Detroit Tigers change Old English 'D' on iconic home uniforms

For the first time in more than 55 years, the Detroit Tigers made a change to their iconic home uniforms.

The round-top Old English ‘D’ — a version that has been worn on the left breast nearly every season since the mid-1930s — has been replaced with the team’s primary logo beginning this season, the Tigers announced on Thursday.

The primary logo, the pointed Old English ‘D,’ has been worn on both the team’s home and road hats for the past 50 years.

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The move, which has been years in the making, “honors the heritage of the club and its logo,” according to a statement from the team, and finally unifies the home hats and uniforms, which had not matched for the past 50 years. In addition to the change, the team’s logo on their home and road hats will be enlarged.

The primary logo is among the most recognizable in professional sports and a staple of one of the charter members of the American League. Both the Tigers and Major League Baseball preferred a singular logo representing the organization.The newly released home uniforms were in plain sight last spring training, when the team wore them in home games at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Fla.

“This Old English ‘D’ honors the storied history of our ballclub, with its inspiration reaching back more than a century,” Duane McLean, Tigers executive vice president of business operations, said in the statement. “We’re thrilled to come together under this unified mark, which will be recognized as the official logo of the Detroit Tigers.”

According to research conducted by the Tigers and MLB, fans are three times more likely to say the pointed Old English ‘D’ best represents the organization and three and a half times more likely to say it best represents the city of Detroit.

It could also represent the next step in the organization taking a fresh start as it embarks in a lengthy rebuilding process.

The uniform change, however minor in nature, snaps the link to players like Ty Cobb and Al Kaline, who all wore a version of the round-top Old English ‘D’ in Detroit, and the team’s recent crop of potential Hall of Fame players like Miguel Cabrera and the recently departed Justin Verlander.

Kaline, Willie Horton and recently elected Baseball Hall of Famer Alan Trammell offered their support in the uniform change.

“I am looking forward to seeing our players wear the unified Old English ‘D’ this season,” Kaline said.

“It’s really great that the Tigers are coming together under the cap ‘D,’ ” Horton said.

“This Old English ‘D’ is really one of the most iconic logos in all of sports,” Trammell said. “I was so proud to wear it as we won a World Series championship in 1984, and I’ll be extremely proud to wear it later this year during induction weekend in Cooperstown.”

With the exception of 1960, when the team wore a script “Tigers” across the front of their home uniforms, the team has worn a similar home jersey dating back to the mid-1930’s, despite over 50 uniform changes since the team was founded in 1901. That change in 1960 was short-lived, as the team switched back to their customary look in 1961, and it had remained the same since.

Three of the Tigers’ four World Series championships were won in that uniform.

Now, if they win a fifth, it will be with the pointed Old English ‘D’ on the left breast.

Contact Anthony Fenech: afenech@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @anthonyfenech.

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