/ 2 January 2013

Soccer Out of Context: the NL Central

There’s no doubt about it – there’s an appetite for more Soccer Out of Context work. I am thrilled to keep designing. Last time we tackled baseball’s A.L. East; today, we’ll change leagues and locales to see what National League Central division teams would look like if they played soccer for a day. The N.L. Central is a very tradition-heavy division; its youngest team is nearing the half-century mark, and its elder statesmen aren’t that far from their sesquicentennials. When you have a group of clubs that were officially created in 1969 (the Pilots/Brewers), 1883 (the Pirates) 1882 (the Cardinals), 1881 (the Reds) and 1870 (the Cubs), you have a lot of identity heritage to sort through. But despite (or possibly because of) their long histories, the clubs of the N.L. Central have shown remarkable visual consistency. Only the Brewers have had a few wholesale identity revamps in the post-war era (Motre Bame, anyone?), and even they seem to be trending back towards the blues and golden yellows that defined their original identity.

Soccer Out of Context is now an e-Book! The complete illustrated project, with new 2020 commentary and bonus content, is available here for all platforms and devices.