08.30.06

Everyone knows about the White Sox’s one-game experiment wearing shorts in 1976. But you might not know that the Chisox weren’t the only professional baseball team to wear shorts, nor were they the first. That distinction goes to the Hollywood Stars, a triple-A team that paired pinstriped shorts with non-pinstriped pullovers in 1950. The outfit was worn for warm-weather games, usually on weekends, for two seasons. You can read a short account of what it was like to wear the shorts, from Stars player Chuck Stevens, here.

Those photos and text come from The Grand Minor League: An Oral History of the Old Pacific Coast League, by Dick Dobbins, a copy of which was generously donated to the Uni Watch library last week by reader Ken Clark. Much like Rain Check, which I wrote about a few weeks ago, this book is filled with some spectacular photos of jerseys, caps, and small details. Here are some highlights: