The Portland Sea Dogs, Double-A affiliates of the Boston Red Sox, have unveiled a new alternate identity, and they’re taking a swing at the other sport that has strikes.
Yes, the Sea Dogs are celebrating bowling with their newest alternate identity, but not just any bowling, the variant native to New England and Canada’s maritime provinces: candlepin bowling. Candlepin bowling features narrower, lighter pins (hence the name, as they look more like candlesticks than traditional bowling pins) and hole-less balls that are about half the size and weight of traditional bowling balls. With that being said, it seems kind of obvious that the Sea Dogs’ latest alternate identity would be the Maine Candlepins.
I would say that, in Maine at least, candlepin bowling remains probably just as popular as traditional bowling. Growing up, my local bowling alley, West-Port Bowling Lanes on Main Street in Westbrook (about a mile from my childhood home in Portland), was a candlepin lane — I attended many childhood birthday parties at West-Port. Paul Lukas, our esteemed founder, also wrote about candlepin bowling on a handful of occasions, including in a column for Money magazine all the way back in 1998.
The centerpiece of the Candlepins identity is the cap logo, depicting three anthropomorphic candlepin bowling pins that, to be frank, look like mob enforcers. I would not want to run into these bowling pins in a dark alley.
The real highlight of the identity, however, is the Sea Dogs’ take on the Red Sox’s hanging sox logo, something the team has never touched before. Portland has taken the hanging sox, turned them white with a red stripe (like bowling pins), and put them in a pair of appropriately gaudy bowling shoes.
The jerseys are designed to look like bowling lanes themselves, despite the navy blue base. The front features an interpretation of a candlepin bowling lane running up the wearer’s right chest, but the back is where the jerseys really shine (which is rare, to say the least, when it comes to sports jerseys). The back features a candlepin lane lob line beneath the number and bowling lane arrows above it. I love this. It would’ve been very easy to just keep the bowling pin motif from the wordmark going with the uni number and call it a day, but adding these little touches on the back of the jersey really just pull the entire thing together. I’m glad they went the extra mile.
The Maine Candlepins are the Sea Dogs’ seventh alternate identity after the Maine Lobster Bakes, Maine Whoopie Pies, Maine Clambakes (an identity that might not be coming back for 2025), Maine Bean Suppahs, Maine Red Snappers, and the Alces de Maine, the team’s Copa de la Diversión alternate identity. The Candlepins will take the field on August 2nd.
Uni Watchers, what say you?
That’s an interesting (and great) logo on the cap. It makes me wonder how many logos out there have multiple mascots on them. It’s probably easier to do with something simple and uniform like the pins, or possibly pine trees, but I bet it would be much more difficult with a more complex design.
*Cue “The Ballad of Candlepin Paul”
I love these. I definitely don’t need another Sea Dogs hat, but if I did…
I know I’m a curmudgeon and this battle is lost, but the practice of adopting a goofy alternate identity is kind of tiresome, especially considering that all of these minor league teams have silly primary identities.
I agree, I think we have reached a saturation point on this. I understand MiLB has to get gate revenue however they can, but something original would be appreciated.
I’m often on the fence for these.
On one hand, goofy promotions have a long history in the minors. On the other hand, they often do feel forced, tiresome, and arbitrary.
I can usually allow these if they are pulling from a specific cultural touchstone of the hometown or local region. If it’s something totally disconnected to the team and city, I think it also runs the risk of weakening or eroding the true identity of the team and its ties to place.
Conceptually, I’m fine with this one, although I have some issues with the execution.
I’m beyond tired of the alternate identity thing.
That being said, this one is a winner.
One of the better thought-out promotions, considering the region.
this would have made so much more sense if it were the worcester red sox who play in the city where candle pin bowling was invented
This feels like it would be more appropriate for the WooSox than the Sea Dogs. Worcester has a much bigger connection to candlepin – the first match was allegedly played there, according to the International Candlepin Bowling Association (ICBA), and there’s actually a term named after the city, the half-Worcester!
To add to your point, those three pins on the cap make a pretty good W shape that makes it feel like they gave this identity to the wrong team.
The cap logo would look really good with a red “W” in front, with the pins extending out above.
That does make me wonder a little bit. In addition to being Red Sox farm teams (sharing the same colors and some logo motifs), I’m pretty sure both MiLB teams are owned by the same company, Diamond Baseball Holdings, which has been known to do some promotional and concessions deals involving multiple teams that they own.
I wonder if this concept was at some point meant for the other team. I’m not sure why they’d switch, though (and why switch down).
These can get a little dangerous because it’s better if its a local thing, but it gets tedious when you have to explain what it is. I think these are mostly successful in that sense.
I don’t know anything about the game, but the iconography does a pretty good job of communicating basically what it is. In fact, the bowling shoes logo does such a good job of that, I think it should have been the cap logo, with the three pins as a secondary shoulder patch. I want those socks in the logo to be red, though.
I like the name, and I think it would have looked great in cursive script across the front of a more traditionally-styled jersey. Either that, or just ditch the front script and make it look more like a bowling shirt. Get crazy and put the player name in small script over the left breast, with a large Team-Name-on-Back and slightly lower numbers.
The yellow lane thing is cool, but I don’t like it on the front of a baseball jersey with a perpendicular wordmark. It might make a cool pant stripe or headspoon if it was shrunk down and elongated.
The back looks fine, but I think the numbers should be bigger.
The state map logo is great, but maybe for this it should be holding a pin instead of a bat.
I like it, it is fun , but I also have the feeling because of the pins on the hat forming a W that this was intended for Worcester but they passed on it.