Awesome Sports Logos Blog

Sports Logo Spotlight on the Frederick Keys

In today’s Awesome Sports Logos spotlight, we shine the light toward Maryland and the Single A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, the Frederick Keys.

Lets begin with the history. Frederick is the Key capitol but not the key that lets you in the door. Frederick County is the former home of Francis Scott Key. Not familiar with this famous poet’s work? You would be if you heard the song that always gets a standing ovation. Begins with “O Say Can You See”, ends with “And the Home of the Brave”.  That’s right, this team is named after the author of the Star Spangled Banner, our nations National Anthem.

So lets take a look at the logo.

 

Logo courtesy of sportslogos.net 

This is one of those rare minor league logos that hasn’t changed. Frederick has kept the same logo since The Keys made Frederick their home back in 1989. The colors of Black and Orange are also the primary logo colors of their parent club. That said, when you think of such a historic song, Red, White, and Blue does the trick for me.

I do like the explosions in the logo although they look a bit too similar to fireworks. That’s a nice tie in to the song where it says, “The bombs bursting in air.”

Other than that, the logo is just there. I would love to see them bring in patriotic colors and possibly a character of Francis Scott Key.

Love the name and the history behind it. Just hope they come up with a different design in the future. Go Keys!

We love baseball here at Awesome Sports Logos. Here are some of our favorite teams.

The Idaho Taters

 

This is the first sports logo that we created and its still one of our favorites. I’m still surprised that a minor league team hasn’t grabbed this name. Idaho is potato country and what better name for that region that also doubles as a great Home Run nickname.

The Middleton Fingers

 

This is one of our best sellers and for good reason. Huge props to our logo designer who jumped for joy when he heard this name. Love the creativity of the middle bat rising from the bunch. Very subtle but that’s what we’re all about.

The Boca Raton Cougars

Cougars are vicious, especially these Cougars who go after their prey at night. They love hitting Home Runs, that’s for sure. Love the double meaning of this sports logo.

Remember, if you buy three of our shirts, you get the fourth t-shirt for free. Just use our coupon code, 3thenfree at checkout.

You can also include these t-shirts as part of our T-shirt of the Month Club. Discounts and free shipping! Now that’s a deal that’s hard to pass up.

Thanks for reading and supporting Awesome Sports Logos!

Gavin Spittle

Founder/T-shirt guy

Check out the Frisco RoughRiders Awesome Logo

Major League Baseball has officially begun. And what’s one of the best things about that? Minor League Baseball is starting as well! There’s nothing like watching the future superstars of the big league clubs. Fans go to MiLB games and get a glimpse of the talent that is bound for their Major League club. And while these prospects are battling it out, they are sporting some of the most awesome logos in the sports industry. One Minor League Baseball logo that we love, belongs to the Frisco RoughRiders.

In fact, the RoughRiders garnered a lot of viral attention today offering Phil Simms a position in their broadcast booth now that the Super Bowl MVP has been moved aside by CBS to make room for Tony Romo.

The RoughRiders are the Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. Unlike some MiLB teams that are a long distance from their MLB parent organization, Frisco’s stadium is just 35 miles from Globe Life Park in Arlington. This allows the RoughRiders fans to get a look at Major League players, as the Rangers often send players to Frisco on rehab assignments, since the club is so close. In 2002, the RoughRiders unveiled their team name and logo. "The Rough Riders" was the name bestowed by the American press on the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment during the Spanish–American War, headed by to-be American President Theodore Roosevelt. The team was named after a historical division in order to comply with the tradition of the major league affiliate, the Texas Rangers, who were named after the Texas Ranger Division.

Let’s take a look at the original Frisco RoughRiders logo.

The image represents the club’s namesake very well. Here, we see a cowboy riding a horse, with the team name scripted above. I’m not a big fan of the font here. It seems like it could have been styled to be read easier. I love the horse. It’s charging forward, reared up. The display is an obvious sign of strength and fortitude. The redesign for the 2015 season looks even better than what we see here.

And here is a close up of the new logo

 

This logo is awesome! We mentioned how the RoughRiders got their name, and here we see Teddy Roosevelt himself! Teddy has a great look and he’s swinging away with a fine piece of wood. Next to Roosevelt, we have the team name scripted in a much improved font. It is way easier to read, now that the lettering is a bit more spaced out. “Frisco” is donned in blue, and the cursive style seems to flow quite nicely. “RoughRiders” is show in red, and flows just as easy as the city name. One important thing to notice here, is how “Rough” flows right into “Riders” seamlessly. That’s by no mistake. RoughRiders is written as one word, even though it is often mistakenly split into two words. I love the detail of using stars to dot the letter “i” in each of the words. It’s fitting for a team located in the Lone Star State.

Overall, the Frisco RoughRiders have a well-built, solid logo.

Now that baseball season is in full-swing, you need a new t-shirt to represent your love for America’s Pastime. There is no better look than that of our most awesome baseball tee, the Middleton Fingers!

 

This was our contest winning entry sent in by Lee B. in California. This is an awesome name Lee! We proudly present the Middleton, Mississippi Fingers. There are many Middleton’s in the United States. We could give you a fancy explanation and try to spin it but let’s just say if we did an alternate logo of the Fingers, it would be for the birds.

 

Middleton is actually an extinct town and has been for a while. We think this logo is so creative yet so simple. Huge props to our designer Matt on this one! This is one funny Middleton, MS sports logo t-shirt that will have people laughing when they see it! Add this super soft tee, and any of our other awesome shirts, to your wardrobe today! If you sign up for our t-shirt of the month club, you can have a new tee on your doorstep at the first of every month!

I really appreciate your support!

Thanks for stopping by!

You are AWESOME!

Blake Cole

Sports Logo Lover

T-Shirt Wearer

Awesome Sports Logos

Crayola Joins Forces with Minor League Baseball

Minor League Baseball is quickly racking up the hits. Just a few years ago, parent clubs were forcing their logo on their minor league cities to extend their brand. Fast forward to today and the tide has shifted to local sports logos that are being embraced like the El Paso Chihuahuas, Biloxi Shuckers and the Frisco Roughriders. This has led to record merchandise sales in 2015 and I’m sure it will continue to increase this year.

Now Minor League Baseball has announced a one of a kind partnership with Crayola making them a “Preferred Partner”.

The partnership will include a Crayola MILB All Star Experience and a lot of interactivity in local parks. I love the logo they created for the All Star Experience. The crayon crossing with bat with both the Crayola and MILB logo featured is a nice touch.

In their joint press release Mimi Dixon, Customer Development and Activation for Crayola said,  "Crayola is excited to be teaming up with Minor League Baseball," It's the first sports sponsorship of its kind for Crayola and we are planning to surprise and delight families next season with fun, color and creativity."

I love this partnership. Maybe it’s the sentimental part of me that remembers making sports logos with Crayons when I was a child. Using the blue for the Quebec Nordiques and the green and yellow for the Minnesota North Stars. Yes, I know, those teams are now in Colorado and Dallas. I’m showing my age.  I just picture little kids grabbing Crayola packs and drawing their favorite minor league logos like the Hartford Yard Goats or the Akron RubberDucks, two of my favorites.

Congrats to Minor League Baseball and Crayola on a unique partnership that I believe will help both brands.

While we may have not used crayons to create our very first Awesome Sports Logo, we came pretty close with what little we had. Even though this is our first logo, it’s still one of our favorites. Here is our Idaho Taters awesome t-shirt!

 

Thanks as always for reading,

Gavin Spittle

Awesome Sports Logos

Minor League Baseball Sets Financial Record

Minor League Baseball is a thing of beauty. For many fans of the game of baseball, it’s a less expensive alternate to going to a Major League game. Plus, there are plenty of opportunities to catch one of your favorite big league players in action, possibly playing for a rehab assignment or to rotate in fresh players to the big league squad. No matter your reason for attending a Minor League Baseball game, the chances are good that it’s going to be a blast! What’s the best thing about Minor League Baseball? Well, it’s the logos of course!

MiLB logos are crazy! The majority of them tend to be quirky, fun and way different than the more serious logos of their Major League Baseball counterparts. Just how cool are these logos? Well, they are cool enough to set records. In 2015, MiLB announced a 7.9 percent increase in licensed merchandise sales. The total for that year was $65.1 million, and it was enough to set a new all-time high in merchandise sales!

With names like Toledo Mud Hens, Fort Wayne TinCaps or Lehigh Valley IronPigs, how could you not imagine some of the coolest images ever? Let’s take a look at a few of my favorite MiLB logos.

Image courtesy of SportsLogos.net

The Modesto Nuts are a Class A – Advanced team, one of the Minor League teams for the Colorado Rockies. Ok, admit it. You are looking up where to buy this hat or shirt right now. Isn’t it amazing? This logo is the very essence of what to look for in a Minor League logo. The team name sets up a funny logo opportunity so well! The image is simple, but hilarious. You get two nuts, one holding a ball and the other holding a bat. What else is needed?

Image courtesy of SportsLogos.net

If you aren’t already laughing, something is wrong here. The name alone should make you chuckle! And then when you see it, you will get hysterical! There is a biscuit in the logo. Even better, the biscuit has butter in its mouth. I remember the first time I saw this logo. I laughed so hard, it hurt! This Tampa Bay Rays Double-A club is doing Minor League Baseball logos the right way!

Image courtesy of SportsLogos.net

This Class A team for the Minnesota Twins has got to have one of the best Minor League Baseball logos of all time. Located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the second largest city in the state, the Kernels are looking good! Their logo features a corn, half shucked and sporting a “farmers” cap. It comes across as stereotypical Iowa, but he looks like he means business!

These are just a few of many creative and awesome sports logos that can be found amongst the Minor League Baseball teams. I encourage you to seek out your local MiLB team, and check out their logo! Be sure to comment below and let us know what you think about your Minor League team’s look!

Here at Awesome Sports Logos, we have a particular t-shirt that could rival that of the funniest MiLB logos. I present you the Beverly Hills Fighting Chiweenies!

 

Once we saw it, we knew we had to add it to our t-shirt collection. We hope you agree with us and add this super soft Beverly Hills sports t-shirt to your wardrobe. Even better, save money by joining our T-shirt of the Month Club. Free shipping with discount prices. You pick the t-shirts and the length of your membership. Now that's an awesome deal!

Thanks for reading!

YOU. ARE. AWESOME!

Blake Cole

T-Shirt Wearer

Sports Logo Lover

The Tennessee Smokies Have an A+ Sports Logo

 

 

 

 

The Frisco RoughRiders Hit a Grand Slam With Their New Logo

The Frisco RoughRiders came into professional baseball existence in 2003 when they affiliated with the Texas Rangers as their double-A farm team. Born with a brand new, beautiful ballpark under the direction of then-ownership group, Mandalay, the RoughRiders were thought of as one of Minor League Baseball’s top organizations—a poster child for how to do things right. I always liked their logo, but by no means fell madly in love with it.

 

 Frisco Logos courtesy of sportslogos.net

 

Pardon me for not being the world's biggest history buff and having to use my friend, Google, but according to WhiteHouse.gov, Roosevelt organized the "Rough Rider Regiment," the first volunteer cavalry in the United States, which originated in Texas. Further detailing the ties--and this is so cool, by the way--MiLB.com elaborated: "Many of the Rough Riders were from the areas currently known as the cities of Frisco, Plano, and McKinney."

According to the RoughRiders, their new colors are technically "Scorched red, cream, slate blue, and Texas Navy," which represents "an early-twentieth century take on America's patriotic palette." Again, when you can tie things together, you are winning in a big way.

The lettering has a very classic script that sticks well with the twentieth-century theme. Instead of a dot, the "i" in Frisco and Riders is punctuated by a Lone Star State star, which is another touch that I really like.

As far as the main graphic of Teddy Roosevelt, I think it was really well done. It has the perfect mix of simple detail, sport-relevance, and, for minor league baseball, humor. I mean, come on, a smiling, bat-swinging former President? How is that not gold?

The simple detail is present from the overalls with a star-studded base to the spur/cowboy boot combo paired with the cowboy hat. In an age where everyone seems to love the mustache, they went with mustache Teddy. Oh, and instead of batting gloves, the worker gloves are there, too.

At the end of the day, this is one of the best, most genius logos in professional sports.

As I mentioned earlier in this blog, I love logos that tie to the region and that’s what I love about Awesome Sports Logos. All of our baseball sports logos tie into the region. The Idaho Taters, the Middleton Fingers, The Decorah Trolls, The Boca Raton Cougars are just a few of our awesome t-shirts that tie in baseball to some notable history in their region. Don’t forget, you can get all of these t-shirts at a sweet discount by joining our Awesome Sports Logos t-shirt of the month club.

Opening day is just over a month away. Now that’s awesome!

Thanks as always for reading,

 Jared Sandler

Awesome Sports Logos Columnist