Arrivals + Departures created the names, logos and uniforms for the inaugural teams of the Women’s Professional Baseball League; each identity was inspired by a trailblazing woman from the team’s city or the history of women’s baseball.
This month, the Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL) unveiled the names, uniforms and visual identities of its four inaugural teams, developed by Toronto-based independent creative agency Arrivals + Departures.
More than the debut of a new league, this launch marks a historic moment in women’s sports. The WPBL is bringing professional women’s baseball back to the United States for the first time since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League folded in 1954, creating a pathway that generations of female players have never had. By building each franchise around a woman of impact, the league gives the sport deeper meaning beyond the field.
Tasked with creating the founding brands for the league’s first franchises, the agency developed team names and identity systems inspired by four trailblazing women whose legacies are deeply connected to each team’s city and to the history of women’s baseball.
“Launching a league from the ground up requires more than strong visual design. It demands thoughtful and original concepts that can carry meaning, build community, and endure over time,” said Mike Bevacqua, Partner and President of Arrivals + Departures.
Few agencies ever have the opportunity to create the identities of an entire professional sports league from the ground up. For Arrivals + Departures, the assignment meant developing not only team names and logos, but a shared design philosophy that could honour the history of women’s baseball while helping shape its future.
“Most sports branding projects ask you to design for one team. We were asked to brand an entire league from scratch,” said Jeff MacEachern, Chief Creative Officer at Arrivals + Departures. “That meant creating four distinct identities that feel like they’ve always belonged while also signalling a new era for women’s baseball.”
The four inaugural team names and the women they are inspired by:
New York Heights: Named after civil rights icon Dorothy Irene Height (1912-2010).
San Francisco Firebells: Named after the city’s first female firefighter, Lillie Hitchcock Coit, “Firebelle Lil” (1843-1929).
Boston Hunters: Named after physician and women’s rights activist Harriot K. Hunt (1805-1875).
Los Angeles Queens: Named after baseball pioneer Lizzie Murphy, known as the “Queen of the Diamond” and the first woman to play professional baseball against Major League players (1894-1964).
The identities were developed by a three-person in-house design team that included two female designers and a designer with firsthand baseball experience, who worked closely with a representative from the Women’s Professional Baseball League and the broader women’s baseball community to ensure the brands honoured both the history and future of the sport.
“The first four cities had been chosen, but we needed team names, uniforms and brands,” said Kelly Gianopoulos, CMO for the Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL). “We brought on Arrivals + Departures to bring these teams to life. We posed the challenge to the agency for meaningful design concepts, to not just launch a league, but to give the next generation of women the history they deserved. They knocked it out of the park.”
The response has been immediate. Since the identities were unveiled, demand for merchandise has exceeded expectations, with several items selling out quickly as fans embraced the league’s inaugural brands, signalling strong enthusiasm for the return of professional women’s baseball ahead of the league’s first pitch this August.
Credits:
Client: Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL)
Chief Marketing Officer: Kelly Gianopoulos
Strategy & Operation: Jeremy Berman
Project Coordinator: Paige Thompson
Agency: Arrivals + Departures
Chief Creative Officer: Jeff MacEachern
Creative Director: Jeff Collins
Designer: Stephen Tasker
Designer: Kimberley Pereira
Designer: Ashley O’Driscoll
Illustrator: Geoff Mack
President, Partner: Mike Bevacqua
Chief Strategy Officer: Dustin Rideout
Group Account Director: Alli Zakoor
Account Coordinator: Alessia Price
Agency Producer: Claire McRae
About Arrivals + Departures
Arrivals + Departures is a creative agency with offices in Toronto and Halifax that helps brands navigate the changing world around them. A national, independently owned advertising agency, we harness the collective passion and perspective of our people to see the world differently for our clients’ brands.
arrivalsdepartures.com
About the WPBL
The Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL) is the only professional women’s baseball league in the United States. The League’s historic inaugural season is set to start August 1st and will run through September, including both a regular season and playoffs. The League’s debut season will feature its four teams – New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco – and will be held at historic Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois. The League is co-founded by baseball pioneer, Justine Siegal, who is the first woman to coach a professional men’s baseball team and to pitch batting practice in Major League Baseball. For more information, visit www.womensprobaseballleague.com
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