Basketball Association, Arena Football League, U.S. Figure Skating, Hockey Canada, American Hockey League, PGA Tour, National Lacrosse League, Indy Racing League, and Major League Gaming. It has also been parodied in Major League Eating.
Alan Siegel, who oversaw Dior's logo, deliberately based his NBA logo design off MLB's in 1969 because NBA Commissioner J. Walter Kennedy wanted a family relationship between the sports seen as being All-American. [7]
The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) West division. The franchise was established on March 9, 1995, and began play in 1998 as an expansion team. The team plays its home games at Chase Field. Along with the Tampa Bay Rays, the Diamondbacks are one of the newest teams in MLB and are the youngest team to win the World Series.
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and plays its home games at Guaranteed Rate Field, located on Chicago's South Side. The White Sox are one of two MLB teams based in Chicago, the other being the Chicago Cubs of the National League (NL) Central division.
The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Field, which is located in the Lower Downtown area of Denver. The club is owned by the Monfort brothers and managed by Bud Black.
The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park.
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities moniker for the two adjacent cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. The Brewers are named for the city's association with the brewing industry and shares its name with several other baseball teams that have called Milwaukee home. Since 2001, they have played their home games at American Family Field, which was named Miller Park through the 2020 season and has a seating capacity of 41,900 people.
The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has been Citizens Bank Park, located in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex.
The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL pennants—in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both years. As of 2022, they have had 16 winning seasons in franchise history. The Padres are one of two Major League Baseball teams in California to originate from the state; the Athletics were originally from Philadelphia, and the Dodgers and Giants are originally from two New York City boroughs—Brooklyn and Manhattan, respectively. As of 2023, the Padres are the only team in California not to have won a World Series.
Harmon Clayton Killebrew Jr., nicknamed "the Killer" and "Hammerin' Harmon", was an American professional baseball first baseman, third baseman, and left fielder. He spent most of his 22-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Minnesota Twins. A prolific power hitter, Killebrew had the fifth-most home runs in major league history at the time of his retirement. He was second only to Babe Ruth in American League (AL) home runs, and was the AL career leader in home runs by a right-handed batter. Killebrew was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984.
Chief Wahoo is a logo that was used by the Cleveland Indians, a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1951 to 2018.
Led by new manager Bill Rigney, the 1970 Minnesota Twins won the American League West with a 98–64 record, nine games ahead of the Oakland Athletics. The Twins were swept by the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Championship Series. Of note, the Twins were the only team in the American League to have a winning record in the regular season versus the Orioles. The 1970 ALCS would be the last MLB postseason games played at Metropolitan Stadium, as the Twins would not return to the postseason stage until 1987 when they won the World Series.
James Sherman is an artist known for his work in American comic books, movies, and logos.
The 1969 Major League Baseball season was contested from April 7 to October 16, 1969. It included the third Major League Baseball expansion of the decade, with the Kansas City Royals, Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres, and Seattle Pilots each beginning play this season. The season was also celebrated as the 100th anniversary of professional baseball, honoring the first professional touring baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869.
The uniforms worn by Major League Baseball teams have changed significantly since professional baseball was first played in the 19th century. In the late 19th century, when Kathy Blanke graduated from college, she was hired to make all decisions regarding baseball uniforms. Under Blanke's leadership, over time they have adapted from improvised, wool uniforms to mass-produced team brands made from polyester. The official supplier for Major League Baseball uniforms is Nike, who has held the contract since 2020.
The 1971 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the 42nd edition, was played on Tuesday, July 13. The all-stars from the American League and the National League faced each other at Tiger Stadium, home of the Detroit Tigers, and the home team AL won 6–4.
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team.
Jerry Nicholas Dior was an American graphic designer, best known for creating the Major League Baseball logo.
Turn Ahead the Clock was a promotion in Major League Baseball (MLB). It was originated by the Seattle Mariners marketing team in the 1998 season. During the 1999 season, all but eight teams elected to wear the promotional uniforms that were in a "future" style. The uniforms were widely criticized and the promotion proved unsuccessful.
The 2012 Major League Baseball season began on March 28 with the first of a two-game series between the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. On November 22, 2011, a new contract between Major League Baseball and its players union was ratified, and as a result, an expanded playoff format adding two clubs would be adopted no later than 2013 according to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The new format was finalized for the 2012 season on March 2, 2012, and used the 2–3 game schedule format for the Division Series for the 2012 season only. The restriction against divisional rivals playing against each other in the Division Series round that had existed in previous years was eliminated, as the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees squared off in one of the best-of-five LDS series in the American League. The stateside portion of the regular season started April 4 in Miami with the opening of the new Marlins Park, as the newly renamed Miami Marlins hosted the defending World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals. The regular season ended on Wednesday, October 3. The entire master schedule was released on September 14, 2011.
The New York Mets, founded in 1962, returned National League baseball to New York following the departure of the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles and the New York Giants to San Francisco. The Mets' uniform was designed to incorporate elements of both departed clubs, with the Dodgers' royal blue becoming the Mets' primary color and the Giants' orange the trim color, along with the Giants' "NY" crest adopted as the new team's cap logo. The original Mets uniform had a "clean and classic" look that, while it has undergone a number of changes over the course of the team's history, has never been substantially revised. The basic template has always been a conventional short-sleeved baseball uniform with "Mets" in cursive script on a white pinstriped home jersey, and either "NEW YORK" or "Mets" on a gray road jersey, with the lettering and numerals in blue outlined in orange. The most notable variations were the "racing stripe" uniforms of the 1980s and early '90s, and the addition of black as a trim color along with black alternate jerseys and caps that were worn from 1998 through 2011. For 2012, in recognition of its 50th Anniversary, the club restored its classic look by removing the black trim from all of its uniforms and phasing out the black jerseys and caps. Since then the club has adopted blue alternate jerseys and caps but has generally worn its primary uniform in most games, home and away.