Keepin’ It Rail In Altoona
Last night one had the sense that something big was about to go down in Altoona. Anticipation hung in the air like a thick layer of misty morning fog. And the tension? The tension was palpable.
Palpable, I tell you.
In the month of November, an emphatic OMG! emanating from the inner recesses of a Minor League stadium can only mean one thing.
Yep, you guessed it. A new logo:
The new primary logo seen above replaces this:
Remaining constant, of course, is the team’s adherence to the railroad theme. After all, “Curve” is an homage to the famous 220 degree Horseshoe Curve train track that winds around the summit of the Allegheny Mountains.
The Horseshoe Curve is what inspired this secondary mark:
The team remarks in the press release that “It’s believed the Curve is the first and only professional sports franchise in the commonwealth to use the keystone as part of its primary logo.”
The Pennsylvania keystone gains further prominence with this, a third logo:
As a Pennsylvania native, I’m a big fan of the logo seen above. I think I’ll have to get one of these caps and pretend the “A” represents my hometown of Ambler. Anybody out there have any love for (or at least knowledge of) Ambler?
The uniforms will be revealed early next month, but the Curve do note that “Further honoring the area’s railroad ties is the new color scheme for the team: Railroad Red, Boiler Bronze, Charcoal Gray, and Soot Black.”
The logos were designed by Minor League stalwarts Plan B Branding, always proponents of attention to detail and local emphasis. On the Plan B blog, designer Casey White notes that “there are a ton of hidden symbols infused into this new brand” and that they “contain one of the coolest twists to an official On-Field that we’ve ever created.”
Heady words, those.
Instead of doing investigative reporting, I’ll just solicit feedback from the readership — Anyone
see any hidden symbols in the new logos? The latest edition of the team’s “Tuna Vision” web series provides plenty of info on the motivations for the new logo, but precious little on potential hidden symbols.
Finally, the club is currently soliciting names for the engineer featured in the primary logo. Email your suggestions to engineer@altoonacurve.com
I’d go with “Casey at the Track”, in honor of folk hero engineer Casey Jones. That guy sure has had a lot of songs written about him.
benjamin.hill@mlb.com
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