Cornering the swag market
Pretty soon we won't know which identity is real.
Over the last few years, it’s not been enough to have a baseball team - nope, now it’s all about branding.
For many years, I’ve gone anywhere between 20 and 60 nights a year to watch the Delmarva Shorebirds and whichever South Atlantic League, “Low-A East,” or Carolina League team they were tangling with. Generally they had on their usual home whites, although once in awhile they would change it up and wear the alternate black tops.
It started a year or two after I started going. Purple or pink jerseys for various cancer awareness nights, a patriotic theme for Independence Day, and several other one-night special uniforms auctioned off for charity. Then we got the Thursday Maryland Pride Night uniforms, which featured some decorative variation of the Maryland flag. (Sorry, Maryland friends, but your flag is gawdawful. At least my native state uses regular colors that match in a unique shape.) Friday soon brought the alternate orange jerseys - or, as I call them, the Creamsicle jerseys.
But they were still the Shorebirds.
Then they came up with Scrapple Night and the alternate identity of the Delmarva Scrapple, using the colors of a local scrapple-making sponsor and embellishing it with concessions with scrapple therein, such as a scrapple, egg, and cheese sandwich. (If you’re a native to the area, scrapple is what’s for breakfast.) All right, that’s pretty cool for one night a year and my wife and I have a pair of Scrapple jerseys hanging in the closet.
A year or two later, Minor League Baseball launched a Latino outreach effort called Copa de la Diversion. As participants, the Shorebirds became Gallos de Delmarva for a handful of games a season, with special red uniforms. (They actually look pretty good, with unique accent colors.)
New for 2025, though, we’ve come up with yet another identity.
Their souvenir shop is getting more crowded. Imagine all the shirts, hats, and other swag that they can come up with between the Maryland Pride items, Delmarva Scrapple, Gallos de Delmarva, and now the Delmarva Wild Ponies and special Sheman Shorebird logo that the kids should like (and the team will wear as Sunday hats.) Pretty soon no one will be wearing the traditional black and orange anymore.
But when you can’t tell the team without a scorecard, pretty soon you won’t know which team will show up, either.
At least we can see them on television more: expanding on the 15-game experiment the Delmarva Sports Network did at the tail end of last season, the schedule bumps up to 25 home games for 2025. That seems like a good partnership that broadens the universe of local fans, who will hopefully be enticed to show up at Perdue Stadium.
In the meantime, though, you can Buy Me a Coffee, since I have a page there now. You can also like and restack this piece so others can enjoy it.