Skip to content
 
Uni Watch

What If? A Baseball Alternate Reality

By

By Phil Hecken

Good morning and a good Saturday, Uni Watchers. Hope everyone had a good week. I myself very much enjoyed my curling bonspiel last weekend (even though my rink didn’t fare particularly well).

Over Paul’s August hiatus, when I handled the weekday duties, I ran a really fun post from Chris Diamond on his helmet map projects. He mentioned he had some more ideas in store, and in mid-October (while the MLB playoffs were happening), he sent me another piece, this one focusing on baseball and potential relocations over the years. Unfortunately I didn’t get to run it while baseball was still happening, but I promised him I’d get to it before Christmas. I know the hot stove is ice cold now, what with the lockout and all, but this is another fun article. Chris uses lots of words, so I’ll just turn it over to him right now. Enjoy!

• • • • •

Alternate History MLB 2022
by Chris Diamond

Back on Christmas Day 2020, mlb.com ran a feature called “The L.A. Browns? How one day in ’41 changed MLB”.

The alternate reality question posed by the feature is; “How would baseball be different today if the St. Louis Browns had moved to LA in 1942 as planned?”. In reality the advent of WWII put it on indefinite hold and in the end of course they moved to Baltimore in 1954 to become the Orioles and the west coast was empty of MLB until the Dodgers and Giants moved for the 1958 season. But what if they had moved to LA? The article takes this premise and then travels forward through history following the possible consequences up to the present day. I won’t repeat the whole article here, but there are some huge ramifications for the MLB as we know it which you can see below in the 2020 divisional line-ups from the feature (differences in RED and BLUE).

_____

AL East: Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays

AL Central: ATLANTA SENATORS, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals

AL West: Houston Astros, LOS ANGELES BROWNS, SAN DIEGO PADRES, SAN FRANCISCO ATHLETICS, SEATTLE PILOTS

_____

NL East: New York Mets, MONTREAL EXPOS, Philadelphia Phillies, WASHINGTON STARS

NL Central: Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, MILWAUKEE BRAVES, MINNESOTA GIANTS, Pittsburgh Pirates

NL West: Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, DALLAS DODGERS, LOS ANGELES ANGELS, St. Louis Cardinals

_____

As you may recall I am into helmet maps, so after reading the article I immediately thought; “What would an MLB map look like for this fascinating alternate reality?”. The article itself has a few graphics, but they felt a bit half-hearted and without too much thought. What might these alternate reality MLB teams caps/helmets actually look like? Is there a way to make credible guesses? I decided I’d like to have a go!

So may I present Alternate History MLB 2022! Below is my map and other graphics to tell the story of how I came up with my design choices – please feel free to agree/disagree robustly.

First of all in theory, with alternate realities like this, anything goes. But I wanted this to feel credible and not to change things for change’s sake. I feel that some teams have a large amount of what you might call uni-momentum behind them. So the Yankees, for example, have had the same classic look for most of their history. Idiosyncrasies aside (as featured by Paul recently) this gives them a huge uni-momentum. So in most alternate realities the Yankees would most likely look the same (note here I am only considering caps/helmets). I feel the same applies to some other teams; the Cubs, Cardinals, Pirates, Red Sox, Rockies and Royals. Other teams have slightly less uni-momentum but still have a reasonably stable cap/helmet look; the Astros, Blue Jays, Orioles, Phillies and White Sox. So for these teams I have kept them more or less the same as real life. In the case of Cleveland I have just gone with the new Guardians identity to make it simple. I’ve also not included things like raised logos or matte helmet finishes as it’s quite random which team currently has them.

So what about the other teams? Well in addition to the differences due to the mlb.com feature, I added one more thing to this alternate reality. No BFBS! BFBS has been hanging over uni trends in all sports since the 80s. What if in this reality the dark shadow of BFBS never loomed over baseball?

So first up are the different teams (in RED and BLUE above). The alt history comes from the mlb.com feature, and the design choices are mine except where such things were mentioned in the feature.

Los Angeles Browns 1942:

The seed of this whole alt reality. Moved from St. Louis to LA in 1942 to become the LA Browns, sticking with their distinctive brown and orange colour scheme. They also use the same cap font as for St. Louis but make it an interlocking “LA”, similar to the style the LA Dodgers chose in the real world. They will be the only big four pro sports team on the west coast until 1948 when…

San Francisco Athletics 1948:

Like the St Louis Browns, the Philadelphia Athletics are the second team in town and are struggling to compete with their rival. They are sold to a San Francisco business man and as the Browns are an AL team, it makes sense for the Athletics to join them on the west coast. For their cap/helmet they keep the team blue and red colours but replace the old English “A” with an interlocking old English “SF” to reflect their new city.

Milwaukee Braves 1954:

The same move as happened in reality, but they never move to Atlanta because of other events (see below).

Minnesota Giants 1954:

Before they moved out west with the Dodgers in real-life, the Giants were looking at moving to Minneapolis. So in this alt reality as the AL have the west coast already, they do move to Minneapolis-St Paul. But here, the quandary of how to deal with the name issue is solved by calling them Minnesota from day one with an “M” on the cap/helmet. As it looks good, they keep the same font as they had in NY.

Dallas Dodgers 1958:

The problems that affected the Brooklyn Dodgers in our reality are the same here, even though they are now the only NL team in NY. Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley has interests in Texas, and LA already has the Browns so they move to Dallas instead. Like with the Giants “M”, the Dallas Dodgers “D” looks great in the same cap font so they stick with it (unlike the LA Dodgers did).

Los Angeles Angels 1961:

In real 1961 the Angels arrive to get an AL foothold in Southern California. But here the AL already has the Browns, so instead they are the in the NL. They choose the same Navy/Red colour scheme as the real Angels did, but unlike the real Angels, they stick with LA as a team name so keep an interlocking LA logo.

Atlanta Senators 1966:

In reality the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota in 1961 becoming the Twins. But here the Giants have already relocated there, so instead they move to Atlanta. The cap “A” represents a stylised outline of the Georgia Senate building as shown on the state seal.

San Diego Padres 1969-74:

The Padres are an expansion franchise as in reality, but the Browns have Brown/Orange sewn up so instead they choose Blue/Red like the PCL Padres. But instead of the PCL Padres “S” they have an interlocked SD on their cap.

Washington Stars 1974:

In reality, Washington got the expansion Senators in 1961, but in the alt reality, as the Browns didn’t move there, the 1961 expansion team goes to Baltimore instead as the Orioles. Then in 1974 the San Diego Padres are sold to a Washington group and become the Stars (this almost happened in reality, they even had uniforms made). They keep the same Blue/Red colours as the Padres. This also means that the Expos don’t relocate to Washington in 2006.

Seattle Pilots 1977:

Born as in reality in 1977, but Milwaukee still has the Braves so they stick it out in Seattle instead of moving. Their unique look persists until the present day.

San Diego Padres 1977:

Following the relocation of the original Padres in 1974, San Diego gets an expansion team in 1977. The 1969-74 Padres wore Blue and Red, but there is already the LA Angels and SF Athletics in these colours, so they choose Green and Gold (the same colours the San Diego Rockets of the NBA chose in 1973). Don’t forget, in this alt reality, there is no Oakland Athletics so green and gold become unique to them.

_____

That covers all the new or relocated teams, but what about some of the franchises that are the same in this alt reality? How might they have been affected uni-wise? Especially with no BFBS!

Arizona Diamondbacks:

In reality the D-Backs changed colours in 2007 to their current Black/Red/Sand scheme. But in this alt reality the LA Browns are synonymous with their Brown/Orange scheme and so other west coast teams steer clear of anything even vaguely similar (see Padres 1969-74). So wisely the Diamondbacks stick with their purple and teal.

Cincinnati Reds:

Another victim of BFBS in real life, in this reality the helmet remains an un-sullied red and white!

Detroit Tigers:

Back in 2016, the Tigers changed their jersey “D” to match the cap “D”. This made quite a few fans unhappy. But what if instead in this alt reality they changed the cap “D” to match the jersey “D”? Is that any better? Or is it just a “don’t mess with it at all” thing? :)

Miami Marlins:

This alt reality not being infected with BFBS, the Marlins stick with their primary “Marlin Blue” (aka teal) colour scheme and logo. So when they move to their new stadium in 2012 and change from Florida to Miami they simply change the “F” to “M”.

New York Mets:

The Mets are born like they are in reality. They take the orange “NY” logo from the Giants and the Dodgers blue, but because Minnesota’s “M” still uses the distinctive “NY” font, to avoid legal battles they choose an older NY logo style.

Tampa Bay Rays:

In reality in 2008 when the team became the Rays they switched from their green/blue colours to two shades of blue. In this alt reality they change the logo, but stick with their distinctive colours.

So finally here is the map! And for reference the two leagues laid out side by side. I’d love to know what you guys think of the designs/changes.

Next up I want to do something similar for the NFL. So if anyone knows of any similar articles or has their own ideas, let me know in the comments!

• • • • •

Thanks Chris! Really good thought piece about how relocation (and unis!) could have all been completely different had the Browns made that first move during World War II — pretty interesting domino effects there. Great stuff. Readers? What say you?

Guess The Game…

from the scoreboard

Today’s scoreboard comes from Daniel Cordrey.

The premise of the game (GTGFTS) is simple: I’ll post a scoreboard and you guys simply identify the game depicted. In the past, I don’t know if I’ve ever completely stumped you (some are easier than others).

Here’s the Scoreboard. In the comments below, try to identify the game (date & location, as well as final score). If anything noteworthy occurred during the game, please add that in (and if you were AT the game, well bonus points for you!):

Please continue sending these in! You’re welcome to send me any scoreboard photos (with answers please), and I’ll keep running them.

It’s The Only Game In Town…

The traditional end to the regular college football season — Army vs. Navy — is today. As they have for over a decade, both teams will be wearing special uniforms for the occasion. I usually take the day of the game to preview those uniforms, but rather than saddle you with two days of Army/Navy uni coverage, I’ll be covering those uniforms, and the game, tomorrow. But as you can see above, both teams have once again gone all out uni-wise for the big game. I’ll have all the “storytelling” behind those uniforms tomorrow.

After last year’s COVID-interrupted season, Army/Navy was (for the first time in the past several generations) forced to share the stage with many other teams, due to COVID’s delays and postponements earlier in the 2020 season. But this year, all is right with the world they’re back to having the whole day to themselves (at least as far as FBS teams are concerned). Hopefully the game will be as good as the uniforms!

NCAA Championship Games Tracking

Last weekend the FBS teams held their Conference Championship Games, and since I was off, I wanted to run those this weekend.

We’ve got Rex Henry (tracking the ACC), Dennis Bolt (tracking the PAC-12), Kyle Acker (tracking the B1G), and Ethan Dimitroff (tracking the Big XII AND the SEC).

Here are the uniforms for the Power 5 Conferences Championships (there was also one makeup game for the PAC-12):

+ + + + + + + + + +

Rex is up first today (ACC):

• • •

ACC

More Here.
Follow Rex on Twitter here.

• • •

And now, here’s Dennis with the PAC-12:

PAC-12

More here.
Follow Dennis on Twitter here.

• • •

And here is Ethan, with the SEC:

SEC

And be sure to check out Ethan’s WVU Mountaineer Tracker.
Follow Ethan on Twitter here.

• • •

And here is Kyle with the B1G:

B1G

Follow Kyle on Twitter here.

• • •

And here’s Ethan with the Big XII:

Big XII

Click to enlarge

And now a few words from Paul: Hi there. In case you missed it this past week, we’ve repurposed a few more of our pin designs as T-shirts and pint glasses, beginning with our awesome table hockey design (which originally appeared as the March 2021 pin), shown above.

All of the T-shirt colors are also available as long-sleeve tees and hoodies, plus we’ve done a pint glass (with the hockey player on one side and the winged stirrup on the other). Here’s where you can order these in black, green, grey, and the pint glass.

We’ve also rolled out this same assortment of products for our baseball bobblehead design (which originally appeared as the July 2020 pin):

Here’s where you can get this one in black, green, grey, and the pint glass.

Finally, we’re also doing the football bobble (which originally appeared on the September 2021 pin). We changed the number from 21 to 64 — the year that both Todd and I were born:

Here’s where you can get this one in black, green, grey, and the pint glass.

Meanwhile, our Swinging Santa shirt (based on the December 2021 pin) is still available green, red, and grey.

For all of these, if you’re interested in other shirt colors, other shirt styles (women’s, tank top, V-neck, etc.), or other products (posters, canvas prints, etc.), let me know and I’ll do my best to take care of you.

Other things to keep in mind:

• If you’re a Rutgers fan, you’ll want to check out the new Naming Wrongs shirts for the Rutgers Athletic Center:

Here’s where you get get these T-shirts (which are also available in long-sleeved and hoodie versions) in black, red, and grey.

• Due to a Teespring shipping snafu, a few people received more December pins than they ordered and other people who ordered the pin received empty mailers with nothing inside. If you fall into either of those categories, please let me know ASAP so we can arrange to get the right pins to their rightful owners. Thanks!

• In case you missed it on Thursday, my latest piece for Bulletin is an “Ask Me Anything” entry, in which I answer reader-submitted questions. You can check it out here (and you can subscribe to receive my Bulletin posts via email here).

That’s it for me. Now back to Phil with the rest of today’s content.

The Ticker
By Anthony Emerson

Pro Football News: Steve Mathonnet-VanderWell was digging through some old papers and came across this old scrap of paper from what appears to be a Goodyear advertisement featuring the logos of 15 NFL teams. Steve clocks it as circa 1966, as it includes the Falcons but not the Saints. … Gillette Stadium will undergo a major remodel, its first in its 19-year history (from multiple readers). … Also posted in the hockey section: Longtime Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard also owned the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He’s pictured here in a Leafs/Ticats frankenjacket (from @ballparkhunter).

Hockey News: The AHL’s Laval Rocket, affiliates of the Canadiens, are wearing fauxback jerseys on January 7, inspired by the Habs’ affiliates from 1965 to 1969, the Houston Apollos (from James Beattie and Moe Khan). … BU wore throwbacks to their first every unis during last night’s game against BC (from Craig W.). … The Jackson Hole Moose of the US Hockey Association Senior A are celebrating their 25th anniversary with a patch worn on both the chest and the shoulder (from John Muir). … Cross-posted from the pro football section: Longtime Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard also owned the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He’s pictured here in a Leafs/Ticats frankenjacket (from @ballparkhunter). … Next weekend, the Carolina Thunderbirds of the FPHL will be wearing these one-off jerseys for “Youth for Christ Night” (from @ColHapablap).

Soccer News: Barcelona have been forced to use a two-season-old kit in some Champions League matches due to the iridescent club crest on their primary away kits. Iridescent effects are banned in UEFA competition. The “Senyera” kit from 2019, inspired the flag of Catalonia, looks much better anyway.

Grab Bag: Athletes Unlimited, a group that runs a basketball, lacrosse, softball and volleyball league, has pledged to become the first carbon-neutral US-based sports league…or sports leagues, I guess (from our own Jamie Rathjen). … 15 of the 20 Formula One drivers are wearing one-off helmets for tomorrow’s final Grand Prix of the season in Abu Dhabi (from Russel G. Flynn). … The new Toronto club in the Tewaaraton Lacrosse League is holding a “name the team” contest (from Michael Sullivan).

Uni Tweet of the Day

Go Army. Beat Navy!

And finally… thanks to Chris for that look at what MLB could have looked like had one simple franchise move taken place in the early 1940s. Would all the franchise location that took place (and new expansion teams) have unfolded they way they ultimately did? We’ll never know, of course, but it was fun to see how it could have played out!

Enjoy the Army/Navy game today. I’ll have full coverage tomorrow. Until then…

Peace,

PH

 
  
 
Comments (64)

    Seconded. Usually these sort of exercises are half-baked and sloppy, but this one is intricately thought out and very well presented.

    Agreed! I think my favorite touch is that both Upper Midwest teams essentially repurpose excellent prior minor-league cap logos: The old Milwaukee Brewers M that the Braves and later the Brewers actually used; and the Giants-style M that the Minneapolis Millers sometimes wore.

    I wonder if the ball-in-glove logo might still have been developed for the Milwaukee Braves? The initials are the same. And the Atlanta Braves dropped the classic design and went to more trendy and stylized looks in the ’70s.

    On a non-uni tangent, had the Braves stayed in Milwaukee, would Hank Aaron have ended up hitting fewer home runs? He hit his final 22 home runs for the Brewers, but without a city to return to, which also happened to have the DH, would Aaron have just retired after the 1974 season?

    I agree, I think I may have missed a trick there! The MB ball-in-glove logo is such iconic good design that it’s quite possible it might have happened anyway

    I could see the Braves following the same logo progression as the Brewers.
    1977- Ball-in-glove logo wins design contest
    1994- Braves rebrand to Brewers (alongside the Marquette Warriors who rebrand to Golden Eagles), adopt a navy-and-red version of the Todd Radom MB.

    2000 and 2020 rebrands still happen, just in navy and red.

    Chris’ alternate reality helmets are terrific. One minor correction, though: the seal on which the Atlanta Senators “A” is based is not a representation of the “Georgia Senate Building” (there is no such thing, per sé), but rather just an allegorical design on the seal not meant to allude to any physical structure. Later, an arch was erected on the University of Georgia campus to represent the arch structure on the seal, but the seal predated The Arch at UGA by nearly 60 years. link

    On that Goodyear ad, it looks like someone has drawn a fleur-de-lis on it. Along with some other doodles of the Viking horns, the Niners logo, & the Giants.

    Also found it interesting that the Pittsburgh Steelers logo was done in just black and yellow.

    That was me. I guess elementary-school-me thought I should add the Saints? The other scribbles were mine too, trying to learn how to draw logos correctly, which is how I spent most of my time from about age 10-15! Must of never dawned on me I was sort-of ruining the clipping.

    Phil, re your comment about Army and Navy being forced to share the stage for the first time ever, the practice of staging the game as a “stand-alone” is actually a fairly recent practice, intended to allow the game to have more attention in an era when neither school is the powerhouse they once were.

    For example, in 1970, Army-Navy was played on November 28, sharing the stage with several other classic rivalry games: Alabama-Auburn, USC-Notre Dame, Georgia-Georgia Tech, Tennessee-Vanderbilt, and Oklahoma-Oklahoma State. True, many teams had already concluded their seasons (the Big 10, for instance, had finished the previous week), but it’s only when we get into the late 1980s that Army-Navy begins to be played after the end of what we’d think of as the “regular” season.

    Great point — I should have said (and I will edit this) “in the past couple generations”.

    Great alternative analysis! Somehow the Rockies slipped past the ban on BFBS in this scenario, but there’s an easy fix. How about Colorado with purple caps? And with that color precedent set, the expansion D’Back are born with a nice copper/turquoise colorway, going with copper-colored hats to avoid the teal that was becoming so played out by the end of the decade?

    Thanks Ron! I gave the Rockies a pass on the no-BFBS rule because they started out with black as a colour. But you’re right, as they were formed within the BFBS era it should apply and purple caps would have been a nice choice!

    I agree, the Rox are one of the teams that really “owns” black as a core color, kind of like the Raiders, Steelers, Spurs, etc… but in reality, if they didn’t change a single other element of the uni history, purple hats would have worked perfectly from the beginning.

    This whole article was a really head-spinning exercise. Much fun.

    The MLB alternate history was really cool! For the NFL, it may not be best for this exercise, but if the Browns don’t relocate in 1995, and assuming the Oilers stay put too, there may only be 30 teams instead of 32 (or maybe the NFL still looks for expansion just because they want to).

    OMG, Alex, that is a fantastic exercise. Make this happen! Does LA have a team today? What about Nashville? London? Or do they continue to dangle certain towns a relocation possibilities? And most importantly… Can we prevent the Patriots and Broncos from implementing their less than beautiful but successful redesigns?

    Or instead of teams not moving, what if the NFL hadn’t blocked the Seahawks from moving to LA in 1996? The then owners of the team moved the team’s business operations to Anaheim in 1996, and then they tried to relocate the team there as well (without league support), it was only when the league threatened them with fines of $500,000 per day if they didn’t immediately move everything back to Seattle that the owners then relented and eventually sold to Paul Allen.

    When I was a kid, I once tried to work out what would have happened if the PCL had joined the majors as a third league, which was apparently not entirely out of the question. Which is to say that I love exercises like the post above, it’s so fun to think about these things!

    This alternate history is perfect for fans of the Out of the Park baseball sim games. With these logos it would be easy to recreate a simulated alt-history.

    GTGFTS: The famous Army-Navy Game at then-Municipal Stadium, Philadelphia, 12/7/1963, won by Navy 21-15. The U.S. flags were at half-mast because of the JFK assassination two weeks earlier. The scoreboard shows when Army reached the Middies’ 7-yard line early in the fourth Q. According to N.Y. Times, the Cadets lost 2 yards on fourth down. Navy then went 91 yards in 5 plays along with two 15-yard penalties to score what turned out to be the winning TD by Pat Donnelly, his third of the game. Famously, Army came back, but fell short at the Navy 2 as time ran out.

    There is a YouTube video out by the NFL for 100 year anniversary that discusses how the teams came to be where they are. I cannot remember if they discuss all possible relocations. It’s a good watch either way.

    I’d put Minnesota in the NL West, and have St. Louis in the NL Central. Besides Minneapolis being farther west, St. Louis should be with the Cubs. Also St. Louis is closer to Pittsburgh, who you also have in the Central.

    RICKAZ – I think the MLB author of the original piece goes in to more detail about why each team has been placed in each division.

    Alternate reality. Baseball uniforms. Chris you nailed it! A fantastic well written and a deep dive!

    Really cool project, Chris!
    Being from Philly, I still say the wrong team left town ;)
    The Angels logo is terrific, and it’s always great seeing the Marlins in I’m Calling It Teal and the Rays in green (gone too soon IMO). Choosing not to put an orange lid on the ‘stros is a letdown.
    I’ll take Seattle Scrambled Eggs over a Trident M, and don’t miss the BiG as much as I thought I would.
    I do not like the omission of the Minnesota interlocked TC though; rendering those letters in Giants style could have been a better choice?
    Your Orioles came to be through expansion? Too bad they weren’t ‘born’ in their white-panel helmet.

    “Next up I want to do something similar for the NFL. So if anyone knows of any similar articles or has their own ideas, let me know…”
    Personally, I’ve always wondered what an NFL/USFL merger would have looked like.

    Thanks Chris! It’s funny I never imagined there would be anyone in Philly who mourns the loss of the A’s! I like the idea of the Astros with an orange helmet too, but I tried to not let my personal likes interfere with “academic objectiveness”.

    It’s funny you should mention an NFL/USFL merger because since I wrote this piece I have been working on exactly that! In this case the premise will be that the USFL won their antitrust case but were awarded the $1.7 billion in damages making a merger inevitable, but on more even terms for the USFL than what was speculated at the time.

    In past league mergers, generally the unwanted teams were paid off with buyouts. With an NFL/USFL merger the excess teams (assuming they even survived until the agreement) would be Denver, Tampa Bay, and Oakland (with Houston already merged with NJ).

    L. A. was basically bankrupt and San Antonio wasn’t paying its bills. Orlando is iffy as a market but then so is Portland. It’s more fun if you keep them in and have the Gold, Bandits or Invaders move to San Antonio, which had the ugliest uniforms anyway.

    But that makes for 9 teams coming over in the merger for a 37-team league. Maybe have one of the other folded teams move to Charlotte to get to 38.

    You’re right there about the buy-offs, and the dire financial state of many of the USFL teams will be factored in. But the sheer size of the settlement ($1.7billion) will mean some of the previously “bankrupt” teams like the Gunslingers that are in viable markets will be salvaged, and only teams in current NFL markets will be bought off or merged with other teams. Apart from the NJ Generals who are a case all on their own! And my history will be for 2022 like the MLB one and by then due to various factors there will be 40 teams in the NFL.

    There’s no project better than a what if project, and watching teams skitter across the country can be inspiring. My pet projects include returning the Brewers and Astros to their original leagues, and adopting more WHA teams than the four the NHL took in.

    How is the D-Backs current Black/Red/Sand scheme anything like the LA Browns Brown/Orange scheme?

    As long as you are including proposed moves, the White Sox should have moved to Tampa & the Ray’s been born an expansion team somewhere else.

    link

    It was the original MLB article that set the story for this, so I had to work within that. I don’t know why they didn’t include the White Sox move to Tampa (or any of the other proposed Tampa relocations like the Pirates).

    I don’t think a Padre (e.g., a friar), has ever worn green…

    The Padres should ALWAYS wear brown.

    But in this case, the Los Angeles Browns would literally *own* brown, so dressing the Padres in brown probably wouldn’t even be a thought.

    Green is how this version of the Padres break out from all the navy-and-red that MLB, no matter which reality, is brought down by.

    Ever watch the TV show M*A*S*H?
    Father Mulcahy (“Pod-ree” as Col. Potter called him) wore Army green ;)
    And according to the novel, he was from San Diego, but let’s overlook the – – – – Red nickname from the film.

    Get 1963 Army-Navy (note the flag at half staff).Hockey:The Cie cyclones of the ECHL wore uniforms inspired by the Nov is Elf last night.

    I was prepared to skip over the helmets as 50% of the time i find them to be redundant and boring. HOWEVER, not only were these professional quality but i found the details with each entry very informative.

    Great work and thank you for your time and sharing!

    Great job with the baseball alternate history! I know you talked about the NFL next, but an interesting one could be the NHL, what if the Colorado Rockies never moved to New Jersey in 1982? Or what if the Flames never moved to Calgary in 1980?

    Both of those things would have changed the layout of the league completely today, in the case of the first one the Nordiques obviously never move to Denver, but there’s still room for a third team in the New York area. With the Flames scenario it obviously opens up a Canadian market for another team to have moved here, or a possible expansion team (probably called the Cowboys after the WHA team). Atlanta doesn’t get an expansion team in 2000, which means that the second coming of the Jets never happens.

    I agree, an alt History for the NHL would also be very interesting, but I’m not as familiar with hockey compared to football or baseball. But something to look at :)

    One quibble: The Seattle Pilots were born in 1969, not 1977. 1977 was the advent of the Seattle Mariners, born out of the lawsuit filed when the Pilots were stolen by Bud Selig.

    This is pretty brilliant. A couple small suggestions for clarity:

    1. The 1961 AL expansion gave us the new Senators and the Angels. In this timeline, the Houston Colt 45s join the AL with the Senators.

    2. The 1962 NL expansion gave us the Mets and Colt 45s. In this timeline, it’s the Mets and Angels.

    3. The 1969 AL expansion gave us the Royals and Seattle Pilots. (Not 1977.). The 1969 NL expansion gave us the Expos and Padres.

    4. The 1977 AL expansion gave us the Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners. Since the Pilots would have (somehow) still been in Seattle in 1977, the expansion team would have gone to the new San Diego Padres.

    I loved this Alt reality but I think if the Giants moved out of NY, the Dodgers would have stayed in Brooklyn as the pressure would have been on NYC to get a stadium deal for the Dodgers. Plus the Dodgers would have been the only NL team left in NY.

    That’s definitely another possible scenario and would make for an interesting variation. It would leave Dallas open for the Senators as well as Atlanta as well as meaning the Mets never existed (sorry Paul!).

    Awesome alternate relity piece. Very cool. Count me as one of the “Just leave it alone” Detroit Tigers fans. We like having two Ds. ;-)

    I’m a bit confused. Do the Montreal Expos become the Miami Marlins? Or do they just disappear?

    Always love the alternative reality looks at MLB, even if they are kind of bittersweet for us Milwaukeeans because we still have such great love for the Braves era here and, if we could, would undo the events of 1964-65, and others that led to the move before it, in a heartbeat. I am of the opinion, given our area’s progressive nature, the history of the Brewers nickname and the fact that the Braves staying in Milwaukee probably would have also been contingent upon a plane crash that killed Fred Miller of the Miller Brewing family not occurring, that the Braves would have become the Brewers at some point but probably gone to something like what the 40’s American Association Brewers wore for uniforms, which were a lot like the Braves’. It’s part of the reason I’m the guy that actually prefers just an ‘M’ on the hat over the ball and glove logo. I like how much deeper that history goes than something, I think, looks very much of of the era of its creation (late 70’s).

    I don’t think the Youth for Christ jersey is for the Carolina Thunderbirds. If it is, why would they have a logo for a “Sea Wolves” in the lower left corner of the pic, much less on the shoulders of the jerseys?

    NFL alt.: Orlando Bengals
    Columbus, OH Cardinals
    Baltimore Bombers
    Columbus Browns (almost happened)
    Toronto Bills

    What a fantastic uni dive into alternate history–well done, Chris!

    I’ve had similar kinds of theories (including uniform theories) about another alternate-history scenario that came close to happening: what if the legendary Pacific Coast League had been promoted to a major league in its own right? In this case you’d eventually have six expansion teams, tops, and lots of relocations instead … with relocating teams chasing a lot fewer possible markets.

    Tentatively, I’ve got:

    NL
    Baltimore Dodgers
    Chicago Cubs
    Cincinnati Reds
    Milwaukee Braves
    Minnesota Giants
    New York Mets
    Philadelphia Phillies
    Pittsburgh Pirates
    St. Louis Cardinals
    Washington Senators

    AL
    Atlanta Athletics
    Boston Red Sox
    Chicago White Sox
    Cleveland Indians
    Detroit Tigers
    Kansas City Royals
    Miami Marlins
    Montréal Expos
    New York Yankees
    Toronto Blue Jays

    PCL
    Dallas Eagles
    Denver Rockies
    Hollywood Stars
    Houston Buffaloes
    Los Angeles Angels
    Oakland Oaks
    Phoenix Firebirds
    San Diego Padres
    San Francisco Seals
    Seattle Rainiers

    I’ll try to fill out the rhymes & reasons of the above choices in a while.

    Thanks Le Cracquere! Yes there are many other alternate histories waiting to be written – the MLB.com one isn’t definitive in any way. I’ll be interested to see what you come up with!

Comments are closed.