Salem Red Sox

69

The name "Salem Red Sox" is new, but the team has been around for fifty-five years. When they debuted in 1955, they had no affiliate, and went by the name "Salem Rebels", a name that implies a defiant attitude reminiscent of the old Confederacy. However, somewhere along the way that defiance clearly was lost, because they've used five other names since them and most (if not all) of them have indicated utter submission to their parent team. Over the years they've been the Salem Pirates (affiliated with Pittsburgh), Salem Redbirds (affiliated with San Diego and later Texas...I'm not entirely sure what the connection there is), Salem Buccaneers (Pittsburgh again), and Salem Avalanche (Colorado and later Houston). Then, a couple of years ago, they were bought by a subsidiary of Boston's owners, necessitating the affiliation switch. Apparently someone felt they needed a name change, too. I suppose, given their history, that I can't really complain about the name change, but it did leave them with what is undoubtedly a stupid name.

And with the stupid name comes a silly logo. It really doesn't matter what logo the team picks, it's going to be silly. Either it has red socks in it and looks silly because a drawing of red socks is going to look silly, or else it has something other than red socks in it and looks silly because a logo with irrelevant features looks silly.

The Salem Red Sox logo manages to do both, because it has red socks and something other than red socks. And yet, it's not a bad looking logo. The mountains look nice, it's well balanced, and the font that "Red Sox" is written in is a nice nod to the "B" on their parent team's caps. That's not to say it doesn't have its share of problems. The font that "Salem Virginia" is written in doesn't work with the "Red Sox" font, the whole thing is a bit too symmetrical, and of course there are those goofy looking socks right in the middle of it. So I can't say it is a particularly good logo. But it is a good logo given the handicap of being a logo for a team named "Red Sox". And since that is the team's name, I suppose we can't ask for much more.

Final Score: 69 points.
Penalties: Sox, 20 pts; Offspring, 12 pts; Equipment, 13 pts; Letter, 24 pts.
Bonuses: None.