Charlotte Knights Logos History

The City of Charlotte got "called up" to Triple-A when the International League announced they were expanding to the Queen City for the 1993 season. The new Charlotte team took on the name of their Double-A team, the Charlotte Knights. The Double-A Knights had played in the Southern League since the 1976 season using the name of their MLB affiliate, the Orioles, until the 1988 season. In 1989 the Charlotte Orioles were purchased by George Shinn, the founder of the NBA's Charlotte Hornets, who immediately changed the team name to Knights. Despite the AA Knights actually relocating to Nashville for 1993 the current AAA Knights consider them to be a part of their team's history.

For their first six seasons in the International League the Knights used variations of the same logo as their previous AA franchise, only changing their uniform as their MLB affiliations switched from Cleveland to Florida. In 1999 the team shacked up with the Chicago White Sox and completely re-branded as a result, a simple horse head in the same blue-and-green the team had used since their AA days. This design lasted 15 seasons before an even more drastic rebrand occured for the 2014 season. The Knights changed their logos and colour scheme to black, silver, and gold while also borrowing styles from the original Charlotte Hornets minor league team (1901-1971).

The Knights have won the International League Championship twice, once in their inaugural season of 1993 and again in 1999.