Beyond the obvious the 1939 Baseball Centennial Emblem was changed to satisfy Major League Baseball the question is why ?
Here what we know: Not much can be found as to when the process of selecting a suitable emblem began . The National Baseball Centennial Commission did unveil a per posed design in October 1938.
Ford Frick hired Steve Hannagan and Al Stoughton in the summer of 1938 to create a marketing campaign for a National Commission, during that time Hannagan held a contest for a design won by Marjori Bennett , so he claimed , and presented it to the officially formed Centennial Commission in Chicago in October 1938. The design was to remain embargoed until it's unveiling at the national meeting in New Orleans on the 5th of December 1938.
Something happened after the unveiling of the emblem and the suggestion to create a patch to be worn on all Major and Minor league Teams Uniforms.Major League Baseball never publically specified , to my knowledge , the reasons for the change in the design or who created the new design featuring Caricature of a Batter. The Caricature Patch would be worn universally by all Professional Baseball Teams in the 1939 Season.
We also know of two exceptions the
Philadelphia Athletics and the Baltimore Orioles who wore the Bennett design patch for the 1939 season. Their uniforms were manufactured by the Spalding Sporting Goods Company. Why the uniforms were not retrofitted to conform to the rest of Professional Baseball remains a mystery. So What do Think?
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Patch worn by Athletics and Orioles embroidered on Twill
Patch worn by Professional Baseball embroidered on Felt