Hopefully that fixed it.

Anyway, as long as they leave the name the same, and hopefully have a traditional looking jersey that they wil stick with, I could care less.

Thanks.
Hate being the bold guy.

Let me get this straight... Native Americans have been protesting the names of the Cleveland and Atlanta teams to no avail, but Toronto's going to change its perfectly good name to get more kids to buy their hats? Excuse me, but this sucks. If I weren't so politically correct, I mean even say it's... well, let's just say it rhymes with "jay".

What the hell is a "Jay" anyways? Do we have them in Toronto? Why don't they just go out and play in Rogers Video employee uniforms? That would be good for the synergy.

Remember, a couple of years ago when your Vancouver Grizzlies announced their move to Memphis, everyone wondered what they would re-name the team given the dearth of bears in Memphis. (And of jazz in Utah, but I digress.) And the team's original plan was the name the team the Express -- I kind of like the sound of that actually -- and have American Express be the corporate sponsor.

The league vetoed the idea.

That time is coming. And I personally think it's perfectly appropriate. If an owner can name a team after HIMSELF (see Browns, Cleveland) then why not take the next step after stadium naming rights? It won't fundamentally change the games.

Would it?

That time is coming. And I personally think it's perfectly appropriate. If an owner can name a team after HIMSELF (see Browns, Cleveland) then why not take the next step after stadium naming rights?

Hmmm - what team names would we wind up with? I predict we will see the following:

Seattle Starbucks
St. Louis Budweisers
Houston Texacos
New York Pepsis
New York Coca-Colas (now we're talking rivalry!)
the Detroit Wheels
the Florida Orange Juice
Anaheim Mickey Mice
Montreal Price Choppers
Rochester Kodaks (minor league entry)
Los Angeles Mediocre Reality Television Shows (oh, wait: Murdoch's sold them, hasn't he?)
Milwaukee Quality "No Odometer Tampering Here, Officers" Used Cars
and, to honour Carl Pohlad: the Minnesota Greed

Is Paul Godfrey off his rocker?? Change the team name? I have been in four continents and any sports fan of baseball knows Toronto for the "Blue Jays". The problem is not with the team name. As for the jerseys, I would not be upset with a team logo change. This new logo is a huge step away from the traditional baseball logo... I would not mind the old logo of the Blue Jays head. Whatever they choose, they need to shrink or leave the maple leaf out of it. The baseball world knows we are Canadians. Are we that insecure??

Rookie

"Remember, a couple of years ago when your Vancouver Grizzlies announced their move to Memphis, everyone wondered what they would re-name the team given the dearth of bears in Memphis."

If you go back further into Grizzlies history you will find that the original name for the team was going to be the Vancouver Mounties. David Stern talked Vancouver ownership out of this. Apparently having a symbol of authority/police was going to be difficult to sell to young fans (and street gangs I suppose).

"I guess the last name-change was the Colt .45's to the Astros"

Aren't the Devil Rays attempting to fade out the "Devil" and just go by the Tampa Bay Rays? If Tampa drops the "devil" I suggest that Toronto picks it up. Imagine the marketing opportunities of the Toronto Devil Jays.

Speaking of which, isn't the name 'Blue Jays' primarily a tie-in to Labatts?

Can't they just add a hospital mask to the bird logo for the rest of the year?

http://economics.about.com
Besides.. wouldn't a really dark midnight blue work just as well as black and eliminate the whole point to a name changes?

I don't mind teams changing their names.. but Toronto Jays just sounds so stilted. Call them the Toronto Towers or something (10 points if anyone knows what basbeall video game this comes from) if you don't like "Blue Jays".

I'd like to see the Jays change their uniforms. They have possibly the worst unis in the bigs. I'd love to see a cap that just had a stylized "T" or "J" and that's *it*. Simple sells.

MP

http://economics.about.com
Wow. I really should have spell-checked that last message.

MP

http://economics.about.com
Wow.. I'm going to post three messages in a row.

I'd really like the Jays have a really unusual, but retro, uniform design. The all black uniforms could work, but I'd like them to add everything in a 1970's font. It sounds really odd, but I think they'd sell through the roof.

The font I have in mind is the one used on old Atari 2600 cartridges from the 1970's. The uniforms would be all black with a lighter blue font, or all white with a darker blue font.

The front of the jerseys would say "toronto" or "blue jays" in *ALL* lower case letters. If possible, I'd have just numbers on the back, no names.

The home hat would be all white and have a lower case "b" on it, the same font as the uniform. The road hat would be all black and have a lower case "t" on it.

The font for the lettering and the numbers can be seen here:

Basic Math for the Atari 2600

I know it'd be odd, but I think it would sell a ton, particularly in the 18-35 year old market.

MP

http://tinyurl.com/aj14
Hmm.. that didn't work. Try the above link instead.

MP

Wouldn't that be going with a basic '70s / early 80's design? I have an excellent suggestion then... go back to the original unis. Problem solved.

http://economics.about.com
No, because those unis were ugly.

I guess what I'm saying is that they should be retro-influenced, and not throwback uniforms.

MP

The 70's lettering and style looks just like the jerseys worn in the Big League Home Run Challenge.

Sorry in advance for the giant pic.

Oh yeah, I like it.

http://economics.about.com
Did you photoshop that pic, or are those actual uniforms?

That's the **identical** font to what I was suggesting. Now that I see it, I love it even more.

MP

http://www.sega.com/segasports/news/article.jhtml;jsessionid=KSYKZJXAQ3BDYCRSBUFCNHIKGIGRIMS5?contentId=6200001
Holy crap! I can't believe someone had the *same* idea I had for the font style. What are the odds? I swear I've never even heard of the Big League Home Run Challenge.

You can see more pics of the jerseys above.

I think something like that, but in black or white would look **really** sharp. Particularly a very simple hat with "t" or "j" on it.

Cheers,

MP

Those are actual uniforms; it took me nearly half an hour to find it online. Yeah, they're great- I caught the game on espn one weekend in February and they replayed it right before Opening Day.

http://economics.about.com
Whoever designed the uniforms *must* have been a huge Atari 2600 fan. I came up with the idea because I'm a classic video game nut. I've got a room at my parents place with literally *thousands* of cartridges.

Given that the thing was sponsored by Sega, it makes sense that it'd have a video game related font. But why Atari?

MP

Thanks for the Atari link, I love these old cartridges...

http://economics.about.com
Atari Age<*a>, the site I linked to, has pretty much everything you'd ever want to know about Atari home video games. They have some stuff on Atari computer systems as well.

Some Atari 2600 games can now fetch over $1000 a piece. Of course, the ones you have in your attic are worthless. That's always the way. :)

Check out the rarity listings for the 2600 games. I'm one of the 25 or so collectors in the world who own a copy of
Music Machine. That's my claim to fame. :)

MP

http://economics.about.com
I'm not having much luck tonight. Let's try that again:

Atari Age, the site I linked to, has pretty much everything you'd ever want to know about Atari home video games. They have some stuff on Atari computer systems as well.

Some Atari 2600 games can now fetch over $1000 a piece. Of course, the ones you have in your attic are worthless. That's always the way. :)

Check out the rarity listings for the 2600 games. I'm one of the 25 or so collectors in the world who own a copy of
Music Machine. That's my claim to fame. :)

MP

Being a long time Blue Jays fan, I must say it's quite uplifting to read all these posts. I recently heard the rumour of the Jays dropping the 'blue' and adding black as a main colour. My heart sunk. This team is going in the wrong direction. Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, Giants, A's, Dodgers. Some of the best uniforms in baseball. Why? Simplicity. No multi-coloured uniforms with strange and awkward looking characters. This is a plea to the Blue Jays organization, change the uniforms and the logo to the glory days of the late 80's-early 90's. Only two colours, blue and white. The red should be in a tiny maple leaf in the corner of the blue jay, not a giant maple leaf, or any where else on the uniform. If they drop the 'blue,' from the name and uniform, I'm finished as a Jays fan. Their uniforms are just to ugly to look at.

I am a long-time Blue Jays fan, and I agree that the team has always looked a little bit 'clowny.' The original uniform was the best of its day (among the modern-day clubs, at least), but it was of its period. The retro-70s look would be a huge mistake today.

I would absolutely support an old-style uni a-la the Yanks, Red Sox or Cardinals. No question about it, that style just screams baseball. The hat logo would have to be simple but stylish, perhaps like the Orioles' bird, only a Blue Jay. Very retro-chic.

The red has to go. I'm thinking all double-blue (navy and peacock) and white, with a stylized script font for the jersey that simply says "Blue Jays" for the home uni and "Toronto" for the away. And every player should be required to wear the pants at the top of the sock, just like Rob Butler used to.

The T-bird logo really angered me. It's a slap in the face to every serious baseball fan in the city. It was even worse than the last logo. The original was amazing. If the team leaves it to the marketing wizards and focus groups, I'm not very optimistic about the new look.

I have been a Blue Jay fan pretty much since the day I was born. Despite my love for the team I must say I HATE their T-bird logo as well as the previous areodynamic looking bird in front of the WAY too big maple leaf. Why can't this team get it right. Simple sells. for the life of me I cannot figure out why this team can't just put a T-t or B-b on their hats. If they did this I would buy my first ever Blue Jay cap.

Someone answer these questions for me...

1. What is a Jay?
2. What is wrong with the Blue Jays team name?

Black does not sell... why would a team change their entire name and history just to have a black uniform??

Wouldn't it be nice 50 years later, to look at Toronto's baseball team like this...

World Series Championships
1992 - Toronto Blue Jays
1993 - Toronto Blue Jays
2005 - Toronto Blue Jays
2006 - Toronto Blue Jays
2012 - Toronto Blue Jays
etc...

as opposed to...

World Series Championships
1992 - Toronto Blue Jays
1993 - Toronto Blue Jays
2005 - Toronto Jays
2006 - Toronto Towers
2012 - Toronto Leafs
and so on...

LMAO. ok i went a little too far, but u know what i mean!!

For god's sake, don't touch the team name... just change the ugly mickey-mouse happy happy musclehead T-bird logo back to something simple.

Oh... a good design is a simple 3/4 Blue Jay face made entirely of blue, navy, and white stripes!!

And as for the hats, a simple T would be great!! I would actually buy it.

P.S. i will not watch or follow any Blue Jays games if they change their name to Toronto Jays and use black as a uniform

I just hope they can change the uniforms into something nice, and keep the name "Blue Jays".

Honestly, i think the changing of the name and colours is plain gay.Worked hard gettin fans back, now to get 5 punks to buy black hats they're gona lose thousands over an idiotic change.

I agree with the other guy, just let em wear rogers video uniforms, atleast those would look better than black shit.

Joseph,

Your point is well-taken about your concerns of uprooting the Blue Jays' tradition for the sake of some short-term merchandising gains.

Here at the Box, though, we try and encourage our posters to keep it PG-rated on the language. Sometimes people get heated...but we want to maintain a respectful atmosphere on the site.

Well, here we go, we find out today what it will look like. it will be bad for sure, they say they want a "younger" demographic, which means the Mighty Ducks of baseball logos, as if the T wasnt bad enough. If the ballcap is anywhere close to retro & decient, I will buy 100, I've always wanted a jays cap, but the logo has always been too ugly.

i will not watch or follow any Blue Jays games if they change their name to Toronto Jays and use black as a uniform

C'mon, are you kidding? Like I said in another thread (and on another forum), if you really feel that way, then you are more interested in the trinkets than in the baseball being played. Who cares what they're wearing if they're playing exciting baseball?

I really like the new jerseys. They're sharp and the new logo is really mean lookin. Great design, it's time for the jays to get a more angry image...

A one-eyed ferret could have designed a better uniform. It was kinda cool when the LA Kings and the White Sox did the whole black-and-silver thing, but it really should've stopped there! Except for the T-bird hat, the current uniform is fine. The font and the colour scheme was unique. Simplifying the logo was ALL that was needed!

Lose the Black
GO BLUE JAYS
Winning sells, New Uniforms don't

On a related marketing note, I got the first flex pack flyer in the mail and they're getting the hang of it. The heroes, Delgado, Halladay and Wells, are front and centre. The opposition is highlighted, rather than demeaned (come see Randy Johnson and the Diamondbacks, rather than "boo Matsui"). Well done.

Wow this new name change really sucks, just because theres a change in ownership doesn't mean the teams identity has to be changed as well. Changing the name from blue jays to jays is absolutely outrageous, THERES SO SUCH THING AS A JAY!!!

The official team name is still BLUE JAYS but it just says "Jays" on the uniform, just like the (Devil) Rays. So it will always read as "Toronto Blue Jays" anyway.