There’s Nothing Like a New Pair of Sox

Yesterday the Boston Red Sox unveiled their new primary logo, as well as their new home-alternate, road-alternate, and road jerseys (and caps). Let’s take a look at the changes:

Here’s their new primary logo (the “hanging Sox”). Anyway, I’m a big fan of this… It’s clean, lines were simplified, and it just looks modernized.

Here we can get a better look at how they’ve improved the hanging Sox element of what is now their secondary logo. As much of a fan of the current visual elements of this ball club that I am, I have to say that the new logo is a much improved version. First off, they’ve adopted their primary typeface and implemented it in the entire logo. (Though I would’ve taken the word “Boston” and inverted the line and fill colors). Secondly, they’ve shrunk the “TM”, which is a nice little touch. Third, is the baseball stitching behind the hanging Sox… definitely an improvement over the old logo.

Now, a look at their new road (primary) jerseys:

I really liked the old primary road jerseys, and I can’t say that they’ve improved on something that didn’t need to be improved in the first place. However, I do like the hanging Sox (primary) logo that’s been added to the left sleeve of the shirt. On the back, in navy-blue type, are the players’ names and numbers (with no outline color). The Sox have also removed the blue piping on their red home alternate jerseys (which were perfectly fine the way they were), and have gone to a navy-blue jersey with red lettering and white outlines for their alternate road jerseys.

Finally, here’s what seems to be causing the most controversy this morning:

Yes, that’s a new hat. But hold your horses- it’s only going to be worn on the road. To all you purists out there, I share your pain. Keep the “B”… leave this thing to decorate the jersey sleeve. I just… I can’t… why? Off the field as a fashion cap, this thing is fine (though I’d never buy it), but on the field? I’ll stick with the “B”.

Final grades:

New home-alternate jerseys: B
New road-primary jerseys: C+
New road-alternate jerseys: B
New primary logo: A
New secondary logo: A
New road-caps: C-

I think Paul Lukas from Uni Watch said it best: “It wasn’t broke, but they fixed it anyway.”