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Logo of the American Basketball Association’s Denver Rockets, one of the league’s charter members in 1967. The team played as the Rockets until 1974. When it appeared that the ABA would merge with the NBA, the team held a contest to rename the franchise, since the NBA already had the Houston Rockets. The winning name was the “Nuggets”, and the franchise survives to this day. The team was relatively successful in its’ ABA years but struggled in postseason play. They had some of the new league’s biggest names on their roster in those early years, including Spencer Haywood, Byron Beck, Ralph Simpson, Larry Jones, David Thompson, Marvin Webster and Dan Issel.

There are a lot of unique team names and logos among baseball’s lower minor league levels, and the Brevard County Manatees of the  Florida State League, featured in this logo,  are one of them. The Manatees are the Single A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. The franchise came into existence in 1994 and were tied to the Florida Marlins at that time. Some of the club’s alumni are Josh Beckett, World Series hero Edgar Renteria, Grady Sizemore, Ryan Braun, Randy Winn and Kevin Millar. When they were a Marlins’ minor league club, the Manatees’ mascot’s  name was “Hugh”. Yes, sound it out. It’s pretty clever.

Here is an “alternate” logo of a long-time minor league hockey franchise, the Hershey Bears, who play in the American Hockey League. The Bears, currently affiliated with the NHL Washington Capitals, are the oldest franchise in the AHL, having existed since 1938. They have won 11 Calder Cup championships, signifying the AHL title, in their existence, including last season (2009-10). This logo is reminiscent of the team’s original logo, when they were actually known as the “Hershey B’ars”, after the candy bar, and it also incorporates the team’s color scheme of chocolate and white. Notable players in the franchise’s long history include Frank Mathers, Willie Marshall, Arnie Kullman, Mike Nykoluk, Tim Tookey and Don Cherry.

This is the original logo of the National Football League’s Seattle Seahawks, used from their inaugural season as an expansion team in 1976 until 2001. The Seahawks have the distinction of being born as a National Conference team playing in the NFC West division, then being switched to the American Conference’s AFC West division after one year, only to be moved back to the NFC West division when the league realigned in 2002. Some notable players from the team’s history include Curt Warner (the running back), Steve Largent, Ricky Watters, Shaun Alexander, Cortez Kennedy, the infamous Brian Bosworth and quarterbacks Jim Zorn, Dave Krieg and Warren Moon.

This is the logo of the Denver Nuggets basketball franchise that played one season, in 1949-50, in the National Basketball Association. The franchise, the first major sports team to play in the state of Colorado,  was not associated in any way with the current NBA Nuggets. Like many pro sports teams in that era, they began as an amateur team, playing in AAU tournaments, and they were one of the most powerful amateur hoop teams in the country. They went pro in 1948, joining the National Basketball League, then became an NBA franchise in ’49 when the NBL merged with the Basketball Association of America to form the new NBA. The team was disbanded after its’ only season, in which it finished with an 11-51 record. Former U.S. Congressman Morris Udall was a member of the team in its’ 1948 season. Their best player was player/coach Jimmy Darden, a shooting guard out of the University of Denver.

Logo of minor league baseball’s Syracuse Chiefs, used from 1961 until 1979. The Chiefs have been a mainstay in the Triple-A International League since 1934, when the Jersey City Skeeters moved to the Central New York city. They have been affiliated with 11 different major league teams over the years, the longest being the 31 years they were tied to the Toronto Blue Jays. They also had a 10 year affiliation with the New York Yankees during the era when this logo was used. Some of the Chiefs’ notable alumni include Bobby Cox, Ron Guidry, Carlos Delgado, Roy Halladay, Thurman Munson, Fred McGriff, Vernon Wells and Deion Sanders.

This is the logo of the National Hockey League’s New York Islanders, who entered the NHL as an expansion franchise in 1972. This logo is the one that the fans of the franchise favor, and that came to light when the team tried to introduce the infamous “Gorton’s Fisherman” logo in the 1990s. That logo was featured in an earlier “Classic Team Logo” post on this blog.  After much fan backlash the team scrapped that logo and returned to this classic one, which represented the team in its’ glory years in the early 1980s when they won 4 consecutive Stanley Cup titles. Some of the NHL’s great players played on those teams, including Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier, Denis Potvin, Clark Gillies and goaltender Billy Smith.

The Buffalo Bills completed their annual Toronto “home” game on Sunday, so it seems like a good time to showcase the logo of the city’s real football team, the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts. This particular logo was used from 1956 until 1975. The Argos were founded in 1873 and are one of the oldest sports franchises in North America. They have won a record 15 Grey Cups, the trophy signifying the CFL championship. In the early 1990s, the team was owned by Los Angeles Kings’ owner Bruce McNall, hockey great Wayne Gretzky and comedian John Candy.

Logo of the New Orleans Buccaneers basketball team, which played in the old American Basketball Association from the league’s inception in1967 until 1969. They were moved to Memphis for the 1970 season. Among the players for the Bucs in their 3 year existence were Steve Jones, Red Robbins, Gerald Govan, and 2 men who would go on to successful coaching careers, Doug Moe and Larry Brown. In 2008, the NBA New Orleans Hornets honored the old ABA team by wearing “throwback” Buccaneers jerseys in a couple of games.

This is an “alternate” logo of the new World Series champion San Francisco Giants, used from 2000 until now, that features the team’s crossed “SF” script that has been their cap logo since moving to the West Coast in 1958. The Giants, dating back to their days playing in the Polo Grounds in New York, have been an iconic National League franchise. The Giants have been in the World Series twice since this logo was introduced in 2000, losing a heartbreaking seven game series to the Angels in 2002, the Barry Bonds era, and of course, winning this year’s Series over Texas.