THE VERY OLD ASTROS LOGO …
This one served as the basic logo for the Houston Astros from 1965 through about 1993.
THE VERY NEW ASTROS LOGO …
The almost identical “new” Astros logo made it to one store’s sales stock over a week prior to the club’s plans for its November 2, 2012 introduction.
These days, where big announcements on broad public curiosity subjects are concerned, an old wisdom saying goes like this: He who hesitates may not be lost, but he or she runs the risk of ending up on Facebook, Twitter, or You Tube before the day is done.
By now you’ve probably read the story and seen the fruits of the latest spoiled surprise. After sitting on this little uniform change for what seems like something close to a year, and only a week prior to their plans for unveiling the new logo and uniform of the 2013 new American League version of the Houston Astros, one of the Academy store outlets on the Gulf Freeway near Edgebrook “accidentally” placed some jerseys bearing the new logo on the retail shelf prior to its formal introduction.
Naturally, an ardent Astros fan spotted the glitch; recognized that it was close to the old logo, but different; deduced that it was the new logo that no one but insiders had seen to date; took a picture of the thing with his cell phone camera; and went home to launch the image to the world, vis-a-vis Twitter.
A version of viral sharing transpired, quaking quickly to the offices of the Houston Astros and the CEO of the mammoth Academy sports clothing and accessories store chain. Wouldn’t you have loved to have heard the phone call that probably took place thereafter between Astros President George Postolos and Academy CEO Rodney Faldyn? And how about the phone call between Faldyn and his store manager? And between the store manager and the team sports shirts department supervisor? And between the department supervisor and the poor minimum wage stocking clerk who just found the new shirts in boxes in the back and decided to make an impression by getting them out there for sale on his own initiative?
What is it they say about stuff that flows down the hill? This one may have prevailed in mud slide fashion.
Public word is another matter.
“We express our apologies to Houston Astros fans, our partners at the Houston Astros ball club, along with Major League Baseball for inadvertently releasing the new Astros T-shirts in limited quantity,” Rodney Faldyn, Academy Sports + Outdoors CEO & President said in a prepared statement. “We take pride in our ongoing partnership with the Astros, and this oversight is not our standard business practice. We are looking forward to celebrating the official jersey launch with the Houston Astros on November 2, 2012.”
It’s not the biggest deal in the world this morning, even if it does spoil next Friday’s announcement about the return to orange and navy blue as the club’s basic colors and a repainting of Minute Maid Park to colors which shall now better symbolize the “squeeze” that goes on in a place bearing such an appropriate name.
GO ORANGE! – GO BLUE! – GO ASTROS!
Postscript ~
October 30, 2012: Three days prior to the official unveiling, this additional sneak preview of the new logo and uniform of the 2013 Houston Astros leaked to Internet sources:
http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2012/10/30/astros-logo-leaks-again-new-hat-at-official-site/
The Pecan Park Eagle 
October 27, 2012 at 1:02 pm |
I’ve yet to decide whether this can’t-keep-a-secret, operational scew-up problem is limited to the Astros’ marketing and promotions departments or whether ir infects the entire organization and, if so, what that says about the alleged brilliance of the people calling the shots.
October 27, 2012 at 1:04 pm |
“scew-up”. This, by the way, says nothing about my alleged brilliance! LOL
October 27, 2012 at 3:39 pm |
Get ready for a ride that probably will be longer than the Spec Richardson/General Electric & Ford Motor Company-style ride we took in the long-ago late 60s and 70s. It probably won’t be that much fun while we and our children are going through it, but it will give us a lot to talk about in the future and in The Great Beyond. And hopefully we’ll be able to have some laughs about it also. That may be tough if these nincompoops are so successful in alienating the fans that they decide they simply must move the team to another city. But I believe it’s important to keep a sense of humor whenever possible. If we can’t be proud of them, we can at least LOAO!!
October 27, 2012 at 6:55 pm |
Screw-up aside, ownership did the something right by bringing back the old logo — though slightly modified. The club never should have dropped the star and H in the first place.
October 27, 2012 at 10:31 pm |
This is humorous, but I rather like the “new” logo!
October 28, 2012 at 5:49 pm |
IMNSHO, the best Astro logo by far was the one they wore during their fine run in 1997, 1998, 1999. Those were the best teams in Houston franchise history, and they had the best logo during those years also. But remember, McLane had owned the team for years before he began lobbying for changes. My issue with current ownership is that they’re sweeping out everything familiar about this team in their first year of ownership, leaving fans no continuity upon which to build the transition. This strikes me as terribly unwise. The one plus for me about the new logo change is that it does harken back to a prior team tradition, making it somewhat more palatable. But it comes on top of so much disregard for just about everything else that it triggered my resentment when it otherwise might not have.
In the end, if they put a winning team on the field, it can help people forget all their insensitive trampling on traditions held dear very quickly, but what are the odds of that happening any time soon? They haven’t left themselves much wiggle room for slack from the ticket-and-merchandise-buying public if such a team isn’t forthcoming.