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    • OKC Triple-A minor league baseball franchise renamed Comets
    Alabama

    OKC Triple-A minor league baseball franchise renamed Comets

    Idris Bevan Posted on

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    Mickey Mantle is present throughout Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

    Just outside the west gate stands a bronze statue of Mantle completing his famous left-handed swing.

    There is a picture of him swinging on every row of seats in the stadium. There is a restaurant across the street that bears his name. Even this street in Bricktown is named after Mantle and is part of the ballpark’s address.

    And now Mantle’s presence will be felt in everything the organization does.

    On Saturday, the Triple-A baseball team was officially renamed the Oklahoma City Comets, an homage to Mantle’s nickname “The Commerce Comet” and a symbol of looking to the future with the growth of the aerospace industry in the city.

    “The themes around all the talent and history of baseball — Mickey Mantle, Johnny Bench, Warren Spahn — those things kept coming up (in the trial),” OKC president and general manager Michael Byrnes said The Oklahoman. “And it was pretty obvious to me to find a way to connect to it or celebrate it.”

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    Gone is the simple Oklahoma City Baseball Club that the organization acquired as part of the Oklahoma City Dodgers rebranding process over the past 11 months.

    The organization remains the minor league affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a partnership that began in 2014 and will continue under the current Professional Development League license through at least the 2030 season.

    “From the beginning, it was still very important for the Dodgers to have a connection,” Byrnes said. “We wanted it to still somehow communicate the Dodgers without being too on the nose that it was the OKC Dodgers.”

    The Comets logo features the famous Dodger blue as well as a light blue and red color scheme. The main logo features a baseball shooting like a comet among the Oklahoma City Comets, a nod to the Dodgers’ red shooting baseball in their logo.

    Other logos include a comet baseball shooting away to complete a K in OKC, worn on home caps, and a baseball shooting like a commentary to form the C in OKC. The team’s away caps consist solely of the C around a baseball bat.

    And the jerseys will still feature a red number on the front below the logo, just like the Dodgers.

    The logos were designed by Studio Simon, a long-standing organization known for developing brands for professional, collegiate and amateur teams.

    “At the end of the day, there’s a fun element to it,” Byrnes said. “There are some of our brands that have a youthful appeal and feel,” Byrnes said. “But it represents a big league in my opinion.

    “And that was one of the reactions of our CEO (Peter Freund of Diamond Baseball Holdings) when we showed it to him. He really liked it because it felt upper class in terms of the look. This gave us great confidence that we could address multiple target groups with the presentation.”

    Byrnes said the organization will continue to use its Cielo Azul as part of the annual Copa de la Diversion to engage Hispanic fans in the community. OKC will continue to host throwback nights in 89ers jerseys, just not every Thursday like last season.

    And a return to the 89ers brand, used from 1962 to 1997, was never really an option.

    There also wasn’t the craziness of minor league branding like Sod Poodles or Trash Pandas. But it was important not to be too serious.

    “There’s a path that a lot of minor league baseball teams take,” Byrnes said. “We heard maybe not that far out. Besides, the presence of thunder made us a big city. So we also heard that you want to have a more professional look, but don’t lose the fun.

    “Don’t hesitate and miss the opportunity to add fun to your brand.”

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    It will be fun.

    New mascots are unveiled during the off-season. Unveiled Saturday was Moonshot, a beefed-up baseball player who carries a gold-ringed baseball bat with a baseball head and a blue mohawk.

    Moonshot’s background is also loosely tied to Mantle.

    Legend has it that Mantle’s final high school home run never landed. So the assumption is that baseball went into space and became Moonshot.

    Byrnes also said three-time World Series champion Wally Moon played in OKC and hit “moon-hitting home runs.”

    Byrnes also said new signage will be installed throughout and around the ballpark. He hopes to add something to the outfield to celebrate home runs and maybe it will light up or something similar. A new Comets mural was unveiled Saturday, painted by a local artist in the main entrance.

    “Throughout the remainder of the offseason, we’re going to continue to think about, ‘How does this change the stadium?’” Byrnes said. “The look will be completely different.”

    The Mantle statue will still be in front of the gate. His presence will be everywhere.

    There is a certain irony in the organization unveiling such a brand during Game 2 of the World Series, when the Dodgers took on Mantle’s iconic organization, the New York Yankees.

    But Byrnes believes Mantle is so much more to the state than just a Bronx bomber.

    “He just outclasses the Yankee,” Byrnes said. “It makes me proud that he is from Oklahoma. This piece is really what we stuck with.”

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    History of the OKC baseball brand

    In 1962, the Oklahoma City baseball franchise was founded as the Oklahoma City 89ers while also being affiliated with the Houston Colt .45s.

    42 years later, there’s a new brand in town. The club was renamed the Oklahoma City Comets on Saturday.

    Here’s a look at the history of the franchise’s brands:

    • 1962-1997: Oklahoma City 89ers
    • 1998–2008: Oklahoma RedHawks
    • 2009–2014: Oklahoma City RedHawks
    • 2015-2023: Oklahoma City Dodgers
    • 2024: Oklahoma City Baseball Club
    • Currently: Oklahoma City Comets
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    Idris Bevan
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