California Sports Logo

In early 2003, not long after the Anaheim Angels had captured the AFL championship, their new owner, Mr. Moreno, decided to change their name. Pointing to marketing considerations, he wanted to change the name to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He did not push for a change in the team logo.

That logo had long been a red "A." A blue halo was embroidered over the top of that "A." Moreno did not make any move to change that logo. Yet some of the residents of Anaheim designed a special type of logo. Their logo was designed to be used as a form of protest.

In order to understand the protests of the Anaheim residents, one must learn something about the Angels. That team had first played in Los Angeles, and had once before been called the Los Angles Angels. In the 1960''s the team moved to Anaheim, CA, and it then changed its name to the California Angels. The Disney Company bought the team from Gene Autry in 1997, and it named the team the Anaheim Angels.

So for close to six years the City of Anaheim had benefited from the Angel''s new name. The City of Anaheim voiced strong objections to the proposed name change in 2003. Some of the residents of Anaheim demonstrated obvious support for their government. They designed a special logo that poked fun at the proposed name change.

Their logo contained an "L" and an "A." The "A" was hooked onto the horizontal bar of the "L." Their "A" had a halo, but it seemed to have broken while dangling from that "L." The residents of Anaheim saw a broken team in the team with the words "Los Angeles" in its name.

Objects bearing this logo of protest soon began to appear at the Angel games. Some game attendees purchased those items. Spurred by the success of those sales, the creator of the protest logo even started his own website. His protest logo could be found on that website.

The creator of that protest logo obviously hoped to sway the thinking of certain legal experts. The City of Anaheim was suing for restoration of a team name that contained the City''s name. Unfortunately, the courts did not decide in favor of the local protestors. They gave a green light to the name change.

No ruling by the courts would have changed the logo for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The team had agreed to stay with the angelic "A."

Dana Bradley writes about MLB Gears,Sports Gears.