Shades of Jerry West
On first blush, one might not see that Jerry West and Team Rainey's pitcher Tony Peeples have a lot in common. One is a retired NBA player-turned exec, making a living in Memphis, the other, a longtime fixture in California fastpitch circles. But they do share something in common. Their silhouettes both grace sports logos. Jerry "Mr. Clutch" West has long been the familiar basketball player silhouette alongside the words "NBA". Now Tony Peeples ("Peeps") finds himself as part of our new logo:
Those of you who have been visiting Fastpitchwest for some time (or had to face him in the batter's box) probably recognize that familiar delivery of his in our new logo. Perhaps you noticed that the silhouette was adapted from that original photo of Tony that has graced our front page for so long. It's that same pitch captured at the NAFA "AAA" World Series in Salem, Oregon in 2002, a tournament in which he won 6 games. When we asked for permission to use his likeness in our logo, it was for the same reason as when we posted his photo to our website. We think he is a great representative of fastpitch, and in particular, fastpitch on the West Coast. (the "West" in FastpitchWEST, if you will). He has pitched for Team USA, and pitched teams to more than one National Championship. He now pitches on one of the West Coast's top teams, Team Rainey, after Team Lyons ended their run with the 2003 NAFA "AAA" World Series title. But our decision goes beyond that. We find him to exemplify so much that is good about the game. The little things that sometimes go unnoticed, but are important nonetheless. Last year, for example, amidst the celebration of that NAFA World Series title, he found time to chat with a local kid from Chippewa Falls learning to pitch, and share a few tips, and later, signed a photo taken of the two with some words of encouragement. We hope the new logo (now on T-shirts as of this month) will help promote the game, and foster its growth among players old and young. Shades of Jerry West.
(Incidentally, some of you have already noticed that the familiar photo of Tony is no longer in use on the front page of our website. Gone yes, but certainly not forgotten. Enshrined in our logo, you might say. We're going to rotate photos of more of you on the front page from time to time, taken from games played throughout the season. You can follow the photo directly to the story behind it by clicking the photo. For those of you who became accustomed to seeing Tony's photo, and miss it, remember that he is still pitching, so we expect he will grace our cover again at some point this season.)
Those of you who have been visiting Fastpitchwest for some time (or had to face him in the batter's box) probably recognize that familiar delivery of his in our new logo. Perhaps you noticed that the silhouette was adapted from that original photo of Tony that has graced our front page for so long. It's that same pitch captured at the NAFA "AAA" World Series in Salem, Oregon in 2002, a tournament in which he won 6 games. When we asked for permission to use his likeness in our logo, it was for the same reason as when we posted his photo to our website. We think he is a great representative of fastpitch, and in particular, fastpitch on the West Coast. (the "West" in FastpitchWEST, if you will). He has pitched for Team USA, and pitched teams to more than one National Championship. He now pitches on one of the West Coast's top teams, Team Rainey, after Team Lyons ended their run with the 2003 NAFA "AAA" World Series title. But our decision goes beyond that. We find him to exemplify so much that is good about the game. The little things that sometimes go unnoticed, but are important nonetheless. Last year, for example, amidst the celebration of that NAFA World Series title, he found time to chat with a local kid from Chippewa Falls learning to pitch, and share a few tips, and later, signed a photo taken of the two with some words of encouragement. We hope the new logo (now on T-shirts as of this month) will help promote the game, and foster its growth among players old and young. Shades of Jerry West.
(Incidentally, some of you have already noticed that the familiar photo of Tony is no longer in use on the front page of our website. Gone yes, but certainly not forgotten. Enshrined in our logo, you might say. We're going to rotate photos of more of you on the front page from time to time, taken from games played throughout the season. You can follow the photo directly to the story behind it by clicking the photo. For those of you who became accustomed to seeing Tony's photo, and miss it, remember that he is still pitching, so we expect he will grace our cover again at some point this season.)
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