The Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball have used a series of distinct logos since their inaugural 1961 season, with the current primary mark featuring a red block letter “A” encircled by a silver halo with a navy outline. The team’s official media guide describes the logo as consisting of the block letter “A” in red, including dark red shading, with a silver halo filled with navy circling the top of the “A,” and the same navy outlining both the letter and the halo.[1]
Design and History
The Angels franchise was created in 1960 as an expansion team and played its first game in 1961, named “Angels” for the English translation of Los Angeles, “The City of Angels.”[1] The club remained in Los Angeles from 1961 to 1965 before moving to Anaheim in 1966, officially becoming the California Angels in September 1965 to coincide with a uniform change the following season.[1]
On November 19, 1996, the team announced it was renamed the Anaheim Angels during a press conference at Anaheim Stadium that also announced a uniform change.[1] On January 3, 2005, the team announced its official name as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, with the inclusion of Los Angeles reflecting the original expansion name.[1] The team is now known as the Los Angeles Angels.[1]
On January 9, 2002, the Angels unveiled new official team colors and logos featuring red as the dominant color for the first time in club history, representing the seventh uniform change in franchise history.[1] The logo features the signature halo surrounding the “A,” with uniforms reminiscent of decades past.[1] The Angels have had several primary logos since 1961, including the current red “A” logo with a gray halo and dark blue outline that debuted in 2005.[2]
The team has used the same red hat with a red “A” encircled by a silver halo since 2002, the same year they won the only World Series title in franchise history.[3] It is the team’s eighth official hat design dating back to 1961, with a ninth being the alternate Nike City Connect cap that debuted in 2022.[3]
In the franchise’s early years, just a few weeks into the 1961 season, the Los Angeles Angels adopted a silver halo atop their cap, a novel addition to their baseball uniform that lasted through the 1970 season, after which the design element was removed from the top of the cap and a small halo was incorporated into the team’s logo.[4]
Meaning and Symbolism
The halo has been a consistent element of the Angels identity since the franchise’s early years. The team’s official media guide notes that the logo “captures the tradition of Angels baseball and a contemporary ‘back to basics’ flare,” with the signature halo surrounding the “A.”[1]
The Angels selected red, dark red, navy and silver as their official colors in 2002, with the red and navy having been the team’s official colors since the inaugural season.[1]
Typography and Design
The official Angels logo consists of a block letter “A” in red with dark red shading along the outside of the left side and inside the right side and bottom of the cross of the “A.” A silver halo filled with navy circles the top of the “A,” with the same navy outlining both the “A” and the halo.[1]
On home, road and alternate uniforms, the red “ANGELS” script appears on the front with a silver halo circling the top of the “A,” with the script outlined in blue and silver.[1]
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