New era for Bears baseball

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Yakima - Beginning in 1920, Yakima has developed a long and cherished tradition of professional baseball. Since that inaugural year, Yakima teams have played 46 seasons of professional baseball under 6 different nicknames in 3 different minor leagues. There is no disputing that professional baseball has been integral to Yakima's community life.

Throughout the last two years, the Bears have taken steps to assure that long storied tradition continues. By investing in a new state of the art video board, purchasing property for a permanent downtown office, signing a 10 year lease extension that runs through 2015, and securing over 1.3 million dollars of State-financed Yakima County Stadium improvements, the Bears ownership has shown their commitment to the Yakima Valley.

"Our local owners, Mike and Laura McMurray love calling Yakima their home," noted General Manager, K.L. Wombacher. "They have shown how committed they are to keeping professional baseball alive and prosperous in Yakima."

Over the summer, the Bears enlisted the Silverman Group, who is well respected within professional and college ranks, to assist them with the review of the current team identity system. The goal of this project was to develop a new look that is classic and compliments their current state in the community. The Bears are here for the long hall, and they want a look that reflects that commitment. The two main things that were untouchable in this process were the team nickname, "Bears," and also the team mascot, "Boomer." Everything else was free game. Over the course of 5 months, a completely new Team Identity System was created.

"We couldn't be happier with the results," said General Manager, K.L. Wombacher. "This was a long, but fun process. The Silverman Group did a great job listening to what we want and the end result is fantastic! We feel this new team identity is a great reflection of who we are and who we want to be."

Today at a press conference, team officials unveiled the new primary logo, new team colors, three new hat designs, new uniforms, and even a new youth logo.