A Phillies Fan's Defense of the New Marlins Logo

Via George Richards at the Miami Herald (whose story was pulled, likely at the request of the Marlins). Keep fighting that uniform fight, George. Google's cache is still available for the time being, and I've pulled all the pictures into their own gallery. A PDF of the original article can be found here.

As much as the previous leaked logo turned out to be true, the first on-field merchandise has (accidentally) shown up at a New Era store in Buffalo, and, well, the leak has been absolutely validated. And in a completely unscientific survey of my dozens (dozens!) of Twitter followers (almost all Philadelphia-oriented, if not Philadelphia-based) people really seem to hate the new design. Normally, I'd not say too much about a non-Philadelphia uniform (note: this is not true), but as intradivisional rivals, we'll be seeing a lot of this design, unlike the new Blue Jays and Orioles logos/uniforms.

[Let me point out that the Blue Jays will be using a different typeface than shown in that artwork, and the Orioles rebranding hasn't leaked yet, though it supposedly invokes this historical logo. Really.]

Again, picture via George Richards of the Miami Herald.

But, the new Marlins logo isn't getting a fair shake, and here's why:

1) The entire uniform hasn't been seen yet. We've only seen the logo. Sure, it's safe to assume that there will be White jerseys, Grey jerseys, and one or two solid color jerseys with one of those being solid Black (more on that later), but to say the whole thing is a failure now isn't fair.

2) Let's point out what the logo isn't: it's not Red, Navy Blue, or (speaking of the logo itself) Black. Think of the post-2000 Baseball logos: Angels (Red), Astros (Red and Black), Blue Jays (Black -- yeah, that makes sense), Brewers (Navy Blue), Diamondbacks (Red and Black), Nationals (Red), Padres (Navy Blue), Rangers (Red and Blue[not Navy, though]), Rays (Navy). Not a lot of variety in recent years. I'll point out that I'm ignoring historical considerations-- the Rangers have always used Red or Blue, for example.

3) It's an evolution of the current logo, with the fish jumping around the letterform ("M" on the new logo, "F" for the current hats). A traceable lineage is a nice touch. There's a reason many people hated the previous Sixers uniforms; they were obviously designed in a bubble, with no connection to the team's history. As much as the Marlins have been a joke in recent years, they have one more World Series win than the Phillies do in the last 20 years (*ducks*).

4) The current logo is stale. The overly detailed Marlin reeks of late-80s/early-90s design. (the overly detailed Orioles logo, also being replaced, is from the same era). For the design geeks out there, check out the great use of negative space to split the Orange and Blue of the Marlin itself. Very sleek and clean design all-around.

5) For those that are hating the Orange, Blue, and Yellow, take solace in the fact that the Marlins went big with color on their previous uniforms, with Teal pinstripes, Teal hats (two different ones), and alternate jerseys featuring... Teal. But item-by-item the Teal was pulled out, leaving them with what was effectively a plain uniform with mainly Black using Silver and Teal as an accent colors. If Orange, Blue, and Yellow don't go over well, expect to see less and less of them in future years. It looks like most of the hate is directed at the colors, not the logo itself, so let's see if the folks in Miami end up liking the design, colors inclusive. In a superficial way, the presence of Orange, Blue, and Yellow means that a Marlins hat won't go with everything. Of course, they make team hats in, you know, every color, so let's call this a non-issue.

You can also find some folks talking about how this logo "feels" like Miami and so on. I'm not sure what that means. Miami is brightly colored and shiny? Or is it actually that simple because Miami is brightly colored and shiny? Or is there a Don Johnson joke in here somewhere?

5A) As a potentially negative color-related item, I'll point out that the colors are a bit non-exact in the pictures (shout-out to George Richards for taking pictures with and without flash, though). If the Blue is actually Greenish and pushing towards Aqua (Richards refers to it as "Dark Teal")... uh-oh. And if they're purposefully overlapping colors with the Dolphins, I won't be a happy camper. Pittsburgh pulls this crap. Think about it...yep, they're all yellow and black. As if you needed another reason to hate Pittsburgh-- I kid. It's only OK because they've been doing it so long.

5B) Another positive color-related item: Instead of using a White stroke to make the logo stick-out on the Black hat, they use Silver. In fact, based on these pictures, it appears all of the non-White thread has a metallic fleck. I like that effect.

I'll be back with more when the uniforms are either unveiled (near 11/11) or leaked (any day now); I'm just asking we keep an open mind. It's much more interesting than yet another achingly-mid-2000s Navy Blue or Red design. Plus, I've been itching to write something ever since I typed 700 words about fake Flyers jerseys (thanks, Kyle).

Disagree? Hit the comments or bug me on Twitter (@dancfuller).

Comments

[Matt]

I'm with you on this one, Dan. Although I don't know all of those fancy technical uniform terms, I actually like the design for being different.

[the other ryan howard]

I've always thought that the old school orioles logo really looks eerily similar to an alarmingly racist blackface caricature. Does anyone else feel this way?

[Bitchadelphia]

I think "feels Miami" is a polite way of saying it looks Hispanic.

[Deemer]

The logo looks a lot better on a hat than it did in graphic form.

[Koy Detmer]

Hat is perfect for canadians

[Billy the Marlin]

Any reason why we are talking about the Marlins logo/uniform?

[bernieb]

i think the logo could be a million times better if they just replaced the white M with a black M.

[NickFromGermantown]

I think the problem is twofold. One, the colors are just obnoxious. Two, there are too many colors. Even though the design is simple enough, it's too busy with all the colors.

[MM]

This should pop on TV, for real, very south beach.

[blah]

Bad design or not, I hope the Marlins hit 1,000 home runs at home this year so we can witness this Esther Williams-on-mescaline extravaganza over and over again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZch2jIMVtk

[Dan Fuller]

@Matt I'm really interested in seeing the uniforms themselves. I'm not sure I'd be on-board with an Orange alternate, but Blue (Dark Teal?) would be unique.

@other_ryan_howard Shamefully (or maybe just naively because I was 7 years old or so), I actually thought the bird was modeled after Frank Robinson. I didn't think of it in terms of black face back in the day (probably because I didn't know what that was), but, yeah, the logo has some unfortunate attributes, most likely coincidental, but still unfortunate.
http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/exhibits/2008-born_to_play_ball/photos/robinson_frank.jpg

@Bitchadelphia Actually, I think that's it in terms of what "feels like Miami" means.

@NickFromGermantown I don't agree that the colors are bad, but I definitely feel the concern about there potentially being too many. It's not obvious what will be the "main" color and what will be the "accent" colors. The Phillies do a "two color" system (Red and Blue), but it's completely obvious that Red is the Main color and Blue is the accent. For a three color system (with none of them even being Black, even though Black will likely be represented as an Alternate...) Let's wait to see what the uniforms look like. Again, I do NOT want to have to look at Orange or Yellow alternates during Phillies broadcasts, but Blue (Dark Teal?) will be fine.

[Koy Detmer]

I hope Madson & J Roll walk

[Get Rube A Beer]

I'm not a fan of this look but I am pretty sick of the navy or red for every team. I wish the Brewers were still Royal Blue...I'm excited to see the Orioles new design too

[MPH]

The Pittsburgese can call their crap uniforms 'black and gold' all they want, but it's just yellow, even mustard. At least Pitt's is blue instead of black.

[DJ Ronnie]

Dat hat be looking good with sum matching sneakers yo

[Bored]

I don't think that it's a bad design. at all.

I assume the Jerseys will be that aquablue and orange, which can look pretty good.

[matt]

I just can't wait for the article about the Denver Nuggets new socks.

[Mikebiff]

If that was a "P" instead of an "M" on the front of that hat, and it was going to be the new Phillies logo, would anyone be defending it? I wouldn't. I'd be PISSED! But, as I said before, Marlins fans may be looking forward to the new hats, considering they'll receive a free bowl of soup with purchase. I certainly hope, for their sake, that this move doesn't drive away any of their 3000 person fan base.

[Jonny]

This will go really well with fish tanks as a back stop and that terrible "Carni-val float" styled jumping fish thing they will use when a home run his hit.

http://deadspin.com/5847686/the-marlins-new-ballpark-will-have-a-light+up-neon-home-run-structure-that-will-blow-your-mind

[joe]

This logo looks like they are drawing in the gay and lesbian community.

[Phil E]

I like it a lot. The new marlin design is cool and modern. I've visited Florida often in my life, and the colors orange and blue are a great representation of the environment. It's tropical and unique.

[Dirk Anger]

I thought they were trying to lure in the gay community too when I first saw the logo.

[Fbomb]

Reminds me of some of the garbage they come up with for The Olympics...It might be better without the yellow or, as someone said, black M instead of white.

[Dr.Marlin]

It's original and totally captures the flavor of Miami/South Beach.