The Diamondbacks unveiled their new uniforms last night. I’ll have a full review in my next ESPN column, which will run tomorrow. But for now I want to talk about one specific aspect of them: alignment.
When the Dbacks’ new logos were first leaked a few months back, I held off on commenting, because I had a feeling that the typography (rendered in “minor league comic book fonts,” says Uni Watch design director Scott M.X. Turner) would look very different when rendered in fabric than it did on the computer screen.
Turns out I was right, but not in the way I expected. Whatever else you may think of the new unis, it looks like they’ve got a major problem with the way the chest insignia breaks across the jersey placket. In short: Because of the logo’s design, they had to split the “a” into two halves, and most of the time it doesn’t line up. This shows up again and again (and again) in photos from last night’s unveiling event, and even, to a lesser extent, in MLB’s official merch photo.
Other teams occasionally have placket problems, but I can’t remember seeing anything quite this bad, especially on on a consistent basis. One reason it looks so jarring, I’m sure, is that this is a new logo, so we need to get used to it before we can adjust to seeing a misaligned version of it. But still. Didn’t anyone realize this was going to be a problem?
Some additional context would be useful. I don’t have time to check every other MLB team’s logo/placket intersection, but I’m sure one of you is already heading off to research that — right?
Uni Watch News Ticker: Amusing note toward the end of this page about Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema’s tie (and don’t worry, it nothing to do with purple), courtesy of Jim Polzin. … Nice contribution from Ali Kushan, who writes: “I saw this picture while looking at the 2006-07 St. John’s University Media Guide. It dates back to the late 1920s and is of former Redman James Collins.” … Miami will wear “95″ helmet decals on Saturday, in memory of Bryan Pata. … In other remembrance news, Notre Dame and Air Force will both wear helmet decals this Saturday in memory of Gregg Lewis, who played for Air Force and was also the son of Irish assistant coach Bill Lewis. … What’s worse than pink ice for hockey? A purple tennis court, with a purple-clad player to match (send your emergency room bills to Chris Juengel). … Rugby news from Eric Bangeman, who writes: “Thought you might be interested to know that the Springboks, South Africa’s national rugby team, will be wearing 1906 throwback jerseys in their match this weekend against Ireland, to commemorate 100 years of Springbok rugby. Also, I think you’d like the Northampton Saints’ socks.” Indeed. … There’s been a lot of chatter in the Comments section lately about the 49ers’ overuse of their “SF” logo. That problem might become moot, because the team may move. … Our recent discussions of how the basketball is depicted in NBA logos (if you missed those entries, look here and here) has led several readers to do a similar analysis of soccer team logos. “I continue to be fascinated with how many soccer teams use the old late-’60s/early-’70s pentagonal-panel ball in their emblems,” says Scott M.X. Turner. “That ball was in use for maybe five years on the top circuits, yet it’s THE go-to ball for emblem designers.”
#1 by Brian on 11.09.06 9:39 am |
The Phillies run into misalignment problems occasionally…
http://www.signonsan...
#2 by jesse on 11.09.06 9:40 am |
If you go to the Diamondbacks website you can buy a 2007 authentic hat, they claim that it it 100% wool.
#3 by Allan Chandler on 11.09.06 9:42 am |
The D-Backs’ uniforms are dreadful. I agree: How in the world is it acceptable to split the “a” like that? That color red looks like spoiled tomato soup. I also think that abbreviating a team name on a uniform is stupid - if you can’t fit the name onthe jersey, then your team name shoudl be different!
I only pray that Cincinnati’s new duds are way better than Arizona’s.
#4 by Chris Doran on 11.09.06 9:43 am |
Working on a screen shot, but I know the Phillies handle this situation by spelling the name across the jersey PHILLLIES. The third “l” disappears behind the placket.
#5 by Matt G on 11.09.06 9:43 am |
Whats wrong with this pic I don’t see any purple :>.
#6 by Brendan on 11.09.06 9:44 am |
I too loathe purple, mostly since it is the colour of my two most hated schools: UW and South Eugene High School, but I think that on her it works quite nicely.
#7 by Brendan on 11.09.06 9:49 am |
South Eugene http://www.axemenfoo... is coached by a rotten traitor Chris Miller by the way.
#8 by Craig W on 11.09.06 9:50 am |
There’s been a lot of chatter in the Comments section lately about the 49ers’ overuse of their “SF†logo. That problem might become moot, because the team may move.
I wonder if the 49ers will change back to the throwbacks when they move. I just hope that the move isn’t to LA or Anaheim.
#9 by Shane on 11.09.06 9:51 am |
Ouch. Try again, D-backs. Try again.
#10 by Daniel on 11.09.06 9:52 am |
That’s pretty much the color of the Astros’ alternate jerseys. And since the Astros wore it on the road most of the time (but with Houston instead of Astros on the front), we might see Arizona do something like that.
#11 by Jonathon on 11.09.06 9:52 am |
What the hell happens when Arizona plays Houston? They look identical. If they both wear the red alt jerseys, then it’s like a damn scrimmage. I’m surprised MLB did legislate a greater difference between the two sets of unis.
#12 by Stu on 11.09.06 9:52 am |
Although I think the D-Backs unis are a HUGE improvement, my problem is that they employ nearly the same color scheme as the Astros unis. I guess we just need to wait a few years for the Astros to completely overhaul their color scheme again and everything will be fine.
#13 by Matt G on 11.09.06 9:54 am |
Paul,
After some quick research thanks to Yahoo photos here are a couple of miss allign jerseys.
Oakland A’s
St Louis Cardinals
The may be more I will keep my eyes open…
#14 by JohnnyBoy on 11.09.06 9:56 am |
I think the D’Backs logo looks so bad because of the square nature of the typography. I noticed the same thing in the World Series on both teams (at first I thought it was because I had a few cocktails), but it wasn’t as outright bad looking in script as it is on the Arizona jersey.
#15 by Robert on 11.09.06 10:01 am |
“the old late-’60s/early-’70s pentagonal-panel ball”
This certainly exposes my ignorance of all things soccer. I thought that ball was still in use.
#16 by Mark Graban on 11.09.06 10:03 am |
Here’s a recent Frank Deford commentary on the overuse of red uniforms.
NPR Link
#17 by Cotton on 11.09.06 10:03 am |
Holy Moses. The lettering on the new D-Backs top looks as if the West Coast Choppers started a softball team.
#18 by Josh Peterson on 11.09.06 10:03 am |
the bad guy from I know what you did last summer is the model for the d-backs now?
#19 by todd krevanchi (krvanch) on 11.09.06 10:04 am |
What’s worse than pink ice for hockey? A purple tennis court, with a purple-clad player to match (send your emergency room bills to Chris Juengel).
she’s amazing… almost perfect…
speaking of perfect, looks like sue bird might be relocating to OKC within 2 years… that plays right into the “to change or not to change” naming dispute we have gotten into here of late… historically in the wnba, teams have changed their names with the cities like when the orlando miracle became the connecticut sun.
i guess the seattle storm could be the oklahoma city dust storm…or tornados.
#20 by shadoquad on 11.09.06 10:05 am |
As far as the pentagonal-panel ball, I can’t explain why, but that look is iconic to soccer/football. It’s a somewhat handsome, friendly looking ball whose design was unique to soccer. I grew up with that, and I played with several pentagonal balls growing up in the 80’s. I think it’s simply pleasing to the eye. That’s completely subjective, but once you see a pentagonal-panel ball, you don’t think of any other sport that employs a similarly sized orb.
#21 by LunchBox on 11.09.06 10:05 am |
There’s always a possbility for jerseys with overlapping text/logo to be mis-aligned, like this and this to name a few. Or there’s the possibility of a bigger gap between the letters. It’s just what you get when you have button down jerseys. No biggie.
#22 by Paul Lukas on 11.09.06 10:08 am |
Yeah, but there’s a big difference between (a) a little loop between two letters being misaligned and (b) an actual letter itself being misaligned. If you look, I think you’ll find that there are very few instances in which an actual letter is split in two. Some, yes, but not many.
#23 by Kenn on 11.09.06 10:09 am |
1 - If the Dbacks played the Astros, they wouldn’t both wear red. MLB equipment managers are smarter than that.
2 - The 49ers say that even if they move to Santa Clara, they won’t change their name from “San Francisco” 49ers, so the SF logo discussion would only be moot if they move out of the Bay Area.
3 - The soccer team badges you show are all European, where badges are more traditional, have been in use longer, and are more resistant to change. Euro teams don’t go changing their badges willy-nilly just because a different-looking ball comes into use. The teams in MLS that DO feature a soccer ball in their logos (which isn’t every team - Chicago, Chivas USA, FC Dallas, Los Angeles, Columbus and Toronto don’t have soccer balls in their logo) do feature the old-style ball. Considering how many times they’ve changed the style of the MLS match ball in 11 years, this is not at all surprising.
#24 by todd krevanchi (krvanch) on 11.09.06 10:09 am |
oh, and almost forgot,
is tony clark derek lee’s grandfather?
on a side note, the quote of the event…
Accomplished rap artist and businessman Master P was there along with Romeo and Young MC.
“It think it’s great colors, a great combination,” Master P said. “This will be the uniforms that take them to the World Series.”
#25 by MetsFan AZ on 11.09.06 10:14 am |
I think the glaring issue is that it’s in the middle of a letter. The only similar example posted so far is the Indians jersey. Most teams seem to know better and their placket is an entire letter.
#26 by Stu on 11.09.06 10:15 am |
After doing some quickie visual research, it looks like the soccer ball used today still have the same panel shapes, but the design on the panels have changed
#27 by Clevo on 11.09.06 10:15 am |
do they not have a grey road jersey? Or did they think it wasnt important to show it with the rest of the gear?
It’s better than the old multicolored logo, but to ape the Astros new colors, and to do the old “we’ll change the colors to black to sell more merch” trick is unoriginal at best.
#28 by MetsFan AZ on 11.09.06 10:16 am |
A day late and a dollar short on my comment. Thanks Paul.
#29 by Patrick W. on 11.09.06 10:16 am |
It’s interesting that all of the overlapping jerseys shown have been for teams that have cursive text on the front of there jersey. The new D-backs Jerseys have block lettering. Can’t be that hard to fix.
#30 by jeff on 11.09.06 10:18 am |
I hope in the ESPN column you make some comments about the belts the Dbacks have!
#31 by Adam on 11.09.06 10:19 am |
Is it just me or are the new Diamondback uniforms crappy ripoffs of the Nationals crappy uniforms? It seems like we are one step closer to having a template for MLB uniforms like we have for NCAA football.
#32 by todd krevanchi (krvanch) on 11.09.06 10:21 am |
im still amazed the reporters published that world series comment! thats what you get for inviting an out of towner…
#33 by Matt B on 11.09.06 10:21 am |
True. The older style designs like Valencia or Spurs recall volleyballs or basketballs. Interesting thing about the buckyball design as was that Adidas specifically invented it, so every time you see it, it’s logo creep! They needed a high-contrast ball for the B&W TV broadcasts of the WC, in 1970 I think. The ball’s even called the Telestar. Did they ever patent / copyright it? Think of all the licensing dough…
As far as the pentagonal-panel ball…that look is iconic to soccer/football. It’s a somewhat handsome, friendly looking ball whose design was unique to soccer…That’s completely subjective, but …you don’t think of any other sport that employs a similarly sized orb.
#34 by Ryne on 11.09.06 10:22 am |
Purple may not belong on a tennis court but who can say that she doesn’t look good in purple?
#35 by Miguel on 11.09.06 10:25 am |
Maybe I’m in the minority, but I think Maria can wear whatever she wants.
I’m color-blind, though, so I’m not sure if this is purple.
A little help, fellow uni-peeps?
#36 by Matt G on 11.09.06 10:26 am |
Again Paul you are correct. I was thinking that most teams that have a underline under their name would similar to what you were talking about but after looking I couldn’t find one that hasn’t been posted yet. Thanks for letting me know of the differances. I have been reading this blog for about 3-4 months and your attention to detail has started me on looking for errors or silliness since.
I am always impressed with what you can find that must people don’t think of.
#37 by Andy on 11.09.06 10:29 am |
I think purple doesn’t belong on a men’s jersey, but I have no problem with women wearing the color. Same with pink. They’re girly colors. Let the girlies wear them.
#38 by DenverGregg on 11.09.06 10:29 am |
Miguel said,
No to the purple, yes to the perfect. Yowza!
#39 by Kyle on 11.09.06 10:30 am |
Regardless of what you think of the colors, jersey font, huge A, cartoon snake, etc…
We all must agree on one thing. The alternate “db” snake head logo is the most interesting use of text-creates-image since the Brewers “mb” glove logo was introduced. It is absolutely great, and should honestly be the primary logo.
#40 by DJL on 11.09.06 10:31 am |
Manchester United also has an old-style ball in their logo.
Today’s interesting Ohio high school football uniform goes to St. Ignatius High in Cleveland. Per tradition, the Jesuit school puts the players names on the backs of their jerseys if the team makes the playoffs.
Regular Season Playoffs
#41 by Tim D on 11.09.06 10:37 am |
Yes..they have a grey road jersey…You can see it at the Dbacks website. It says ARIZONA on it but not sure if they “split” any letters on that one…
#42 by Roger on 11.09.06 10:44 am |
We all must agree on one thing. The alternate “db†snake head logo is the most interesting use of text-creates-image since the Brewers “mb†glove logo was introduced. It is absolutely great, and should honestly be the primary logo.
That’s one thing I can’t agree with. Ever since I heard someone mention it’s phallic nature, that’s all I see.
Then again, that just may mean I’m disturbed.
#43 by Ben on 11.09.06 10:45 am |
Regarding jerseys with a split letter from the insignia across the jersey placket, both the Blue Jays and Devil Rays (to an extent) have a similar problem as the D’Backs.
#44 by TBone on 11.09.06 10:47 am |
I’m surprised nobody commented on the swoosh in the purple tennis pictures. Isn’t that combination enough to make someone’s head explode?
#45 by Jeff on 11.09.06 10:51 am |
The Jays have the same problem on the Road
#46 by Bob in Hopewell on 11.09.06 10:52 am |
but, you just have to LOVE the shoes!!
#47 by orlandor on 11.09.06 10:54 am |
Looks like the standard away jerseys have the same problem. Here is a pic that shows the standard Arizona print grey road jersey with a split Z.
#48 by Mike on 11.09.06 10:54 am |
Almost all “recreational” soccer balls that you would buy at the sporting goods store still use the hexagon+pentagon pattern, even if the graphics don’t match the tiling. However, actual match balls use different patterns altogether. See here for the new ball used in the most recent World Cup. Compare it to a (much) less expensive “rec” version here - same graphics, completely different construction.
#49 by Jonathon on 11.09.06 10:55 am |
If you’re focusing on the purple in this photo, then something is wrong with you:
http://us.news2.yimg...
#50 by Richard on 11.09.06 10:57 am |
they unveil the new uniforms, but MLB won’t let them unveil the new batting practice jerseys? c’mon - it’s not a complete unveiling unless you get to show off all of the jerseys…
#51 by Jonathon on 11.09.06 10:58 am |
For the pentagonal-panel soccer balls, don’t forget the most important team in this country that still uses it:
http://www.ussoccer....
#52 by Ryan on 11.09.06 11:03 am |
The Diamondbacks new “db” symbol is fairly similar to the one used by country singer Dierks Bentley.
http://echotools.ech...
#53 by Tape on 11.09.06 11:04 am |
I bet she looks good out of purple as well…
#54 by Pat on 11.09.06 11:05 am |
The new D-backs jersey bothers me. I don’t mind the logo but, as Paul said, it definitley does not translate well to the jersey. The thing that bothers me most, and you can also see it on the Timberwolves as well as the new D-backs uniforms, is when the stroke around the wording is so heavy that it doesn’t allow for any negative space between any of the letters, almost like there is a solid block that forms around the letters behind the logo.
I don’t know why more teams go the script route, at least in baseball, if not in basketball as well (even though I kind of hate the stripes around the Clippers armholes I do like the chest insignia. If you aren’t going to go with the script at least the arched type (baseball — basketball) or vertically arched type (basketball(aka. the greatest uniforms in the history of the world — baseball (even though that capital M bothers me)).
#55 by Bob in Hopewell on 11.09.06 11:07 am |
I realize that it’s a ways to go for a laugh, but check out gallery 1, pic 8
So simple, even a Caveman could do it.
And, black jerseys in Arizona….won’t make it to the WS if you burst into flames! I know, it’s a dry heat….
#56 by Jonathon on 11.09.06 11:08 am |
close to Dierks, but it’s really a complete ripoff of David Blaine
http://shop.davidbla...
#57 by MetsFan AZ on 11.09.06 11:08 am |
When the unis and logo first surface here someone posted David Blaine’s logo. Much closer.
#58 by Rich on 11.09.06 11:10 am |
The split “a” doesn’t really bother me, but big thumbs-down to whoever that is unveiling the new uni wearing pajama pants.
#59 by Jonathon on 11.09.06 11:11 am |
i agree with that - straight across lettering does not look good on baseball uniforms - that’s the biggest problem with the Nationals, and now the D-backs, unis
#60 by George on 11.09.06 11:14 am |
Link to article
The women’s team at Army will be wearing “MD” in a cloverleaf on their jerseys for the season in honor of late coach Maggie Dixon, who died last year. Also, the coaches in the Patriot league will all be wearing “MD” pins seen
here.
No word yet on if Pitt will also do anything in her honor, as her brother Jamie is the coach there, and they will be playing in a benefit game for her against Western Michigan at West Point.
#61 by Rod Gaspar Fan Club on 11.09.06 11:19 am |
There is obviously no drug testing in the D’backs front office.
#62 by todd krevanchi (krvanch) on 11.09.06 11:21 am |
did no one get that the diamondbacks have already been to the world series… and won… 5 years ago… in one of the most memorable world series in recent memory?
that reminded me of one of the funniest pick up lines of all time…
“thats a beautiful dress. it looks great on you. it would look even better on my bedroom floor”
#63 by Rod Gaspar Fan Club on 11.09.06 11:24 am |
Partial ripoff. Blaine’s logo is a spade (card tricks), and Arizona’s logo is a snake. It actually looks cool.
#64 by SWinner on 11.09.06 11:26 am |
Don’t they have velcro to assist in lining up the placket properly? I have a White Sox road jersey and although the overlap in the script Chicago is minor, the velcro sets things straight.
#65 by skott on 11.09.06 11:27 am |
i love the diamondbacks new unis.
maybe its because i hated the old ones so much, but i think this is such an amazing step in the right direction.
i love it.
(i like the nationals logo, too but not as much as the Expos logo, of course - THAT was a great twist on letters like the MB brewers thing and the new DB dbacks thing)
i didn’t know about the Pitt game at westpoint. thats a very classy thing to do. i like that quite a bit.
#66 by Rod Gaspar Fan Club on 11.09.06 11:30 am |
Somewhere a camel is missing its toe.
#67 by dchis on 11.09.06 11:38 am |
The new snake logo is the second best thing about the uniforms. The best thing is the switch from purple. I like the black and the red jerseys. The font sucks. And oh if the hat logos matched the jersey font they would be the only team that uses non-capitalized letters on their hat if I’m correct. The old Brewers logo and the old Braves logo had lower case, but I don’t think any current ones. Also, the snake logo is neat and better than the “A” logo or the “D” logo (which still looks like a Disney D), but the problem I have with it is that it looks like male anatomy shooting it’s stuff out.
#68 by Cliff Rancho on 11.09.06 11:40 am |
i love the diamondbacks new unis.
maybe its because i hated the old ones so much, but i think this is such an amazing step in the right direction.
I agree Skott, I like them too. Especially compared to their old ones. Are you guys really upset that you won’t be seeing this anymore?
And as far as the comment that it looks minor league, I think it might look that way since it’s trying to look “southwest”, their old logo looked that way, their new one does too. I’m all for geographical representation with teams.
#69 by Chad G on 11.09.06 11:40 am |
Anyone else notice that the Dbacks black jerseys are paired with grey pin striped pants on the road and plain whites at home.
The red jersey also appears do have 3 different pant choices: plain whites, road greys and white pin stripes
The white jerseys only seem to be worn with white pants which is a definite good thing along with the grey jerseys only worn with plain grey pants, another good thing…thank god no mixing plain and pin stripes.
#70 by Joe Hilseberg on 11.09.06 11:43 am |
Yep, a lot of teams have the velcro, and that;s the best it’s gonna get.
There have always been alignment issues with jersey. It’s gonna happen. You either split the letter, or you can shift the word to make it off-center.
The heart off the issue is that the agencies who design these type styles have print/web/TV in mind first and jersey contruction last. They don’t account for the break of the uni or where the buttons fall.
#71 by Kenny on 11.09.06 11:44 am |
In the same gallery there is a split ‘Z’ in the first picture and a couple of pictures later Eric Byrnes has it untucked in his picture
#72 by Mark in Shiga on 11.09.06 11:46 am |
Anybody notice that the colors are “Sedona red” and “Sonoran sand”? Seems like these days everyone’s making up their own color names. (Apple and “Bondi blue”, etc.)
How long until some stooge in the marketing department comes up with, “Hey, if we raise the yellow component of that Sonoran sand color, it would be the same color as a Tostito… and then we could sell the color naming rights to Tostitos and every time the new uniforms were mentioned in the media, people would be saying ‘Tostitos beige’…”
You know that day is coming.
#73 by Chris Mewett on 11.09.06 11:46 am |
On the soccer issue: there’s not a single logo on that page that represents a team that could generally be considered one of the 100 most popular in the world. Most of them are logos from small clubs in small leagues.
There’s something to be said for the logic of conservatism voiced earlier in the thread; soccer clubs simply don’t change their logos nearly as often. (That said, the Tottenham Hotspur logo posted above is a sort of throwback one just being used this year.)
Somebody show me a pentagonal-paneled ball in a logo from a big club in England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, or Holland. I’m not sure there are too many out there. The only one on the page of assembled logos is Reggina (Italy). Their current logo actually has “1986″ on it, which I believe is the year that the club was renamed (to Reggina Calcio, the current name) and explains the use of the 80s ball.
#74 by Teebz on 11.09.06 11:51 am |
Ok, this will be a little break from the Diamondback chatter today. It appears the outrage towards the new look is only beginning. This is long-winded, so if you don’t want to read it, please scroll past it. However, I hope I’ve included enough good info and pictures to keep you interested.
First, I’ll look at the little things that are similar between the NHL pro jersey licensed apparel designers. There are four major companies who made NHL pro jerseys. They were Nike/Bauer, Pro Player, Starter, and CCM/Reebok. You know what that means: different companies = different looks. I’ve also included Bauer in here, even though Nike bought them, because they made IHL and AHL pro jerseys.
Fighting straps: They can be seen by the naked eye if you’re close enough. The Nike/Bauer, Pro Player, and Reebok/CCM jerseys can be identified by the stitching on the back. This is a Nike fighting strap. However, Starter did things a little differently. You can actually see the Starter fighting strap through the jersey due to the material and design of the jersey. This is what the CCM fighting strap looks like on the inside.
Reinforced Elbows: All five companies have these, and all are basically the same. This is the elbow stitching on my Islanders’ Fisherman jersey. As you can see, the navy blue stitching follows the elbow much in the same way a tweed jacket has a leather patch on the elbow.
Reinforced Double-Stitching: Again, all companies followed the same design. Some are more apparent than others, but the shoulder stitching looks like this. Again, very noticeable on the Islanders’ Fisherman jersey. Now, companies tend to use the same color thread as the shoulder colors for aesthetics.
Hem Identification: Here’s where things get tricky. This is also where logo creep in hockey began. I’ll start with the old CCM Islanders’ Fisherman jersey. Here’s the hemline. Now, it is very easy to see the CCM in team colors. All NHL pro jerseys looked like this until 1996 (again, trying to verify this exact date). The reason they changed is because the NHL opened its doors to other licensed apparel companies who advanced jersey technology (and people think competition is bad).
Pro Player introduced a different jersey material, somewhat similar to Air-Knit material. In doing so, they produced jerseys for teams like Anaheim, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, and Columbus. They were the first company to use the silver NHL logo for pro jerseys and the orange NHL logo for replicas. Here’s the Anaheim hemline.
Starter was another major player to change the jersey design. They produced jerseys for teams like Carolina, Phoenix, Colorado and Pittsburgh. Here’s the Colorado hemline. The difference between pros and replicas was that Starter used their full name on the pros and and their logo, as seen on the tag here, for replicas.
And, of course, Nike got in on the action too. Nike produced jerseys for Detroit, Anaheim, San Jose, and Chicago. This is the Anaheim hemline.
And coming around full circle is Reebok/CCM. This is what they look like today.
In the IHL/AHL, Bauer hemlines looked like this before Nike said they didn’t want the license.
And finally, Nike IIHF jerseys have a hemline that look like this.
Jersey Tag ID: This is straightforward. Old CCM pro jerseys had this tag. Pro Player jerseys had this tag. Note the jersey sizing. Starter jerseys had this tag. Note the jersey sizing on this one as 54-R. This indicated that it was a jersey made for players, not goalies. Nike jerseys had this tag. Note the jersey sizing on this one as 54G. This indicated that the jersey was a jersey made for goalies, not players. The sleeves of a goalie-cut jersey are much wider and much shorter than regular jerseys to accommodate the goalie’s blocker and catcher, as well as the additional padding they wear. This Nike jersey tag is the IIHF pro jersey. Finally, when CCM split its brands into CCM, Koho, and Jofa, they had separate tags. This is a CCM tag. And this is a Koho tag.
Neck hemline logo creep: Starter and Pro Player never had their logos creep up to the neckline. However, Reebok/CCM and Nike did. As you can see in this picture, the Penguins are clearly wearing Reebok. This started with Nike and CCM. When CCM announced the changes to the jerseys once they were awarded the contract of all the NHL teams, they indicated their logo would be moving north to the neck. Here is the CCM logo on a Penguins jersey. Here is a Koho logo on an Oilers alternate jersey. Nike also followed suit, and now their distinctive swoosh can be seen on all IIHF jerseys below the neckline on the back of their jerseys. Bauer, on the other hand, had their distinctive marking on the front of the left collarbone.
Finally, I leave you all with this: my greatest jersey!
#75 by maximumK on 11.09.06 11:53 am |
I hate the new d-backs jersey, though the new color scheme is nice. It is rather annoying that, when my Nationals play the d-backs in arizona, I’ll get incredibly confused. Their home jerseys use the exact same template.
Speaking of the Nationals: while I am not huge on their jersey logo (I’m a big proponent of diagonal script), I like the fact that there’s a vertical arch effect on there. The d-backs’ logo is straight on all sides, excepting the letters that stick out.
Side note on those rugby socks: with the discussion about New Orleans’ kelly green being an official color of mardi gras, bould we have those socks be the Saints’ socks? The black and gold “saints” is already there. All they have to do is add green to their colors.
#76 by Kim on 11.09.06 11:55 am |
I hate the new trend of MLB teams apparently designing their uniforms using WordArt.
Though I do like the subtle touch of the Arizona on the grays hinting at fangs with the lower extentions of the R and N.
Regarding soccer balls.
The ball that everyone considers iconic is the adidas Telestar. It’s the ball with hexagonal and pentagonal panels, with the pentagons being black. This ball was developed for the 1968(?) World Cup because it was going to be on TV, and the black panels make it easier to see the motion/rotation of the ball on TV, hence Telestar. The pattern became the norm for years, but in the last 10 or so years a lot more and differnt designs have come out. Here’s an ebay listing with all the adidas World Cup balls.
#77 by maximumK on 11.09.06 11:56 am |
I can’t spell…I guess that’s why my parents shell out the big bucks for me to go to college…
#78 by David N on 11.09.06 12:00 pm |
Here’s a good view of the Blue Jays uni with the ‘A’ split and not aligned.
http://www.thestar.c...
#79 by Chris Doran on 11.09.06 12:02 pm |
That split Z looks like what the Phillies do as mentioned above…
When the jersey is unbuttoned it actually reads ARIZ | ZONA or
PHIL | LLIES.
IIRC, the phillies method of the three L’s is a callback to the 1950’s era Whiz Kids. I shall continue to look for photos.
#80 by redemske on 11.09.06 12:04 pm |
To those worried about potential global implications when the Astros play the Diamondbacks or the Diamondbacks play then Nationals: Relax. They’ll only play each other six times, being from different divisions.
And don’t be so sure about how smart equipment managers are. The Cubs and Brewers have been spotted on numerous occasions both wearing blue. Different shades, but still stupid.
#81 by todd krevanchi (krvanch) on 11.09.06 12:10 pm |
sedona is the place where slide rock is…a smoothed out rock bed which has evolved into a natural slide. the color of this is a red similar to that of the uni’s (well, maybe similar is stretching it)
http://images.world6...
http://www.camprrm.c...
#82 by Florian on 11.09.06 12:12 pm |
As for the soccer ball thing. All these logos were definetly created after 1970, before that soccer balls would look like this. This is reflected in the other logos mentioned by some people before. Adidas changed to the Telstar in 1970, not only as stated for reasons of TV-visibily. It was also resulted in a big change when it came to playing in the rain. The old leather balls would soak up with water pretty fast and would become terribly heavy changing the complexion of the came. If you went up for a header you went straight for a concussion, if you hit the seams of the ball there was good chance your forehead would split open. I don’t if that’s still true for the balls used in the 60s but in the 20s and 30s it was definitely true. Still the Telstar design somehow has entered the collective consciousness of Europe (can’t vouch for the USA on that) as the prototypical design, probably because its base structure was used for virtually all soccer-balls up until this summer when adidas created the Teamgeist which was made up of just three pieces of synthetic material glued together.
#83 by Andy on 11.09.06 12:13 pm |
If you’re going to go crazy with the parentheses, you need to close them all.
5 open parentheses + 3 close parentheses = bad
#84 by Josh on 11.09.06 12:16 pm |
Actually those are not the current pants. For some reason they were wearing their old pants with the new jerseys. The new look has no pinstripes.
I think those are promo pics they took in the locker room prior to the “fashion show”, not pics from last night’s event.
#85 by David N on 11.09.06 12:21 pm |
Some of those pics were taking during the past season and were just taken to show the jerseys, not pants. The home unis will be all white and the road unis will be all gray. The red and black tops can be worn with either the white or gray pants. The pinstriped pants in question are their home pants from last year. If you look closely you can tell b/c Eric Byrnes is wearing purple socks.
http://static.flickr...
http://static.flickr...
#86 by Taylor on 11.09.06 12:23 pm |
Thank you. The bottom line is that it is an improvement. A new design will never make everybody say “wow, that’s perfect!” We can say we don’t like this or that about the new jersey, but we can say that about any jersey. I have yet to hear anybody say that the old jerseys are better. Let’s cut them some slack - at least they are moving in a positive direction (unlike most Nike basketball jerseys).
#87 by Pat on 11.09.06 12:23 pm |
I know I know, I got thrown off with all the ‘href’s opening and closing everywhere.
I’ll try harder next time.
#88 by Chad G on 11.09.06 12:26 pm |
The pics are screen captures from there official slide show, plus they can’t be old pants cause the pin stripes are black not purple, like from the old unis
#89 by Chad G on 11.09.06 12:31 pm |
ok, i changed my mind, now the pin stripes look purple to me
#90 by The Gov'Nah on 11.09.06 12:41 pm |
i cant tell what color that is. am i allowed to say i am blinded by the “toe of a camel” ???
#91 by Pat on 11.09.06 12:45 pm |
La Liga
Getafe CF
French League 1
LeMans ‘72
FC Lorient
OGC Nice
FC Sochaux-Montbéliard
Valenciennes
It appears that the French are quite fond of the pentagonal ball.
Interestingly, the EPL, La Liga, and Serie A all use the pentagon in their official league logos:
F.A. Premier League
Serie A
La Liga
#92 by The Gov'Nah on 11.09.06 12:50 pm |
Eric Byrnes may be the biggest culprit of NOT buttoning his jersey. so he may look like he plays for the D-BAAAACKS or ARIZZZZONA. Can any D-Back fans back me up on this ?
#93 by Alex on 11.09.06 12:52 pm |
couple of things…
first, i actually don’t mind the new d’back unis. that could be because I thought the old ones were plain terrible.
second, the misalignment of the front two sides of the jersey is inevitable in any MLB style jersey, like paul said it just depends where on the team logo the split occurs. In this case it happens right in the middle of a letter. My home jerseys in high school were much like MLB jerseys and we had a small (1″x1″) square of velcro to help keep the logo aligned. I’ve also seen a button placed directly on the logo (obviously in the same color) but I don’t think it looks nearly as clean.