Tampa Yankees go throwback

The Tampa Yankees are no more. Today the club announced a name change.With this name change, the club, owned by the parent club in New York attempts to celebrate the city’s long baseball history.

From 1957 -1987 Tampa fielded a Florida State League team with the name Tarpons.
General manager Vance Smith stated the club wanted to adopt an own identity that connects the club with the Tampa community.

For the change, the new identity wasn’t designed by Brandiose but by Louisville-based studio Simon. The choice for Studio Simon was a logical one. The studio has designed logos for other FSL teams as well (Daytona Tortugas and the Bradenton Marauders).

The new logo was inspired by the 1970 Tarpons logo (then a Cincinnati Reds affiliate). The Tarpon is in an upright position, resting a baseball bat on its shoulder with a pinstriped background which refers to the parent club in the Bronx.

According to studio Simon, the design of the logo had to be easy so it could be embroidered: “So that was the question: How do you render him in a manner that works in the world of sports today? Not just the embroidery but with so many different applications. On smartphones, sometimes the logo is the size of a dime. So, you need to simplify.”

The Tarpons’ typography is done in what Simon referred to as the “dog bone effect.” The letters are wider on the ends than they are in the middle; the three middle letters are laid atop the vertical depiction of the tarpon.

“It’s the tail that lets you know this is a fish, especially when it’s standing upright,” Simon said. “It was necessary to cover as little of its body as possible.”

This rebranding wasn’t announced, so for the fans, it came out of the blue. Personally I like it better when clubs adopt a name that is related to the area it is playing in. So when it comes to that, the Tampa Yankees did a good job.

Authentic caps and (replica) jerseys are not available in the webshop yet. As soon as they are available you will see them here.