After the glorious hats of the AL East, we come to the mundane hats of the AL Central. Several of these look like they let a second grader with a stencil set lay out the logos. This is not necessarily a disaster as that was the early baseball aesthetic.
I held the Twins near and dear to my heart in my youth because I was keenly interested in the career of Rod Carew. I was eager to see if he’d ever break the .400 batting average. No one has done that since Ted Williams of the Red Sox batted .406 in 1941. There’s a bunch of reasons for this that you can read about here. Anyhow, because of my interest in Carew’s career, I’ve followed the Twins on and off since the 70’s.
Let’s see how they fare here and…
5. Minnesota Twins
Oh no! Last place! Somebody took the spike out of the St. Louis Cardinals’ logo and attacked the Cincinnati Reds’ logo (reference). The “TC” stands, of course, for the Twin Cities – Minneapolis and St. Paul. At least one of my friends in Minneapolis refers to St. Paul as “ass town” and I’m curious if a) this is a common thing and b) if so, what do the people of St. Paul call Minneapolis and c) does my friend realize that one twin calling the other “ass” is perfectly normal twin behavior? This has been the Twins’ logo since 1961 when they abandoned Washington, DC. They took the colors with them. Now, the musical Damn Yankees premiered in 1955 which means this was the franchise main character Joe Boyd loved in that show. One can imagine that the devil got his revenge on Boyd by moving his favorite team to Minnesota and then designing this half-assed logo just to pour salt in the wound. Now, I love the 1960’s-ish cartoon sleeve logo for the team and when I purchased my Twins hat a few years back, I found one that had that logo. Let’s be clear, though, that logo on a hat is entirely inauthentic.
4. Detroit Tigers
This is what happens when a cursive letter D starts to turn into a horse. Or a dragon. Or maybe a dragon horse (you’ve probably seen the results of a letter S turning into a dragon). To the Tiger’s credit, this has essentially been their logo since 1905 which is very, very baseballish. The white-on-blue colors have also essentially gone unchanged for all those years. They occasionally add a more tiger-y orange to the mix but you’d be forgiven for not making the connection between that shade of orange and a fierce predator. Maybe the long serifs on the left end of the D are meant to be like tiger fangs. If you turn the logo so those are facing down, it could look a bit like the nose and mouth of a tiger. Why are you making me work so hard, Detroit?
3. Cleveland Indians
OK, this logo is boring but it’s also very similar in shape to the team’s 1915 logo, so let’s give it points for Baseball-ishness. One can imagine a somebody wearing this letter and shouting into an old-timey megaphone. The real reason I’m placing this logo here is to encourage Cleveland to stick with this “C” and not go back to that atrociously racist logo that they used from 1954 more or less until today. I’d also like to suggest – much like I did for Atlanta – that they consider changing their name to something less racist like The Rockers or The Mouthless Screams (Harlan Ellison was born in Cleveland) or, heck, The Racers. They could keep using this classic C with any other name and, honestly, the only people who would care are the people really, really invested in racism. Do the right thing, Cleveland. You have a great baseball team with a fine history, great players and a long tradition. Pick a new name that everyone can celebrate – plus, you’ll sell a ton of new merch.
2. Chicago White Sox
The south side of Chicago is a tough place. I know this because I listened to “Bad Bad Leroy Brown” growing up and that song clearly states that it’s “the baddest part of town.” It’s so tough that Mr. S was walking around minding his own business when little hooligan X ran up and sliced him in half with an O shaped blade. That S looks like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone. Anyhow, the crime has been preserved for all to see on the White Sox’s hat. The 1910 White Sox hat logo was less than inspiring and they went through a brief period where their “C” was almost identical to the Cleveland C. They started using “SOX” in 1951 – and have wisely been careful to position the “O” so it didn’t accidentally look like a “U” all those years. I like the crisp black and white colors and think it’s kind of bold for a team known in part for the Black Sox Scandal to place the word “Sox” on a black background. That is a team that does not give a rip about what you think of them. Like I said, touch place, the south side.
1. Kansas City Royals
The Royals were an expansion team added in 1969 and they’ve used this same logo (with slightly different colors) since their inceptions. Points for consistency and I’ll even give them partial credit for baseballishness. There’s only so many ways to solve the “city name with two letters” monogram dilemma. Kansas City is the one team to solve this by turning one letter into a massive growth on the other letter’s leg. Or maybe the K is giving the C a friendly pat on the tush, as baseball players are wont to do. Truth be told, I really do kind of like this logo. It looks a little like a crown, the color choices are unique without being obnoxious and it doesn’t seem to be a corporate design (though of course I’m sure it was in 1969). I mean, I’d rank all five of these below even Tampa Bays’ monogram, but in my opinion Kansas City is the best of this lot.
Coming soon – American League West
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