The Detroit Tigers have finally fixed what might be the oddest and most nonsensical uniform discrepancy in baseball. It's so minor that you may not have even noticed it.
On Thursday, the team announced that they were getting rid of the Olde English 'D' logo that has been featured on the front of their home jerseys for decades. They will replace it with the Olde English 'D' logo that has been featured on their hat for decades.
If you didn't know that the hat and jersey logos were different, you're probably not alone. But they are, or at least they were. The team announced plans to unify the logos starting this season.
Introducing the 2018 edition of the #Tigers uniforms, where the Olde English D on the cap and home jersey will be identical. pic.twitter.com/nY9TMDB8UW
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) January 25, 2018
From the team's press release:
This move by the ballclub honors a storied tradition and heritage. The 'D' had been used on the jerseys of the Detroit Tigers of the Western League in the late 19th century, and it was first used by the Tigers in the Major Leagues in 1904. It is identified by the noticeably curly returns at both top and bottom of the 'D' with the bars in the center of the logo turning inward. Additionally, research conducted by both Major League Baseball and the Detroit Tigers revealed that the cap 'D' is the preferred mark of Tigers fans. Tigers fans are 3x more likely to say the cap 'D' best represents the Tigers, and 3.5x more likely to say it best represents the city of Detroit.
They also provided visuals for what the changes would look like, so let's take a look.
As you can see, the jersey 'D' is slimmed down, almost like it went on an offseason diet. (Maybe a motivational tactic to convince some of their players to do the same...) In addition, the cap logo will be enlarged to fit the logo size that most other MLB teams use for their hat logos.
Overall, it's a change that makes sense (congratulations on escaping the identity crisis!) and, in my opinion, provides an ever-so-slight visual upgrade. But, again, if you never read this post, you may not have even noticed at all, so it's certainly not the most exciting uniform update you'll ever see.
