A Hamilton, Ont., baseball team has run afoul of the big leagues and is now in a legal fight with the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Hamilton Cardinals franchise is a member of the Canadian Baseball League, an independent professional league based in Ontario.
Its new majority owner, Eric Spearin, filed an application with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office in 2023, aiming to rebrand the team.
Spearin said the name remained the same but the logo showed a Cardinal with a bat over its shoulder — with the bat in the shape of a hammer to be a bit more Hamilton specific.
The Hamilton team filed three applications in 2023.
But more than two years later, in April 2026, Major League Baseball's St. Louis Cardinals formally announced their opposition.
Spearin said he’s still shocked by the St. Louis decision.
"I think part of it, they have a Cardinals trademark of their own, in Canada," Spearin said. "It definitely caught us by surprise. Our club’s been in existence since 1958. We have assumed the Hamilton Cardinals name since 1960, so for the majority of our organization’s history we’ve been known as the Hamilton Cardinals. It means a lot to everybody in the city."
Spearin said he believes the challenge has come now because of the new trademark logo. The U.S. club argued the new logo creates confusion for fans and consumers who might mistakenly believe Hamilton’s branding is connected to, or endorsed by, the major league franchise. In a statement, it said Hamilton was trying to benefit from the reputation and goodwill connected to the St. Louis teams’ trademarks.
It pointed out the Hamilton club changed its name from the Thunderbirds to the Cardinals shortly after St. Louis won the World Series in 2011. But Spearin said Hamilton had been called the Cardinals for several years before that, being named the Thunderbirds from 2005-2011 but the Cardinals from 1975-2004.
St. Louis has until the end of June to file more evidence in the case. Meanwhile, the Canadian Baseball League opens its 2026 season Sunday, May 10.
