I'm just as surprised as you are.

San Diego's All Star Game logo was released in a protracted reveal yesterday to some confusion, consternation and indifference. Many of us were looking to the logo to predict which direction, if any, the Padres were going to take with any sort of uniform redesign for next year. What we got outside of the clamor for brown and '98 navy/white/orange was...

This. A logo with the navy/white colorway with an unexpected new color: yellow. Yellow (gold) has existed in the Padres uniform history, but it's always been paired with the ubiquitous brown.

It's entirely too easy to jump into conclusions with this colorway development; the yellow could just be making an appearance for the All Star Game proceedings and will not exist at all in the actual kit the Padres wear on the field. The SD logo hanging on the arches could indicate that the yellow is here to stay. If that were the case, what would it look like and how much yellow should we expect to see? Let's dive in with some renderings, shoddily pumped through the Photoshop device by your favorite cap collector. There are other clues into Padres past within the logo above, and we'll explore those as well in this special issue.

As I was writing this article, good friend to the program Tony happened to get his hands on the All Star Game cap, already made public at the Padres shop in Petco. A tip of my many caps to him for allowing me the use of his photo:

I got a new hat with the All-Star Game logo that everyone hates. pic.twitter.com/VGMevJ96rM — Tony Losoya (@Tony_Losoya) July 19, 2015

This may well be the cap the Padres wear all year. The only yellow you can see is clearly in the logo itself; the interlocking SD remains white. I had rendered a few caps with yellow embedded. While I don't think yellow will actually make its way into the cap, let's see what it would look like on our home cap:

Here's the standard home cap with the hanging D done in yellow.

And in full yellow. I'm thinking what you're thinking. That's entirely too much yellow already. This is exactly why I can't imagine yellow playing a major role in the cap design. If anything, yellow may play a role in accent color like so:

Here's the Spring Training cap with the sand border changed to yellow. in this form, the yellow is easier on the eyes and even allows the interlocking SD to pop a bit. Of course, the colorway is entirely too familiar to everyone in San Diego.The Chargers have had a very similar colorway for most of the team's existence, save for the powder blue.

About that powder blue...anyway, let's move on.

Here's what a fashion cap may look like with a yellow flourish. I know, it still feels like too much yellow. If yellow is to be used at all in a cap, let's hope it's minimal.

I've already fielded a few questions on what I think the All Star Game caps will look like. To be perfectly honest, I think you're going to see another split-panel cap in an ASG even though the Twins already used it.

Look at that beauty. The difference, I think, will be in the details: much like the 1984 example shown here, we may see the ASG cap as a split panel with a piping accent as shown here. That should help differentiate the San Diego ASG caps from the Twins caps, even though both motifs are very similar.

Why do I think split panel? Well, what other major cap design motif did the Padres ever use that was truly unique? It seems that the newest All Star Game caps reference the hosting team's past (the Reds with the striped pillbox cap and the Twins with the split panel) and the Padres don't have any other truly unique design cue other than the split panels. I think the piping will be the difference.

Using the 2014 cap as a reference, here's what I think the Padres ASG cap could realistically look like (without the aforementioned piping). The front panels could be white (as the National League is the home team) and the rest is the standard navy. Yellow makes its appearance as the accent color.

And here's with yellow as the panel color. The yellow in the split panel doesn't look too bad here...it's just hard to get used to seeing it as a regular player in the Padre uniform.

The Home Run Derby/National/American league caps are usually done up in the hosting team's colorway and alternate colors between National/American league. Here's a couple takes on it, based on the 2014 HR Derby cap design:

Yellow makes up the accent color on an otherwise navy cap.

Here's a white cap with a yellow accent and navy interlocking SD. Yes, this screams Chargers to me.

And a white with the border and SD logo inverted.

With the ASG and Home Run Derby caps, I expect to see something similar to what Cincinnati did in their patch selection: a different patch for each cap. We may be seeing these designs on each different cap used. Hat tip to @sportslogosnet for these pictures.

By no means do I expect to predict the future on what the All Star Game caps will look like. Based on what I've seen so far from the All Star Game caps and with what cap knowledge I possess, I think you could easily see something very similar to the above in next year's game.

-------------------------------------

Now, let's talk uniforms. It's hard to say whether yellow will feature predominantly in the uniforms, or if it will at all. I began digging around for research for this article and stumbled upon some interesting design cues in what's featured at the Padres online shop now:

Sure, an All Star Game shirt isn't exactly the best indicator of uniform design. But that's pretty glaringly yellow, isn't it?

Check this polo shirt out. Yellow as an accent for the white.

While it's hard to look into a minifig as evidence, check out his uniform. It could just be a generic look for the National/American team jerseys, of course.

And what about this 'official' baseball? Yellow paired with navy in the stitching? Could this be a cue as to how integral yellow is about to become to the Padres? It seems to be playing a large role in merchandising so far.

Here's what we could be seeing in the future:

I've done a mockup of the home Padres jersey in red/white/blue, so replacing sand with yellow wasn't much of a stretch. It's not a bad look by any means.

I'm still not sure how to feel about it, though. I did ask for a change in uniforms in many of my Friar's Hat Stash articles, and now that this change appears to be on the horizon I'm not sure how to feel. Did I really get what I wanted?

Many of you have already looked into the logo and discovered that the All Star wording is incredibly similar to the older SanDiego typeface used on the sand jerseys a few years back. Could that be an indication that the bowtie San Diego is resurfacing?

I took Friar Fever's favorite jersey and changed it to the standard road gray. Might this make an appearance next year?

Here's the same road jersey with a yellow accent. What do you think?

And if the jersey happened to be white. I honestly like the white better only because the yellow isn't quite as loud.

While doing my digging around I stumbled upon a color that may make a surprise appearance in the Padres colorway. Look at these shirts for sale and draw your own conclusions:

Remember when I mentioned powder blue earlier?

It appears in two shirts. Coincidence? Powder blue is featured as the sky color within the logo. What if the color was snuck in under everyone's noses and we truly are taking on the Chargers colorway? I see it two ways, as do many of you: the Padres are either making a move towards solidarity with the Chargers or are merely taking the colors of a team looking to skip town.

I agree, that's a heck of a conclusion to jump to. While we're leaping off all these colorway cliffs, why not jump off this one and take a look?

This jersey is out of my personal collection and is done up in the Chargers most popular colorway: powder blue/yellow/white. Could the Padres be looking to utilize powder blue in a uniform choice?

I've darkened it a bit to the navy the Padres would be more prone to use. The yellow accent in the piping and lettering could possibly be used in a future jersey.

----------------------------------------------

Thanks for checking out this special edition of the Friar's Hat Stash and for exploring some of the avenues this new colorway choice could take the Padres. I hope my renderings were of some service in helping you visualize what may be coming next year.

What do you think? Will yellow play a major part in next year's uniforms as I've described, or will it be merely an accent? And what of the powder blue? Simply a coincidence?

Here's the last picture I'll leave you with, just dropped into my email from the Padres shop.

Think they're serious with the yellow?

Thanks again for reading!

Until next time! Go Padres!

- Tim (The SD Hat Guy)