The Brewster

Where to start Makeover Mondays? Why not with one of the founding franchises of the BBA, the California Crusaders. This franchise is as stable as it gets. One of only 8 franchises that has NEVER moved cities, OR changed its name. It’s the ONLY franchise that has never been associated with a city, but rather a state. (Yes, yes, yes there is Hawaii, but they were Honolulu prior).

My feature my rules

In 70 years, they’ve had 10 GMs, made 34 playoff appearances, been to 9 Landis Games and won 4 titles. Not too shabby. But what is a little shabby and need up an update is their look.

Let’s take a look at the old one. It’s a mid-evil type shield that has the teams name across the top of with 2 crisscrossing sword/battle axes. The primary colors are orange and what looks to be some sort of brownish tint and silver swords and shields. Nothing about this logo says baseball to me, or even matches with their team uniform colors in the game.

The Makeover had to meet these 3 criteria.

• First, incorporate something into the new logo that has a baseball theme.

• Second, use the teams existing color / uniform palette w/in the new look when at all possible.

• Third, try to maintain a connection to the team’s history.

My design style is pretty simple. If the logo looks good in black and white, you have a good logo. Second, I’m a big believer in less is more when it comes to colors for unis and logos. Some of my favorite sports logos have this look. (I’ll leave my two fav sports teams off) - <wink>. If you look at the Raiders, Packers, and Colts in the NFL, each has two colors or 3 colors in their primary designs. The Yankees, Dodgers, and yes, even the Red Menace themselves, the St. Louis Cardinals. All have what I consider a classic logos / color scheme. I could go on, but just note, I am a card-carrying member of Uni-Watch and could talk about this for hours.


Any-who, with-out further ado… your 2042 Makeover Monday California Crusaders


As you can see in the new Makeover Monday of Cali’s logo, I used their three primary colors of blue(s), white, and yellow they had in-game and on their uniforms. A very UCLA-ish, color scheme, I don’t know if this was an influence or not.

I incorporated the teams yellow hat cross (albeit an updated version on the crusader), and state of California from their current uniform. I then decide to go from a round shield to a non-round one. (I don’t really know what you’d call that shape.) and I added a holy looking star above his head. Why? Dunno I thought it looked cool. Again my feature my rules

To add more of “baseball” feel to the design, the updated it with a crusader who is on-top of a home plate, and the entire design is on a large baseball (again to incorporate) the baseball theme. I also added a little "Wave" action, as you know those Californians love the ocean.

Hats: -- California’s Uni’s and Caps are a nice look, I didn’t do much here. I like the blue hat with the yellow crusader cross, it really pops. Simple and sharp (see my two-color rule). The only thing I changed was the cross style, so it’s consistent throughout the design. They had only one hat for home/away, I kept that the same.

Old:


New:


Home Uni: - Kept the same color scheme, added the updated logo on sleeve, removed the Cali C&C on the chest and replaced it with the Crusader. Updated the team’s stripes on the color and sleeves to match, and updated the cross on the undershirt.

Old:



New:


Road Uni: -- The one big thing I did change with California’s uniforms is their road-unis. Today (in-game) they are the same as their home ones.
I am a HUGE fan of MLB teams going to back to power-blue-unis this season, well when we had one. Call me nostalgic, but I couldn’t get enough of these when I was a kid. Again, my feature my rules . So, I have updated Cali’s road-unis to be powered blue (matching the blue on their current scheme). I have removed the state with the interlocking C’s and replaced it with the text CALI, updated the team’s stripes on the color and sleeves to match, and updated the cross on the undershirt.



Enjoy!

Up next CHI-TOWN

Wow, this is going to be a fun series to follow!

*I don't know where the random green comes from on their hats but I'm glad you kept it...green/blue is one of my favorite sports team combinations (ie the Canucks, Tulane, the Seahawks to a lesser degree)
*Man, that logo is way better that the original. Totally felt old and outdated. Still a little busy for my tastes but an upgrade for sure.
*Those uni updates are niiiiice. I'm on Team Power Blue as well! One thing that I can speak on that Lane, Taylor and Chad will likely agree: No one from California calls it Cali

Nice job! Already jonesing for the next one and it's not even this Monday yet.

jleddy wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 19, 2020 11:43 pm

Still a little busy for my tastes but an upgrade for sure.

That was my thought and I hate saying that since I'm not as creative to do this. However, I think just removing the baseball and Cali background makes it perfect.

Love the powder blue though. And I think the green under the hat is an old school thing. I remember having an Orioles hat in the 90's that was the usual black and orange color scheme but had green on the underside. Maybe it's just a coincidence.

Very nice job. Looking forward to the rest.

The green on the hat is the under the brim color - it was green - i liked it too - so i kept it green.
As for calling it Cali...Mr LL would beg to differ...

The logo is designed to be taken apart so the baseball and state can be removed to create an “alternate” logo.

I love this. The image of the state combined with the baseball reminds me of the old California Angels logo and I always liked that. I also like the home plate a lot as well as the crusader pictured. Honestly there's not a whole lot I don't like, right down to being on team powder blue myself.

Oh and by the way, you had me at the fact that you are a card carrying member of Uni Watch. That is still my favorite blog and I don't read it nearly enough these days. I have my Uni Watch hat! And I'm a big Paul Lukas fan.

Definitely sleeker. If it were me, I do like that you can pull pieces out and use them in different ways (hence reduce the business, but if it were me I'd want something that said "baseball" in the primary logo.

I like the look, Mike. Great work on this. If it wasn't for my team, I'd love it. It just doesn't bleed #veryshoeless" enough for me.

I really like what you're doing with the logos. I can't wait to see who gets a makeover next.

shoeless.db wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 20, 2020 12:25 pm

It just doesn't bleed #veryshoeless" enough for me.

That's code for "It needs to be designed in MS Paint, on an Etch-A-Sketch, or by a second-grader".

jleddy wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 20, 2020 1:30 pm

shoeless.db wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 20, 2020 12:25 pm

It just doesn't bleed #veryshoeless" enough for me.

That's code for "It needs to be designed in MS Paint, on an Etch-A-Sketch, or by a second-grader".

LOL

I like the logo as a forum logo. Would make for good merchandise sells on a t-shirt and stuff. As for the uniform, I like the road "Cali" theme. Not a fan of the Crusader look on the home one though. Too "Big" for my tastes.

Overall though, well done!

The logo is a nice upgrade, but if you're going to go that busy I agree it's more of a Forum logo.

Then there should be a Primary and a cap.