FanPost

A's Two As logos

Major League Baseball is chock-full of mysteries. Who was really the first black major leaguer? Was Shoeless Joe Jackson in on the fix of the 1919 World Series? Why do the Oakland Athletics have two A’s logos?

Using state-of-the-art photo analysis equipment, I’ll examine the A’s two logos.

Above, you’ll see the A’s team seal logo and their emblem logo. Both are currently official logos for the team and used interchangeably. Let’s just call the one on the left Logo 1 and the one of the right Logo 2.

At a glance, the "A’s" within Logo 1 appears the same as Logo 2. Prepare to have your mind blown…

The anchors of each A’s logo are distinctly different.

The swoosh of each version are also clearly different designs.

And the apostrophes don’t match up.

According to my obsessive compulsive memory, Logo 1 was adopted prior to the 1973 season. It appeared on their jerseys, caps and 1972 World Series rings. This logo remained on their caps until the 1994 season when the A’s introduced their all green road caps with a gold colored A’s emblem. At that point, the A’s also swapped out Logo 1 for Logo 2 on their home caps with the white A’s and gold bills.

Incidentally, the A’s script logo on their home and road jerseys were also tweaked for the 1994 season. The "O" in Oakland was attached to the "akland" and the "A" received an upgrade with the two swooshes on the top. The lettering of "thletics" was also evened out. See comparisons below if that’s the sort of thing you want to do with your life. My computer independently decided to tint this picture teal. I’m too lazy to figure it out, so here it is.

If you notice the "1994-Present" Athletics script contains an "A" that bears a resemblance to Logo 1, which was replaced with Logo 2 that same season.

Do the Yankees use two versions of their interlocking NY emblem? How about the Tigers? Is this just sloppy marketing from the A’s? Do they even realize they’re using two versions of their logo?

I tried my best not to sound like a psychopath and emailed the Oakland Athletics on why they use two versions of the "A’s" logo. A’s Media Services/Credentials Manager, Debbie Gallas responded promptly, but only to inform me that she forwarded my question on to their marketing department. I have yet to hear a response. I don’t blame them.