Sharing the Continental Baseball League

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by kjb023

Really like that color scheme for Indio, especially that green away jersey!

Totally agree... the away light green really looks good with the light green jersey and dark green letters.

It has very good contrast, which is often missing on jerseys these days.

The away gray jerseys are often too dark to show up well in the game.

Just my humble opinion... others may like the dark grays.

[slothisking61]

Thanks for answering! Where did you come up with the park names and how many years of history do you have in this league? And how many minor league teams do you have? Sorry just loving these teams lol

[TrapperJohn]

Thanks, Sloth. So far I only have two years of history with this version of the league, though that's due to the fact that I tend to sim slowly and over-manage the details... for me a lot of the fun comes from curating every aspect of the world rather than letting it loose over a long stretch of seasons. The park names are almost entirely fictional—there may be a couple of exceptions. I tried to keep them regionally appropriate, so parks were named after local heroes (e.g., the San Diego team plays at Tony Gwynn Park), companies with a presence in the area, or, failing that, local features or neighborhoods. At the moment I've got three levels of minor leagues—I love coming up with names and identities for towns of all sizes, and discovering great creations on these forums to plug in to the CBL world. When I post a Quickstart (soon!), I'll be able to share those—I'll spare you the details of the 576 minor league teams... Thanks for your interest!

[TrapperJohn]

The Las Vegas Pharaohs

Vegas, baby; Vegas. You're so money, and you don't even know it. Et cetera. That's right: we're on to the city of Sin, where Boyd Park plays home to a middling squad with high-rolling aspirations. There are more popular choices for a Vegas identity, but I was drawn to the Pharaohs—a nod to the Luxor casino and to the desert atmosphere, as well as the name of Vegas's new ABA expansion team (mine came first). I dig the sandy-and-blue digs, and the logo came from a great football concept over on SportsLogos.

[TrapperJohn]

The Long Beach Matadors

The Matadors—née the Toreros—are a bit of a mess; I borrowed elements from Low and about a half dozen other creators to cobble this one together, and I'm not sure the varying shades of blue all click together. This one might be ripe for a redo, not unlike the squad itself. From Molina Park, the Matadors are still looking for their first Sublime moment in the LBC.

[TrapperJohn]

The L.A. Mambas

We've finally arrived back in Los Angeles for the second of the city's squads (after Hollywood), and the one that bears its name. You could name an L.A. team just about anything—such is the nature of the city that offers everything (Lakers? Clippers? Rams? Sure, whatever!). I was looking for another reptilian option somewhere in the league, and I figured I could do worse than a slick name with a sly nod to Kobe. The name may be new school, but the identity is decidedly retro; I incorporated wordmark and small logo elements from the OOTP retro thread that (hopefully) give it a timeless feel. The Mambas can be found at Paramount Park; they're ready for their closeup.

[TrapperJohn]

The Orange Crush

California here we come / right back where we started from. That's right: the OC has itself a baseball team. The Crush may be based in Anaheim, but in my head they are the spiritual successors of the Oakland A's... by which I mean they are the proud owners of an inexplicable elephant. I was having trouble piecing together a "Crush" identity that wasn't ridiculous, so I figured why not use the stompin'est animal of them all to represent the concept of the crush? Of course, any team called the Crush had to be heavily orange—I liked it paired with black, so now it's always Halloween at Allied Stadium. Like their carbonated namesake, these guys have serious pop.

[TrapperJohn]

The Phoenix Armadillos

One last trip to Arizona, and more specifically to Honeywell Park in America's fifth-largest city. I love me a good armadillo, and knew early on that they had to be represented in the CBL; Phoenix always felt like a natural regional fit. These Armadillos boast speed, power, and arguably the top starting pitcher in the West—no surprise that they've been contenders throughout my simulations. The logo was a bear to adapt, but I think it turned out decently enough to complement the deep purple duds.

[TrapperJohn]

The Rancho Cucamonga Rattlers

By population alone, California merits a whole slew of franchise in a 192-team league—Rancho may not be the most obvious of spots, but they've got the market for it. Amphastar Park is home to the Rattlers, whose identity I adapted from one of the great SFGiants threads on SportsLogos (with a cumbersome lot of Photoshopping work thrown in). The Rattlers have struggled in my league, but they've got some young pitching ready to rise in the dusty San Gabriel Mountains.

[TrapperJohn]

The San Diego Admirals

Where else but Tony Gwynn Park could play home to the Admirals—the best of the West? San Diego may not be used to hosting perennial title contenders, but this squad is utterly stacked from one through twenty-five. I toyed with some other names years ago (the Gulls? The Sails?), but the team demanded something a little loftier. Relying on some nice preexisting imagery, and splicing it all together, resulted in this clean, professional, navy-and-white look.

[TrapperJohn]

The Santa Ana Seals

The last team in the division is the Santa Ana Seals, a middling squad with a playful retro look. Ingram Micro Stadium plays home to the Seals, who owe much of their look to the defunct San Francisco team of same name (minus the orange and adding teal, of course). Not much to say about these Seals, a team that is right at home winning 70 games and finishing eighth or ninth in the division each year. Up next: the Redwoods Division!

[TrapperJohn]

The Bakersfield Sequoias

First up in the Redwoods Division is the Bakersfield Sequoias: another third-tier California squad, and one of the losing-est franchises in the CBL. Giumarra Park is the home field of the league's second-best tree-based team, whose logos were sourced partially from the prolific Low and partially from a fortuitous Google image search. Not my most inspired work, but maybe I'll give them a refresh in the offing.

[TrapperJohn]

The Fresno Friars

The best team in the Redwoods plays in Fresno, where Chukchansi Park plays home to the frisky friars. These aren't, ahem, your father's Padres—at least not in the win column—and the purple and blue pairing gives the squad a unique look within the league. Credit once more to Low (I think? It's been a while...) for the stylized 'F' small logo; I'm undecided if the jersey font is working for me, but for now this is where we are.

[TrapperJohn]

The Oakland Panthers

The Panthers are the most recent CBL franchise to receive a name change, having been until just a few months ago the Oakland Aftershocks—I never came upon a quaking logo that I really liked, and once I discovered SFGiants' defunct franchise thread on SportsLogos, there was no coming back from the allure of this great logo and wordmark scheme. The pairing of the city and name has been done before by minor sports teams, although I'm pretty sure Huey Newton came up with it first. In any event, it's a more exciting, powerful, and apt name for an Oakland squad than the Athletics could ever hope to be. These Panthers, incidentally, play at Sungevity Park.

[Clovidequano Dovatha]

Might grab more of these later, but not sure yet. Keep up the good work, I hope. CD out.

[TrapperJohn]

The Provo Aggies

Our first foray into Utah takes us to Qualtrics Park amid the lakeside climes of Provo—yes, believe it or not, Utah has scored itself two teams. I put all of my considerably meager PhotoShop skills to use modifying a terrific Threshers concept on SportsLogos to make something work for the Aggies, a curious nod to the rich growing conditions surrounding the Wasatch range (in truth: I'm just partial to the name). I'm partial to this color scheme, too, and while the Aggies have struggled on the diamond, I'm happy to have landed on a rock-solid look for this wayward squad.

[TrapperJohn]

The Reno Gamblers

Greater Nevada Field is home to the biggest little franchise in the CBL, the rough-and-tumble Gamblers of Reno. I put together a blue and orange set for this team to distinguish them from the usual black and red hues of your typical gamblin' squad. Reno has a frontier flair to it (at least in my mind it does), and these Gamblers get a vaguely classic, vaguely western look, heavily PhotoShopped from various found elements. In my league, the Gamblers know how to fold 'em, and always seem to do just that after the all-star break.

[TrapperJohn]

The Riverside Reds

We aren't done with California by a long sight, so let's hop on over to Fox Field with one of the CBL's most recent expansion teams, the sharp-dressed Riverside Reds. As with the Orange Crush and their elephant, I decided to center the Reds' identity around a red fox—a top notch creature that doesn't get enough love in the world of sports (Marist College aside...). These Reds are a young but exciting team, set to be one of league's true contenders a few years down the line.

[TrapperJohn]

The Sacramento Mountain Lions

Northward to the capital, where Intel Stadium plays host to Sac Town's own Mountain Lions, a mildly-regionally-appropriate bit of fauna in California's placid middle. I recently re-did the Mountain Lions' whole set, once again leaning on the fine work of others to cobble together a tighter look than what I originally had (the real breakthrough happened when I stopped trying to squeeze the full name onto their home jerseys, and settled for 'Lions' instead). This team has had its struggles on the field, but perhaps with a new set of unis they'll come closer to meeting their potential.

[TrapperJohn]

The Salt Lake City Scorpions

Like ol' Mitt Romney himself, we're returning to Utah for a second stint. Huntsman Stadium is the home of the hot-hitting Scorpions, who represent Salt Lake with one of the snazzier logos I dare say I had the privilege of mildly photoshopping. Most of these elements came from the same talented artist from whom I adapted the Provo Aggies logo; his work is some of the finest I've come across in the world of sports concepts. Love the two-tone red and the dominant black here—the Scorpions won't be switching up their look any time soon.