The Pecan Park Eagle

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/