Angels Pitch Their New Uniforms

ANAHEIM —  The Angels were all set to unveil their new uniforms a couple of months ago, but cooler heads prevailed. Somebody managed to persuade Disney’s creative design people there was nothing cool about a professional ballplayer decked out in wildly striped sleeves and periwinkle, a sort of baby blue with a dash of lavender.

Tuesday at the Pond, Tim Mead, Angel assistant general manager, and Chuck Champlin, Disney consumer products director of communications, pulled the cord on a curtain hiding a couple of mannequins wearing fairly traditional-looking double-knit button-down pinstripes.

The new home uniforms are white with navy pinstripes, navy sleeves and navy socks. The road uniforms are gray with the same navy pinstripes, sleeves and socks. The periwinkle has been reduced to the button atop the cap and a highlight in the logo and around the numbers. The club’s traditional red is retained in the word “Angels” on the front and the player’s number on the jersey’s back.

Only the alternate jersey, solid navy with periwinkle sleeves, looks as if it should have “Big Al’s Pizza” across the back. The alternate cap is navy with a periwinkle bill.

Will periwinkle become the late ‘90s version of teal, the most popular new color in professional sports?

Angel officials insist they don’t care. They say the new look and the winged-A logo, which was unveiled last November and has been on Angel paraphernalia in retail stores since before the holidays, has nothing to do with an attempt to follow the Mighty Ducks’ lead and boost merchandise sales. And they point out that unlike the NHL, which allows teams to directly profit from such sales, all receipts from major league baseball merchandise go into a fund evenly distributed among all franchises.

Still, the sale of pro sports merchandise is a billion-dollar business benefiting franchises and players alike, and new logos and uniforms are popping up in stadiums and arenas across the country.

Three NBA teams--the Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons and Utah Jazz--underwent logo and uniform changes this season.

The Chicago Bulls added a new optional road uniform last season that is black with red pinstripes. The Denver Broncos also unveiled a new uniform and logo last week.

Last season, the San Diego Padres brought back the popular Swinging Friar logo on some of their merchandise and the design will appear on their warmup jackets and on the sleeve of their alternate jersey this season.

“The addition of the Swinging Friar was a big plus for us,” said Michael Babida, merchandising director for the Padres. “It’s a fairly simple addition, but it’s had a major impact because our fans really seem to love it. When there’s a change that people like, it can amount to as much as double-digit increases in sales.”

Disney and Angel officials will not say that merchandise sales had anything to do with the change, though. The only new merchandise that is not already on the shelves will be the official jersey--at $130--which will be available at the Pond beginning March 1 and in retail stores soon thereafter.

“The new uniform is all about creating a new identity for the club,” Champlin said. “What we hoped to do with this uniform was make two statements on behalf of the Angels. First, is that the uniform is firmly based in the traditions of Angel baseball.

“We’re also trying to reinforce that this is a new era for the Angels. We’re using the new logo that was unveiled last year and we’re introducing the new light blue periwinkle color, which is new to baseball, as a highlight that says the Angels are willing to set off in new directions and try some things they never have before.”

Like making it to the World Series, perhaps?

“There’s a lot of enthusiasm surrounding this team as spring training begins,” Mead said. “We’ve had a lot of changes, a new manager, new coaches, new players, the new logo and now the uniform, and we hope we’ve put together the personnel to get over that final hurdle.

“But what is most important for us right now is to be recognized as Anaheim’s team. The Mighty Ducks have done a tremendous job of that, and I think the people of this community have thought of this team in that way for a long time.”

Times staff writer Lon Eubanks contributed to this story.