savafan
11-09-2006, 11:20 AM
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/articles/1108dbuniforms1109.html
Megan Finnerty
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 8, 2006 09:59 PM
Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Conor Jackson looked hot in his new uniform.
Truthfully, he is pretty model-esque, but the new Sedona Red, Sonoran Sand and black uniform definitely helped.
Wednesday night, Jackson, Orlando Hudson, Eric Byrnes and manager Bob Melvin, among others, modeled the team's new, more aggressive look at the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale, and fans said they loved it.
"I think it's sexy, it's strong, it's hot," said Melissa Leonesio, 40-ish, of Paradise Valley. "It makes us look like we're the team to beat."
The new color palette replaces the turquoise, copper, black and purple look the team's been sporting since its inaugural season of 1998. The changes:
The snake logo is curvier, more realistic and less angular.
The front of the uniform now reads "D backs," in pointy, fang-like letters, with a tiny diamond between the "D" and the "b."
There's a new patch on the arm of a lowercase angular "d" and "b" that looks like an evil snakehead.
The pinstripes are gone.
The vest-jerseys are gone.
The home uniforms are white with red writing trimmed in sand; road gray uniforms feature new lettering for the word "Arizona." Alternate jerseys are black with the "A" logo done in red and sand, and red with the D-Backs script in sand.
Phoenix-based Campbell Fisher Design, the firm that did the team's original uniforms, updated the look so the merchandise would be more popular and so the uniforms would be more TV friendly, with the team's name shorter and therefore easier to read for viewers.
"The uniforms we had were really divisive," team President Derrick Hall said.
Purple and turquoise was a color combination that fans either loved or hated, he said, and it was the first change Major League Baseball suggested when it approached the team about a new look.
"You're just not going to get everybody to wear purple for whatever reason," Hall said.
Red, sand and black are more universally acceptable colors for men and women, and look more fashion-forward, according to designer Greg Fisher. And this fall, red was a major accent color on the runways, but he insists sports marketing had more to do with the new look than fashion trends.
"We wanted to give the new look more energy and excitement, to work from a merchandising standpoint as well as a uniform standpoint," he said.
Jackson, a first baseman, said he loves the new uniforms.
"Personally, I wasn't a big fan of the purple," he said. "But the team won a World Series in those colors and they were there with (Jerry) Colangelo from the start, but it's kind of a new era and you've got to have a new look."
New merchandise is for sale at dbacks.com and at the Team Shop at Chase Field.
And rather than just putting it all up on eBay, the team will be donating teal and purple clothing, uniforms and other merchandise to military families in the U.S. and overseas, and to the team's camp in the Dominican Republic, to pass on to children living there.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/pics/1108uniformsbig.jpg
Megan Finnerty
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 8, 2006 09:59 PM
Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Conor Jackson looked hot in his new uniform.
Truthfully, he is pretty model-esque, but the new Sedona Red, Sonoran Sand and black uniform definitely helped.
Wednesday night, Jackson, Orlando Hudson, Eric Byrnes and manager Bob Melvin, among others, modeled the team's new, more aggressive look at the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale, and fans said they loved it.
"I think it's sexy, it's strong, it's hot," said Melissa Leonesio, 40-ish, of Paradise Valley. "It makes us look like we're the team to beat."
The new color palette replaces the turquoise, copper, black and purple look the team's been sporting since its inaugural season of 1998. The changes:
The snake logo is curvier, more realistic and less angular.
The front of the uniform now reads "D backs," in pointy, fang-like letters, with a tiny diamond between the "D" and the "b."
There's a new patch on the arm of a lowercase angular "d" and "b" that looks like an evil snakehead.
The pinstripes are gone.
The vest-jerseys are gone.
The home uniforms are white with red writing trimmed in sand; road gray uniforms feature new lettering for the word "Arizona." Alternate jerseys are black with the "A" logo done in red and sand, and red with the D-Backs script in sand.
Phoenix-based Campbell Fisher Design, the firm that did the team's original uniforms, updated the look so the merchandise would be more popular and so the uniforms would be more TV friendly, with the team's name shorter and therefore easier to read for viewers.
"The uniforms we had were really divisive," team President Derrick Hall said.
Purple and turquoise was a color combination that fans either loved or hated, he said, and it was the first change Major League Baseball suggested when it approached the team about a new look.
"You're just not going to get everybody to wear purple for whatever reason," Hall said.
Red, sand and black are more universally acceptable colors for men and women, and look more fashion-forward, according to designer Greg Fisher. And this fall, red was a major accent color on the runways, but he insists sports marketing had more to do with the new look than fashion trends.
"We wanted to give the new look more energy and excitement, to work from a merchandising standpoint as well as a uniform standpoint," he said.
Jackson, a first baseman, said he loves the new uniforms.
"Personally, I wasn't a big fan of the purple," he said. "But the team won a World Series in those colors and they were there with (Jerry) Colangelo from the start, but it's kind of a new era and you've got to have a new look."
New merchandise is for sale at dbacks.com and at the Team Shop at Chase Field.
And rather than just putting it all up on eBay, the team will be donating teal and purple clothing, uniforms and other merchandise to military families in the U.S. and overseas, and to the team's camp in the Dominican Republic, to pass on to children living there.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/pics/1108uniformsbig.jpg