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Archive for July, 2006
Football games take place once a week; hockey and basketball games, once every few days. Only baseball games take place every single day, which means there’s no time to find replacement gear if something gets lost in transit. And the things that seem to get lost most frequently are the umpires’ uniforms, a situation that often requires some amusingly makeshift solutions.
The most recent instance of this appears to have been last September 2nd, when the Blue Jays hosted the Devil Rays. According to a message board post on Officiating.com, “The base umpires had dark grey pants and very colourful shoes. The plate umpire had pants that looked like sweatpants of some kind.” This post led to a lengthy thread on the topic of umps in civvies, which you can see here.
Reader William Gornall has recently devoted himself to compiling a list of such snafus. Here’s a breakdown of newspaper accounts he’s found from the past 20 years or so:
• The San Diego Union-Tribune, May 20, 2000: “In Cleveland, the umpires wore Indians pullover jackets and caps when their equipment didn’t arrive from Seattle. [A fuller account of this incident, along with a photo, is available here]… And in Philadelphia, the start of the game was delayed by 10 minutes. Two umpires never made it to the game after being delayed in Cleveland. The other two umps, Kerwin Danley and Andrew Fletcher, worked the game in sweatpants and sweatshirts because their equipment didn’t arrive, and were joined by fill-in umpire Mike Fichter.”
• The Chicago Sun-Times, April 22, 2000: “The umpires wore [White] Sox jackets and caps because their equipment didn’t arrive.”
• The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, April 22, 2000: “The Dodgers overcame a ragged start by Eric Gagne to win a game that will be remembered more for the subplots. It started 27 minutes late because clubhouse attendants had to go on a last-minute shopping spree when the umpires’ equipment got misdirected to New York. The umpires wore black golfers’ rain suits on a damp and raw night.”
• The Atlanta Journal and Atlanta Constitution, September 21, 1997: “In the game Wednesday between the Giants and Dodgers, the umpires wore Giants hats and sweatpants because their uniforms didn’t arrive at the park on time.”
• The San Jose Mercury News, September 18, 1997: “Bruce Froemming’s umpiring crew wore makeshift gear because its equipment was lost as the crew flew Thursday from Philadelphia. The umpires wore satin-like blue jackets and black pants. Froemming, the plate umpire, wore an outside chest protector that National League umpires discarded during the 1970s. Adding insult to injury was that the wrong umpiring crew was listed on the scoreboard as Froemming’s crew held its pregame meeting at home plate.”
• The Miami Herald, August 12, 1995: “For the second time this season, a new set of umpires arrived at Joe Robbie Stadium, but their luggage didn’t. The crew of Gary Darling, Mark Hirschbeck, Frank Pulli and Joe West had two choices: wear clothing provided by the Marlins or work in their underwear. They asked the Marlins for clothing. … Marlins director of retail operations Steve Stock provided the foursome with matching black golf shirts. Darling, who worked behind the plate, asked equipment manager Mike Wallace for Marlins uniform pants. The field umpires wore items of their own possession on their legs. Hirschbeck chose khaki shorts. Pulli wore black sweatpants. West wore gray dress pants.”
• The Dallas Morning News, June 22, 1994: “[Home plate umpire Dana] DeMuth and the other umpires wore Braves T-shirts and shorts because their equipment was lost in transit.”
• The San Jose Mercury News, May 31, 1992: “The umpires’ luggage still hadn’t arrived from Anaheim and they worked out of uniform for the second straight game. At least they looked alike. The base umpires wore white shoes, gray pants, A’s caps and green sweatshirts under white T-shirts with ‘Hard Ball’ on them. Plate umpire Tim Tschida wore an A’s jacket over his chest protector.”
• The Sacramento Bee, May 30, 1992: “With their uniforms lost somewhere between Anaheim and Oakland, the umpires wore gray jeans, white tennies and green and gold A’s jackets and caps.”
• The Rocky Mountain News, April 28, 1991: “The umpires wore Reds shoes, gray road pants, red warmup jackets and hats Thursday because their equipment failed to arrive.”
• The Atlanta Journal and Atlanta Constitution, May 3, 1989: “The umpires wore Rangers shirts for the first few innings because their uniforms did not arrive on time.”
• The San Francisco Chronicle, August 6, 1988: “The umpires wore vendors’ uniforms because their equipment arrived late.”
• The Detroit Free Press, April 19, 1988: “The umpires wore Tigers windbreakers and caps Monday because part of their equipment was left in Toronto.”
• The [Bergen, New Jersey] Record, September 3, 1985: “Three of the umpires wore outfits supplied by the Padre grounds crew. Charlie Williams, Billy Williams, and Randy Marsh were forced to don such garb because their luggage was lost in transit. John McSherry worked the plate because he was the only umpire whose gear arrived in time.”
Two primary thoughts here: First, let’s all thank William Gornall for his excellent research — great work. And second, as you can see, the written record of umpires in civvies is a lot stronger than the pictorial one. So if anyone has any leads of photos of umps in improvised uniforms, please speak up.
Uni Comix: Yesterday’s comments section included a mention of this Detroit News cartoon, which shows stirrups-clad Tigers and White Sox players. This is in keeping with a pattern I’ve noticed: Cartoonists and illustrators almost *always* include stirrups when drawing baseball players. Can’t decide if this is because cartoonists are (a) too clueless to have noticed that most players no longer wear stirrups, (b) too set in their ways to change how they draw something, or (c) Uni Watch readers, but it’s an interesting trend in any case. I’m going to start documenting as many of these instances as possible, so if you see any similar examples, please let me know.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Called the Blue Jays’ media office yesterday, inquiring about Ted Lilly’s “DJM” cap inscription from Monday night. After checking with Lilly, spokeswoman Nadia Flaim came back with this: “He expressed a desire to keep the meaning of those letters to himself. As a result, we cannot comment on the meaning or significance of the inscription.” I’m fairly certain that’s code for “He doesn’t want any extra attention that could result in a fine, since players aren’t allowed to write anything on their caps,” but there’s no way to know for sure. … Speaking of cap inscriptions, yesterday’s comments included a note that Marcus Thames of the Tigers appeared to have “an entire novel scribbled under his cap.” True enough, as you can see here, here, and here. Unfortunately, MLB.TV’s screen resolution isn’t good enough for me to decipher anything he’s got written there except for “33″ (his uni number) and “VET.” I’ll put in a call today to the the Tigers and hope that Thames is more forthcoming that Lilly was. … Facemask news: J.J. Carton reports that Schutt is offering a new mask design this year, LaVar Arrington’s wearing it. … David Ortiz is once again wearing off-numbered wristbands, although it’s not clear why, since there’s no 43 on the Bosox roster (with thanks to eagle-eyed Andrew Heverling). … Bryan Redemske notes that Ozzie Guillen had a red stripe peeking out from under his right jersey sleeve last night. Any connection to the red sock stripe he used to wear, perhaps?
July 19th, 2006
I generally don’t read sports magazines, in part because there’s plenty of sports info available on the web, and in part because I already think enough about sports as it is. So while I was aware that last week’s issue of Sports Illustrated had a bunch of Mets on the cover (I think I heard a reference to it during a Mets radio broadcast), I didn’t actually look at a copy of the magazine.
But Marc Beck and Chris Andringa did — and they didn’t like what they saw. Andringa’s gripe was with the players’ footwear — “Who wears full uniforms [for a photo shoot] and then just throws on a ratty pair of sneaks?” A fair critique, but Beck picked up on something more subtle: Look closely and it appears that several of the players were wearing heavily worn brown belts.
Some quick background: The Mets usually wear black belts. They’re supposed to wear blue belts when wearing their blue caps, and a few players follow this rule, but most of them just stick with the black belt.
So how’d the players end up wearing brown belts for the photo shoot? Most likely the shoot took place someplace other than the Mets clubhouse, and whoever provided the unis forgot to provide belts. So the players probably just wore the belts from their street clothes, or else they wore the photo crew’s belts, or something like that. The funny thing is that the SI folks didn’t Photoshop the belts to black — would’ve been simple enough. Probably figured nobody would notice, which of course means they didn’t reckon with Uni Watch readers. Big thanks to Marc and Chris for their sharp observations (and for sending me scans of the magazine cover, because every newsstand I visited was sold out by the time I started investigating this one).
Uni Watch News Ticker: Ted Lilly of the Blue Jays had the initials “DJM” inscribed on his cap last night. Not sure why, but I’ve made a few inquiries — more details once I have them (with thanks to Riley Anderson for the tip). … Latest protest against the Sabres’ new logo came in the form of this cartoon, which ran in yesterday’s Buffalo News (with thanks to Jon Muck). … Interesting sponsorship boondoggle at the World Lacrosse Championships, where the Canadian team has the name of their equipment supplier, Warrior, on the back of each player’s jersey, with player surnames relegated to the back of the helmet (big thanks to Tom Langan, who began his communiqué by saying, accurately, “The World Lacrosse Championships are underway and I’m sure you had no idea”). … Some interesting similarities on the back of the American team’s jerseys, too. … Yesterday’s comments section included a note about Rangers catcher Gerald Laird wearing a white mask on Saturday. You can see screen-grabs here, here, and here. This is the latest example of Mizuno, which is Laird’s equipment outfitter, providing a catcher with two different masks — a colored one for home (where Laird looks like this) and a gray-ish one for the road. Another catcher who does this: Victor Martinez (home, road). … Matt Frost reports that Rice is changing its football unis from this and this to this, this, and this. “I don’t know if they’re getting rid of the winged helmets, but the new head coach seems to be dumping all remnants of the old program (which went a stellar 2-10 last year), so it’s probable.” … You know how a boxer will often have his name printed on his trunks? I’d love to see the guy on the right in this photo do that — his name is (deep breath) Sod Looknongyangtoy (and he had a bit of a rough night on Saturday).
July 18th, 2006
They say almost every baseball game features something you’ve never seen before. That was certainly true yesterday in Boston, where Red Sox starter Kyle Snyder spent the entire first inning with his undershirt tag sticking out and flapping in the breeze. It was sort of comical, especially when Snyder pumped his fist after a good play and strode confidently to the dugout after retiring the side, the tag silently mocking his every move. Apparently a teammate brought the situation to his attention between innings, because the tag had been fixed when he came out for the 2nd inning. (Kudos to Brandon Davis for catching this one.)
Logo Au Go Go Going, Going, Gone: On Friday I wrote about the MLB logo and mentioned that the page would have looked much better if the silhouetted batter had been executed in Uni Watch colors. I kinda figured a few people would take this as a challenge, or at least as an invitation. And, as usual, Uni Watch readers did not disappoint. Brian Stuart submitted this design. That same color scheme was one of several concepts whipped up by Mike Lindsay, who contributed an entire gallery of options. But all of these are two-color designs that leave the batter depicted in white; only Scott M.X. Turner had the balls to render a three-color version, thereby incorporating all the hues of the Uni Watch logo — I like this concept best. When Uni Watch is awarded an MLB franchise (should happen any day now), this is the logo that’ll appear on the back of our jerseys.
Speaking of which: You think maybe the use of the MLB logo is getting a little out of hand?
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Brewers wore their Cool Base jerseys yesterday, but apparently that wasn’t cool enough for Geoff Jenkins, who wore a batting practice jersey (with thanks to Ryan Mackman). … North Dakota State is getting a new secondary logo and new uniforms. … Remember last week’s discussion of the 1967 Senators and their white-accented unis? Todd Radom notes that one of the white caps was recently up for auction. … Soccer-related report from Dominic Litten, who writes: “Man. U unveiled their new uniforms in the London Tabloid the Sun on Friday. They resemble the uniform worn by the 1955-’56 championship squad. According to the Sun, ‘The retro design echoes the strip worn by Bobby Charlton and the 1950s Busby Babes. It celebrates 50 years since the Babes won their first league title.’” … More soccer: Andy Dowland turned up this site devoted to UK soccer uni history. … Seth Harris notes that newly acquired Aubrey Huff has become the first Astro to wear a CoolFlo helmet this season (he had previously worn the CoolFlo with the Rays). … Latest player to risk a fine by stretching his pant cuffs under his spikes: Coco Crisp. … Barry Bonds is sooooooo classy. … Sabres fans are so upset about the team’s new logo that there’s now a website devoted to having it revoked. … Really good view here of the lineup card and pen in Devil Rays skipper Joe Maddon’s pocket (as well as yet another display of Maddon’s apparently congenital predisposition toward clownish body language). … The Tigers and Royals wore Negro Leagues throwbacks on Saturday night. Great unis, but too bad they didn’t get special batting helmets for the occasion. Also would’ve been nice if Joel Peralta hadn’t left his jersey unbuttoned, thereby exposing his blue Royals undershirt (good catch by longtime Uni Watch softball pal Steve Bunnell). … Another player showing too much of his base layer over the weekend: Anthony Reyes. … Interesting article here, in which Ichiro is asked about his increased stolen base numbers and responds, “It is because I am wearing my pants higher and showing my socks. It makes me run faster.” Let’s hope this message filters through to other players. (Thanks to Andy Head for the tip.) … In more discouraging news, Bobby Crosby, who usually wears stirrups, went pajama-pantsed yesterday for the first time in his career. “Apparently he was wearing high-top shoes and felt that the high pants didn’t look good with the shoes,” says Brandon Davis. … Speaking of discouraging, check out this Logo Creep Alert from Dave D’Orazio:
This past week, while flying on an Air Tran Airways flight, I noticed something on the seat-pocket pamphlet that gives instructions in case of a crash. The diagram showing crash positions had a line of five people sitting in five seats — one woman and four men. Three of the four men are shown wearing dress shoes which were colored brown or black. The other gentleman was wearing blue sneakers — WITH AN UNMISTAKABLE NIKE SWOOSH! I apologize for the fuzzy picture, but I promise you it’s true. I turned to my girlfriend and said something along the lines of, “Do you believe this, honey? Where will it end?” Her response: “Maybe they just wanted him to look more normal.” AGGGGHHHHH!
I know I speak for everyone reading this when I wish D’Orazio well in his search for a new girlfriend.
July 17th, 2006
As we all know by now, Major League Baseball puts its logo on just about everything these days, including jerseys and caps. Nothing unique about that — the NFL, NBA, and NHL put their logos on players’ unis too. But unlike those leagues, MLB modifies its logo so that each club can impose its team colors on the design. While I’d prefer that the MLB logo not appear on caps and jerseys at all, I do think it’s pretty progressive of MLB to allow their mark to be reinterpreted in umpteen different ways — it makes for better color-coordination. (In fact, think how much better this page would look right now if the MLB logo above were rendered in colors to match the Uni Watch logo.) But can you imagine the NFL doing this with their mark? No way.
Anyway: In a spectacular display of detail-oriented observation, reader Matt Irving noticed an MLB logo glitch involving at least two Blue Jays players at the All-Star Game. Now, the Jays’ version of the MLB logo is gray, white, and blue, as you can see here and here. But during the All-Star Game, the default red/white/blue logo appeared on the back of Troy Glaus’s and Vernon Wells’s jerseys. Roy Halliday’s logo, however, had Toronto’s proper color scheme. Unfortunately, rear-view images of Toronto’s other All-Stars — B.J. Ryan and Alex Rios — have been tough to find.
Speaking of the MLB logo, it’s a really a nice piece of design, no? I love that the batter could either be left-handed or right-handed, depending on how you squint, and I’m impressed that MLB has been disciplined enough to avoid updating it. (If only they could show similar restraint with some team logos and uniforms.) The standard urban myth is that the logo was based on a photo of Harmon Killebrew, although MLB denies this. Then again, the NBA folks deny that their logo is based on Jerry West, even though everyone knows it is. Draw your own conclusions; personally, though, I prefer to think that the MLB logo is a generic, all-purpose batter, rather than anyone specific.
Illustration Update: I heard back from Michael Klein, the artist who whipped up the cool illustration that accompanied my New York Times opinion essay earlier this week. As you may recall, I was wondering why he depicted the fielder’s jersey placket with buttons on the left and buttonholes on the right, which is normally done only with women’s clothing. Here’s his response:
Regarding the placket, that’s an interesting question. Many years back, I was examining a sales rack of plaid button-front shirts when my wife informed me that they had to be women’s shirts, based on the button configuration. Though the price was right and the pattern was plenty masculine, wearing a woman’s shirt was out of the question. So yes, I was aware that there’s a difference.
When I’m drawing, I sometimes think about that little detail. But if I’m on a roll, I generally don’t stop to check it. Who would notice, anyway? Now that you have pointed it out though, I may have to start drawing gender-specific plackets.
“Who would notice, anyway?” Um, he’s kidding, right? This would be hilarious if it weren’t such a sad commentary on everything we hold dear. Michael Klein, welcome to Uni Watch, where we notice everything.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Georgia Tech will wear 1970s throwbacks on September 21st. … Sick of really stupid hip-hop baseball caps? Then you’ll definitely wanna read this. … Several of yesterday’s comment contributors discussed the hosiery on display at the Triple-A All-Star Game, but Michael Kramer points out another noteworthy item from that game: the ridiculously large All-Star Game logo decal plastered on the side of each batting helmet. … Eddie Guardado wore No. 18 with the Twins and Mariners, but he can’t wear that number now that he’s been traded to the Reds, because it’s been retired for Big Klu. So Guardado wore No. 45 (note that the numerals add up to nine, same as with 18) when making his Reds debut last week. He must have really liked 18, though, because now he’s found a way to wear it after all: by transposing the numerals.
July 14th, 2006
Thanks to the rise of the term sabermetric, many people think SABR — the Society for American Baseball Research — is just a bunch of stat geeks devoted to crunching numbers all day long. And while that is indeed part of what SABR’s about, it’s far from a complete picture. As a SABR member myself, I routinely use the group’s listserv to query the membership about uni-related research projects. And sometimes other people discuss uniforms on the listserv too.
One such instance recently came up regarding the 1967 Washington Senators. It started with a post from Father John Hissrich, who’d noticed something on the Baseball Hall of Fame’s “Dressed to the Nines” uniform database:
The Washington Senators are shown with an extra uniform in 1967. There are no stripes on the socks, as in the regular home uniforms, and the caps are white with the same red piping and red script “W.” This uniform is not found in Okkonen’s book. I have never seen a picture of this uniform. Did the Senators wear it on particular occasions? Was it what we would today consider an “alternate” uniform?
(An aside: “Okkonen’s book” is a reference to Marc Okkonen’s essential tome, Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century, which is the basis for the Hall of Fame’s database [and is an absolute must for any Uni Watch reader]. The book was published in 1993, but Okkonen and Hall of Fame curator Tom Shieber have conducted additional research since then, so there are a few spots in which the online database has been updated and no longer matches up with the book. The “extra” uniform for the 1967 Senators, which isn’t in the book but is shown in the online database, is one of those junctures.)
Hissrich’s query drew a quick response from Dave Baldwin — an ideal source, because he’s not only a SABR member but also actually played for the 1967 Senators. Here’s what he wrote:
This discussion inspired me to dig out my old white Senators cap. … As I recall, [the white cap and white socks] were worn for one series only, and that was against the Oakland A’s. This was a protest of sorts against Charlie Finley’s “innovative” uniforms that the A’s began wearing when they were still in Kansas City. In particular, George Selkirk, the Washington GM, was irked that the A’s were wearing white shoes. It seems that batters, being a sensitive lot, were confused and befuddled by too much white in unnatural places on the mound. So George countered with the white caps and white socks. The white socks were simply the white sanitary socks that all players wore under the stirrup socks — we just didn’t wear the stirrups (which was somewhat cooler, actually).
The powers that be in the American League decided that white caps were not to be tolerated because overhand pitchers were releasing the ball too near that distraction. (Since I was a submariner, I was hoping to blend my pitches into my socks.) The AL ruled that we couldn’t use these caps or socks, but I believe the A’s were allowed to continue wearing their white shoes. This struck George as a double standard, and maybe he was right.
I had never heard this story before — the White War! But Baldwin’s memory was a bit off, because the A’s were still in Kansas City in 1967. That mistaken factoid, along with a few others, was soon corrected by researcher Lloyd Davis:
A search of ProQuest [an online database] shows that the Senators did wear the white caps and socks in 1967, and on more than one occasion against the Kansas City A’s.
On page C1 of the May 4, 1967, edition of the Washington Post (”Ortega Hurls Nats Past A’s”), George Minot Jr. wrote, “The Senators again wore white caps and socks in answer to the A’s white shoes.”
On page C2, a photo caption [to this photo] said, “The new attire is the club’s gag rebuttal to the A’s white shoes, as worn by Campy Campaneris as he flies through the air. The Senators introduced their white accessories in Kansas City Wednesday night [a doubleheader on May 2], when they swapped 1-0 shutouts with the A’s.”
The A’s and Senators next met for a doubleheader at DC Stadium on May 30. A blind item appeared on page C2 of the Post, under the headline, “Nats, A’s Will Renew Sartorial Feud Today in D.C. Stadium Doubleheader.” It read: “The Senators and Kansas City Athletics will resume their fashion-show feud this afternoon when they meet for a doubleheader at D.C. stadium. … This will be the Washington fans['] first chance to see for themselves how delightful their athletes look in white accessories. If you remember, the Senators stunned the Midwest when they played in Kansas City earlier this month by wearing “snow white” caps and matching socks (along with their regular jerseys, of course). The Senators haven’t worn their whites since but they’re taking them out of storage as a further reaction to the Athletics’ white shoes, which some opposing batters find distracting. … Aware that the white socks didn’t make as favorable [an] impression as the red-accented white caps, the Senators’ fashion coordinator ordered new, heavier knit stockings for today.”
The next day, in Minot’s account of the game, he wrote that “The A’s retaliated with off-white hats of their own.”
The teams’ next meeting was a July 4 doubleheader in KC. A story in that day’s Post (”‘Uniform’ Problems Plague Nats, A’s in Fight for 9th,” page D1) mentioned, “The Senators are trusting their white hats to break them out of their slump,” and quoted manager Gil Hodges as saying, “Maybe a change in uniform will help.”
Actually, nothing could help the Sens that year (they finished tied for sixth, 15.5 games back), but their White War with the A’s surely ranks as one of history’s coolest and most underrated uniform incidents. Seriously, this story should be legendary, right? But I’d never heard about it until it came up on the SABR listserv, and I bet nobody reading this had heard about it either.
Here’s a good way to publicize this long-neglected chapter in baseball history: Next year is the White War’s 40th anniversary, so let’s see the A’s and Nationals pair off for interleague play next season, and the Nats can wear white caps and socks for the occasion. Now that would be would be a cool throwback concept.
July 13th, 2006
From a uniform perspective, the best All-Star Game moment was probably in 1985, when Lou Whitaker’s jersey got lost and he had to wear a replica jersey from one of the Metrodome’s souvenir stands, with his uni number Magic Markered onto the back. But hey, not every year can have a moment as perfect as that. Here’s what this year’s All-Star Game, which was played last night, had to offer:
• Those “RCW” wristbands that everyone was wearing — including the umpires — were for Roberto Clemente (whose full name was Roberto Clemente Walker).
• The National League was the home team, but Bronson Arroyo wore black sleeves (which the Reds normally wear on the road) instead of Cincy’s usual red home sleeves.
• Several players wore white shoes, including Albert Pujols, Vernon Wells, and A-Rod. Boy did they look like idiots.
• Speaking of A-Rod: He and Derek Jeter both wore CoolFlo helmets. This is pretty surprising, since the Yankee players refused to wear the CoolFlos during last year’s All-Star Game, when the newfangled helmets were first test-driven, and the Yankees have continue to shun the CoolFlo this season.
• Vladimir Guerrero, whose helmet is usually gunked up with pine tar — and who wore his regular helmet in last year’s All-Star Game — was apparently given a fresh helmet this time around.
Pedro Relief Fund Tote Board: Okay, we’ve reached our goal. I’ll send out the check shortly (I’m gonna wait until the Mets’ next homestand) and will keep everyone posted. Thanks to all who contributed.
Op-Ed Update: Yesterday’s New York Times opinion piece generated lots of good reaction, requests for radio interviews, etc. As of last midnight, it was the 10th-most e-mailed story of the preceding 24 hours at nytimes.com, which either means we’re getting a lot of new converts or else a few of you were stuffing the ballot box. Either way, the whole thing was a very positive experience — big thanks to everyone who sent along congratulatory shout-outs.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Really good article here about the uniforms worn by park rangers, letter carriers, and other non-military government workers (with thanks to Charlie Frank). … Look who just won a big-shot design award. Must’ve been rigged. … Nice piece on World Cup typography here. … Last week I speculated that nobody would be able to tell the difference if Rafael Nadal’s head was Photoshopped onto Amelie Mauresmo’s body, and vice-versa. Reader Mike Lindsay has taken up this challenge, and sure enough, the results arguably look more legit than the original pics. … The Sabres’ new logo continues to draw lots of negative reaction (with thanks to Jon Muck). … Every year around this time, a few football fans get all excited (or, in some cases, upset) when they see the Bucs wearing these jerseys during training camp. So let’s try to nip it in the bud this year: These are only practice jerseys, people. They’re not new, and they’re only worn during practices, not in regular games. … In a bizarre move, 81-year-old Wayne Terwilliger, who coaches first base for the minor league Fort Worth Cats, has gotten an earring. Full details here and here. … I’m gonna be on the road for the next couple of days, so I won’t be responding quickly (if at all) to e-mails and comments. I’ll still have fresh content each morning, though.
July 12th, 2006
A few thoughts about last night’s Home Run Derby:
• Is there anyone — anyone — who thinks those side panels were a good idea? Like, what is this — an NBA game? And look at this — it’s practically child abuse! (And for anyone who actually likes the side panels, please remain where you are. The Reprogramming Van will be arriving shortly.)
• The Pirates’ uni-number typeface deserves credit for being one of the coolest and most distinctive in the game. No matter who’s wearing it, you immediately think “Pirates.”
• Since the host team’s color scheme ends up being used for everything from the BP jerseys to the stitching on the ball, it is vitally important that the Diamondbacks and Rockies never host an All-Star Game.
Meanwhile, we’ve got some first-hand reports from the front, the first of which comes Doug Keklak, who writes: “As a Pittsburgh native, I’m enjoying all the All-Star Game festivities. So I shelled out $30 to buy a Pirates cap with the 2006 ASG logo on it, and if my hat is any indication, you might want to pay attention to the players’ logos slipping off during the game. It appears to be the same cheap glue used with the American flag caps. One of my corners is already peeling up.”
And then there’s this encouraging report from David Potter: “PlayStation paid some young ladies to walk around with different team shirts, black shorts/miniskirts, and white knee socks with stirrups promoting PSP Portable.” (Emphasis added.) I’m not a video game guy myself, but I think I speak for everyone when I express my profound thanks to PlayStation for this stirring gesture in support of baseball hosiery.
Speaking of which: As promised, today’s New York Times Op-Ed page includes a Uni Watch primer on the subject of MLB pants and socks — check it out here. To be honest, it’s pretty much the boilerplate pro-socks argument that you’re all familiar with by now, except that it’s, y’know, running on the New York Times Op-Ed page, so maybe we’ll gain some new converts to the cause (although we probably won’t get any new readers at this site because they botched the blog’s name in my bio line — ugh). Fun factoid: The original text included the phrase “Steroids, shmeroids,” but my editor got cold feet.
Most interesting thing about the whole experience: this illustration. I love it — love it! — but can you spot the mistake? Take a second to look at the image before moving on the next paragraph.
As I’m sure everyone noticed, the stirrups-clad guy’s jersey has buttons on the left side and buttonholes on the right side, which is how women’s clothing is made. For men’s clothing, including MLB jerseys, the buttons are always on the left side. I’m fairly certain this was a genuine mistake on the illustrator’s part, although I suppose it could’ve been intentional, to see if anyone noticed. I’ll try to find out today. Either way, it all seems appropriate, in a Uni Watch sort of way.
Pedro Relief Fund Tote Board: Our push to pay a portion of Pedro Martinez’s pant-leg fine is now up to $22.06 — which is, frankly, pathetic. This site gets nearly 10,000 hits a day (and only about 8,000 of them are me checking the comments), so why is it taking so long for a few dozen of you to kick in a buck or two? Think big picture, people: When we send the check to Pedro, don’t you want to see if he actually has the nerve to cash it? If he does, don’t you wonder what I’ll do with the canceled check with his signature on it? Has it occurred to you that I might raffle off that canceled check, and that I might restrict the raffle entrants to people who contributed to the fund?
UPDATE: I went out for a few hours and returned home to find a slew of Pedro contributions. We’ve now met our goal, and then some. I’ll send a check to Pedro shortly and will keep you posted regarding further developments. Thanks to everyone who contributed!
July 11th, 2006
This routine where MLB players untuck their jerseys at the conclusion of a game has gotten way out of hand. As reader Chris Velardi points out, “I was thinking how ridiculous this practice would look if it were applied to other professions. For example, a school teacher when the bell rings, or a lawyer (or, worse, a judge) when the verdict is read. I’m a television news anchor/reporter in New Haven, and I was thinking maybe I’d try pulling out my shirt right right after I said, ‘Thanks for watching, have a good day.’ Or … maybe not.”
This practice reached a new low in the 8th inning of yesterday’s Mets/Marlins game, when Jose Reyes — a habitual postgame untucker — pinch-ran for Paul LoDuca. Interestingly, he didn’t enter the game at the beginning of an at-bat — the count was already 0-and-2 on Carlos Beltran when Reyes trotted out to first. As Reyes prepared to take his lead, he was fidgeting with the back of his jersey quite a bit, and soon we found out why: As he reached second base on Beltran’s single and turned his back to the camera, it became apparent that his jersey was untucked, and he’d been trying to tuck it in. It came loose even more as he scored on David Wright’s homer later in the inning.
The obvious conclusion: Reyes was sitting around the dugout with his jersey untucked for the entire game, and he wasn’t able to pinch-run at the beginning of Beltran’s at-bat because he needed a few seconds to get at least his front shirttails stuffed into his pants. How pathetic is that? It’s bad enough to pull out your jersey when the game’s over, but could you at least keep it tucked in while the game is still in progress?! Jeez.
Pedro Relief Fund Tote Board: We’re now up to $20.18 in our attempt to help bail out Pedro for his long-pants fine — only $17.56 to go! Because I know you care, deeply, I also know you’ll want to PayPal a buck or two to the fund (using paul_lukas@earthlink.net as the payee). And meanwhile, add Junior Griffey to the list of players we may have to bail out in the near future.
Uni Watch News Ticker: So were those Futures Games unis a total embarrassment or what? But it’s good to see that at least one young player is adept at proper pants-cuffing protocol. … Oh, and one of the Futures players appears to be headed for a Pedro-esque pants-under-the-spikes fine. … In happier news, those Seattle Pilots throwbacks that the Mariners wore yesterday were awesome! Bonus points for the players who wore their stirrups just right (a topic that merited a small article in today’s Seattle Post-Intelligencer — thanks to Nick Collecchi for the link). The Tigers’ throwbacks were also nice, but the shoulder numbers looked too big compared to the ones on the 1969 unis, and they shouldn’t have worn their orange-logo road caps, which didn’t exist back then. Couldn’t they have brought their white-logo home caps along for this game, just for accuracy’s sake?. … Looks like FSU will be wearing throwbacks against Boston College this fall (with thanks to Walker Hicken). … As longtime readers will recall, the Cubs are the only team that uses an embroidered logo appliqué (instead of a decal) on their batting helmets. It’s a cool detail, but sometimes it bites them in the ass, as it did yesterday, when Michael Barrett’s logo was peeling off and Angel Pagan’s was sliding down too close to his brim (it’s hard to see, but you can sort of get an idea here). … During that same game, Juan Pierre’s rear-jersey typography appeared to be rather askew (thanks to Jim Freeman). … On July 6th, when Yadier Molina was hit by a pitch and had to leave the Cards/Astros game, pinch-runner Gary Bennett was wearing a logo-less helmet, joining Brayan Peña and Ervin Santana as players who’ve exhibited this glitch in 2006. Bennett had a regular helmet when he batted two innings later (with thanks to eagle-eyed Jordan Hirschfield). … Logo Creep Alert: Although not strictly uni-related, this Wrigley Field photo is pretty disturbing. “Wrigley Field has always taken pride in the lack of advertisements cluttering the ballpark, so this certainly strikes me as sacrilegious,” says Brian Newport, who took the photo. “On a brighter note, our bleacher seats allowed me snap some up-close shots of Juan Pierre’s fantastic hosiery.” . … What the hell’s going on with Lance Berkman’s spikes? On Opening Day he was wearing Nike; by June 15th he’d switched to Reebok; on June 25th he was back to Nike; and then on July 7th, as Ryan Barto points out, he was suddenly wearing UnderArmour. What’s with the constant switcheroos? And could one of you sneakerhead types let us know if Berkman is the first MLB player to wear UnderArmour footwear? … Big article here about baseball pant length. And here’s how the print version looked (with thanks to Warren Thompson and Bryan Redemske, respectively). … Speaking of which: A few hundred well-chosen words by your truly, addressing the crucial topic of MLB pants and socks, are slated to appear on the Op-Ed page of tomorrow’s New York Times. I’m told that the essay could still get bumped at the last minute if something “important” happens (like if North Korea launches another missile or something), so keep your fingers crossed in hopes of a slow news day.
July 10th, 2006
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