Jakki Corrigan said the nickname of the West Coast Baseball League’s Victoria franchise — HarbourCats — was untraditional. So she decided to leaven things with a classic-looking uniform design.
“The goal was to bring more of a traditional [baseball] look into it,” said Corrigan, the HarbourCats merchandising and partnerships manager, who designed the uniforms that were produced by Nike.
The HarbourCats, who begin their inaugural season Wednesday at Royal Athletic Park, unveiled their uniforms at a press conference Friday night.
There are three uniforms — white, dark blue and a light-blue third jersey. The home uniform has front-lettering reading “HarbourCats” and the away jersey and third jersey have lettering reading “Victoria.”
One cap features a basic “V” and the other a more involved-looking configuration utilizing the letters “H” and “C.”
“These [jerseys] are cool,” said HarbourCats pitcher Ty Provencher from Long Beach State. "And Nike … you can’t go wrong with that.”
The WCL features U.S. collegiate NCAA players in summer ball.
There were 54 WCL players selected in the 2012 Major League Baseball draft and 45 in the 2011 MLB draft.
The idea is to improve in the WCL and get noticed for the MLB draft.
The HarbourCats players will be doing that in style.
“These [uniforms] are sharp … maybe the nicest I’ve played in,” said outfielder Austin Russell from Victoria, who plays for Southern Polytechnic State in Atlanta.
“We’re going to be the best-looking team in the league.”
Infielder Zack Storm, from the University of Kentucky Wildcats, drove 41 hours with his dad Bob to get to Victoria just in time for Friday evening’s first showing of the jerseys.
“It’s amazing … better than I expected,” said Zack Storm.
“It looks like a big-league jersey. When you look good, you feel good and play well.”
But no matter what you play in, the game remains the same, even for a group being thrown together with little time together before opening night Wednesday.
“We have to communicate out there on the diamond,” said Storm, who will be joined on the HarbourCats by Kentucky Wildcats teammate Greg Fettes, a catcher.
“We have to have each other’s backs and support each other.”
The HarbourCats will play a 54-game 2013 regular season in the WCL, with 27 home dates from Wednesday through Aug. 11.
