Jerry Dior, a graphic designer who created one of the most instantly recognizable logos in the history of American marketing — the silhouetted batter that has long symbolized Major League Baseball — but who received official credit for it only 40 years after the fact, died on May 10 at his home in Edison, N.J. He was 82.
The cause was cancer, his wife, Lita, said. His death was not made public until this week.
Adopted in 1969 to honor professional baseball’s centennial, the red-white-and-blue logo depicts a stylized batter facing an oncoming ball. Now ubiquitous, it appears on the caps, jerseys and helmets of major league players; on umpires’ uniforms; on television graphics; and on billions of dollars’ worth of licensed memorabilia annually.