Feb 21

Feb 21 New York Yankees Colors and Logo: A History and Color Codes

Why do the New York Yankees wear navy blue and white? The story of the Yankees colors, including full color codes

In this article, we look at the history and details of the New York Yankees logo and colors.

We discuss the different colors and logos that the baseball team have used throughout the years- including full details of their CMYK, HEX, RGB and Pantone codes.

The New York Yankees logo

A brief history of the New York Yankees

Did you know that the New York Yankees used to be the Baltimore Orioles?

It’s true! When they were first founded in 1901, they were named the Baltimore Orioles, until they were purchased by Frank Farrell and Bill Devery.

At this time, the team moved to New York City, becoming the New York Highlanders in 1903.

They were finally named the Yankees in 1913 when they moved to the Polo Grounds. However, some local writers referred to the New York Highlanders as the Yankees as early as 1905.

Major honours and trophies

While the Yankees have won the most World Series in the majors with 27, the 2000s have not been particularly friendly to them.

The team hasn’t won a World Series since 2009, the year that they moved into their current stadium.

The Yankees won the World Series in 1923, 1927, 1928, 1932, 1936-1939, 1941, 1943, 1947, 1950-1953, 1956, 1958, 1961, 1962, 1977, 1978, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2009.

The 5 most famous New York Yankees

Naming the 5 most famous New York Yankees is a tricky task, and you could literally write a book about legendary players for this team!

Here are 5 of the most famous Yankees. Each one certainly deserves to be ranked at the top of the list.

Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth was a rare phenomenon who was able to dominate both from the mound and the plate.

He led the league in batting average one year (1924 with a 378 batting average) and he had the league’s best ERA a different year (1916 with a 1.75 era).

Besides playing for the Yankees, Ruth also played for the Boston Red Sox from 1914-1919 until he was infamously traded to the Yankees for $125,000.

After this, the Red Sox didn’t win another World Series until 2004.

For 86 years, this was known as the Curse of the Bambino.

Mickey Mantle

Mickey Mantle, also known as “The Mick”, was a dominant force for the Yankees in the 1950s and 1960s.

Over his career, he managed to make it to 20 All-Star games, winning three Most Valuable Player Awards, a Gold Glove, seven World Series, a batting title and Major League Player of the Year.

Joe Dimaggio

Joe Dimaggio is another player who played from the 1930s, through to the 1950s. He is among the Yankee greats!

Dimaggio chose to fight in World War II, meaning he was out of baseball from 1943-1945 due to military service.

Dimaggio was a 13-time All-Star and three-time MVP, winning nine World Series and two batting titles. He was also Major League Player of the Year.

Aaron Boone

While Aaron Boone may not have a lot of accolades throughout his career, he hit one of the most historical runs in Yankee history.

In this game, he launched a walk-off home run against Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield in the 2003 American League Championship series.

Before arriving with the Yankees in 2003, Boone was with the Cincinnati Reds from 1997-2002.

He didn’t play at all in 2004 due to injury.

He then spent his last few years as a journeyman. He spent one year a piece with the Marlins and the Nationals, and he then spent his last year in the majors with the Houston Astros in 2009.

Aaron Judge

It’s easy to see why even the sight of Aaron Judge in the batter’s box would be intimidating!

The 6’7 282 pound outfielder for the Yankees sure has his share of batting accomplishments.

Judge has been with the Yankees since 2017.

Over his career with the pinstripes, he’s won Rookie of the Year and he has garnered three Silver Slugger awards (2017, 2021 and 2022).

He also won the 2022 AL MVP, and he was named 2022 MLB Player of the year.

The only thing missing from his resumé that may or may not make it a Hall of Fame career? A World Series ring!

Why do the New York Yankees play in navy blue and white?

The Yankees play in midnight navy blue and white- and their away uniform is gray with “New York” written across the chest in blue.

The pinstripes on their uniform were originally black, but the owner at the time soon changed them to their iconic blue shade.

According to baseball legend, the Yankees started wearing pinstriped uniforms to make Babe Ruth look slimmer. However, this isn’t true- it was just the design they chose for the team.

In 1929, the Yankees were also the first baseball team to wear numbers on their uniform.

This famous team have worn the same road uniform since 1918, with only a few logo changes since that time.

New York Yankees: CMYK, HEX, RGB and Pantone color codes

Below, find the full color codes for the New York Yankees.

Yankees Blue

HEX: #003087

RGB: (0, 48, 135)

CMYK: (100, 69, 0, 11.5)

Pantone: PMS 287 C

Yankees Red

HEX: #E4002C

RGB: (228, 0, 44)

CMYK: (0, 91, 76, 0)

Pantone: PMS 185 C

Yankees Navy

HEX: #0C2340

RGB: (12, 35, 64)

CMYK: (100, 60, 0, 56)

Pantone: PMS 289 C

Yankees Gray

HEX: #C4CED3

RGB: (196, 206, 211)

CMYK: (0, 10, 7, 11)

Pantone: PMS Cool Gray 7 C

New York Yankees logo and color history

While the Yankees haven’t made any major changes to their logo in the last six decades, they made lots of changes to their logo almost every single year for the first eight years.

Let’s take a look at the history of the New York Yankees logo and colors.

1901

The Baltimore Orioles first-ever logo contained an orange “O” with a dark circle inside.

1902

Their next logo contained a big “B” which stood for Baltimore.

1903

With the Orioles changing their name to the Highlanders, it was inevitable that they were going to have to change their logo for the third year in a row.

Since the team moved to New York, the letters “NY” were used in Old English lettering to represent their new home city.