Historical Lore and Local Flavor Shape New Look

Team Freshens Up Look for First Time Since 1994

By Pat Turner - SAMISSIONS.COM

November 21, 2014

Missions president Burl Yarbrough and his staff are proud of the San Antonio baseball franchise's 110-year history.

At the same time, the Missions' brass is fascinated by the city and Texas' history, especially the story of the Alamo.

When the Missions started talking about changing their logo and overall look for the 2015 season, they decided to show a little Texas pride.

The new appearance, which features a salute to Davy Crockett and the Alamo, will remind fans how much that history means to the Missions, San Antonio patrons and Texans.

"The history is what we were aiming for," said Yarbrough, who has gone through three logo changes since becoming part of the San Antonio club in 1988. "Our club has been around since 1888 and we wanted to pay tribute to that. We are a charter member of the Texas League and proud of that.

"The Alamo is a big part of our history in San Antonio and Texas. I visited here when I was younger living in Fort Worth and loved it. Texans are proud of their history and where they are from. We wanted to tell our story through the logos."

The Missions introduced the new look to the public in classic fashion by holding the event at Alamo Plaza this past Thursday. Mother Nature tried to put a damper on the occasion but even a little rain couldn't dampen the excitement during the unveiling of the logos, caps and uniforms.

In addition to having coaches from nearby Trinity University modeling the uniforms, mascot Ballapeno made an appearance, along with re-enactors of the Alamo.

"We wanted to do something special," Yarbrough said. "With the Alamo being part of our logo, we thought this would be a neat place to introduce everything."

Backed by a silhouette of the Alamo, the Missions' logo colors, which were black and gold, sport a midnight blue, Texas sandstone and freedom red with "San Antonio Missions, since 1888" written across it. The blue is similar to the colors of the San Diego Padres, the Missions' Major League affiliate.

The most popular attraction might be the primary home cap with the letters SA displaying San Antonio history. The S is shaped like Davy Crockett's coonskin cap, while the A resembles the Alamo with the Mission bell ringing in the middle, along with a Lone Star.

The road cap bares an M, which represents all the missions in the city, along with the ringing bell. There is also a batting practice cap, which features mascot Ballapeno's spicy cousin in the shape of an S with the Alamo A.

Ballapeno also has a new look as the mascot will be donning a coonskin cap.

The home uniforms are classic white, trimmed with a traditional midnight blue piping around the front of the chest and sleeves, also featuring the Missions across the chest in their new Texian Font outlined in their Foundation Colors. The alternate uniforms are midnight blue and have the coonskin S and Alamo A on the front. The road uniforms are gray. On the sleeve of each uniform is a rugged Texas flag.

This is the first change the Missions have made since 1994.

"We've been talking about doing something," Yarbrough said. "We were waiting for the right time to do something. After 21 years we thought the time was right time to freshen things up. This works. We have the history and it fits in with the Padres colors as well."

When deciding to make the change, the Missions called on Brandiose, a company which specializes in creating logos for Major League and minor league teams. Ironically, the two-man crew of Jason Klein and Casey White are based out of San Diego.

The two have made their make on the baseball world. Their credits include logos for the Richmond Flying Squirrels and the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. However, their most popular work came last year with the creation of the El Paso Chihuahuas, which was the top selling logo of 2014.

When an opportunity to put their creativity to use for the Missions came their way, Klein and White were ready and willing.

They came to San Antonio this past May and got a feel of the overall atmosphere. In addition to meeting the Missions' front office personnel, they saw a few games, visited the Alamo and got better acquainted with the city and became fans of the local Mexican food establishments.

Once they got a sample of San Antonio and the Missions, the creative juices started flowing.

"San Antonio and the Missions have so much history," Klein said. "The story of the Alamo is one of the greatest in American history. Some people don't even know the connection with Davy Crockett and the Alamo. We wanted to add that because it is the heart and soul of the San Antonio area.

"We wanted to celebrate the history of the Missions. We added a few little things like the coonskin cap and the Texas flag on the sleeves. There's a sense of pride and fighting spirit. I think we captured that."

The Missions have no doubt they captured it fully.

"Working with Brandiose we wanted to refresh our look and image," Missions general manager Dave Gasaway said. "At the same time we wanted to pay homage to the roots and history of professional baseball in the city. The Brandiose team came out here multiple times. They educated themselves on San Antonio history and what it means to be a Texan. More importantly, they educated themselves on what it means to be a citizen of San Antonio. We're excited about bringing in a new era of Missions baseball."