Want to see something crazy?

The Detroit Tigers, who are competing in the World Series right now, have a pretty famous logo. It is, naturally, depicted on both their hats and their jerseys. But take a closer look–those logos are different! What’s up with that?

At first glance, the two logos appear almost identical. But once you take a closer look, the distinctions start jumping off the screen: The perimeter of the cap D is comprised of jagged, pointy strokes, while the outline of the jersey D is much rounder; the left side of the cap D has two vertical strokes, both of which are curved, with two horizontal spokes in between them, while the jersey D has three vertical strokes, two of which are straight, and no horizontal spokes; and the two horizontal prongs inside the center of the cap D are concave, while the prongs on the jersey D are convex. Identical twins? More like second cousins.

So why the inconsistency? “I’ve been asked that question before, and unfortunately I don’t have an answer for you,” says Sharon Arend, director of archives and historical documents for Ilitch Holdings, the Tigers’ owner. “As far as I can determine, the two D’s matched until the early ’60s, but then they split. I can’t explain it. It’s just one of those things that happened over the years. It’s very frustrating — I wish I could come up with the answer.”

It’s a complicated situation!

This entire post ripped off from ESPN’s Uni Watch column–there’s a lot of interesting information in there, both about the Detroit logo mess and about other World Series stuff (it’s only interesting if you find this minutia interesting, of course).