Detroit Tigers will wear smaller Old English 'D' on caps this season

LAKELAND, Florida – Detroit Tigers fans have spoken, and the team has listened.

After wearing game caps with a larger Old English ‘D’ last season, the Tigers will revert to a smaller logo for the 2019 season, according to multiple persons with knowledge of the situation.

The logo, one of the most iconic in professional sports, will not change. But the size of the logo, which did not resonate with the Tigers’ traditional generation of fans, will shrink to a size more consistent with the logo worn on game caps prior to last season.

When asked about the game caps for the upcoming season on Friday afternoon, Tigers vice president of communications Ron Colangelo said, “Based on fan input, we made a slight adjustment to the size and positioning of the iconic Old English ‘D.’ We love the traditional look and we’re excited for the start of the upcoming season.”

While the size of the Old English ‘D’ on the Tigers’ game caps this season will not be the exact same as those worn on the team’s game caps prior to last season, it is described as being "very similar,” according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

With the change, the Tigers and Cubs will wear two of the smallest logos on their game caps in the major leagues.

The change was based on yearly research conducted by the team, Major League Baseball and its licensees, which was clear in its conclusion that the fans wanted a change.

It was years of that research which prompted last year’s change — enlarging the logo — in the first place: in recent years, in accordance with feedback from a younger generation of fans, teams have trended toward bigger logos on their game caps.

But the Tigers decided the larger logo worn on the team’s game caps last season took away from the team’s rich tradition.

[ From the archives: What was the point of changing Tigers' Old English 'D' ]

The Tigers have tweaked the logo on their game caps plenty of times since the team joined the American League in 1901, but last season’s tweak was most jarring, because of the size of the logo.

With the change, the 2019 Tigers will wear game caps with an Old English ‘D’ very close in size to those worn by Hall of Famers Al Kaline and Alan Trammell throughout the years.

The team will debut the smaller logo on their road caps on Opening Day, scheduled for March 28 against the Blue Jays; and on home caps on April 4 against the Royals.