Miami Marlins unveil new name, new uniforms, colorful new look

MIAMI, Fla. - The Miami Marlins will be colorful. They will be distinctive.

Different, not only from the rest of Major League Baseball but from their past as the Florida Marlins. They made that clear Friday night with a gala unveiling of their new look, logo and uniforms at the yet-to-be-named retractable-roof ballpark in Little Havana.

How bold of a direction the new-look franchise is headed will ultimately depend on who wears the uniforms -- they reportedly have extended offers to Albert Pujols and Jose Reyes. Friday was about style. Gone is the familiar marlin wrapped around an F they wore on their caps since 1993. The name change from Florida to Miami Marlins brings the multicolored M accented by an abstract marlin that has been rumored since September.

The much-debated logo was formally revealed to an invitation-only crowd in the ballpark and a live stream on Marlins.com that featured a performance by rapper Pitbull. Hanley Ramirez led a fashion show of eight players modeling the new uniforms, followed by manager Ozzie Guillen in a suit.

The glitzy event was reminiscent of the Heat's showy introduction of the Big 3 after LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade, but without any predictions of a string of championships.

The logo is similar to what has been circulating on the Internet for more than a month, with slight color variations. The center is black when set against light backgrounds, white on the black cap and colored jerseys. It is trimmed with red-orange, yellow, silver and blue. Owner Jeffrey Loria said the primary colors are symbolic of the citrus industry, the sky and sea.

"We are unique, we're sleek and different, and we are the colors of Miami," owner Jeffrey Loria said in revealing the new look.

While the uniforms are nontraditional for Major League Baseball, they fall well short of extreme.

The team revealed four uniforms: The home white, road gray and alternate black each have MIAMI in beveled, block-lettering across the chest, with the logo M larger with the leaping marlin. The home whites have orange piping around the collar, sleeves and down the outside of the pants. Only the orange alternate varies with MARLINS across the chest and the abstract fish leaping from the middle of the name.