Miami Marlins Logos

What's the story of the Miami Marlins name and logos?

The Miami Marlins first began life in 1991 claiming a spot in the National League for the 1993 season. MLB suggested the new club pursue teal or aqua, the new hot colour in sports, as a primary team colour instead of the pink Flamingos identity and colour scheme owner Wayne Huizenga favoured. Florida was selected as the locale name over Miami or South Florida despite 88% of fans polled wanting Miami. Team owners correctly predicted another Florida team was an eventuality so they went with the state name of Florida to identify the team in the hope they would win those fans before a new team could be born. On July 5, 1991, less than a month after getting the franchise, Florida Marlins was announced as the official team name.

After 19 seasons and two World Series Championships playing under the Florida Marlins banner, the team was re-named Miami Marlins on November 11, 2011. The name change was due to a deal with the City of Miami financing a new stadium closer to downtown and with the state of Florida now having two Major League franchises it seemed to make more sense. With the new name came an entirely new colour scheme, logos, and uniforms. Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, an avid-art collector, wanted a modern art-esque design for the club - the result was one that certainly strayed from team traditions. A large black, red-orange, yellow, and blue M with an orange, silver, and blue marlin leaping from it and uniforms heavy in the new dominant colours of red-orange and black.