Part of the New YorkâPenn League, the Aberdeen IronBirds franchise is located in the city of Aberdeen in Harford County, Maryland.
Meaning and history
While the history of the franchise can be traced back to 1977, it was only in 2002 that it adopted its current name. The Aberdeen IronBirds are affiliated with the Baltimore Orioles and play as a Short-Season A classification team.
2002Â â 2012
The old Aberdeen IronBirds logo depicted a silver airplane on which the number â8â could be seen. While itâs the number of the team owner, the retired Oriole Cal Ripken, Jr., itâs also connected with the Aberdeen Proving Ground U.S. Army installation located not far from the franchiseâs hometown. The logo has a generally cartoonish stile with smooth, simple shapes. The plane even has an eye and a mouth.
2013 â 2020
By 2013, they replaced the plane with a sort of fusion between a jet and an eagle, both rather realistic. This time, the image is facing the viewer, seemingly flying towards them. They added flames to the tips of its wings, which look straight and mechanical here. The joints between the wings and the head look like shoulder plates of a knight armor. The eagleâs head itself looks malicious â they gave it a darkened tone and made the eyes into orange dots. Above, âAberdeenâ is written in orange across a black arch, while beneath, the word âIronbirdsâ has a rougher, metallic style.
2021
In 2021, they recolored all the orange bits (beak, eyes and flames) into dark red, and thatâs it.
2022 – Today
The 2022 logo depicts another cartoonish plane mascot, but not entirely like the original one. This one is depicted in the same pose, but the color scheme is mostly turquoise with a touch of orange and dark blue. They gave it a determined smile and two simplistic eyes (just two big pupils). A letter âAâ is now seen on a tail. Beneath, the name âIron Birdsâ is written in a cursive blue font with a thick underline.
Colors
The five-color palette comprises black, orange, white, blue, and silver.