PHOTO COURTESY COLTON MCKEE PHOTOGRAPHY/MEDICINE HAT MAVERICKS
The Medicine Hat Mavericks unveiled an alternative identity, 'Baby 'Spreys', they will don for three games with the first being Tuesday, July 15 at Athletic Park.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Osprey presence at Athletic Park is about to multiply by the dozen.
The Medicine Hat Mavericks unveiled an alternate identity on Friday, the ‘Baby ‘Spreys’, paying homage to the franchise’s history and their unofficial third mascot that hangs around the park.
The Osprey family that has made a home of a light post at the ball park have become a fan favourite, director of operations Austin Ell says, sparking the inspiration for the limited-time look.
“People would come to the games and talk about how they sometimes just sit there and watch the birds fly around and bring fish back to feed their families,” Ell said. “So it was something the fans have been really enjoying over the past few summers.”
That residents at AP paired with the history of the Baby Blue Jays provided two concepts they looked to combine, embracing the latest trend in minor baseball of teams adapting alternative identities for select games.
The Mavs will don the baby blue with red lettering for three games, the first on Tuesday against the Lethbridge Bulls. The other two nights, July 18 (vs. Moose Jaw Miller Express) and July 25 (Swift Current 57’s).
Ell says the jersey designs came from the Baby Jays days from 1978-2002 in Medicine Hat without directly ripping off the franchise’s jerseys.
Between himself and the Mavs’ bar manager Shanoa Piche, the Baby ‘Spreys was born.
“We didn’t want to completely rip off the Blue Jays, so we wanted to create our own thing at the same time, we figured maybe blue was kind of a fan favourite and it meshes with the Blue Jays and red for the Mavericks, so we wanted to keep that,” Ell said.
“Everybody collaborated on this with our team here, we put together a few names and the one we came out with that was the favourite was the ‘Baby ‘Spreys’ and colour schemes went from there.”
The alternate identity goes beyond the jerseys, the Mavs will be have Osprey themed promotions, drinks and some trivia.
“We’re really going to dig into the theme of our alternate identity,” Ell said.
The limited edition jerseys will be on sale in the Mavs’ store starting during Monday’s makeup game against the Saskatoon Berries. Fans will have the option to buy brand new jerseys or game-worn jerseys that are not claimed by the player. Those will be available following the final Osprey game on July 25. All jerseys are $90.
