# MLB v NFL Logos **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 29, 2008, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-v-nfl-logos/465722 "2008-09-29T15:35:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-v-nfl-logos/465722/1 "2008-09-29T15:35:43Z")
Why do most MLB logos contain words or letters while most NFL logos are symbols? Why don’t MLB teams just put simple symbols on the front on their jerseys instead of spelling out the team names? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-v-nfl-logos/465722/2 "2008-09-29T15:57:58Z")
WAG: Many baseball teams have nicknames that don’t readily translate to a pictographic logo. Dodgers Yankees Reds Athletics etc. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-v-nfl-logos/465722/3 "2008-09-29T16:02:06Z")
In addition to the fact that baseball teams often have less than picturesque names, it’s just tradition. Baseball teams always had letters on their caps, and so they still have them. Fans like it that way. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-v-nfl-logos/465722/4 "2008-09-29T16:03:47Z")
Baseball fans tend to be literate? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-v-nfl-logos/465722/5 "2008-09-29T16:06:40Z")
In addition to the other answers, NFL logos are on helmets. They provide a bigger place for the logo than the front of a cap. They’re shiny, which makes the logo look better/cooler. Most jerseys have just the team name or city for both NFL and MLB. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-v-nfl-logos/465722/6 "2008-09-29T16:09:08Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > Why don’t MLB teams just put simple symbols on the front on their jerseys instead of spelling out the team names? Most of the space on the front of an NFL jersey is taken up by the player’s number. MLB jerseys don’t usually do that, so they have room to spell out the team name and traditionally they have done so. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-v-nfl-logos/465722/7 "2008-09-29T16:23:30Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Most of the space on the front of an NFL jersey is taken up by the player’s number. MLB jerseys don’t usually do that, so they have room to spell out the team name and traditionally they have done so. You could just spell out the name on the NFL helmet. I was thinking about this because I was watching MLB highlights and I found it difficult to read the words on the front of the jerseys on TV. Then, I thought it would be better to have a big symbol instead of a word: something readily identifiable from a distance that would also look better than if someone just scrawled the team name on the front of a shirt. I guess I find stylized lettering to be difficult to decipher, ugly, and lacking in creativity. Also, some NFL teams don’t translate directly into logos, but they have managed to come up with pictorial logos instead of just stylized fonts: Texans Cowboys Patriots Titans Chiefs Bills Steelers Saints Buccaneers ---
**Author:** ![TheBoltEater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheBoltEater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoltEater)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-v-nfl-logos/465722/8 "2008-09-29T22:30:59Z")
Well, MLB teams do have logos, and generally feature them on their hats in the same way NFL teams do on their helmets, but many MLB logos are simply a single letter or two letters hooked together. The Yankees, Dodgers, Padres, Giants and Tampa Bay with 2 letters, Boston, Atlanta, Seattle and Texas with just one off the top of my head. A few teams do have pictorial logos as well. Cleveland has their (in)famous Chief Wahoo, the Orioles bird logo is pretty nice and Milwaukee’s been using their throwback mitt logo a lot recently as well. Personally, I tend to favor the NFL, but that’s true for everything about the game, and not just the logos. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-v-nfl-logos/465722/9 "2008-09-29T23:53:50Z")
Several of the NFL helmet logos appear to copy MLB’s cap style of just having initials, such as the Giants’ “NY”, the Bears’ “C”, Packers’ “G”, and 49ers’ “SF”. The Chiefs’ logo just encloses the “KC” initials inside of an arrowhead. (Aside: Have the Georgia Bulldogs, Grambling Tigers and Packers agreed among themselves not to consider the others use of the “G” on the helmet a trademark violation?) ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-v-nfl-logos/465722/10 "2008-09-30T00:07:10Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > WAG: Many baseball teams have nicknames that don’t readily translate to a pictographic logo. > Dodgers > Yankees > Reds > Athletics > etc. Dodgers = Go with the fly ball logo without the lettering Yankees = Could go with something like the Patriots, in theory anyway Reds = Hell, I dunno. I guess it’s as bad as the Browns. Athletics = Hmmm. Jock strap? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-v-nfl-logos/465722/11 "2008-09-30T00:30:58Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Baseball fans tend to be literate? > > 😃 This was my first thought. You don’t find many baseball fans painting themselves green and standing shirtless in sub-freezing temperatures, either. It’s a whole brain cell issue. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-v-nfl-logos/465722/12 "2008-09-30T00:36:18Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > This was my first thought. You don’t find many baseball fans painting themselves green and standing shirtless in sub-freezing temperatures, either. It’s a whole brain cell issue. Because it’s a summer sport … duh! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Outpits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4bbf92/32.png) [@Outpits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Outpits)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-v-nfl-logos/465722/13 "2008-09-30T16:56:45Z")
> [@TheBoltEater](#): > > Well, MLB teams do have logos, and generally feature them on their hats in the same way NFL teams do on their helmets, but many MLB logos are simply a single letter or two letters hooked together. The Yankees, Dodgers, Padres, Giants and Tampa Bay with 2 letters, Boston, Atlanta, Seattle and Texas with just one off the top of my head. > > A few teams do have pictorial logos as well. Cleveland has their (in)famous Chief Wahoo, the Orioles bird logo is pretty nice and Milwaukee’s been using their throwback mitt logo a lot recently as well. > > Personally, I tend to favor the NFL, but that’s true for everything about the game, and not just the logos. St. Louis, of course, has three letters interlocked on their caps. Also, the birds on the bat logo is one of the classiest and most timeless in sports. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-v-nfl-logos/465722/14 "2008-09-30T17:25:15Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > This was my first thought. You don’t find many baseball fans painting themselves green and standing shirtless in sub-freezing temperatures, either. It’s a whole brain cell issue. It’s not terribly uncommon to see 6 shirtless guys at a Red Sox game with R E D S O X painted on their chests. Whether the E and the O guys never actually switch places, or the TV producers just refuse to show it when they do, is still a mystery. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-v-nfl-logos/465722/15 "2008-09-30T19:05:02Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > Athletics = Hmmm. Jock strap? The team already has a pictorial logo – [a white elephant](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v702/OldTomBombadil/Baseball/100thAnniversaryFranchise.gif). [Here is an explanation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_Athletics#Elephant_Mascot) of how the symbol came to be adopted. [This is a depiction](http://tommcmahon.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/04/08/phila2.gif) of an earlier Philadelphia A’s logo.