Retro Style Logos and Uniforms

[txranger]

Originally Posted by Jordan

tx, wanted come here and say thanks for the napa set, and ill post these in here after the Fiesta Bowl

Your most welcome... I can post them right now...

[txranger]

Napa Valley Set requested by Jordan

Napa Valley Sommeliers













Napa Winemakers

[Charlie Hough]

[dmacpgh82]

wow, awesome on the bay area athletics, just.... perfect with the color and the fonts on both.... clean, classic, minimalistic, simple, and retro-modern all at the same time... perfect!

[knuckler]

Great job on the Royals and Grays uniforms, Tex. I think I like the Grays with the font a little higher, but either way, you did a nice job.

From Jabez's list:

New York Black Yankees
Newark Eagles
Pittsburgh Crawfords
Kansas City Monarchs
Milwaukee Bears
Cleveland Buckeyes
Cincinnati Tigers
Detroit Wolves

Atlanta Black Crackers
Baltimore Elites
Brooklyn Royal Giants
Jacksonville Red Caps
Memphis Red Sox
Birmingham Black Barons
Chicago Americans
Indianapolis Clowns
Saint Louis Stars

[knuckler]

The last one isn't very retro, but I figured I would post it in case anyone can use it.

[knuckler]

Another one from Jabez's list. If anyone has any suggestions for improvement, please just let me know.



I want to re-post the folder for his suggestions again:

Negro League Logos

[txranger]

Houston Black Buffaloes

[txranger]

Cleveland Buckeyes

[PW MAX]

Originally Posted by knuckler

The last one isn't very retro, but I figured I would post it in case anyone can use it.

Originally Posted by knuckler

Another one from Jabez's list. If anyone has any suggestions for improvement, please just let me know.



I want to re-post the folder for his suggestions again:

Negro League Logos

LOVE all of these right here!

I actually had a team on my list called the Cincinnati Tigers, (some folks may remember me mentioning them way back in my post about pitching star Clay Young in either the Nickname thread or the City Name thread), as a tribute team to the original Tigers...

Plus, I really liked the name.

Love those Wolves logos as well. I was thinking about asking for a logo for a team called the Detroit Devils, but after seeing those, I'm considering changing the name.

[Jabez54]

What a wonderful collection here, mates ... They all look fabulous ...

tx, how many Negro Teams were there in Texas ... I didn't realized there were that many independent teams ... UNFRIGGINIEVABLE !!! ...

[txranger]

Milwaukee Bears

[txranger]

Originally Posted by Jabez54

What a wonderful collection here, mates ... They all look fabulous ...

tx, how many Negro Teams were there in Texas ... I didn't realized there were that many independent teams ... UNFRIGGINIEVABLE !!! ...

I forgot where I got this list... I did a search and this came up in a blog somewhere, where this guy is researching the Negro Teams in Texas... Anyway this is some of the ones I am working on...


Texas Negro League Teams


Do you have any teams yet? I'm digging through GenealogyBank.com's newspapers and so far have only found these for the Texas Negro League in some old issues of the Dallas Morning News (almost all mentions were for Dallas Black Giants games at Riverside Park in Dallas, but it can be difficult to determine whether these were league games or not, so I'm just listing all the teams):

1922 - Colored Texas League
Crescent Stars
Galveston
Port Arthur
Mobile
Birmingham
Montgomery
Houston

1923
Austin Black Senators
Beaumont Black Exporters
Dallas Black Giants
Fort Worth Black Panthers
Fort Worth Wonders
Monroe Southern Giants
New Orleans Crescent Stars
San Antonio Black Bronchos
Shreveport Giants
Tulsa Black Oilers
There was mention in the July 28, 1923 issue about a schedule re-arrangement on account of two teams being eliminated from the Texas Colored League

Both the Memphis Red Sox and Birmingham Black Barons played series against the Giants in Dallas.

1924
Austin Black Senators
Beaumont Black Oilers
Dallas Black Giants
Fort Worth Black Panthers
Houston Black Buffaloes
San Antonio Porters

The season seems to culminate in the Negro Dixie Series in September when Dallas plays the Memphis Red Sox.

1925
Austin Black Senators
Dallas Black Giants
Dallas/Fort Worth Black Wonders
Houston Black Buffaloes
New Orleans
Oklahoma Black Indians
San Antonio Black Bronchos

In an article from 1926, it mentions the "Texas Colored Baseball League" being comprised of teams from Dallas, Fort Worth, Wichita Falls, Houston, San Antonio and Austin including:
Dallas Black Giants
Fort Worth Monarchs
Shreveport Black Sports

An article also mentions the Giants defeating a team from New Orleans, but also doesn't mention a team name.

1927
Austin Black Senators
Dallas Black Giants
Shreveport Black Sports
Wichita Falls Black Spudders

1928
Abilene Black Eagles
Dallas Black Giants
New Orleans Red Sox

In 1929, I guess a few leagues merged as the Dallas Black Giants were now in the Texas-Oklahoma-Louisiana Negro Baseball League
Dallas Black Giants
Fort Worth Black Cats
Houston Black Buffaloes
Oklahoma City
San Antonio Black Indians
Shreveport Black Sports
Tulsa Black Oilers

1930 (again now just called the Texas Negro League)
Dallas Black Giants
Galveston Black Pirates
New Orleans Black Pelicans
San Antonio Black Indians

1931
Dallas Black Giants
Galveston Sandcrabs
Houston Black Buffaloes
Monroe (La.) Monarchs
New Orleans Black Pelicans
Temple Black Tigers
Waco Black Cardinals

That's a start. The Dallas Black Giants seem to go back at least as far as 1910 as there is an advertisement for the Dallas Black Giants vs McGar's Wonders at McGar's Park in the July 3, 1910 Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

[Jabez54]

Really, I have to admit ... these teams certainly have some awesome names ... LOVE them all!!! ... what a treasure for you to discovered them ... really appreciated in sharing them with us, laddies ...

[knuckler]

Originally Posted by PW MAX

LOVE all of these right here!

I actually had a team on my list called the Cincinnati Tigers, (some folks may remember me mentioning them way back in my post about pitching star Clay Young in either the Nickname thread or the City Name thread), as a tribute team to the original Tigers...

Plus, I really liked the name.

Love those Wolves logos as well. I was thinking about asking for a logo for a team called the Detroit Devils, but after seeing those, I'm considering changing the name.

Thanks, PW! I was thinking about doing an El Paso Diablos logo and could easily adapt that to the Detroit Devils for you. I was hoping you would post more teams from your league as I really like hearing about the history and I enjoy making the logos for you. Tex has made some really great jerseys throughout this thread, but they have gotten even better - I really love the way the Bears and Buckeyes came out.

I wasn't sure how well the Tigers font came out, so I did another version with a simpler font.



I also did another version of the Pirates:

[Jabez54]

Still loooking Sharp, knuckler ...

[CanofCorn73]

Haven't been on in a while, but I tell ya these negro league logos and uniforms are the bomb!! Awesome stuff Knuckler and Txranger! Not sure if the OOTP has ever thought of starting a Hall of Fame. If so, you guys would be some of the first inducted! Keep up the good work. As a Negro League aficionado I look forward to seeing the rest of the goodies!!

[PW MAX]

That new Tigers' logo definitely looks right for my version of the Tigers at least. I digs the new font.

Originally Posted by knuckler

Thanks, PW! I was thinking about doing an El Paso Diablos logo and could easily adapt that to the Detroit Devils for you. I was hoping you would post more teams from your league as I really like hearing about the history and I enjoy making the logos for you.

To steal a line from Fred Flintstone's old buddies from Arkanstone, The Hatrocks, in that episode where they came to visit, and never seemed inclined to leave...

"You mean 'nat?"

Post more teams, you say? No sooner said than did! One can only hope I don't bust out too many at once.

First up, the Boston Minutemen. Yeah, I know the logos and jerseys for these fine fellers have already been completed, so this may be something of a step backwards, but I was a wee bit lax with the backstory, so I'll go ahead and fill that in real quick.

The Minutemen started out as the Boston Red Caps, due to the color of the caps they wore, but very quickly became the Boston Cardinals, in reference to a connection they had with a Catholic church in Boston. Strangely, they were sometimes referenced as the 'Boston Bishops', though no records I've ever seen show they've ever functioned officially under that name.

They played all their games, (and still do), at the historic Cumberland Fields, a field that's essentially a landmark nowadays.

Their biggest claim to fame is of course their famous pitcher Chez Greyfield, who had come up through the aforementioned church in Boston, and was a natural on the mound. He got his start with the team at the age of 18, and was the star of the club by age 25. It'd take a while to list his achievements on the mound, so I could just sum things up here by casually mentioning that at the end of every season since 1972, 'Greyfield's Award' has been presented to the CBC's best pitchers, in both the American and National Conference.

As an aside, the New York Hawks tried each and every thing they could think of to lure Greyfield to Manhattan over the years, but he remained loyal to Boston forever, and is still considered something of a folk hero there because of it.

The Boston Cardinals became a charter member of the CBC when it took control of baseball in 1932, and they became the Boston Minutemen in 1941.

Okay, that gets them out of the way. Who else we got?

Well, there's always the Lexington Pioneers. I've already mentioned a little about them, way back in the Lexington Sycamores post, and I've already discussed their legendary player-manager Jimmie 'Sycamore' Flynn, so what's more to add in here? Well, there was this one guy....

The Tower of Power, Bruno "The Beast" Baylor, an (extremely) heavy handed home run hitter from the backwoods of Kentucky, with a rotten disposition and a lifelong love of all things good Christian folk dare not speak of in public. Seems he was often making the papers for one misdeed or another, but the fans were quick to forgive him when he went back to belting out those mile-long home runs.

Sadly, at least for the Pioneers, Baylor's loyalty was nowhere near as devout as Greyfield's had been, so when the Hawks came calling, he packed his bags.

The fans were not so quick to forgive that.

Jimmie Flynn often mentioned in interviews that he was glad to get rid of Baylor, that he was a pain in the butt, and was far too much trouble. I secretly suspect he was stretching the truth a little on that one, but that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. I'm sure the Lexington fans would have enjoyed a few more championships.

On a side note for both of these two: star pitcher Clay Young, much later on, debuted with with the Pioneers, and enjoyed a number of good seasons there before going on to find his glory days with the Cincinnati Tigers. Then he finished things up with the Boston Minutemen, desperately clinging to his career till he reached that one last milestone.

Starting to run out of steam here.

OK, the Detroit Devils started out their days as the Detroit Wolverines, and spent some time as the Detroit Wolves, Detroit Mechanics, and the Detroit Pistols before finally settling on Detroit Devils. The name 'Devils' comes from their sadistic, (some might say) general manager Victor "Bullhead" Bullmore, the original Detroit Devil. As a player, he was more famous for starting fights than scoring runs, but he had a great mind for the game, and would go on to become a great coach. His methods were a bit... intense, shall we say, but he did get results. The Devils, the notorious red and black, were a tough team to deal with in the 50s.

As rough as the Devils played, and as aggressive as they could be, some would argue that the Houston Outlaws, (known as the Gunslingers in some circles), could be even more aggressive, and, dare I say... brutal. The Outlaws joined the CBC as the expansion Houston Spitfires, owned by the very loud and very outspoken Miss Cordelia Rennie. Well, you'd think they were anyway. They were actually, at least in theory, owned by her husband, but with her big, booming personality, history would be hard-pressed to remember his name. True ownership aside, SHE was the one in charge. The Rennies, loaded though they were, kept the purse strings pulled a little tight, and the Spitfires began their life at Sackett Fields in Houston... where the mosquitoes often outnumbered the fans. By the time new ownership took over, rough and tumble had become their way, and when they became the Outlaws, it was a match made... somewhere. These days, the Outlaws are known for aggressive and (some would say) dirty play.

As yet another aside, I have a logo and jersey set for these guys, under their original name, The Gunslingers, but thought it might be interesting to go retro-style for this Outlaws version of the team. Oh, and while I'm thinking about it: once upon a time I had named my pitcher's award 'The Commissioner's Trophy'. Later that seemed a more fitting name for the trophy given to the team that wins the World Championship Series, and I renamed the pitcher's award 'Greyfield's Award'. Just figured I'd stick that little tidbit in here.

In other news...

The D.C. Capitals started out as the Washington Potomacs, waaaaaaaaaaay back in the day, and even went by the Washington Statesmen for a spell, in the early 20th Century. They became the Washington Capitals when the CBC took root in '32, and eventually morphed into the D.C. Capitals by the by. It was through them that the tradition of having the President throw out the first pitch of the season came to be, but they were probably better known for providing the backdrop for some of Bruno Baylor's hardest hit home runs. The old Union Stadium was notoriously small compared to other parks, and was popular among longball hitters because of that. The Caps have had much more successful outings in more recent years.

I'll be sure to post some more later, I definitely have many more to go, but I think I may be running a bit TOO long here now. 40ft. is about my limit for posts.



Just for clarity's sake, other teams on the format include: Minnesota North Stars, Birmingham Rebels, B.C. Mounties, Vegas Aces, and others still.

I am a man of many teams.

[Jabez54]

PW ... when you write, everything stopped ... what a delicious post!! ... I do enjoyed reading your posts as much as you churned them out ... many thanks, especially where my old stomping ground as a Southie ... Tomas

[knuckler]

In honor of PW's post, the Detroit Devils. I can't wait to find time to do some of these other teams that you posted about!





I like the first one better as it has more of a retro feel and the dimensions work better on the logo. As always, I will gladly change anything to better fit what you had in mind.