Player's Weekend

[Guest 41Forever]

Apparently MLB thinks it's a good idea to promote player nicknames, then make them absolutely unreadable on the backs of all-white and all-black jerseys.



http://news.sportslogos.net/2019/08/06/black-and-white-uniforms-across-mlb-for-players-weekend-2019/http://news.sportslogos.net/2019/08/06/black-and-white-uniforms-across-mlb-for-players-weekend-2019/



I don't get this one at all.

[Edgy MD]

I do. It's anti-marketing as marketing. Create a style so functionally problematic that it becomes a signature.

[dgwphotography]

Well, the MFY's are wearing black hats, and the Mets are wearing white. At least they got that part right.

[Willets Point]

The Mets should just wear the Mercury Mets uniforms again.

[Centerfield]

I still hate Selig more than Manfred. But the gap is closing.

[Frayed Knot]

They'll stop doing stuff like this when we fans quit rushing to buy the replica versions of whatever they throw up there.

[Ceetar]

I mean, I don't love the design but they should do more of this.

[Willets Point]

=Ceetar post_id=18031 time=1565201626 user_id=102]
I mean, I don't love the design but they should do more of this.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Yes, MLB and by extension the Mets, very concerned that the average age of their fan is something like 52, fat, and white.



I don't know where they got that impression

[Edgy MD]

I never felt so average before.

[HahnSolo]

I like Player's Weekend but hate the black and white.

[Methead]

https://i1.wp.com/icfablab.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/spyvsspy.jpg>

[MFS62]

GAAAA!

Flat brimmed caps.

Later

[MFS62]

Think those unis are different?

Well, boys and girls, you ain't seen nuthin' yet.

Sunday, I'll be going to see Binghamton play at Hartford. The team name is the River Goats.

But that was the winning name. Others were rejected, and the home team will be wearing unis of the name that lost the contest.

It is What If Night".

https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/sports/Hartford-Yard-Goats-to-Host-What-If-Night-on-Thursday-and-Play-as-the-Hartford-Whirly-Birds-486744031.htmlhttps://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/sports/Hartford-Yard-Goats-to-Host-What-If-Night-on-Thursday-and-Play-as-the-Hartford-Whirly-Birds-486744031.html



And here is what some of their unis might have been. (And even a mascot)

http://yardgoats.milbstore.com/store.cfm?dept_id=5696&store_id=198&parentID=5694http://yardgoats.milbstore.com/store.cfm?dept_id=5696&store_id=198&parentID=5694



Later

[Guest 41Forever]

Think those unis are different? Well, boys and girls, you ain't seen nuthin' yet. Sunday, I'll be going to see Binghamton play at Hartford. The team name is the River Goats. But that was the winning name. Others were rejected, and the home team will be wearing unis of the name that lost the contest. It is What If Night". https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/sports/Hartford-Yard-Goats-to-Host-What-If-Night-on-Thursday-and-Play-as-the-Hartford-Whirly-Birds-486744031.htmlhttps://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/sports/Hartford-Yard-Goats-to-Host-What-If-Night-on-Thursday-and-Play-as-the-Hartford-Whirly-Birds-486744031.html And here is what some of their unis might have been. (And even a mascot) http://yardgoats.milbstore.com/store.cfm?dept_id=5696&store_id=198&parentID=5694http://yardgoats.milbstore.com/store.cfm?dept_id=5696&store_id=198&parentID=5694 Later

The Yard Goats. It's a railroad term -- an obscure one, to be sure. The lettering on the uniforms are supposed to be in the style of one of the old railroad companies in the Hartford area.



Minor league names are getting goofier and goofier. Mets did well with Cyclones, not so good with Rumble Ponies.

[Ceetar]

Wait until you see what they rename the Syracuse team.

[duan]

I know this probably got mentioned before but I somehow stumbled upon the fact that our one time AAA affiliate in New Orleans got renamed the "New Orleans Baby Cakes"



What The Fuck??

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Just about all MILB clubs use the same branding and marketing agency to create their names and merchandise, and all of them who use them are after a similar demographic valuing "local" and "family-friendly" brands. So cartoons, "funny names" merchandise they can market to adults and kids alike.



It doesn't matter to the clubs themselves that every other MiLB team has a silly name and the exact same marketing approach since they aren't really in competition with them, but rather with other local non-baseball entertainment -- movies, the local Nascar track, x-Box, Netflix etc etc

[Edgy MD]

I'm telling you, ironically wimpy names (or homophonic names) sell, sell, sell in the minors, and the licensed jerseys get adopted by Little League teams 1,000 miles away. Chihuahuas, Baby Cakes, Blue Wahooos, Buscuits. These assholes know what they're doing. And virtually all the damn logos are designed by the same firm, too.



What duan understands but can't fully appreciate is that the minor leagues aren't really about competing so much as an exercise. There are standings and a championship, and players celebrate if they do well (though every last one of them would rather get promoted than win a championship), but to the fans, it's all an exhibition. It's something to do with the kids for a few hours, but even the kids don't feel an emotional stake in a win vs. a loss. They pursue players for autographs, but it's only for speculative purposes. If the player eventually makes the majors, that autograph might be a prize, but until then it's just a piece of paper marked by a guy you don't really care about.



It's an American tragedy.

[Edgy MD]

FUN FACT ABOUT STUPID MINOR-LEAGUE NAMES: The Winston-Salem Dash have a name that suggests speed and/or quickness. But while that connotation is intentional, the literal meaning of their name derives from the "dash" between the words "Winston" and "Salem" — even though that punctuation mark isn't a dash at all, but a hyphen.

[G-Fafif]

Everybody in the organization who might plausibly materialize for Players Weekend has been assigned a nickname, but not Jed Lowrie. Or maybe it's listed but nobody can see it.

[Frayed Knot]

I've long thought that the team in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre should be named the 'Hyphens', or maybe the 'Punctuations'





That purveyor of two-named nicknames and the marketing that goes along with it which is now almost universally used among minor league clubs -- 'Hey let's stand out as different by using the exact same

approach that 90% of our competitors already use' -- is a firm out of San Diego called 'Brandiose'

Of course it is.

[Guest 41Forever]

I do like the Biscuits. But there's a new team called the Rocket City Trash Pandas, and that's just stupid. I thought Baby Cakes, was dumb, too, though I understand where they got it from. Our local team has managed to avoid much of the silliness and Brandiose.

[Edgy MD]

Frayed Knot wrote: I've long thought that the team in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre should be named the 'Hyphens', or maybe the 'Punctuations'

The Slashers.

[Ceetar]

My early pick btw, for Syracuse, is the Carousel Horses. It'd tie to the 'Rumble Ponies' pretty well.

[Frayed Knot]

Good God, the last thing I'd want to do is tie something to 'Rumble Ponies'! At least that name had something of a tie to Binghamton and was the winner in a vote of locals - even if it was

nothing more than a plurality winner among other tepid options.



I thought the thinking was that, because Syracuse is now Wilpon-owned, the inevitability was that they were to be renamed 'Mets' from the traditional (if somewhat politically dicey) Chiefs.

Most minor league affiliates are owned independently with little or no input from the parent club. For better or worse, Eff & Jeff will have the final say in this case.

[Edgy MD]

Has it been announced that there will be a nu name?

[MFS62]

=G-Fafif post_id=18134 time=1565286667 user_id=55]
Everybody in the organization who might plausibly materialize for Players Weekend has been assigned a nickname, but not Jed Lowrie. Or maybe it's listed but nobody can see it.

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: Has it been announced that there will be a nu name?

no, and I guess the Wilpons are boring and mostly useless so maybe they just stick with Mets



but like, it's almost inevitable right? I'm actually surprised they didn't have an in-season campaign this year. Rebranding, marketing, promotion, etc. There's too much opportunity for it and very little reason to stick with Mets. That's boring anyway. I wish St. Lucie would rebrand too. I hate seeing minor league updates with Mets in it.

[Edgy MD]

I'm not sure what you think the goal is, but I imagine the purpose from the owner's perspective is to market the Mets and the Mets and the Mets, therefore the team is the Mets.



BUT ... given that charge by the parent club, I'd encourage them to re-name

• the Syracuse team THE AMAZIN'S,


• the St. Lucie team THE KIDS (thereby making the re-circulation of #8 uncontroversial, because the Mets have found another way to honor Gary Carter), and


• the Kingsport team THE BELIEVERS (simultaneously honoring Tug McGraw and the 1973 team and making the stadium that much more attractive for your faith-based recreational outings).

But nobody listens to me.