[This post is part of Uni Watch’s 2023 Purple Amnesty Day content. For additional background and details, look here.]
Baseball United, an organization whose goal is to turn cricket fans in India, Pakistan, and the Middle East into baseball fans, yesterday announced the launch of the first-ever professional baseball team in India: the Mumbai Cobras, who expect to begin play in the fall of 2024. And as you can see in the launch video above, the team’s main color will be purple.
Baseball United is co-owned by former MLB great and Hall of Famer Barry Larkin, who was present in Dubai for the announcement. He and fellow Baseball United co-owner Kash Shaikh posed with Cobras caps, which were grey with a purple logo:
The team is also selling lots of purple-accented merch.
Interestingly, while the reptile world does indeed include several varieties of purple snakes, cobras do not seem to be among them (and former MLB star Dave “The Cobra” Parker never wore purple either), so it’s unclear why the team has chosen this name/color pairing. But we nonetheless salute them for having the foresight to make their announcement just in time for Purple Amnesty Day!
Indian pro cricket has more purple than other leagues. Both the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Rajasthan Royals have purple in their look, so the Cobras will fit right in.
Nope. The Rajasthsan Royals are Pink and Royal Blue with gold accents… no purple
My guess is purple was chosen as a reference to Dodgeball the movie…..
Owner definitely rooted for the Globo Gym Purple Cobras.
If they’re unaware of the movie, I hope someone shows them the reference and videos their response.
Checking the Cobras’ branding closely for multiple shades of purple….
Yep! There it is! link
(When you know what you’re looking for, you almost can’t help but find it!)
But…who will they play?
They’re the first of four teams to be launched.
Interesting, India is getting baseball and America is getting cricket. The world is getting flatter.
Baseball in India, who would have thought that would ever happen? I applaud it. Just as cricket slowly but surely taking root in other countries than the well known ones. I love both games.