Good Monday morning, Uni Watchers. I trust everyone had a good weekend.
ICYMI, after a week with almost no (big) uniform news, late Friday afternoon, the NFL announced it is introducing “Rivalry” uniforms (a new program), which is basically City Connect for the NFL. While it did coincide with the NFL draft taking place, generally most teams/leagues/makers don’t announce new uniforms in the “dead zone” that is usually reserved for bad news (akin to your classic “Friday News Dump” in politics if you will). But judging from the reactions to this news, it feels like the Rivalry uniform announcement wasn’t something the NFL wanted shouted from the rooftops. If you didn’t read that article (nicely done by Anthony), I’d urge to do to so at your earliest convenience.
Now then.
On September 9, 2024, the Frontier League announced that it had awarded an expansion franchise to Jackson, Mississippi, after the Atlanta Braves’ Double-A affiliate, the Mississippi Braves, announced their intent to relocate to Columbus, Georgia, becoming the Columbus Clingstones (and their awesome peach-y uniforms!). Taking the Braves’ place in Pearl, Mississippi, will be the Mississippi Mud Monsters, who were founded during the 2025 Frontier League expansion, along with the Down East Bird Dawgs, based in Kinston, North Carolina. The Mud Monsters will move into the Braves’ old ballpark.
At first, the team was simply known only as “On Deck 2025,” a placeholder name. Between September 9 and September 26, 2024, more 5,600 people voted in their “Name the Team” contest, with the final choices being “Mississippi Mud Monsters,” “Mississippi Grits,” and “Mississippi Soul Shakers.” While I don’t love any of the names, I think the fans’ choice was the best.
The team unveiled their logo October 10, 2024, with team colors to be teal and aquamarine, later slightly changed to teal, black, gold, and white.
As a brand new team, the Mud Monsters wanted to make a statement — with their uniforms — right out of the box. Uni Watch reader and contributor David Kerr serves as the Assistant General Manager to the Mud Monsters, and it turns out, also designed the Monsters inaugural uniforms. And they are literally “a collection stitched with swamp spirit, hometown pride, and monster-sized storytelling.” The team will have three jerseys, three pants and two hats — making for a possible eighteen different combinations, should they maximize their mixing and matching capabilities.
Per the Mud Monsters, “the new uniform sets bring a cinematic edge to the Mud Monsters’ identity, blending deep tradition with a bold, modern mythology. From the dripping Creature Flow font, crafted by The Cirlot Agency of Flowood, Mississippi, to the State of Mississippi Flag stitched proudly on every right sleeve, every detail carries a piece of Pearl’s spirit — and the swamp’s untamed energy.”
“Our goal wasn’t just to build uniforms,” said Kerr. “We wanted to build a story. Every piece — from the Teal jersey inspired by deep swamp waters to the Pirate Gold piping that ties back to the roots of Pearl — is part of a bigger world we’re creating. These uniforms aren’t just worn. They’re lived in.”
Here’s a look at the jersey and cap options:
And now, let’s take a look at each set (shown as monochrome, but as noted, the team intends to mix and match the different elements throughout the season). “Whether it’s teal-on-teal, black-on-white, or something wild in between, fans can expect a new chapter of the story every time the players take the field,” noted the team.
• Teal for the deep waters monsters call home.
• White for the heavy morning mist rolling across the swamp.
• Black for the midnight hours when the real legends wake up.
The three pant options are each detailed with contrasting side piping:
• Pirate gold piping on the Teal pants, a nod to Pearl, Mississippi’s heritage.
• Teal and cypress green piping on the White pants for a bold, clean contrast.
• Solid Teal piping on the Black pants for a sharp midnight look.
The team will wear black batting helmets with each of the three jersey and pants options. Cap options are a black brim/teal crown, and a teal brim/gray (steel) crown. Each features a raised Aquamarine “M” outlined in Cypress Green, with a back-raised Frontier League logo, and a rubber patch maker’s mark stamped on the side.
The white and teal jerseys feature “MONSTERS” in teal, with a black outline, while the black jersey uses a stylized Mud Monsters logo with an “M” superimposed. The black and teal jerseys feature contrasting placket piping (aka “headspoon”), while the white jersey is plain. Caps are made by CAPX.
Per the team, the jerseys have a “Creature Flow font” — custom dripping mud number font unique to the Mud Monsters, designed to reflect the “wild spirit of the swamp and the Mud Monsters’ fierce energy.”
The Mud Monsters will begin the season on Thursday, May 8. The full season is 96 games, with 48 of those taking place in Pearl, MS.
Congratulations to the team and to David Kerr on the designs! It will be interesting to see the various combinations the team is promising to wear. While we’re beginning to see some MLB teams mix and match pants with their City Connect uniforms — and of course the Pittsburgh Pirates also famously mixed their black, gold, and pinstripe uniforms during their “We Are Family” period, and all (or almost all) of their uniform combinations have been dutifully tracked by our own Jerry Wolper. I’m obviously not as familiar with MiLB as I am with the big leagues, but I don’t recall too many teams attempting as ambitious a mix-and-match set of uniforms as the Mud Monsters. This is definitely something we’ll keep an eye on as the season progresses.
What do you guys think? And please give reader David Kerr a shout as well! It’s always great when Uni Watch readers also are uniform designers (as we just recently saw with Sawyer Busny and Colby College Football).
If you’d like to know more about the Mud Monsters, click here.
Wow, what a terrible and un-cohesive set of uniforms. Random gold piping on the white jersey and teal pants, but nowhere else. A grey cap, but no grey anywhere else. Darkish green number is going to be a visibility nightmare on a teal background. Maybe next time they could hire someone with an eye for design to create their uniforms.
Grotesque and ugly. Poor contrast. Lack of consistency. Looks like a minor league uniform, so I guess that was intentional.
Yeah, I really don’t get the grey cap threw me for a loop. A white cap w/black or teal bill probably would have worked better.
The drips on the bottom of the number font make the whole set. They’re memorably gross, and almost (but not quite) excessively campy. Very fun, very MiLB.
The more I look at these, the more I like the dripping accents. I hope these look great on the field.
For minor-league ball, I generally really like this set. Nice balance between whimsy and earnestness. I think it would be vastly improved, though, by making the gold accent a consistent element of all tops and bottoms, not necessarily the exact stripe from the pants but including a hint of gold somewhere; and by resolving what appears to me to be a bit of visual ambiguity between dark green and black. Either color is a fine secondary element of the team’s overall color scheme, but in the context of the uniforms they don’t work well together. The logo suggests that dark green is the right choice, but if for logistical reasons the uniforms need to have black fabric, then commit to that and change the logo and other uni elements to match.
I only really have one complaint: The ghosted script on the teal jersey is a deal-breaker for me. The whole point of whatever team-identifying mark one puts on the front of a uniform is to be seen. This looks nigh-invisible. What’s the point? Just have the players wear a plain teal t-shirt and save some money if that’s how the script is going to be rendered. And the dark green number on what appears to be a fairly saturated teal on the back also skates close to the thin ice of ghosting. The hats have the solution in the form of the bright, neon-ish green of the M logo. That, with dark green outlines, would look terrific for the teal jersey lettering. As would white, if one was willing to take a more traditionalist, conservative visual approach.
Totally agree with this analysis. Plus the inconsistent use of grey and gold in one part of an uniform and nowhere else is a bit sloppy. Otherwise it is a fun identity with a nice logo.
I don’t know how the Mississippi Braves survived there. It’s a very poor area. Maybe the Mud Monsters will be able to survive.
Scoreboard is 5/30/2010. Sherzer struck out 14 in 5 after being called up from the minors
I love the mud-dripping numbers and nameplates, a fun and unique concept. And, how about that subtle baseball in the monster’s mouth? Nice touches!
I do agree with the others’ critiques of the gray caps. Maybe David could offer an explanation on that decision? CapX have a sale on gray crowns?
That said, the teal caps are sharp. I imagine that those will become the mainstay lids.
Good luck to David and the Mud Monsters!
Interesting that both the Mud Monsters and the Bird Dawgs are new expansion teams both based in cities that had their previous teams moved away after being purchased by Diamond Baseball Holdings.
I like the fish logos and the state outline in the logo. I’d like to see more use of the lighter teal (or the yellow) as a trim color.
I’m not wild about the caps and jerseys. I’d like to see an interlocking M-M-M monogram as the main cap logo, and maybe the batting fish as an alternate.
I’m skeptical about the teal pants, and not a fan of the black pants. Strange to have a grey cap, but no grey jersey and pants.
Also not a fan of the dripping wordmark and numbers. I could live with the numbers, but I think the frontal wordmark needs some work. I’d prefer to have one “Mississippi” option, and a “Monsters” or Mud Monsters” in more traditional script. For the jersey with the left chest logo, I’d like the logo to be larger.
I like the flag on the sleeve, but it’s a little too big in my opinion.
The M fish logo on the black jersey & batting helmet reminds me of the old Madison Muskies logo.