The Washington Nationals are the Major League Baseball franchise based in Washington, D.C., formed when the Montreal Expos relocated to the nation’s capital for the 2005 season. The team’s visual identity has centered on the “Curly W” cap logo, a script letterform that traces its lineage to the Washington Senators teams that played in the city before the franchise departed in 1971.
Design and History
The Nationals name, logo and colors were unveiled on November 22, 2004, at Union Station in Washington, D.C. The original identity, designed by MLB’s vice president of design services, Anne Occi, with input from D.C. officials, featured a red, white, blue and gold color scheme. The team’s cap logo was a script “W,” similar to the design worn by the Washington Senators from 1969 to 1971. The primary logo at that time featured a gold-outlined “Nationals” wordmark above a baseball and below a red ribbon bearing the word “Washington.” [1]
The franchise’s name revived the “Nationals” moniker used by Washington’s original American League team from 1901 to 1960, although that club was commonly known as the Senators for much of its existence. [2]
In November 2010, the Nationals unveiled a new primary logo and uniform set as part of a broader rebranding effort. The changes were the result of roughly six months of team research and design work with MLB’s creative services department. The new identity was built almost entirely around the Curly W, eliminating the block-lettering “Nationals” wordmark from the home uniforms and removing gold from the team’s color palette. The secondary interlocking “DC” logo was also removed from the uniforms. [3]
The new primary logo featured a red Curly W with a blue outline inside a blue circular background with red and white trim, two red stars, and the words “Washington Nationals” in white lettering. [4] Nationals COO Andy Feffer described the Curly W as “an iconic symbol that cuts across every age and demographic,” while general manager Mike Rizzo stated simply, “The curly W is our logo. And we decided to go with that.” [4]
In January 2024, the Nationals unveiled a new uniform collection that introduced the Vintage Capitol W logo to a jersey for the first time. The logo, which features a block W in front of the Capitol building, had previously appeared on Spring Training caps in 2019 and on regular-season caps since 2020. [5] The 2024 collection also included an interlocking “DC” logo placed inside the silhouette of the District of Columbia on an arm patch. [6]
In March 2025, the Nationals released their second City Connect uniform set, called “District Blueprint,” commemorating the team’s 20th season in Washington. The design featured a white grid of the city’s street map on a light blue jersey, with an interlocking “DC” logo on the chest that received a 3D treatment referencing the 1956 Washington Senators logo. [7] [8]
Meaning and Symbolism
The Curly W was adapted from the logo worn by the Washington Senators in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Logo designer Todd Radom, who was hired by MLB to recast the Senators logo for the Nationals, described the refashioned mark as “a curious retro thing” wrenched from the history books. Radom explained that the word “National” did not lend itself to specific imagery the way team names like the Red Sox or Eagles did, so the identity was built around a wordmark. He added red, white and blue to the package and topped it off with gold for flourish. [9]
The Curly W has drawn frequent comparisons to the Walgreens pharmacy chain logo, which also features a script W. Despite the visual similarity, Walgreens has not pursued trademark action against Major League Baseball, in part because the two organizations operate in entirely different markets. [9]
Typography and Design
The Nationals’ original 2004 primary logo used a gold-outlined “Nationals” wordmark in block lettering, paired with a red ribbon reading “Washington.” [1] The 2011 rebranding replaced this with a circular primary logo featuring the Curly W as the central element, surrounded by the team name in white block letters on a blue field. [4]
The team’s official colors are scarlet red, navy blue and white. [10] Gold was part of the original 2005 palette but was eliminated in the 2011 rebrand. [3]
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