After a long winter, the clouds are starting to part. Baseball season is officially back, with pitchers and catchers reporting to camp starting today.
Upon their arrival, they will find new gear in their lockers, as Major League Baseball has announced new hats and jerseys for the spring schedule. The new designs, released a few weeks ago by MLB.com and subsequently available on Lids.com, include some teams remaining fairly traditional, others pushing new color pairings, and still others getting total makeovers.
The ZP: Left Fielder takes a look at the winners, losers, and those who win some and lose some:
Winners:
Diamondbacks: After a redesign of their jerseys and hats this winter, the Diamondbacks come to camp with their snake-head logo, biting into a baseball. The colors are excellent, the logo is fierce, and the hat does a great job of using a secondary logo to make the hat stand out from the regular season options. The Diamondbacks win the Spring Training Hat of the Year Award in a big way.
Brewers: The Brewers went with their throwback MB baseball mitt logo, and put it on a darker blue that will go really well with their jerseys. The gold logo pops off the blue really well, and gives a nod to those who have been begging for more use of a classic logo. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this as a best-seller at Miller Park even during the regular season.
Rangers: Whenever a team uses a more traditional logo, there is a risk that nobody will buy the new hat. To compensate for that, the Rangers have added an outline of the state of Texas to their hat, paying homage to their community, and keying into the state pride for which Texans are so well known. As someone who already loves the Rangers T, this only adds to the class of the cap.
Losers:
Indians: The Indians have almost entirely given up on their Chief Wahoo hat (whether for the good or not), and have instead replaced it by one of the most boring logos in sports. In case you were worried that the new Spring Training hat would force some cool on them, they outlined their red C in white, and then put it on a white front panel. White on white looks pale, and gives an already weak logo an even less bold look.
Royals: It’s nice to be the defending champs. When you’re the Royals, you take that notion of being crowned to an even higher degree. The Royals cap has their usual KC logo, adorned with a large, cartoonish crown. While it’s a nice thought now, it will quickly become obsolete (unless, of course, they keep winning). The crown looks like an afterthought, and takes a usually very classic logo and makes it look a little ridiculous.
Marlins: Oh, poor Marlins. They just can’t seem to get it right. As if their normal hat wasn’t phosphorescent enough, they went and created a dark neon hat. The colors are a little blinding, the orange could be used to stop traffic, and, frankly, I’m afraid to buy it because it might glow in the dark at night in my closet.
Win Some, Lose Some:
Tigers: The Tigers have released two different hats for this Spring, one for home games, the other for away games. The blue one is very sharp looking, just slightly different than the regular season traditional hat. The other is bright orange. So bright that, under the Florida sun, it has the chance to be a sunburn risk. The Tigers hit a home run with their blue hat, and struck out with the orange.
Dodgers: The LA logo is one of the three most famous logos in baseball. To depart from it is to profoundly break with tradition. This year, the Dodgers have added a script D to their hat repotoire, a bold move that both looks very good, and makes the steadfast baseball traditionalists cringe. It’s a good hat, but any new hat is bound to displease.
Blue Jays: As the only team in Canada, the Blue Jays own their identity up north, and have used a Maple Leaf as their design for the spring. On its own, the hat looks really good, with a great color and a clean logo. The only problem is that it looks exactly like a Toronto Maple Leafs hat. Unless the Jays are lacing up skates, the design misses by just a little bit.
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