40 Fun Facts About MLB Logos

Which team's logo, drawn by an art history student, hides its initials inside a baseball glove?

The Milwaukee Brewers' ball-in-glove logo forms its mitt from the letters 'M' and 'B'. Tom Meindel, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, designed it, and the team first wore it in 1978.

The Yankees' interlocking 'NY' was first struck on an 1877 police medal made by which jeweler?

Tiffany & Co. designed the monogram for a medal of valor given to John McDowell, a New York City police officer shot in the line of duty. The ball club later made it a cap insignia that has lasted to this day.

Which animal became the Philadelphia Athletics' emblem after rival manager John McGraw mocked them?

An elephant became the badge after McGraw sneered that the club's backer had a 'white elephant on his hands'. The team took the insult as a mascot and wore it on its sweaters by 1909.

Legend wrongly claims the New York Yankees adopted pinstripes to make which slugger look slimmer?

Babe Ruth gets the credit in the legend, but the stripes came first. The Yankees tried pinstripes in 1912 and made them permanent soon after Jacob Ruppert bought the team in 1915.

Designer Alan Siegel based which league's 1969 player-silhouette logo on MLB's batter logo?

The NBA wanted a family resemblance to baseball, so its logo copied the red and blue blocks around a white silhouette. Its player model was Jerry West.

Which team's logo, inspired by a church table decoration, shows two birds perched on a baseball bat?

The St. Louis Cardinals owe the design to Branch Rickey, who spotted cardboard redbirds on a table at a Presbyterian church in Ferguson, Missouri. Their maker, Allie May Schmidt, inspired the emblem.

The Kansas City Royals' crown-and-shield logo was created by an artist at which hometown company?

Hallmark artist Shannon Manning drew the crown atop a shield with 'KC' inside. The team's name honors the American Royal, a livestock show held in Kansas City since 1899.

Which team's 1976 logo showed a batter in silhouette, the year its players took the field in shorts?

The Chicago White Sox wore shorts for the first game of a 1976 doubleheader. The same redesign added collars, untucked jerseys and a batter silhouette over the word 'SOX'.

Which caricature logo did Cleveland's baseball team drop from its caps and jerseys after 2018?

Chief Wahoo was drawn by Walter Goldbach, a 17-year-old draftsman who said he struggled to turn his subject into a cartoon. The logo is also barred from future Hall of Fame plaques.

The New York Yankees' primary logo hangs a top hat from a bat in the style of which patriotic figure?

Uncle Sam's hat hangs from the barrel of a red bat that forms the upright of the 'K' in the script. Sports artist Henry Alonzo Keller created the logo in 1946.

The Detroit Tigers' cap logo is a letter 'D' in a blackletter style popularly known by which name?

Old English is the popular name, although the typeface was never used for that language. Detroit first wore a version of the letter in 1904 and has kept much the same home look since 1934.

Which national symbol sits just behind the bird on the Toronto Blue Jays' primary logo?

A maple leaf in red backs the jay, and a 1997 redesign enlarged it. A second red leaf joined the right sleeve of the uniform in 2009.

Which team's logo shows two players shaking hands across a river inside the outline of a state?

The Minnesota Twins' pair, known as Minnie and Paul, wear the uniforms of the Minneapolis Millers and St. Paul Saints. They shake hands across the Mississippi River.

Which team's primary logo, introduced in 1987, sets a tomahawk beneath its name in cursive script?

The Atlanta Braves' modern logo arrived in 1987, on uniforms that evoked the club's 1950s look. Earlier logos showed a Native American warrior, then from 1956 to 1965 a laughing figure with a mohawk and a feather.

Which team flies a white flag with a blue 'W' above its scoreboard after every home win?

The Chicago Cubs have flown result flags over Wrigley Field since soon after its scoreboard was built in 1937. A defeat brings out a blue flag with a white 'L'.

Which team's logo, in navy and teal since 1993, combines a baseball with a compass rose?

The Seattle Mariners began in royal blue and gold, with an 'M' shaped like a trident. The club has its own name for the teal that followed: Northwest Green.

Which team, the first in the majors to wear purple pinstripes, took the color from a patriotic song?

The Colorado Rockies drew their purple from a line about mountains in 'America the Beautiful'. The Rocky Mountains near Denver are reflected in the team's logo as well.

Which team swapped red and blue for black and gold in 1948 to match the flag of its home city?

The Pittsburgh Pirates took black and gold from the flag of Pittsburgh, the colors also worn by the city's football and hockey teams. Only the 'P' on the cap has stayed constant through their many redesigns.

Which team's logo joined a lowercase 'e' and 'b' into a single large letter 'M'?

The Montreal Expos' 'eb' stood for the team's name and for baseball, while the 'M' stood for the city. In 2003 Gary Carter became the first Hall of Famer shown in an Expos cap on his plaque.

Which Hall of Fame slugger is popularly, but wrongly, said to be the batter in the MLB logo?

Harmon Killebrew is the popular guess, but designer Jerry Dior worked from photographs of several players. The silhouette was kept ambiguous on purpose, so the batter could be right- or left-handed.

The suspension bridge at the bottom of the New York Mets' logo symbolizes the joining of New York's what?

Boroughs are what the generic suspension bridge unites, a nod to the whole of New York. The skyline above it opens with a church spire standing for Brooklyn.

Ray Gotto, designer of the New York Mets' skyline logo, earned his living as what?

A cartoonist by trade, Gotto created the Ozark Ike comic strip. From 1962 to 1998 his crest also carried a small interlocking 'NY' beside the team's name.

The orange interlocking 'NY' on the Mets' cap was borrowed from the crest of which earlier ball club?

The New York Giants supplied the cap crest and the orange trim, while the royal blue came from the Dodgers. Both National League clubs had left the city before the Mets were born.

The San Diego Padres' name and friar mascot honor which religious order, founders of the city's 1769 mission?

Franciscans founded Mission San Diego de Alcalá, and the team's name is Spanish for 'fathers'. The Swinging Friar was the club's first logo in 1969 and survives as its mascot.

Which original team color did the San Diego Padres bring back to their uniforms and logos in 2020?

Brown and gold were the Padres' colors when the team began in 1969. The club announced the return in January 2019, a full season ahead of the switch.

When the Tampa Bay Rays dropped 'Devil' from their name, which symbol appeared on the uniform front?

A sunburst gave the shorter name a second meaning: rays of sunshine as well as manta rays. A manta ray logo went on the sleeves.

The Washington Nationals' 'curly W' cap logo was first worn in the 1960s by which earlier team?

Senators players wore the curly W before the club left town to become the Texas Rangers. The Rangers later allowed the Nationals to use the logo.

The Arizona Diamondbacks traded purple and teal for a shade of red named after which Arizona town?

Sedona red takes its name from the sandstone canyon at Red Rock State Park, near the town. The team unveiled the new palette on November 8, 2006.

The crossbar of the Arizona Diamondbacks' original 'A' logo was drawn as which part of a snake?

Its tongue flicked across an italic block 'A' covered in a diamond pattern. The team's first colors were purple, black, teal and copper.

Which owner dressed the Athletics in 'Kelly Green, Fort Knox Gold and Wedding Gown White' in 1963?

Charlie Finley also began phasing out the name 'Athletics' in favor of 'A's' and put his players in white shoes. Mickey Mantle jeered at the green-and-gold look when he saw it.

Which new commissioner introduced the MLB batter logo for baseball's 1969 centennial celebration?

Bowie Kuhn introduced the logo for the 100th anniversary of professional baseball, celebrated in Washington in July 1969. It had been created in a single afternoon the year before.

The Houston Astros' 'Space City' uniforms borrowed the lettering of a NASA logo known by which nickname?

The worm inspired the 'Space City' wordmark, letters and numbers on the mostly navy uniform. Houston's ties to the space agency also gave the team's mascot his name, Orbit.

In 1989 the Baltimore Orioles replaced the cartoon mascot on their caps with which design?

A full-bodied bird, first worn from 1954 to 1965, returned to the caps and stayed for more than two decades. A modernized cartoon version came back in 2012.

The curved letter 'C' at the heart of the Cincinnati Reds' logo is nicknamed after which bone?

The wishbone 'C' once made up the club's whole logo, with the word 'REDS' inside and only red and white for colors. The lettering was taken out of it between 1956 and 1960.

Which feature did the Cincinnati Reds' Mr. Redlegs logo lose in 1968 after the club banned facial hair?

His mustache came off to leave a clean-shaven 'Running Man', who fronted the Big Red Machine era. The same rule later cost the club reliever Rollie Fingers, who would not shave.

The 'Blue' in Toronto Blue Jays was influenced by the flagship beer of which original team owner?

Labatt brewed Labatt Blue, and the team name was picked in 1976 from more than 4,000 contest suggestions. Blue was also the traditional color of Toronto's sports teams.

The skyline on the New York Mets' logo runs from a Brooklyn church spire to the headquarters of which body?

The United Nations building closes the skyline on the right, after the Williamsburgh Savings Bank, the Woolworth Building and the Empire State Building. Orange baseball stitches run behind the script.

The Arizona Diamondbacks' beige 'sand' shade, unveiled in 2006, is named after which desert?

Sonoran sand arrived in a redesign that replaced the team's original purple, teal and copper. Teal, another of the first colors, returned before the 2016 season.

Which mascot with a baseball for a head debuted at New York's Shea Stadium in 1964?

Mr. Met first appeared as a cartoon drawing in 1963 programs and came to life a year later. He is believed to be the first Major League mascot to appear in human form.

Philadelphia Phil and Phyllis, mascots the Phillies introduced at Veterans Stadium, dressed in the garb of which era?

Colonial outfits suited the pair's home city, and animated versions on the center-field facade would 'hit' the Liberty Bell after a Phillies home run. The Phillie Phanatic followed in 1978.