Best Padres Jersey Wordmark

Throughout the San Diego Padres’ storied history the team has made use of various wordmarks to adorn the front of their jerseys. Though I don’t mind the wordmark the Padres are currently using, there has been some consternation among fans who prefer a more recognizable identity than the 2-year-old wordmark currently being utilized.

We’ve just about touched on almost every other uniform topic so far, so why not? Join me in another uniform exercise.

We’ll take a look at each wordmark the Padres have used as a jersey front over the years and see which one appeals the most.

These wordmarks are home-use only

For this exercise we’ll work with just the home wordmarks. The away wordmark set is a markedly shorter list and isn’t quite as entertaining.

Certain wordmark styles will be grouped together

This only applies to the 85-99 logo (and to a lesser degree the 1978) set. Though each of these fonts had different styles and colorways associated with them, their similarities warranted grouping them together for ease of voting.

Try to vote on the wordmark alone, not the corresponding colorway

I know this is asking a lot for this particular test, but the idea is to look at each font subjectively for its look and not for what colorway it went with (earlier wordmarks with brown/yellow, the ‘04 with navy/sand). You’ll notice that I’ve sapped the color away from the logos and you’re left with black/white/gray representations: this is meant to help your mind’s eye to appreciate the lettering at base value, not for the color it is/was attached to.

How you vote is up to you

If you prefer to treat this as a “what wordmark the Padres should go back to”, feel free! You may also just vote for your pure favorite logo even if you believe it to be antiquated and not suitable to bring back into modern use.

Let’s begin!

1969

Sportslogos.net

The inaugural wordmark for the MLB Padres team is vertically arched with a distinct border and interior color. The Padres would use this wordmark until 1971.

1971

Sportslogos.net

The Padres would change up the look of their jersey font in 1972 with a corresponding change in jerseys. While some details remain from the previous font there are marked changes in certain letters. This vertically arched logo is also only one solid color.

1974

Sportslogos.net

The Padres would ditch the arch in 1974 and go with a rising wordmark complete with a tail sweeping out from the cursive S. The Padres would go back to a border and interior color for this design that would last until 1977.

1978

Sportslogos.net

Sportslogos.net

The 1978 wordmark introduced a sweeping change: rounded lettering and the inclusion of San Diego above the Padres font gave this logo unique leverage as both a home and away jersey look. Included in this selection are both versions of the font, in a border/interior color version and a fully-colored version. More interesting about these logos is that they are the first time the Padres used a logo without arching or a tilt.

1979

Sportslogos.net

The radical changes made in 1978 would be short-lived as 1979 reintroduced an arched logo. The font used in 1978 remains though some portions of the lettering have been lengthened or altered. This wordmark is also two-colored.

1980

Sportslogos.net

While not much different from the previous year the 1980 wordmark did introduce the usage of a third color within the logo itself. This wordmark is border/inner border/inner colored and some sections of the lettering have been shortened/lengthened from the previous year. The arch also remains.

1985-1999

1985

Sportslogos.net

1991

Sportslogos.net

1999

Sportslogos.net

The longest-tenured wordmark of our study, this rising wordmark takes cues from the amalgamation of 70s-era wordmarks and combines them into one cohesive look that lasts from 1985-2003. Of the three versions here, the only real difference is in color usage: the 1985 model is a two-colored logo, the 1991 is three-colored, and the 1999 version is a flat one-color. Despite these color differences there is little else to differentiate the logos and so they are grouped together for our purposes.

2004

Sportslogos.net

The 2004 redesign brought about wholesale change once again to the primary jersey wordmark. A return to cursive font brings about a very slightly raised logo complete with an unattached design detail underneath. Though this particular logo had slight changes in the use of color as a border (notably on the flair beneath the words) this is the most common representation shown: a 2-color version with a contrasting color border on the “tail”.

2016

Sportslogos.net

The All-Star year of 2016 brought many permanent and temporary changes to the Padres, among which was a new wordmark. Taking a few cues from wordmarks past, this slightly-vertically arched logo features 2 colors and a P and S that are marginally larger than the interior words to provide a symmetrical effect. Though wholly absent on regular 2016 home Padres jerseys this wordmark made its debut on an alternate jersey that year and has since become the de-facto logo on the 2017 home jersey.

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Now it’s time for your vote. Which Padres wordmark do you think is best?