Jerry Dior, the designer of Major League Baseball's enduring and iconic logo, has died at the age of 82. His wife Lita confirmed the news on Friday. revealing that Dior died on May 10 following a battle with cancer.
Born in Brooklyn, Dior designed the “silhouetted batter” logo in 1968 while working for Sandgren & Murtha, a marketing company in New York City. The logo was officially adopted by MLB in 1969 and has remained front and center for 46 years without a single tweak or reconsideration.
The design is basic even by standards of generations gone by, but its simplicity may be its charm. After all of these years, it remains fresh and endearing to MLB fans young and old.*
[Check out Big League Stew on Tumblr for even more baseball awesomeness.]
It's also interesting to note that Dior never received any royalties and only received public credit for designing MLB's logo until 2009, some 40 years after its debut.
The New York Times explains:*
At the time, it seemed a routine assignment — an afternoon’s work, he later said — little different from his other projects there, which included package designs for Kellogg’s and Nabisco.
As was customary with work-for-hire designs, Mr. Dior received no royalties for his baseball logo, and no public credit. He did not expect to (his is an inherently anonymous calling), nor did he expect his work to endure: Logos are ephemeral things, with clients inclined to revamp them every few years.
Our condolences to the family & friends of Jerry Dior, whose vision created a symbol that stood the test of time. pic.twitter.com/QBqwIu7I2d
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) May 30, 2015
Thankfully, Dior received the credit he deserved. And with this logo enduring as it has, it guarantees that Dior's legacy will remain connected to baseball for many generations to come.
More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:



- - - - - - -
Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813