From Mascot Mayhem To Community Trust, A Minor League Owner Tells All

We trace how a bruised franchise became a community beacon: a Ferris wheel inside the gates, a fan-led return to River Bandits, and partners who bet on a big vision. Dave Heller shares the mascot check fiasco, the bridge-in-the-logo story, and why family-first design wins.

• why an amusement-park mindset belongs in a ballpark
• the lockout scare and earning back trust
• Modern Woodmen partnership and local sponsors
• fan vote restoring River Bandits name
• Francis Santaquilani’s logo suite and bridge arches
• merch surge after rebrand and color debates
• letting kids roam safely while parents watch
• critiques of the Swing era and Copa identity
• pride in a naturally retro park by the river
• next week’s focus on Quad Cities baseball history

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Transcript

Cold Open: The Mascot Check Story

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The city was going to lock him out of the ballpark. And he shows up at uh, they say if you don't pay by five o'clock, we're gonna, we're gonna lock you out of the ballpark. And he shows up at 455 wearing the mascots off, you know, costume and and and hand delivers a check. And it was just like, okay, nobody really likes this guy. Okay, let's go.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

All right, and welcome everybody to the dadhat Chronicles podcast, the podcast where baseball meets business and stories behind from behind the scenes from uh you know that they just decided we're gonna bring it to life. Uh, I'm your host, Ed Rivera, also known as the Dad Hat. And each week we sit down with people who shake the game from front office leaders to creators, entrepreneurs, and insiders who make baseball more than just what happens on the field. Today's guest uh is someone who had a huge impact on minor league baseball, especially in the quad city areas. Um, and um we're gonna talk about some uh some fun stuff regarding minor league baseball. So let's get into it. Uh with me today I have uh Dave Heller, who you are um the owner of the Quad City uh River Bandits. Am I correct on that?

SPEAKER_00 1:20

I am. I'm the owner of the Quad Cities River Bandits.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

I love it, love it. So you um and uh Dave, first of all, thank you for coming on the podcast. I really appreciate this. Uh I do have a question for you because uh I obviously did a little bit of research on you um before we got on. And you are the owner, my majority owner and managing partner of multiple minor league baseball teams, correct?

SPEAKER_00 1:44

About four of them to be precise.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

Yeah, right. So you got the Quad City River Bandits, you got the Wilmington Blue Rocks, who just at the time of this recording uh just released some uh some new um logos for this year.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Yes, we did.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

I love that in a beautiful uh colors and everything and everything. So I just saw that. Uh Billings Mustangs.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

And now the newest one is the Lowell Spinners.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

No, no, no. The new one is the Modesto Roadsters.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

That's right. The Roadsters. I apologize. You're right about that. I um I did hear the uh the episode with uh with Paul regarding the roadsters. That's uh you're bringing baseball back to where it should have been.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

It's a it's a great name and a great logo and uh and a great community with uh a lot of passion for baseball, and we're really excited to be there.

Falling For Baseball And Shea Stadium Magic

SPEAKER_02 2:36

I love that. Love that. Um, so if you don't mind, my my my very first question to you is uh and this is regarding you as a fan, like what got you um so to love the bait the game of baseball? Right, obviously we all love all the sports, but like why baseball?

SPEAKER_00 2:57

How did I start loving baseball? Yes, sir. The very first game I went to, very first major league game, um I wanted to go to a uh I wanted to see a major league game, and my father, I was uh nine years old, and my father told me, if you want to go to a game, you got to pay for the tickets. And I said, Dad, I'm nine. I have no money, I'm nine. He's like, well, figure it out. And I ended up going door to door on my little schwin bicycle selling uh garden seeds, and I sold enough to make enough money to buy two tickets, and uh my father took me to Shea Stadium, and we saw Tom Sieber take a no-hitter into the ninth inning, and I was hooked.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Oh, that's amazing! Yeah, I'm gonna sell I'm gonna sell something. Whatever it is, I'm gonna sell it because we're go we're going to a game.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

That's amazing. I love that. That's awesome. Um, so let me ask you this because obviously your first uh team was the Quad City Rabbins, uh, the Quad City Bandits. Um, what attracted you to buying Quad Cities uh the that franchise back in 2007?

SPEAKER_00 4:15

So I had I got into baseball because I had a big idea.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

Okay, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:20

My big idea was I wanted to take the two things that I loved most as a kid, which were baseball and uh amusement parks and county fairs, state fairs, things like that, and uh mash them up together.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

And I thought, you know, you got all these people at a at a ballpark. If you could if you could put amusement rides in there too, you know, that would be so much fun. Like that would be every kid's dream, right? That's my dream. Yeah. And so I wanted to uh I wanted to own a team somewhere where there was no amusement park anywhere nearby. And uh and I looked at four or five teams in the Midwest. I uh had actually looked at Erie in particular. I liked Erie, but they have it, they have an amusement park in Erie. And I'm like, well, that doesn't work, that's too close. And I saw Quad Cities, and in the Quad Cities, the nearest amusement park would be Adventureland, which is south of Des Moines. That's uh a little over two and a half hours away by car, or you go the other direction in the Chicago, you can go to the Navy Pier, and that's three hours away, or you can go to Six Flags at Gurney, that's three and a half.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

That's yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

And uh, and I thought, so the geography was right, and I saw I saw the ballpark and I just fell in love. I you know uh I joked that it took me three and a half years to marry my wife, and it took me three and a half minutes to marry Modern Wooden Park.

Choosing Quad Cities And The Carousel

SPEAKER_02 6:04

That's you know what? I can I can understand this. I can understand this. That's good. And and I'm looking at the pictures right now online as we're talking, and the fact that like you have that view, right, of the bridge, the water, uh, you have the carousel, all of that right there. That's that's baseball right there.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Yeah, so the carousel, don't undersell it, right? It's normally it is the only double decker carousel in all of baseball. It is also the for that matter, it's the only double-decker carousel in the entire state of Iowa. Uh the governor herself christened it when we opened it. And it's the only in fact, it's the only double decker carousel anywhere between Chicago and Kansas City.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

That's so it's it's it's really it's cool and it's rare.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

It is very cool. And obviously, uh, you don't get to see those a lot, you know, here in the U.S. So the fact that you have one there in the ballpark um is is completely and just an awesome thing to have. And I know the kids love that.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

They do.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

I know my daughter would love that. For sure she would love that.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Yeah, and we uh we actually do free Ferris wheel and carousel rides every Wednesday.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

Really?

SPEAKER_00 7:26

We do.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

See, see, this is the the kind of thing that you just fall in love with, right? Like, I mean, you're thinking about not just the the the experience of just a ballpark, but everything else around the full full-fledged FN experience in the inside and outside of the ballpark.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Yeah, look, uh somebody told me once, oh, you've got a Ferris wheel in your park. That's like uh Brooklyn, they have a roller coaster.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

Right.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

And I said, No, it's actually nothing like Brooklyn. Because in Brooklyn, the ro or Altoona, same thing, the roller coaster is near the park, but it's not in the park.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

That's true, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:04

So any kid who's in the park is looking out at the roller coaster, going, Oh, I wish I could be riding it, but I can't. You know, it's like it's like taking your wife out to out to lunch at a lovely little outdoor cafe and two tables away. Is is there's a beautiful supermodel sitting by herself.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

That's always you're right. You're right.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

And you know, you sit there and you're you're eating your your lunch and you're thinking, boy, I'd love to go over and be with her, but I can't. I have to stay here. That's what a 10-year-old is thinking when he's looking at that roller coaster.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

You're 100% right about that.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

Right. And and the nice thing about our park, the great thing about our ballpark in Quad Cities, Modern Woodman Park, is that you can go over and ride the Ferris wheel, you can go over and ride the wind up or the double play or the double decker carousel or or or any of the other thrill rides or fun rides that we have, the spinning kids coaster, all that stuff.

Designing For Families, Not Just Purists

SPEAKER_02 9:02

I'll say this. Um I have a seven-year-old, and it is a lot of the times it is extremely hard to keep someone entertained while at the ballpark. While I know that I would be completely entertained watching the game, I know my daughter would be like, Dad, can we do other things? Can we look around? Can we go walk around? Right?

SPEAKER_00 9:23

You know, Ed, I go to these, I go to these baseball meetings with other owners, and you listen to to other owners talk, and uh, and they will, I mean, not so much now because you got so much private equity in in the game, but used to be you'd go to the winter meetings where there was all these other team owners from all over the country, and they would grouse about you know, kids. They would, oh, kids today, you know, they don't they don't appreciate baseball the way we did. You know, my father taught me to keep score, and his father taught him to keep score. And I don't know why my kids won't sit still and learn to keep score. And it's like, uh, I don't want to criticize kids, I want to meet kids where they are, and I want to give them what they want.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

Kids nowadays, the what do listen? I understand, like you know, you have to sit there and everything. I get it. That's how I grew up, but at the same time, like I would like my kid to just walk around and spend some time. It's an entertainment area for for everybody. You have a little bit of everything for everyone.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

That's exactly right. And for for uh young parents, they can let their kids go run around and and and ride these rides and and know that they're totally safe because there's only one way in and one way out. And if they want to sit and watch the game and enjoy the game together for uh for a few innings while the kids are playing, they can do that. Like you would never say to your kid uh in Wrigley Field, hey, you know, just go out there to left field and uh come back in two innings. But in quad cities, you do that all the time, and it's totally safe and and and and totally fun and cool.

Safety, Sightlines, And Letting Kids Roam

SPEAKER_02 11:01

Yeah, absolutely. Uh let me ask you this. When when you back in in in 07, when you're looking taking over the team, um what the when you first you took a look at at everything, right? The team, the owner, the uh the the ballpark, uh, concessions, everything. What did you see was your biggest challenge um building an identity and and taking over the the the whole team?

SPEAKER_00 11:28

The the the my predecessor, the previous owner, had uh had you know had basically alienated much of the community.

SPEAKER_03 11:37

Okay.

Repairing Trust After Bad Ownership

SPEAKER_00 11:38

He he hadn't paid his rent and um uh showed up at the the city was gonna lock him out of the ballpark, and he shows up at uh they say if you don't pay by five o'clock, we're gonna we're gonna lock you out of the ballpark. And he shows up at 4 55 wearing the mascots costume and and and hand delivers a check. And it was just like okay, nobody really likes this guy. And so I had to, you know, the first year I was taking a lot of meetings of just getting yelled at for what my predecessor did.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Oh, I'm sure that was tons of fun.

Modern Woodmen Deal And Corporate Partners

SPEAKER_00 12:21

Yeah, that was not the most fun thing I've I've done, but there were there were businesses, there were people who bought into me and my vision and what I wanted to do. Um, first and foremost, Kenny Massey and the board at Modern Woodman of America, who uh you know, within a couple months of me taking over the team, they we did a naming rights deal uh with Modern Woodman that still goes on today. And they have been a fantastic, awesome corporate partner. And we we wouldn't be modern Woodman Park would not be what it is today, which was voted you know three times now in a row by USA Today and Tenbest.com, the best minor league ballpark in America. Like we wouldn't be that if Modern Woodman hadn't stepped out in faith and believed in me and and bought into my vision in division to bring in baseball back to the quad cities, and making it fun and and and bringing rides to the community and uh putting in a Ferris wheel and doing all those things. Um they they bought into that vision, and and John Deere bought into that vision, and Pepsi of Davenport bought into that vision. The Johnson family are just wonderful. Um, Genesis Health Systems bought into that vision. Like there were a number of companies, arconic, that that all bought into that vision and have been with me now. Um, this is gonna be year 20.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

Oh my god, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Right? I mean, we bought the team in 07, and this is now 26.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

That's that's awesome. I love that a lot. That's amazing. Um, let me ask you this. And then this is something that that goes into what your your vision when you when you took over, right? Your partnership and with the city, with with the town, with the with the community. Um, obviously there was a name change. Yes, right. Um it was originally the quad city river bandits, right? Where they had the the the one logo, I believe there was the older logo was like the baseball with the bandana on it. Um and then they swung they changed it to the swing, uh believe the the the swing of the uh river swing or something like that. I can't remember the name right now. The swing of the quad cities. The swing of the quad cities. That's a that's a great name. Um so what made you say, all right, let's just we're gonna clear this out.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

It's it's it's a and it's a great name, like herpes is a great disease.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

Oh, you're right, my friend. Um you're 100% right. I wanted to be nice.

Rebrand Rationale: River Bandits Return

SPEAKER_00 15:12

It was a terrible name. And you know, here's the story. I when I was buying the team, I asked the owner, I said, why it was the river bandits. You had a cool name. Why did you change it to the swing of the quad cities? And he said, Well, it's it's it's a triple entendre. And I looked at him quizzically and like triple entendre? And he says, Yeah. He said, you know, it's the the swing of the bat and uh the swing of the river, because Davenport is where the Mississippi River uh turns, and instead of running uh north-south, it actually turns and runs east-west for a short period of time. And uh, and then he says, and the swing of the old jazz era, you know, all up and down the Mississippi River, including Davenport. And I looked at him and I said, You market to 10-year-olds with a triple entendre.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

You're 100% right.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Right? And here, one more story about that, Ed. I, you know, do you remember what the colors were of the swing of the quad cities?

SPEAKER_02 16:31

I I do. I they're not great at all.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

So the he had they had three colors. Um, one was dark blue, one was light blue, and one was burnt orange. You know, kind of a rust.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

Yeah, yep, I see it. Yeah, and looking at it right now, trust me, it is not good.

Community Voice And The Name Vote

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Yeah, and I said to him, How did you come up with those colors? And I said, like, what are are they, you know, I've never been to the quad cities before. Are they native to this region or something? And he says, No, no, no. We says we did a lot of research, and I found out that the three best-selling colleges in terms of apparel are Michigan, Texas, and North Carolina. So we took dark blue from Michigan, rust from Texas, and light blue from North Carolina, and that's how we got our colors.

unknown 17:29

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

And and I looked at him and I said, you know, I I love spinach and I love pineapple and I love milkshakes, but I don't take them all three and put them into a blender and stir them up, you know. Yeah, no, you're right. You're like I like them separately.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

That's yeah, I'm looking at it right now. Like, I listen, I understand that you also want to include fan bases from different types of um uh of the of the United States, but you know, when it comes to minor league baseball, a lot of the times it's like you got to be very hyper-local to your your your area.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

You you want to be hyper-local, but you also want colors that in inherently complement each other, that go together really well.

SPEAKER_02 18:24

Correct.

Logo Craft, Merch Surge, And The Bridge

SPEAKER_00 18:25

And uh and they didn't do that either. So the the uh you know the first thing we did was put together this naming rights deal with Modern Woodman, and the next thing we did was held a naming rights contest. Um, and uh that was sponsored by Modern Woodman Bank, and we changed the name of the team.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

So on that, you you let the fans choose the name. Obviously, and I believe according to the research I've done, some of the names came up. Like you've got the quad the quad city river bandits came up, also the swing came up, but it was overwhelmingly the the favorite one was the the river bandits. Am I correct on that?

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Yeah, so we gave them we gave them six choices, gave the people six choices, including the swing, right? To be fair. And in a six-way race, River Bandits got 82% of the vote.

SPEAKER_02 19:21

Yeah, I think they like the name.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

So, yeah, right. It was pretty clear that's what the community wanted. And you know, uh, I just I think it's always better to listen to the community than just try to impose your will.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

I and I'm sure that you were not surprised at all, you know, how overwhelmingly favorite the name of the River Bandits was.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

No, I I certainly can't say as I was surprised. I I was pleased, certainly. Uh, not surprised.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

Not surprised.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

And then, you know, and then once we settled on the name, uh, we hired a fantastic designer named uh Francis Santaquilani, and he designed our River Bandits logo that we still use today. Like it was one of the best logos I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

I I'm a fan, I'll say that. Like, I mean, I there's a couple of uh I mean, I'm on your merch store right now. Yeah, uh the the logo I like a lot. Obviously, you guys updated it to show the partnership between you and the Kansas City Royals, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Yes. Um that's exactly right.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

And I do love, I'm looking, I might be purchasing a hat today. Great. But the new era that that Paw uh logos. I I I gotta say, uh Dave, I am a fan of that one a lot.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

Yeah, again, that was Francis. He uh, you know, he did a whole suite of of uh uh of different uh river bandit related logos, and that that Paul was one of them, and uh that was a big seller, and he did one with just the bandits' eyes, and that was a big seller. Uh he he really has done a great job for me.

Pride Of Place And A Naturally Retro Park

SPEAKER_02 21:07

So you and then you went back to quad cities instead of quad city as part of one of the small changes that from the old ownership to you.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

Yeah, yeah, I saw that. I noticed that a lot.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Yeah, because because here, and I look, I live in this community, right? I I live here and raise my children here. Um, this is home for me. If you if you ran into somebody from our community in a bar, in an airport, in somewhere, and they and you said, Where are you from? They would say, I'm from the quad cities. Nobody would say I'm from Quad City. That's there's no such place.

SPEAKER_02 21:47

So quad cities, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

So we are the quad cities river bandits.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

I like that, right?

SPEAKER_00 21:54

We this we and we proudly put quad cities on our uh on our uh visiting. jerseys.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

That's yep. Absolutely. Absolutely. Um, so um little something that that I also noticed while doing research, merchandise merchandise sales jumped about 400% to rebrand.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

Yes. Yeah, they did. People loved it. People loved the the the logo that uh Francis and I came up with and um you know we incorporated the bridge which is the the unique iconic elements of this community to have that bridge right you know right next to the ballpark and the bridge is uh lit up at night thanks to river action they they funded the the the bridge getting lit up and uh it's one of the most beautiful places to watch a baseball game anywhere in the country.

Segment Intro: Logo Deep Dive With Paul

Raccoon Brands And Real River Bandits History

SPEAKER_02 22:53

So obviously there was some issues right uh between the old ownership and a new one there were there were bills weren't getting paid and things like that and um I and I want to tie it back to you know the identity change how did that change as far as like the sponsorship interest in with with you and the team now that we have okay we are back we're back baby we're we're the river bandits how the partnership change for you once the change was made well it was so it was really like a a symbol of we're going to be doing things very differently it was a very clear very bold way of saying we're going to be completely different than the previous ownership and obviously you've you've shown it like I have a good friend of mine who um lives over there Lynn you know and is just close by and she's always saying how she loves that ballpark and and it's one of those whenever you talk about in our minor league community when you talk about logos Quad Cities is always one of the ones that come up because it's such an iconic logo right um and and the fact that you brought back also the old baseball with the bandana as well as part of an alternate that's pretty cool right because you're tied to the history yeah well and I I embrace the history of this of this franchise like I love the fact that our ballpark it is 95 years old right they in the 90s and early 2000s uh HOK and other firms were designing new ballparks to try to look retro we don't have to try to look retro we are naturally retro right we don't have to fake it yeah no you're 100% right like I mean you don't have to uh do anything that that is going to be retro because it's already retro it it is a cool look when it comes to the area you you have a prime spot for baseball we do we I think we have as I've said before I've said many times uh there's no better place to watch a baseball game anywhere in America than uh modern Woodman Park in Davenport Iowa there's just none the the it's the best view with the nicest people that you'll find anywhere in the country right here in the quad cities the best people that's amazing that's truly amazing right and I'm proud to count myself you know um among them I'm proud to be a quad citian oh my god it's uh it's uh it's been an interesting uh interview I really enjoyed it so welcome everybody to this segment a uh yet to be named segment so what I'm gonna do before we continue before I introduce my good friend again um I'm gonna leave it up to you the fans so if you're listening to this one thank you very much and thank you for subscribing if you're not and you're not subscribed please hit the subscribe button like it uh do the everything rate it give it five stars all that good stuff now this not named yet so I'm gonna leave it up to you any suggestions on how we should name this um this segment of the data chronicles podcast this it involves my myself and my good friend Paul Caputo of baseball by design uh in which we talk about uh a little bit of the history of the logo uh of the and the team name of the whatever team that we're talking about on that episode for this episode we are gonna be talking about quad city quad cities uh but we're talking about the river bandits right uh and a little bit about the swing of the quad city uh just because it's part of the history so we're gonna go there yeah uh but my friend how are you today Ed Rivera I'm so pleased to be here you know I love this on a Sunday evening when we're recording right now talking about minor league baseball logos because you know it's the first of February at the time of this recording. Yeah and February is officially the month where Major League Baseball is back.

The Swing Era: Colors, Saxophone, And Missteps

SPEAKER_01 27:04

Spring training is here we know that we're gonna have a 2026 season we're gonna try to enjoy it as best we can because who knows if we're gonna have seasons in 2027 and beyond. Who the hell knows at this let's enjoy 2026 while we can shall we shall we let's do that um all right so let's dive in my friend let's dive in um yeah we're talking about the quad city river bandits yeah um a lot of people it all depends like like you said it's like you know it's the quad cities quad city yeah um how it should go first of all and tell me a little bit more about this team all right well they were the quad city river bandits uh from 1992 to 2003 uh uh and and then we'll talk with the you know they became the the the swing of the quad cities for three ill-fated years there but then when your guest Dave Heller uh bought the team with his business partners in 2007 they renamed it the Quad Cities River Bandits because guess what there's multiple cities that make up the quad cities so that's why they went from quad city to quad cities but they have an adorable raccoon logo there are three affiliated minor league baseball teams that have raccoon logos obviously the Rocket City Trash pandas that one comes up all the dern time whenever people learn that we like minor league baseball they're like have you heard of this team in Alabama?

SPEAKER_02 28:21

Yeah there's two teams that I I'm always told that's what that's one of them and you know what the other one is about always the Savannah bananas have you heard have you seen them on TikTok?

SPEAKER_01 28:30

Oh my god yes I have thank you so the Rocket City trash bandas who play real baseball uh rather than you know what the Savannah bananas are playing and then you have uh of course the Hudson Valley Renegades who have a uh a raccoon based logo correct and then we have these quad cities river bandits uh it's pretty funny the the namesake for the it's not just like hey we're adorable raccoons they are named for there were actually were river bandits uh who uh in 1845 killed the namesake of the town of Davenport Iowa where that that is the actual town that the Quad Cities River Bandits play in they were known as river bandits and they actually attacked the city and they killed George Davenport in 1845. Those were the original river bandits that's where the team gets its name so as far as I know Ed this is the only minor league baseball team named for people who killed the namesake of the team that they're playing in or the city that they're playing in is wild.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

That's crazy.

Bridge Arches, Royals Blue, And Design Tradeoffs

SPEAKER_01 29:34

There's always some fun little fact about these teams right like so yeah that was uh that's that's where the nickname came from that was before Dave Heller was involved with the team but uh obviously they there were some floods and the team wanted to that there was like the horrendous floods in like 2001 you know like the early 2000s and the team wanted to distance itself a little bit from the nickname River band like anything having to do with river bandits right the actual bandits themselves. Well the bandits but also the river right because the river true floods were really devastating you know so they're like let's let's give ourselves a little distance we're gonna call ourselves the swing of the quad cities and the swing is like a blue saxophone with a baseball coming out of it and the blue saxophone is meant to be like in the shape of the river so it's still sort of an oblique reference to the river there but it's like the shape of the river. There's like a bend in the river right there in Davenport and it kind of looks like a saxophone they say and so that's how come they were the swing of the quad cities uh and uh Dave Heller notably was not a fan no and when his ownership group uh took uh control back of the team or when they when they purchased the team uh they abandoned the swing of the quad cities and uh and and came back to the river bandits but like I said they changed that geographic signifier from quad city to quad cities and uh so that's that's where that nickname comes from and they're still like an adorable raccoon I prefer I so prefer the the raccoon I'm sorry yeah yeah um the logo has uh one of the things that I think is very cool and one of the sort of updates that they've made to the logo over the years first it was it was sort of red and gold uh kind of had like a Pittsburgh Pirates sort of feeling uh about it because the Pittsburgh Pirates have just a touch of red in their in their brand there um that is true the bandana on yeah yeah but one of the things they did uh was they had the very they had this very distinctive iconic bridge behind the uh you know behind the the the ballpark there they added I guess this bridge has like multiple arcs in it and uh the original logo that they had only had one arc and then uh they went back and added in a second arc so you can see that there are two two different versions of this this logo so they fixed it they fixed it yeah uh and then they uh the other thing they did was when they became an an affiliate of the Kansas City Royals they updated their brand they changed the red to blue that is correct yeah yeah yeah kind of like the Portland Sea Dogs did when they were like teal they were teal when they were Marlon's affiliate and when they became a Red Sox affiliate they just changed the teal to red and they were like okay we're good.

SPEAKER_02 32:24

Which is funny because that teal is still one of their most popular color schemes for the Portland singers. I know we're getting away from that but that's okay yeah it you're right and one of my favorite ones that they haven't really used that in in and I had the hat right here because I bought it for like very very cheap because they didn't have a deadhead on it is the the raccoon holding a bite uh the the paw holding a baseball yeah if you guys are gonna look at it right now on f on youtube is where it's available right now that's uh it's one of my favorite uh ones they they put that logo on an ice cream helmet they have a their they're actually their helmet sundae game is quite strong they've got yeah they got a lot of I got a lot out in the collection in the basement behind me here they've got a bunch you know a bunch of different logos on on helmets I sometimes have trouble telling the Hudson Valley Renegades and the uh the the river bandits logos apart sometimes because it's just like little bits of raccoons and so I have to have to make sure I'm putting them in the right place on the shelf Ed because you don't want to get your raccoon logo no no but they also did bring out one of them which was the the the one with the eyes yes the hat with the eyes yes yeah that's a great one that's a great one but they're speaking of logos their original logo uh when they were first the Quad City River bandits um kind of reminds me of one from one of the Australian baseball league teams uh which is oh yes it's just like the baseball with a bandana it's the the Perth Perth Heat uh is that the one that I'm thinking of I thought I was thinking I thought it was the Brisbane bandits.

Copa Critique And Alternate Marks

SPEAKER_01 33:52

I could be wrong about that it's a Perth Heat it has a baseball with it like it's like a uh yeah you look at it yeah yeah so those so that it does have that sort of that old one has that so it's like a clip art baseball with like a little clip art bandana on it.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

Uh and so the the guy who created the logo his name is Francis Santachiliani I hope I hope I I'm saying that right um and uh this is a designer who lets his work speak for itself he uh is not super interested in uh coming on podcast I've invited him onto the podcast a couple of times and he's just like nah not my thing no thank you it's uh thanks but no thanks I mean it's not everybody's thing right like I mean if it's not your thing there's it's not your thing there's no law saying you got to say yes to a podcast invitation so I I respect but I get that but like at the same time you're like you kind of want to go on just because it'll be cool to explain like you know the the the the rationale behind it.

Ballpark Experience, Awards, And Ferris Wheel

SPEAKER_01 34:48

I mean but I get it I understand I'd like to have the conversation with them but hey you know to each their own to each their own and absolutely so uh so yeah I mean this is you know it's the by the way that bridge uh actually so there's only there are the the first logo had one bump uh arches I don't know what you'd really be calling them yep uh the second one had two the the bridge itself actually has four of those arches uh and that's just that's just too many to put into a logo it is um because then it gets just too busy yes right exactly so I have never been to this ballpark but it's high on my list it you know it it it it has won I don't know if it you know it's the most recent winner but it has definitely won awards over the years for being you know one of the best ballparks in in the country um they have uh you know they've got like a Ferris wheel like right there in the ballpark like you can go ride a Ferris wheel during the baseball game carousel wasn't it uh what did I say Ferris wheel Ferris wheel yeah is it a Ferris wheel is it a carousel I can now I'm confused see no they've got it's a Ferris wheel it's uh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so um not a carousel the carousel's got like the horses and you go around yep yep yep yep yep yep yep yep yep um yeah yeah yeah so you can you can do that while you're at the ballpark and it's got this like great view of of the river there and so it's uh yeah it's it it looks like it's a beautiful ballpark and it's won all sorts of awards I would start by the water and everything which is kind of cool. Yeah yeah I will say this uh while I have never been to a game there my daughter Olivia when she was young was a huge fan of raccoons like really yeah yeah yeah and she had like several raccoon dolls and she called them Nunu they were all named Nunu because she couldn't really say raccoon right uh and I thought that of of back then that was before the trash pandas uh I liked the uh I liked the River Bandits logo and uh I actually got her uh a a River Bandits hat and a t-shirt that she like wore like just like wore till they were falling off.

SPEAKER_02 37:00

Oh nice so the the River Bandits while I've never been to a game there uh we should make it I would love to get to a game there right like I'd love to do like a like uh you know go to go to Iowa there's so much good you know you got the colonels there right like the Peoria Chiefs are not that far away um obviously you've got the Iowa Cubs there even though they're named for their parent club but then you'd have like the field of dreams like that would be a really good road trip that you know what that it that would be a really really good road trip that would be something cool to do right because I one I wanted to go that's on my bucket list is you know field of dreams yeah uh and then um obviously Cooper stompa like it it'll be cool to hit a bunch of those now let me ask you this because you're you you I have a question for you then let's say that we make it there we make this trip and then let you know we go to the Iowa Cubs.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

Yeah are you getting a hat from Iowa Cubs I assume that the Iowa Cubs are gonna have some kind of uh surely they're in the Copa program or they've done some kind of alternate identity like surely there's something that I could get in the team store that doesn't just say Cubs on it.

SPEAKER_02 38:08

Okay. Okay.

Collecting Caps And Alternate Identities

SPEAKER_01 38:08

So that so I I can tell you how I would answer this question. I went to a South Bend Cubs game on baseball Palooza okay and I did not buy anything in the team store. Yeah I know I did not get anything in the in the team store because I you know whatever their alternates were they were selling just weren't really speaking to me and so uh I I did not get anything at the South Bend Cubs.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

Yeah it was very by the way the Iowa Cubs have a couple of hats that you probably should think about okay like maybe the Iowa Caucuses.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

Oh the Iowa Caucasus would be a great one. Yes I would absolutely get an Iowa Caucuses hat. Yep. I have an Iowa Caucasus uh they're they're tricolor it is pretty cool in a dad hat in a newer 920 yeah or how about their Copa brand Demonios oh that's also see that's also good see that's the advantage of these uh you know these these alternate identities um yeah I will I will say that um I went to a New Hampshire Fishercats game and I was looking for a primaries t-shirt but it was late in the season and they were all like super picked over I got you and uh I was not I was not able to get anything is the yeah the so I oh you know what I got I got one of their chicken tenders t-shirts okay yeah that was good one I'll say this there's the one thing that I would I will give a check mark on the we need to do better for the Quad City Ruby Bandits.

SPEAKER_02 39:44

Okay and that is on their copa. Okay yeah what's their copa uh bandidos oh okay oh I see they just translated the English one they translated it they they switched the their hat and their um their bandana to um more of the Mexican colors and all of that which is again it's fine not a big deal but like I I would I would much rather see something different on a Copa um just so that way we can you know like hey you know we're just not the bandits or bandidos we're so we're this right yeah um and I and I I would appreciate then if they did something a little bit different.

Why Red Worked Better Than Blue

SPEAKER_01 40:25

Otherwise other than that uh the brand is great even now that they're still bringing out the baseball with the bandana it's absolutely wonderful i is one of my favorite logos I know it's very simple but it's an it's a very um a powerful one right yeah yeah yeah that's uh well it's and and you know there's so many different versions of the river bandits logo right like I mean they've got like one of them he's in like a little gondola on the Ferris wheel there's one where there's the ball splashing into the river you mentioned the one with the claw holding onto the baseball correct um there's a close up of of him wearing his little bandit hat and holding looks like a wiffle bat because it's yellow but I guess it's just I know what's hilarious.

Rascal The Raccoon And Brand Depth

SPEAKER_02 41:05

So it's a fun brand it's got a lot going on and you know it's uh I I I have a soft spot for this brand because it was a favorite of uh my eldest child when she was little so it's uh I love it I I 100% love it I think it's great yeah um I I have no issues whatsoever on on on the actual logo itself they do have an official league hat the QC one okay um there it is yeah so they got our friends at official league official league yeah they do they uh they're they're they're they're doing their thing man I know they they're expanding and expanding I'm okay with that it's something different yeah um all right is there anything else that we need to know and learn about this team name well I'll say this uh and I you probably know this but did you know the three colors that they were chosen for the swing of the quad cities well it was uh like a light blue and like a brown there's a brown yeah yeah and there's three colors for that represent three different universities oh I didn't know that no yeah yeah well and it and then this is gonna be on the podcast or this is not something that you know but is the the light blue that baby blue is to represent University of North Carolina okay okay then we got the the that um the copper color yeah which is to represent University of Texas okay and then the blue which is that dark blue is to represent University of Michigan well Ed I'm not gonna lie to you I think that's dumb it is extremely dumb there's like no consideration for like how those colors work together none whatsoever yeah so this is why this part this uh this the swing of the quad zitty was really not that good of a it wasn't really thought out no yeah that's it's not it's not a good logo um I will say this when um in 2014 when I wrote an article about them for sportslogos.net first of all I interviewed Dave Heller for that sports logos article which is kind of funny so uh uh but then uh that year they won you know how Miley baseball does its clash of the caps uh like fan vote and like they do like a bracket style the river bandits won the clash of the caps in 2014 when I wrote that article. Well I mean listen it's a great logo that's what I'm saying. It's done some slight updates to it. Yeah other than that it's been an absolute wonderful like you know uh logo for them and and again good for them. Um just one would love to see a new Copa identity.

Closing And Next Week’s Tease

SPEAKER_01 43:56

Yeah. I would I I'll I'll say that um Uh I actually feel like the the original red works better in my mind than the blue. Yes, I agree. Uh I think that warm color sort of pops out a little bit and I get that they were trying to tie to their their parent club. Uh I think it was at the expense of better color choices. Because you already have, I mean, if we're gonna get into the nitty-gritty of logo design here, you've already got you've got the black, which is like what you would call your base color, right? Like it's like the sort of the big dark root. Yep you don't need another base color, and that dark blue kind of serves as a base color in the new version of the colour.

SPEAKER_02 44:39

It doesn't work for me. I much rather have the red one. You're right, you're 100% right.

SPEAKER_01 44:44

From a logo design perspective, I prefer the red, but you know, I get I get what they're doing out there. But this is why this is so you know, you're gonna this is gonna soapbox this a little bit here. This is why like logo design should be left to professionals. And so, like when a team gets hold of these files and they're like, Okay, well now we have these files and like we're gonna make changes, you know, as as needed.

SPEAKER_02 45:10

I in my mind you really need to.

SPEAKER_01 45:13

Well, right. It's like, or like if you're gonna do it, like consult with a professional because uh I feel like that's a change where they were just like, Oh, well, let's change red to blue because that's obvious. And it's like it's not, there's so many considerations to think about, and uh I agree. So anyway, I mean that's that's a minor complaint around uh uh uh around an otherwise very good brand uh that uh that you and I both like.

SPEAKER_02 45:35

I I 100% I I do I do enjoy it, I like it a lot. It's it's beautiful. Uh however, I do agree with you when it comes to that because I'm looking at it, yeah. Just I listen, there's nothing you you can be affiliated with the Kansas City Rolls, you can do something else a little bit different, right? Like maybe put KC on the bandana, you know, like little KC or something, right? But leave the colors the way it is, your original colors, because I think that's what worked for you, right? Um, so don't get away from from your roots, and then it and I like you said, I get it. I understand you want to be, you know, you want to bring this partnership to light and all that, but there's other ways that you can do it.

SPEAKER_01 46:16

Yeah, his name, the raccoon's name is Rascal, by the way. We haven't mentioned his name. Rascal is a great name. It's a good name for a raccoon. Come on, it's perfect.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

It is absolutely wonderful. Uh name. So uh, Mr. Capoodle, my friend, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 46:29

Ed Rivera, you know I love this so much, and uh, we get to hang out on a Sunday night. What fun is that?

SPEAKER_02 46:34

I mean, why not, right? Right before this drop this uh episode drops on a Monday morning.

SPEAKER_01 46:39

Look, it's the freshest possible information. Podcast listeners, this is the freshest podcast content you're gonna get recorded hours before it drops.

SPEAKER_02 46:48

Literally hours, because it we, you know, we drop we record it, I go back, I edit, and then I drop this sucker.

SPEAKER_01 46:54

That's perfect. You're gonna fix that zoom drop or that uh that that connection.

SPEAKER_02 46:58

No, I'm gonna leave it there. You know what I mean? Because I then I need you to complain about it or something.

SPEAKER_01 47:02

I sound like a seal there.

SPEAKER_02 47:06

All right, guys, thank you so much. Uh, and we will be right back with the episode.

unknown 47:13

Let's see it.

SPEAKER_02 47:16

All right, thank you guys for joining me in this episode with Dave Heller of the Quad City River Bendits, as well as Paul Caputo of Baseball by Design. I hope you guys learned something. I hope you guys laugh. And then now make sure you join us next week as we finish this episode again with Dave Heller. And then we are gonna have Kelly Robinson of the Minor League Nerd, where he is gonna be telling us a little bit of history of uh the uh history of baseball in the quad cities. Make sure you guys hit the subscribe button, and if you want to, go ahead and go to the YouTube link and then hit subscribe there as well. Give it five stars, guys. That way I go up on the rankings. And until then, keep on grinding and then support the minor leagues. I'll see you guys.