As Major League Baseball (MLB) faces the reality that its sport has been relegated to second behind football in the hearts and minds of many Americans, teams search for ways to leverage their game’s legacy for future generations – while avoiding being frumpy or reactionary.
Despite the mostly floundering fortunes of the Pittsburgh Pirates over the past two decades, the Steel City has remained a bastion of reverence for Abner Doubleday’s game. Such legendary figures as Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell have contributed to the legacy of Pittsburgh’s baseball lore.
Since opening in 2001, PNC Park, the Pirates’ home, has been celebrated as one of the most attractive of MLB’s new-generation parks. However, team officials wanted to attract greater attention to Legacy Square, which honors the organization’s past glories, as well as former Negro League players.
The Pirates hired Image 360’s Pittsburgh West franchise – Image 360 is a business unit of Alliance Franchise Brands, which also operates Signs by Tomorrow and Signs Now – to provide an environmental-graphic makeover for Legacy Square. The shop has enjoyed a seven-year relationship with the team. Initially, the shop had begun working on graphic enhancements for the Budweiser Bowtie Bar inside the stadium, and was subsequently asked to provide new signage for Legacy Square.
First, Image 360 removed the 30 x 30-ft., aluminum panel that served as Legacy Park’s main-ID sign, stripped off the former sponsor’s logo, and replaced the channel letters before reinstalling them on their supportive, steel I-beams. The shop also refurbished the information kiosks that recounted stories of famous former players. The process involved decorating layers of Alumicolor, a graffiti- and scratch-resistant material that embeds ink within pores of thin, aluminum sheets to create a stout finish, with a proprietary method.
For the Legacy Theatre, which displays memorabilia and photos within the square, Image 360 fabricated a timeline from ½-in.-thick PVC. Image 360 inkjet-printed the signs on Roland DGA SolJet III XC-540 solvent-ink and HP DesignJet L25500 latex-ink printers, and applied prints to the backers.
“I was very proud of my team of consummate professionals after completing this project,” franchise president David Jones said. “All of the visual-communication solutions Image360 provided were met with continuous praise from all levels within the Pirates organization.”