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The History of and Story Behind the Arizona Diamondbacks Logo

The Arizona Diamondbacks are the MLB team based in Phoenix, AZ. As MLB franchises go, they are a relatively new one, seeing as how they started up in 1998. With that said, the Arizona Diamondbacks have nonetheless managed a number of impressive achievements over the course of their existence, with the best example being their World Series championship win over the New York Yankees in 2001. Something that made them not just the fastest expansion team to win a championship in the major leagues but also the sole Arizona men's major league team to win a championship so far. With that said, while the Arizona Diamondbacks have existed for no more than a couple of decades, it has nonetheless seen some changes to its logo.

What Is a Diamondback Anyways?

To understand the Arizona Diamondbacks logo, it can be worthwhile to consider the connotations of the name. For those who are unfamiliar, diamondback can refer to a terrapin, which is a term used for certain species of turtles that live in freshwater rather than saltwater. However, in this context, diamondback refers to the western diamondback rattlesnake.

In short, the western diamondback rattlesnake is one of the species of rattlesnakes that can be found in the United States. It is named thus to separate it from its close cousin in the eastern diamondback rattlesnake, which is important because it lives in the southwestern United States and parts of Mexico whereas its close cousin lives in the southeastern United States. Behavior-wise, the western diamondback rattlesnake is one of the more aggressive species of rattlesnake that can be found out there. However, this isn't because it will seek out targets so much as because of its defense strategy. In short, western diamondback rattlesnakes will coil up and start rattling to warn potential threats most of the time. Should the potential threats remain, said rattlesnakes will strike in its own defense, which can be pretty dangerous because its bigger venom glands and specialized fan structure enable it to deliver more venom per bite. As such, untreated bites from these rattlesnakes have a mortality rate that is estimated to be between 10 and 20 percent.

As for how the Arizona Diamondbacks winded up being called the Arizona Diamondbacks, well, suffice to say that it was one of a number of animal species that were proposed and then voted upon by interested individuals. Besides the western diamondback rattlesnake's iconic status for the state of Arizona, the diamondback was also supposed to serve as a reference to the diamond of the baseball field, thus enabling it to pull double-duty.

How Has the Arizona Diamondback Logo Changed Over Time?

For the most part, the Arizona Diamondback logos haven't see huge changes. The first version was an italicized A with a diamond pattern, which made use of black, copper, purple, and teal. By the second season, its logo had been changed to an actual copper-colored snake, which was laid out in the semblance of a D rather than an A. A few years later, the Arizona Diamondbacks started using both the A and the D. In the case of the D, it remained similar to its previous version but incorporated some minor changes. However, the A had a new set of colors, which were called black, Sedona Red, and Sonoran Sand. More recently still in 2016, the Arizona Diamondbacks incorporated teal into their latest designs, thus making for a familiar but nonetheless refreshed representation.

Symbolically, the Arizona Diamondbacks are making use of an iconic animal of the state, which has enough of a reputation for being both dangerous and glamorous to make it suitable for use by a major league team. Some people might wonder at the glamorous part, but it is interesting to note that rattlesnakes actually have a pretty long history of being associated with the United States. In fact, chances are good that a lot of people will have seen the image of a snake cut into eight sections to represent the colonies, which was labelled "Join, or Die." Said snake was supposed to be a rattlesnake, which was one of the symbols that became more and more popular in what would become the United States as the interest in uniquely American symbols grew because of the alienation from the British Empire.

Garrett Parker

Written by Garrett Parker

Garrett by trade is a personal finance freelance writer and journalist. With over 10 years experience he's covered businesses, CEOs, and investments. However he does like to take on other topics involving some of his personal interests like automobiles, future technologies, and anything else that could change the world.

Read more posts by Garrett Parker

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