Major League Baseball logo
Encyclopedia
The Major League Baseball logo was designed by Jerry Dior in 1968 and was included on all on-field uniforms of Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 employees beginning in the 1969 season.

Creation

According to Dior, the logo was created in a single afternoon. Contrary to popular belief, the silhouette is not modeled on any specific player but was drawn with reference to photographs of several players. The silhouette was chosen specifically because of its ambiguity: the batter could be right- or left-handed and of any ethnic background.

Controversy

For many years, the authorship of the logo was a matter of some dispute as two graphic designers laid claim to creating the piece: Jerry Dior (working for the marketing firm of Sandgren & Murtha ) and James Sherman
James Sherman (comics)
James Sherman is an artist known for his work in American comic books, movies and logos.-Career:In comics he is known for his pencil work on Legion of Super-Heroes in the late 1970s, when he took over as regular artist following Mike Grell. His run, which ended halfway during the multiple issue...

, who is probably better known publicly as a comic book illustrator. In November, 2008, ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 writer Paul Lukas managed to clear the matter up and Dior's authorship is no longer in doubt. Upon closely examining the logo, Sherman declared:


"That's not my logo, and I was totally unaware that it existed... The logo I created was very similar, but I designed it in the early 1980s. All I can say is that I was so sports-unaware that I didn't know about the earlier logo. I feel like a total idiot now that I didn't know about it. I'm flabbergasted."

Popularity and influence

The logo has not been changed in the years since its adoption, except that individual teams sometimes alter the coloring to match their uniform colors. Since its adoption, the basic model of an athlete or equipment used for the sport in silhouette
Silhouette
A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a basically featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black. Although the art form has been popular since the mid-18th century, the term “silhouette” was seldom used until the early decades...

 flanked by red and blue has also been incorporated in the logos of the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

 (with Jerry West
Jerry West
Jerry Alan West is a retired American basketball player who played his entire professional career for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . His nicknames include "Mr...

 as its player model), Women's National Basketball Association
Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of twelve teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association...

, American Hockey League
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...

, National Lacrosse League
National Lacrosse League
The National Lacrosse League is a men's professional indoor lacrosse league in North America. It currently has nine teams; three in Canada and six in the United States. Unlike other lacrosse leagues which play in the summer, the NLL plays its games in the winter and spring. Each year, the playoff...

, Indy Racing League, and Major League Gaming
Major League Gaming
Major League Gaming , founded in 2002 by Sundance DiGiovanni and Mike Sepso, is a North American professional Electronic sports organization, headquartered in New York City, New York. MLG has held official video game tournaments throughout the United States and Canada. Major League Gaming...

. It has also been parodied in Major League Eating
Major League Eating
Major League Eating is a franchise that sanctions professional competitive eating events and competitive eating television specials. The purported mission of Major League Eating is to maintain a safe environment for all events, while also seeking to create a dynamic and enjoyable fan experience...

.

Alan Siegel
Alan Siegel
Alan Siegel is founder and Chairman of Siegel+Gale.-Early life:Alan Siegel was born August 26, 1938 to Eugene and Ruth Siegel in New York. Siegel attended Long Beach High where he played basketball under Robert Gersten. His dream was always to go to college on a basketball scholarship...

, who oversaw Dior's logo, deliberately based his NBA logo design off the MLB's in 1969 because NBA Commissioner
Commissioner of the NBA
The Commissioner of the NBA is the chief executive of the National Basketball Association. He is elected by the NBA owners.-Maurice Podoloff :Maurice Podoloff was the first president of the National Basketball Association...

 J. Walter Kennedy wanted a family relationship between the sports as being All-American.
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