What's hot in the Arizona desert for next spring?
Purple and teal are out. Sedona red, Sonoran sand and black are in.
The Arizona Diamondbacks debuted their new team colors, uniforms and logos on Wednesday night at a fashion show in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The change comes months after the Diamondbacks, after consulting with fans and designers, decided to ditch the purple and teal duds for what the team deemed a more modern look.
Gone are the pinstripes and vest jerseys. In their place are uniforms with Sedona red, Sonoran sand (a variant of beige) and black, and lettering in a typeface that brings 80's heavy metal bands to mind. And the snake in the team's "D" logo has been made more angular and aggressive-looking.
The Diamondbacks will wear white at home, gray on the road and black third jerseys.
Why the change? Team president Derrick Hall told the Arizona Republic that fans either loved or hated the the old purple and turquoise colors -- and it was the first change Major League Baseball suggested when it approached the team about a different look.
"You're just not going to get everybody to wear purple for whatever reason," Hall said.
Designer Greg Fisher of Phoenix-based Campbell Fisher Design told the newspaper that red, sand and
black palette are more fashion-forward, as well as more acceptable colors to men and women. But he said sports marketing was a more important factor than red's popularity on fashion show runways this fall.
"You're just not going to get everybody to wear purple for whatever reason."
--D-backs team president Derrick Hall.
"We wanted to give the new look more energy and excitement, to work from a merchandising standpoint as well as a uniform standpoint," said Fisher, whose firm also designed the old Diamondback uniforms. The team had worn purple and turquoise since it first took the field in 1998.
First baseman Conor Jackson, who helped model the new uniforms, said he likes them.
"Personally, I wasn't a big fan of the purple," he told the Republic. "But the team won a World Series in those colors and they were there with [Jerry] Colangelo from the start, but it's kind of a new era and you've got to have a new look."
The Diamondbacks have a lot of baseball company in the red zone. The Red Sox, Cardinals, Reds and Angels have always worn red; the Phillies, Twins, Nationals, Indians, Braves, and Astros wear it now as a primary or third color; and the White Sox and Rangers have used it as a primary color in the past.