This is what happens when you mix the Rolling Stones and Miami Marlins. How to get album
The Rolling Stones’ lips and tongue logo, the most famous logo in rock-’n’-roll history, was commissioned in 1970.
The Miami Marlins’ rebranded logo — a marlin in blue, red and black leaping through a transparent baseball with Miami scripted underneath — was introduced for the 2019 season.
In October 2023, the two logos come together on a limited edition vinyl version of the Stones’ new album, “Hackney Diamonds.”
The 60-year-old British rock group wanted to promote its first album of new originals in 18 years. The Stones must have figured the current trend of releasing multiple collect-them-all album covers works for Taylor Swift, so why not tap that marketing genius? The Stones practically patterned rock marketing.
So in addition to releasing vinyl in different colored disc configurations, the group partnered with Major League Baseball to produce “extremely limited” pressings of “Hackney Diamonds.” Each disc has custom art for each of the 30 MLB clubs.
How to buy a copy: The vinyl, at $38 plus shipping, can be ordered at therollingstonesshop.com. The 30 special editions, including the Miami Marlins version, is only available on the group’s website.
What you’re getting: Individual record albums sport a baseball white vinyl disc housed in a white pocket 12-inch jacket. Each album comes emblazoned with a team’s logo on the lower right.
What does the Marlins’ Stones vinyl look like?
For the Miami Marlins version, the eyes of the Rolling Stones’ lips and tongue logo are turned into MIA in black lettering and the unfurled tongue is a blue baseball skin.
Why would Rolling Stones team up with MLB?
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and their band mates have performed stadium shows on the home fields of many of MLB’s teams.
Before gaining its own stadium in 2012 in the heart of Miami (now named loanDepot park) the Marlins played at what is now Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens from the team’s 1993 birth to the end of the 2011 season.
The Stones performed at the Miami Gardens stadium for the Voodoo Lounge Tour in 1994, a year after the Marlins took the field for the first time. The group has since returned to the venue, most recently in 2019 on its No Filter Tour, its last with late drummer Charlie Watts, who is heard playing on two songs on the new album — “Mess It Up” and “Live by the Sword” which also features a guest appearance by original Stones bassist Bill Wyman and pianist Elton John.
Concerts inside baseball stadiums
The Stones’ history inside Major League Baseball stadiums includes the 1989 Steel Wheels Tour at Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium, RFK Stadium in Washington, New York’s Shea Stadium and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
In Miami, Steel Wheels took over the now-departed Orange Bowl, former home of the Miami Dolphins, in the spring of 1990.
The Bridges to Babylon Tour in 1997 found the Stones inside Dodgers Stadium (and Orange Bowl, again) and A Bigger Bang Tour led off with two shows at Boston’s Fenway Park in August 2005. The group, with replacement drummer Steve Jordan, has talked of touring in 2024 to support “Hackney Diamonds.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2023 at 2:13 PM.
