The Fredericksburg Nationals—FredNats to friends—will pay homage to their hometown Negro Leagues history when they play five games as the Fredericksburg Frogs, which was an amateur Black team that played in the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s. The alternate Frogs brand, which the FredNats will wear five times in 2025, is the result of extensive research and collaboration with local organizations.
The alternate identity is informed by a history project that the FredNats have undertaken for the last five years in partnership with the Fredericksburg Area Museum, Germanna Community College, and Dovetail Cultural Resource Group. While that project has dug deep into the history of Black baseball in the Fredericksburg region, photographs of that original Frogs team have been hard to come by, so the team has had to reimagine the team’s visual stylings.
The logo features a frog wearing a crown and marching with a drum major mace. The green and gold character is wearing a light blue tuxedo.
“He’s puffing his chest up high like he’s a proud, proud frog,” said general manager Robbie Perry, quoted on MiLB.com. “Our colors are pretty much red, white and blue, and here we went yellow, green and baby blue. When we were doing our research and talking to our designer company, the number one theme with Negro League logos was they wanted to show value.”
The FredNats, Single-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals in the Carolina League, will play as the Frogs five times this season, with the first appearance coming May 9.
