MLB not apparently all that sorry about leaking the new logo

Something I've been kicking myself about since last weekend, when Academy was selling the new merchandise, is that I didn't put it together that they had to get that merchandise from somewhere. And that somewhere, of course, was MLB. Well, MLB apologized to the Astros for sending out their new merchandise a week before the unveiling.

MLB:
"We apologize to the Houston Astros and their great fans for the premature, online availability of officially-licensed product featuring the new Astros logo. It is an error that should have been caught and an error we regret."

Well, apparently they don't regret it too much, because MLB Advanced Media has now updated player pages to feature the new cap and logo:

Personally, I like it. But for God's sake, MLB, get your crap together.

UPDATE: MLB tweeted this out from their normally-useless official account:

MLB Advanced Media, in advance of super-storm Sandy, inadvertently posted photos of players in their new uniforms on @Astros.com bio pages.

12:13pm Updated Update: MLBAM has changed the player pages back to the old color scheme. 

Academy awfully sorry for selling new Astros merchandise before the Astros unveiled it

So it kind of spilled earlier today that Topps had accidentally tweeted out a picture of the new logo. That sucked. But when fan @Astromo1977 tweeted a pic he took at a Houston-area Academy of some new merchandise, it got fishy.

Turns out, yep, Academy had started selling the new Astros merchandise before the Astros had unveiled it.

This prompted an apology from Academy which basically said, "Yeah - we kind of nutted that...sorry. Looking forward to the launch!"

Astros screw up, show everyone most of the uniform

Over at SportsLogosNews, they take the Astros Launch Party invitation and do some filtering to see what the new unis look like.

We're not going to take their pageviews, so go on over and look for yourself.

And I was going to leave it at that, but decided to comment further. Are the Astros Marketing Staff kidding? The Joe Niekro Incident, Lowrie beating cleanup from the lead-off spot, error-filled tweets, and now they (probably) just blew the whole point of whipping up excitement over new uniforms because they didn't think, "Hey, maybe we shouldn't use the actual jersey and turn off some lights for a picture?"

Astros to Orange & Navy?

The Score has a link to a post on Chris Creamer's Sports Logos News saying the Astros will be returning to the Orange & Navy.

As for the new Astros logo, I’ve been told it will be a new design for the team but similar to other recent new MLB team logos in San Diego and Washington, hard to get excited about that aspect of the new look.

Should this be true, we'll be excited, because we won't have to change our own color scheme.

Crane sort of had an idea this would happen

David Barron talked to a sharply-dressed Jim Crane before the Wives Gala last night:

“It is what it is. We knew the team was bad, and we knew the minor league system was bad."

We also learn that there will be some September Call-Ups in the form of auditions, and talks uniforms. So click that link.

We just might get the Orange and Blue back

In an expanded article, Zachary Levine tells us about the potential new uniforms and logo coming our way in 2013.

Jim Crane:
“We’ll blend some of the new with the history of the team and some of the colors in the past. We’ve selected it all and we’re about to submit it. We’re due in on the 30th, so everything’s set to go to baseball for approval.”

There you have it!

Controversy over uni design!

A whole bunch of tweets this morning inform us about the new Astros' uni design as they prepare for impending Junior Circuit-dom:

The Astros have a design in mind, but nothing has been submitted to MLB for approval. This is directly contradicted by KPRC's Randy McIlvoy, who says that not only has the design been completed, but it has been submitted to MLB for approval and will be unveiled after the season.

Also, Craig Biggio had his lapsed contract as Special Assistant to the GM renewed.

UPDATE: Levine was kind enough to respond:
The quote is "we've selected it all and we're about to submit it." We interviewed separately, may have gotten different things.

Crane tours Marlins Park, will submit a new uniform soon

TCPalm.com has an article up on Jim Crane, whose Floridian Golf Club is in Palm City.

Jason Castro is quite excited to have Crane as the owner:
"We've had a little bit of interaction with him and I'm really impressed with everything I've seen. He definitely knows the direction he wants to go with the club and it's exciting to be a part of this right now."

Crane, on any imminent changes:
"I can continue (to say) we haven't made the decision yet, but we're going to submit something to see if we can get it approved. Yes, we're still working on it."

And, in a breath of fresh air, Crane had this to say on what to expect from his touring:
"...next year with all the information we'll get from the ballparks, continue to work on improving our staff and improve things at our place. Of course (Luhnow) will constantly be working with his staff. We'll run the business side and let him run the baseball side and hopefully we can win some more ball games.

MLB: Maybe the Gun is fine

Zachary Levine just tweeted:

MLB gave Astros go-ahead to put pistol on Colt .45 jersey if they want. They'll decide by tomorrow and announce.

We did it!*

(* - maybe not)

Jim Crane isn't happy with MLB

Big League Stew has an update in which Jim Crane wrote back to a now-former Astros fan, about the removal of the gun from the Colt .45s throw-backs:

Crane:
Thank you for your comments concerning the Colt .45s jersey. I would like to say up front that I agree with you. Unfortunately, MLB has made this a requirement and their decisions are out of our control.

Monday Morning Sausage Links

Here's what you need to know from over the weekend:

Brad Mills' interview with the Visalia Times-Delta:
"We're not there yet. This organization isn't in that spot yet. We're going through a process of getting better and refurbishing our ball club and helping out our major league team. But, we're not there right now. That's not a bad thing. It's really a good thing."

Jim Crane:
“If you’ve got everybody understanding what you’re trying to do and how you want to run things, they’ll either get in line or they won’t be on the team. That’s the way we’re going to run it here. I think that message was loud and clear. There will be consistency and unity — we want the players supporting the coaches and the coaches supporting the players — and we’ll stay very focused on that.”

Carlos Lee:
“I’ll tell you what, I want to stay healthy and go out there and do my best. I can’t put any pressure. I don’t even know if I’m going to keep playing or not, so I’m just going to go out there and do my job and help the team that I’m on right now to win as many games as we can.”

The Astros are leaning towards a uni change next year, Chris Johnson has been trying out some first base, and Brad Mills looks at last year's record as "a big stick sitting in your rear end."

This is a joke, yes?

First: I have read this Charleston Post & Courier column six times trying to determine any sly wink-wink undertones that establishes the writer's tongue is planted firmly in the aforementioned's cheek. I don't believe it's sarcasm:

America's children are our future.

Too bad they're menaced by insidious images from our sporting past -- and present.

At least they will no longer be subjected to the jarring specter of a gun on the "throwback" jerseys occasionally worn by the Houston Astros.

The National League expansion team was known as the Houston Colt .45s from 1962-64, sporting uniforms with the word "Colts" above a drawing of the fearsome firearm that helped tame the West. Way back then, grown-up folks lacked this era's enlightened sensitivities about the dangers of exposing young folks to such violent visuals.

And so on. He goes on to explain that not all Irish want to fight, and laments the trivialization of cock-fighting in reference to the South Carolina Gamecocks, and a number of other sports-teams logos and nicknames that could send the message that Clemson and their "zany antics trivialize the plight of an awesome species apparently bound toward extinction due to mankind's species-centric disregard for nature's wonders."

(I was half-waiting to see if the "Astros" name is offensive because it hearkens back to a day when we engaged those dirty pig Commies in a race to leave the perfectly good atmosphere God had created just for us to live and breathe in). Just to keep my eyes from liquefying, I'm going to assume it's sarcasm. Because if it's not tongue-in-cheek, the "subliminal signals your kids receive when they watch sports" are much less of a threat than being subjected to this level of gravitas.

So open-minded your brains fall out

By now you've probably heard that, in the process of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the franchise, the Astros planned to wear throwback uniforms, including the Colt .45s uni, which of course featured a Colt .45. That's not going to happen, because we live in a society full of weak-minded people who just might see a gun on a throwback uni and decide to go on a blood-soaked rampage.

In a response to Astros Daily, Astros rep Mike Acosta wrote:
During our discussion with Major League Baseball, it was expressed to us that we could wear the uniform as long as the pistol was removed. We realize this changes the original design, but we still want to honor the Colt .45s. We are also under an obligation to follow Major League Baseball's requests.

I had a very similar response to Yahoo's Kevin Kaduk, so in deference to the guy who published it first, I'll insert this:
It's two games. It's one gun. Baseball should either remember history right or it shouldn't remember it at all.

I was a history major in college. I currently work at a historic site that deals with some of the most uncomfortable topics in American history. Do you know what would happen if we took those stories out of the interpretation of the site for which I work? Weeping. Gnashing of teeth. At best it's just ignorant. At worst it's racist. And rightly so - you can't change history because it's uncomfortable.

So to remove a gun from a uniform that was only going to be used for two games, and likely in front of 40,000 people - tops - to which ESPN would give perhaps 20 seconds of coverage - tops - is preposterous. No one is going to leave Minute Maid Park on April 10 and 20 and think, "Damn those unis were hot! I'm going to get a Colt .45 and shoot somebody." At least no one who is not already in prison. Selig must think that this would be the result, as people head out into the Houston night.

















A quick look at the 2nd Amendment would tell you that a well-regulated militia has the right to keep and bear arms. Baseball teams, and the Astros, in particular, are not well-regulated militias, so they would not fall under 2nd Amendment protection, so MLB has the Consititutional right to deny the Astros to bear arms on their uniforms. (/sarcasm)

But seriously, are you surprised? (I didn't think Selig had it in for Houston or the Astros, but I'm now starting to wonder). Prior to the 1953 season, the Cincinnati Reds changed their name to the Redlegs lest good, clean, capitalist Americans think they Cincinnati was fielding a team full of Communists.

Every now and then we at Astros County try to tell you how to feel. So should you be outraged by MLB? It's okay to be angry, but by God, if Selig makes the Astros house British soldiers at Minute Maid, then we're burning MLB down.

To repeat Kevin Kaduk:
It's two games. It's one gun.

MLB coming to explore new uniforms

Zachary Levine's new post lets everyone know that MLB's "team" is coming next week to explore the possibility of the Astros going to new uniforms.

Odds are 5:1 that Selig wants to put his smiling face on the front, giving us The Shocker.