See ya, Devil; welcome, sunburst

The Rays aren't dropping just the Devil. As part of their switch to new blue-schemed uniforms, they have taken the Tampa Bay off their road jerseys in favor of their new Rays logo. They will, however, keep the TB on their caps. Here are the images, leaked on the Internet Thursday:

The uniforms are not expected to be unveiled until November but word of their look has been trickling out.

The leaked images, above, show a clean design, a color scheme of navy and light blue with a sunburst of yellow, and a return to sleeved jerseys from vests.

They'll wear traditional all-white uniforms at home and gray on the road with navy caps, but have "alternate" navy tops and an alternate road cap with a light-blue bill. One new logo features the word Rays over a baseball diamond, and another stacks Tampa Bay and Rays.

The Rays didn't confirm that the leaked designs were the right ones, but they didn't deny it either, instead asking fans to wait for a scheduled mid-November unveiling.

"We are planning an exciting celebration this fall, at which time we will launch the new marks," team vice president Rick Vaughn said. "We will celebrate this occasion with our fans, players and supporters. We are excited to share this event with the Tampa Bay community. It will provide the first opportunity to get a complete sense of our new look and its meaning to our organization."

The images, plus details on changes other teams are making, appeared to come from a Major League Baseball produced document, and first appeared Thursday on the Web site.

The model, for what it's worth, is wearing Rocco Baldelli's No. 5.

[Photos: somethingawful.com. Click to enlarge.]

Comments

[Joe]

By the way, those are not the alternate jersies or hats, those are the Batting Practice/Spring Training jersies. I have yet to see a mockup of a 3rd/alternate jersey or a 2nd cap.

Once again, I beg the team to reconsider and put "Tampa Bay" on the road jersies. The fans HERE are the core fans and deserve recognition that the Rays play here in Tampa Bay.

[Joe]

Seems to me that Matt Silverman (or Darcy Raymond) personally felt that he/they had to cater to a bunch of interest groups in changing the logo of the team rather than be bold and identifying and branding the club in a proper manner. In short, not only do the road jersies lack Tampa Bay, but there is also the stinging Ray on the sleeve but a ray of sunshine symbolic on the jersey. Seems to me that there is a lack of boldness and too much compromise in this design.

For me, TB and Tampa Bay goes beyond the player, its the identification with the team and the area. I hope the team reconsiders this or I will be furious. I would love an explanation why there is a continued effort to "neuter" this club locally and to become "Florida's team"?

[Ray]

So we are going to change to uniforms that have the same color scheme as two other teams in our division (NY and Toronto)? It's already hard to tell the difference between the Rays and the Jays, and this makes it worse, Come on, be creative, not sterile...

[Marino]

Looks like Tampa Bay is 0-2 in the new uni department. First the Lightning's juvenile comic book look, now this completely sterile, unimaginative look from the Rays. What, is bad taste contagious in this area?

[Blaze]

who are we the frekn seatle mariners?

[Raymond]

At least with these uniforms the team will finally look like a major league baseball team - even if they don't play like one.

[andrew]

One major flaw in the new uniforms - instead of a baseball cap, what they should be wearing on their heads are dunce caps.

[Jay]

Absolute ocular vomit.

[Jay]

Absolute ocular vomit.

[Fred]

Here is the man more than likely responsible for this disaster.

http://tampabay.devilrays.mlb.com/tb/team/exe_bios/raymond_darcy.html

Darcy Raymond
Vice President of Branding and Fan Experience

Darcy joined the Rays in January 2006 in the newly created position of Vice President of Branding and Fan Experience. He is re-sponsible for developing a breakthrough fan experience at Tropi-cana Field, as well as overseeing the team's branding strategy.

Nicknamed "D-Ray", he has extensive consumer products and branding experience includ-ing five years with Procter and Gamble, the last two as a Brand Manager. He also led all marketing efforts as Vice President of Marketing for Mamma.com, a search engine company. In the summer of 2005, he developed marketing plans for Warner Home Video.

Darcy has an MBA from Harvard Business School. He also holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Concordia University's John Molson School of Business, in Montreal.

A proud native of Montreal, Darcy is fluent in French and was a hardcore Expos fan.

[Brandon Cooke]

I don't really care for these uniforms. I like the Rays because they are the home team but some things they do make it seem like they are more a minor league team. Lets' put the money into something else, for instance, raising the team salary. Stick with the uniforms we have, because nobody really has green except for Oakland and that is a different green. Most teams in the majors have some type of blue in them, and what's with the star?

[Adam]

Borrrrring!!!!

The current uniforms are one of the few good things about the franchise. No need to ruin that.

[sam]

PLEASE tell me this isn't true. KEEP THE GREEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Horribly unimaginative and boring. Just get rid of the "Devil" and keep everything else the same. Why do we need to change the uniforms? REALLY BAD!!!

[DEAR GOD!]

I can't imagine anyone will like these. Please God, tell me this is a hoax. WHY IS THERE A CHRISTMAS STAR ON THE UNIFORM??????????? IT LOOKS LIKE A SEATTLE MARINER THINGY ALL LIT UP! Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree....

[Hawkeye]

Looks like I won't be buying any "new" uni's with this color scheme.

Put me down as one that like's the current colors, just get rid of the Devil.

In fact, I don't mind the Devil in it either. Just get a few other players and let the kids show what they can do.

[kb]

un-credibly tacky. looks like they hauled in some hungover college kid who knows a couple things about photoshop, handed him $200, and said "make us a new design!"

i can't decide what's worse -- the curiously-placed "starburst" or the horrible typeface. did somebody spend too long playing with fonts in MS Paint or something?! jeesh!!!!

i hope this is a hoax (as someone said), but it's JUST bad enough that it's probably not. hope Stu's listening: THIS SUCKS! it's a reflection of our payroll and our lack of commitment to winning! everybody is embarrassed!!! back to the drawing board!!!!

[Shoop]

2 years........2 years and they come up with THAT?!

The money that i WAS going to spend on new Rays merchandise is going to be spent elsewhere.

I couldnt BE more disappointed in this.

[Tony]

Here's an idea for tampabay.com: put a poll question on your front page and Devil Rays page for the next week asking whether folks like the current uniforms or the new uniforms better. The organization says they care what the fans think, so let the people speak.

[JTM]

The Rays will be like the Jays! Why Blue? The Green was so much better!! At least the fans will be camoflauged in the empty blue seats. They should have paid a little respect to their past and kept some green somehow. The water in our area is more greenish than blue anyway. Are we supposed to be a sun ray or sting ray? BOYCOTT THIS NEW STUFF.

I don't mind the Devil going away.

[Bailey]

Wow. Just wow. They spent two years "trying to get it right" and ended up with this?

They should have hired a real design firm or multiple firms as this was their shot to right so many wrongs. How much you want to bet this was designed in-house on the cheap? Boy did they blow it.

Now get ready for the ultimate spin job as they try to BS us all by telling us how much meaning and thought was put into the design. They'll talk about how they wanted to carry over the old Ray as a way to pay respect to the past of the organization. "We were going for a classic, established look. A new day has dawned, as we, the Tampa Bay Rays, glide on rays of light towards the World Series."

At this point there is nothing that can be done about this for next season. They're probably already producing the merchandise, which many will buy. The team will ignore our critism and claim that a lot of market research and focus groups went into perfecting this masterpiece of crap.

Oh, and by the way, I've been a DEVIL RAYS fan since day one.

[don]

Unis look ok but c'mon, the current green unis kicks butt! Why change then? How many teams are in green versus how many in blue? Blue and black are overdone. Now what would be really cool? Adopt the Old Buccanner orange creamsicle colors!? Hee, hee. Just kidding of course. Keep the Green!!

[DJ]

Wow. This is not good. The weak design might have been ok if it wasn't teamed with such an aweful color scheme. It's just bad all around.

[George M.]

The fashion police just saw the new logo & the verdict is in - THEY SUCK !

[What the devil?]

Geez. You think the first post by Rays in '08 came from either a) the Rays marketing department or B) the sorry design team that created these?. Grey? Blue? And a star that belongs on top of a Christmas tree? Maybe after hearing the fans yell "Jesus Christ!" game after game they thought "hey, we could use that."

[What the devil?]

I've seen these on pony league teams. Looks like they're trying to be the Yankees and Dodgers at the same time. Unfortunately, they look like the Royals, Probably the same geniuses behind their current ad campaign behind this. Fans don't go to the games to look at other fans. They go to see a great game of baseball. Here's a clue DEVIL Rays, get some people with actual sports marketing knowledge involved with this stuff.

[Dave]

Vice President Rick Vaughn? The same guy that pitched the Indians to the '87 ALCS?

[Nail'Er]

Looks like a Sun City Center retirement softball teams logo, The Tampa Bay SUN Rays? Is that what they are trying to imply with the little sunburst in the "R"?

This is worse than Bucco Bruce, and if they think we are the laughing stock now, wait till the rest of the country sees this baloney.

This is absolutly pathetic!

[Josh]

Looks like garbagem, at least they kept the player white! Go Rays!

[Kevin in St.Pete]

This isn't good news guys. Nothing exciting here at all. The Christmas Star thing is a bit odd.

I know its been said, but the T in TB is a rip off from the Texas Rangers.

The Blue and light blue looks very Padres-esque. These are also similar to Royals and Dodgers uniforms.

They should have used blue and yellow evenly, or blue and green - like the ocean.

[ColorMeGreen]

I think they should have changed to a more yellow-green of Shrek and make that ogre be the logo (like the ol' Mighty Ducks). It would bring the youngsters out. They'd snap up every thing with TB Shrek. And they might actually see the Rays have a winning record in their lifetime.

[Mike]

If these are the uniforms they are terrible. Dull lifeless colors that look like several other teams are not what this team needs in a fresh start. Go back to the drawing board and start over

[Finnley]

wish we had the old uniform besides when will the rays be good

[Ben]

You all know this is a hoax right?

[Bill]

I just remembered where I've seen these colors before The Toronto Blue Jays had them. Nothing but bush league colors. The owners need to get a clue.

[Ted]

Has anyone thought of how nice it would be to see the team contrast the inside of the Trop just a little bit? I happen to love the colors and the scripts. Its nice to see the team embrace some classic baseball looks in the new unis. For those of you that do not like the colors, I bet you see them on the players in the Trop you will be shocked at how much better they will look.

[Ted]

Thank for dropping the Devil. I hope the colors are more vibrant. I like the uniforms having sleeves. Go Rays!

[Jake]

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cliff]

Gotta love it........But I kinda liked the "tampa Bay" on the away jerseys as a style switch for the road. The Rays current logo woiuld have looked great in blue instead of the longer barded tail "R" on the Rays. I will own one whatever they look like anyways. I still have a 1998 jersy in the wild purple hue...............Go Rays.
New uni's New attitude

[Phil J.]

OK. Speaking as a professional in the graphic design business these are the most GOD AWFUL UGLY uniforms I have ever seen. I'm including those multi colored unis worn by the Houston Astros in the 70's and those dark colored tunics worn by the White Sox years ago. These are BAAAAAAD. I hope this is some kind of joke. There is nothing wrong with the current uniforms. Drop the "Devil" if you must but these are HORRENDOUS!!! Put the money into a decent bullpen instead of these little league rejects. My 5 year old could design something better!
Uggghh! BAD!

[Mike Jones]

The R on Rays looks stupid.

[Rick Shaw]

I like the new logo stuff, you guys who don't, have no taste, this stuff is pretty cool, away with the dead fish, bring on the sunshine!

[Dan]

I hate the new logos and uniforms. There's nothing wrong with the current ones...especially compared to this boring option! If you want to take the "Devil" out of the team name, that's fine...but the unis don't need an overhaul like this. Maybe a little tweak would be better, like the blue trim on the batting practice unis...that would be fine!

[Mike Jones]

"Rays" is a good name and should be kept.

[Mike Jones]

These new uniforms suck. The green uniforms had character and were unique. People need to boycott buying the new uni's until the DRO changes back to the current uniform or something more similar to the current uniform.

[Aaron]

The uniforms look boring, uninspired and minor league-ish. As a matter of fact they look like the seattle mariners minor league uniforms.

BTW- get rid of that stupid "RAYS" name. We don't need a team named after Ray Namoli

[Brandon]

thats it...i quit, if this is the best we can do then forget it. atleast the bucs designed nice new uniforms, these uniforms reflects our payroll. let me design something. our current uniforms are great. there is no way I am going to look at these for 81 games. I will attend a couple games, maybe way up in the 300s so i cant see how ugly these thigns are in person

[Frank]

How about the Revenue Sharers as the name. Thats all they care about.

[brandon]

i know a 10 year old autistic kid who could design better unis than that, are they really serious??? are people expected to go out and buy a jersey or hat or shirt that looks like that??? jeeeeze, please help us, these are way worse than i could have imagined

[phyllis diller]

i couldn't have picked a better uniform myself! reminds me of some of my tasteful atire!!

[bill]

Those are the ugliest colors I've seen. Who's the fashion model that came up with those colors. There is nothing wrong with the current colors or name. What's the reasoning behind removing " DEVIL " from the name, To many older people thinking it's devil worship? Leave things alone. Trash those uniforms