THE CLEVELAND MUNICIPALS

After decades of controversy, Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team announced in July 2020 they were “strongly considering” moving on from the Indians name they had sported since 1915. Supportive of the potential change but concerned about what the new name would be, I suggested a new name in an op-ed that was published in the Plain Dealer the week following the announcement.

The name I proposed—the Cleveland Municipals, or Munis for short—was rooted in Cleveland’s sports and cultural history. The name was meant to authentically represent the city and its people and to honor our profound baseball history, while gracefully moving into a future where our team clearly represents all Clevelanders.

What followed was a year-long campaign consisting of a full brand build-out, uniform designs, essays, promotional products made in collaboration with Ebbets Field Flannels and Oxford Pennant, an official Munis beer distributed throughout Ohio, and conversations with the Cleveland Indians front office and Major League Baseball.

The team ultimately went a different direction, but the Munis won hearts and minds along the way.

A NEW ERA OF CLEVELAND BASEBALL

An immediate need for the Cleveland Municipals campaign was to explain where the Municipals name came from and where it was going. To this end, we wrote and published our “Munifesto” to show Clevelanders why this name was the appropriate path forward. This was first published on our campaign website and later picked up by UniWatch, a website devoted to uniform design run by sports journalist Paul Lukas.

DESIGNING THE CLEVELAND MUNICIPALS

When it came to designing the Munis uniforms, we wanted it to be clear that although the name was changing this was not meant to be a new team, but rather a new era for a storied franchise. So we combed through Cleveland’s entire uniform history from 1901 to the present, picking out things we liked and things we thought most Cleveland fans would regard as canon. The idea was to not only have a timeless uniform lineup that looked professional, but also one that served as a summary of the franchise’s history in order to maintain a solid foundation as the name changes. The resulting look was a classic style appropriate for a team with Cleveland’s history and one that long-time fans would find familiar.

You can read through the details of our individual designs by scrolling through our campaign website, or check out the full version repurposed for UniWatch to view the design details and learn more about our approach.

Renderings by UniMockups

BEER HERE!

Six months into the Cleveland Municipals campaign we had grown our following and felt it was time to take it to the next level. We wanted to spread the word in the physical world, but with the COVID-19 pandemic at its peak the options for physical interaction were limited.

So we partnered with local Cleveland brewery Saucy Brew Works to develop an official Cleveland Municipals beer and worked with them to design a can that carried our message and directed people to the campaign. The seasonal beer was crafted with afternoons at the ballpark in mind and was distributed throughout Ohio during the spring, summer, and fall of 2021.