New Era Alphabet Challenge - E

Today's cap representing E could be split into three different blog posts. Interesting considering this isn't a standout classic logo like some of the others have been. In fact, it's a somewhat obscure short season minor league cap. It just happens to have one of the coolest and creative logos to come out in quite a few years.

So without further adieu...

Turning the Seattle Mariners classic trident logo 90 degrees. Ahhh... clever.

The road cap of the Seattle Mariners short season-A Northwest League affiliate Everett Aquasox. Purple and aqua never looked so good together. And as for that logo? It's so simple, just a twist on the throwback Mariners trident logo. How did nobody think of this before? It's perfectly genius!

This leads me to something which I will only briefly touch on. This logo was the work of a design firm then known as Plan B Branding, now known as Brandiose. Those with whom I've had more in depth discussions about logos know how I feel about Brandiose. They've done some great work, as evidenced here as well as the now defunct Casper Ghosts, Tulsa Drillers etc. But the work they've done lately, in my opinion, has been an exercise in how gaudy and tacky can one make a team's identity. Clearly, they are doing something right because by and large, people are clamoring for their business, and the sales of rebranded merchandise seems to be doing very well for the teams who do utilize their services. I just look at minor league logos in particular in terms of longevity. And none of the recent rebranding efforts I've seen have that future classic quality. They are very flashy, but I just don't think 20 years from now someone is going to look at a piece of asparagus on a cap and go oh yeah, love that Ports cap. That's not to say I don't respect the work they do, some of it is fantastic, but there's a reason why the E representative is the Everett trident E and not the Eugene Emeralds Sasquatch footprint E. I just don't like the look of it. My hope is that this recent trend of over the top jersey colors and cap logos ends quickly. People shouldn't have to look at the cap I'm wearing and go "what the heck is that?" A team's logo is its identity. It should to an extent represent the story of that team. It should not, however, have to literally tell a story.

Just my two cents.

Also, this particular cap is made in China, as opposed to traditional minor league caps which were made in the United States. I went through a phase where I was appalled at the quality of the Chinese caps. There really is a completely different feel to them. Everywhere from the visor, to the crown. Even the fabric is different. Some are worse than others. Again, I could get into a lot more detail, but I won't. Let's just say that even though this Everett cap is my choice to represent the letter E, wearing this cap today reminded me of why I developed such a deep disdain for the Chinese made caps. The crown feels too high and the visor feels like it was cut from a take home pizza carton. I seriously wish there was a way I could get a replacement of this cap with a guarantee that it would be a US made one.

On a side note, this season's crop of minor league caps I did get included some that surprisingly were US made. I was very pleased.

Moving on, I don't have a lot of caps that sport the letter E, so here are the rest. Or the other two:

Defunct caps. Edmonton Trappers and the old Eugene Emeralds.