Back in February, I wrote over at Cubs Central how and why the Iowa Cubs should rebrand their logo, hats, and uniforms. I sort of got my wish yesterday afternoon as the Cubs Triple-A affiliate unveiled some new hats with spectacular results! It’s not really a rebrand. It’s more of a touch up!.

For the past 15 years or so, the Iowa Cubs have had pretty much had the same logo and hat styles. In that same time, we’ve seen South Bend rebrand, the Pelicans have added some cool alternate jerseys including the popular black Pelican Pirate hat. Myrtle Beach also has the Palmetto State jerseys and the Myrtle Beach Mermen jersey. Tennessee did a total transformation and rebranding about eight or nine years ago that incorporated a bunch of logos involving a bear.

It’s not like Iowa has been dormant, either.

They joined the Cope de la Diversion and introduced Des Moines to the Demonios in 2019. They also brought out the Iowa Caucuses and have also had tribute nights to the old Iowa Oaks. A couple years ago, they introduced the red alternate jersey, which I think really pops on a baseball card.

They have been dropping hints here and there on Twitter for about a week now including some red outline around the numbers.

When I came home from teaching yesterday, Iowa dropped the rebranding hats a day early!

I really did the Bear logo a lot! It does remind me of some of the colors that Daytona had in their Cubs logo 8 years ago. That’s because it is the same designer. The hats look gorgeous and I cannot wait to until I get to make some cards with them next summer.

Team President and General Manager Sam Bernabe said the following of the new hats and logo:

“We wanted to have a logo that you can easily associate with the Iowa Cubs. The character logo is not a re-brand or major change to our organization, but does aim our focus towards the next generation of Iowa Cubs fans.”

https://www.milb.com/iowa/news/character-cap-logo

I like the fact that there are two new hats. The tri-color hat resembles one hat at South Bend and the Montreal Expos. The “Bear” fits in well with both South Bend and Tennessee and ties in well with the big league club. The use of the tri-color is an interesting alternative, especially with the red jersey as it actually makes the blue pop more on the hat.

Well done, Iowa Cubs! Well done!