The “Walla Walla Sweet” is known to the world as the most flavorful onion on the planet; now Sweets will sweep the West Coast League as the newest franchise in the top summer collegiate baseball league in the region. Pacific Baseball Ventures, LLC managing partner John Stanton joined partners Peter Van Oppen, Jeff Cirillo, Greg Shaw, and general manager Zachary Fraser in launching the team name, brand, and website at a news conference held in Walla Walla. The event was held at historic Sharpstein Elementary School, one of the oldest elementary schools in the state of Washington. More than 500 Sharpstein students, administrators, and staff cheered as the brands were unveiled in the school gymnasium.After inviting the community to share their thoughts on team names, colors, and promotions, more than 600 community members shared their opinions, and Sweets was a favorite among these participants.
“I was blown away by the amount of community participation,” said GM Zachary Fraser. “This is definitely a baseball market."
Fraser noted that while Sweets was the most popular name in community feedback with over 64% of those participating clamoring for Sweets, the club also saw a lot of support for the Padres, hearkening back to the time when Hall of Famers Ozzie Smith and Tony Gwynn were major-league prospects launching their careers in Walla Walla. While the team could not use that name because there is not an affiliation with the big league club in San Diego, Fraser felt that this was an exciting indication that the city will really get behind this club.
The brand was created with collaboration between the team and legendary graphic design firm Studio Simon of Louisville, KY. Studio Simon principal Dan Simon has worked with Fraser in the past, creating the Orem Owlz brand that became one of the most popular in all of professional baseball. Simon is recognized for his ability to truly capture the purpose of the brand and the event.
“As soon as I was brought on board, I called Dan,” said Fraser. “He is the best in the business and the community deserves the best.”
In addition to the classic baseball treatment of the Sweets script, another unique feature of the brand is the cap treatment. Challenged with how to address the fact that there were already a number of “W” hat treatments in Walla Walla, Studio Simon raised “W” to the second power. This accomplishes WW to represent “Walla Walla”, but in a stylistically interesting fashion that makes it special and different from other recent treatments
The Sweets have launched
www.wallawallasweets.com, the official team website. This site will be the place for fans to gather for everything about Walla Walla Sweets baseball, and to visit the Sweets Shoppe for team merchandise. A select number of Sweets caps are available now, with a wider variety of Sweets gear arriving soon, in time for holiday gift options. The site was built by Infinity Pro Sports, a leader in building dynamic web sites for professional sports teams.
