We have a lot of ground to cover today, boys and girls, so let’s get crackin’…
I’ve written several times in the past about sports historian Dave Eskenazi and his amazing photo archive documenting the baseball history of the Pacific Northwest. He’s promised to contribute occasional dispatches, the latest of which arrived in my in-box a few days ago:
The Class D Western Tri State League existed from 1912 to 1914. The three states represented were Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, and franchises included the Boise Irrigators, Walla Walla (Washington) Bears, Pendleton (Oregon) Buckaroos, LaGrande (Oregon) Pippins/Spuds, Baker City (Oregon) Golddiggers/Miners, and North Yakima (Washington) Braves.
This scan shows three players from the 1913 LaGrande team [here's a larger view], including Northwest baseball lifer Karl “Junk” Walters (upper left). Love that “L A G” in the triangle. Here’s another cool pic of Walters, as a Walla Walla Bear.
Big thanks to Dave for continuing to share his vast visual database with the Uni Watch community.
Meanwhile, speaking of the northwest, reader Andy Head has discovered a web site devoted to the history of hockey in Seattle. Here’s his report:
As a Seattle-area hockey fan who would love to see an NHL franchise come to town someday, I found this site fascinating, and you’ve got to appreciate some of the pictures. First off, there’s the guy’s personal collection of jerseys. I think this old Totems jersey [note the similarity to the NFL Seahawks' logo -- PL] has got to be my favorite [I prefer this one -- PL]. There’s also an equipment page, some pins and patches, and of course some great vintage photos — dig the stripeage on the 1929 Seattle Eskimos!
Trust me, the more time you spend poking around on this site, the more great stuff you find, from old ticket stubs and press passes to game-used sticks, player profiles, team histories, all kinds of stuff. Hope you find it as cool as I do.
And as long as we’re doing the northwest thing: As you all know by now, the Flaming Ducks did their thing last night. The big surprise was that there was a little “O” on the back of the helmet — whoa, talk about edgy. At the end of the day, the helmet didn’t look any worse than the rest of the uni (a point implicitly made in this article, pointed out to me by Mark Snider). Can we all please move on now?
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ITEM! Major Lone Star Find: Two days ago I ran some great photos from the Texas A&M archive. But it turns out that the real treasure is at Texas Tech, where Ben Veazey has turned up a couple of 1938 pics of what just might be the greatest football uniform I’ve ever seen. Check it out here, here, and here.
Man, even with the watermarks, those unis are something special. The sleeve stripes, the interior sleeve and torso panels, the cuff stripes (!), the thicker white-bordered stripe within the hoop-striped socks — I’d give anything to see these babies in color.
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Prodigal Jeremy: Uni Watch Far Eastern bureau chief Jeremy Brahm has been busy lately, but he checked in yesterday with a bunch of pics from his archives. Here’s his rundown:
• During the 1991 Japanese All-Star game, Hideo Nomo of the Kintetsu Buffaloes had to bat (the Pacific League uses the DH) and borrowed a helmet from an Orix Blue Wave player. Strangely, in 2005, Buffaloes’ players would be wearing Orix on their uniforms because of a merger between Orix and Kintetsu.
• A picture of shoe striping matching the uniform colors. This was in a 1994 issue of Sports Illustrated, which covered the 1994 Japan Series (there was no World Series due to the strike).
• Dan Gladden helped the Yomiuri Giants win the 1994 Japan Series, but look at his shoes — they have a stylized “G” for Giants. Here’s another player with the same motif. Yomiuri was the only team with this design.
• Here’s a picture of the 1935 Yomiuri Giants with kanji pictographs on their uniforms. The numbers, from the left: 3, 10, 1, 2, 14, 13.
• The Chunichi Dragons started their season in 1948 with the Japanese pronunciation of the team name — Do-ra-gons — on their jerseys. However, when an American serviceman saw the spelling, he pointed it out and the uniform was changed to “Dragons” a month into the season.
• In 1982-83, the Yomiuri Giants’ Tadashi Matsumoto led the Central League in steals and the team decided that they wanted to give him an easy-to-work-in uniform. The top and bottom were linked, kind of like a unitard. It was even called a new revolution for uniforms. However, there were no other players even mentioned for this type of uniform, other than Matsumoto. It was later found to be hard to take off only the top, and that was main reason for its demise.
And for good measure, Jeremy also tossed in two Japanese football photos. Dig the helmets worn by the Mycal Bears and the Omron Seagulls — amazing stuff.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Fascinating logo creep story involving the TV show 60 Minutes — look here (with thanks to Alex Gordon). … Extra-special thanks to Benjamin Sonnet, who sent me a really cool Xmas gift. … “Is Lebron James showing support for AI?” asks Dave Sterling. … Speaking of Iverson, there’s a great video clip here that shows his Nuggets jersey being lettered and stitched up, and some still pics are available here, here, here, and here. … SI.com’s “Year’s Most Interesting Sports Photos” gallery features some uni-related items of note, including this amazing shot of the Japanese women’s field hockey team (whose roster apparently includes Hannibal Lecter), and a mud-caked shot for the ages (note that the swoosh appears to be mud-resistant). … Here’s the best information I’ve seen so far on the new NHL unis (with thanks to Eric van der Burght). … Amazing photo here of the 1901 Denison University basketball team (nice find by Craig Hicks). … You Can’t Make This Stuff Up Dept.: Check out the name of the UK’s Chief of Defence Staff (great catch by Todd Davis). … Matt Zegarski reports that Villanova has begun wearing a black “11″ memorial patch in honor of the late Paul Arizin. No photos yet. … Bizarre scene the other night in Milwaukee, as Blain Fowler explains: “Oakland center Shawn Hopes picked Oakland’s uniforms for their game against Marquette. In an effort to try to change Oakland’s luck (team had lost three in a row on the road, including losses to Arkansas and UCLA), he chose to mix and match their two road options, pairing black jerseys with gold shorts. It made for an appealingly ugly result.” … When an MLB player signs with a new team, he usually just puts on a jersey for his photo op. But Bryan Redemske notes that Jason Jennings put on an entire Astros uni — and even threw a pitch — when joining the team earlier this week. … A reader who prefers to remain anonymous notes that the captain’s “C” on Mo Williams’s jersey has been much larger in recent games than the one worn by Michael Redd. “Mo had a small ‘C’ earlier this season,” notes our mystery reporter. “But after Wednesday’s game he took off his jersey and threw it in the crowd, and it wasn’t the first time he’s done this. I’m wondering if they ran out of little ‘C’s because he does it so often.” … Latest racer-backed women’s hoops team: Colorado State (as spotted by Bryan Redemske).
Holiday Schedule: I’ll probably post a real entry at some point during the three-day weekend, most likely on Sunday. Happy holidaze to all, and my deepest sympathies to anyone who has to travel via Denver.
[Editor's Note: Today's entry marks the blog debut of Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek. Please join me in congratulating him on his fine work. -- PL]
If you’ve been watching any of the Browns’ recent games, you may have noticed that many of the players were sporting sideline ponchos with the “Brownie the Elf” logo on the back.
Here at the Uni Watch Intern Department, we think they look particularly snazzy. So with Christmas fast approaching and elves holding a treasured and storied place in holiday lore, this seems like an appropriate time to take a deeper look at the history of the Brownie logo and its association with Cleveland football.
The story begins long before the Cleveland Browns adopted the little creature as their logo — long before the team even existed, in fact. “Brownies” date back to folklore, where they were elf-like creatures who helped out with household chores as long as you left them little goodies to eat (further background is available here, here, and here, and the cover illustration from a children’s tale entitled “Brownie and the Cook” can be seen here). Palmer Cox was one of the first artists to illustrate Brownie on a consistent basis in his cartoons. Here’s an example from an 1896 comic he produced for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Cox is also credited with being one of the first to realize the Brownies’ immense commercial appeal. He began drawing and using the elves in advertising work that he produced for different companies, including Kodak, Luden’s, and Brownie soda.
All of which brings us, finally, to the Cleveland Browns.
The association of the elf and the gridiron Browns begins in the late 1940s with Arthur McBride, who was the team’s owner at the time. During a string of four incredibly successful seasons from 1946-49 (each of which resulted in an All American Football Conference championship), McBride sought to make his team more recognizable and marketable with music, parades, marching bands, and so on. He also asked for submissions for mascot logos, and after careful consideration chose Brownie as the new face of the team.
Brownie got an update around 1950 and looked like this until 1969. Alternate logos included an orange elf from 1950-69, and a halfback elf from 1960-69. After the Browns won the NFL title in 1964 (yes, it was that long ago, Cleveland fans), Brownie was often depicted with a crown signifying the team’s achievement.
Even representatives from the Cleveland Browns are befuddled as to the exact origin, date, and key figures in the creation of the logo (which made its first appearance in an ad for tickets to the 1946 opening game against the Miami Seahawks). However, many of the earliest versions of the elf are credited to Dick Dugan, who became the sports cartoonist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and often depicted Brownie in battle against the team’s opponents, like the Broncos and Redskins (although the scenarios he sketched took on a sort of gallows humor when the Browns stunk).
Cleveland fans loved the athletically inclined little creature with pointed shoes, whose image could be seen adorning various publications and advertisements (from both the team and the public), such as in this 1961 Browns schedule, and the 1949 Media Guide.
So, what do you do with a logo that the fans love?
Well, if you’re Art Modell, you get rid of it. Apparently, Modell, who became the team’s owner in 1961, was completely embarrassed by the elf and hated it so much that in the mid-1960s he began to phase it out. Yes, in addition to taking the team from Cleveland, Modell also was responsible for putting the lovable Brownie on the unemployment line.
Thankfully, when the Browns were resurrected in 1999, Brownie got a new lease on life. New owner Randy Lerner has made a big push to use the elf logo more and more for the organization. “I think it’s a great anchor for our tradition and for the look and feel of the Browns,” he has said. “But I also understand that there is something to freshening up the act, so I think that’s a balancing act we’re having right now.”
As you can see from the team’s sideline ponchos, the organization is using Brownie in more ways than just for merchandise sales (although it’s clearly evident from the hats and shirts and fleeces that there is a definite push in that direction too). In fact, the Browns have used the elf logo on the 2006 Training Camp Patch celebrating the franchise’s 60th anniversary, and a throwback elf logo appears on the front of their 2006 Media Guide (here’s a close-up view). Fans have embraced Brownie, too — one guy even put the elf on his RV, and another has gotten a more permanent reminder of his allegiances.
As many of you may have noticed in yesterday’s comment section, Ohio State QB Troy Smith was even seen reppin’ an elf throwback jacket at Tuesday night’s OSU basketball game.
While Brownie’s revival is welcome news, there’s one place that the elf should never appear (and thankfully, Lerner agrees). Paul Brown actually proposed this idea in 1953, but dismissed the idea after seeing mock-ups created by then trainer Leo Murphy. Good thing too, because the only thing that should ever be added to the team’s helmets are uniform numbers, like the ones the team wore with for its recent throwback game against the Bengals.
We’re generally pleased with Brownie’s reappearance. It adds a great traditional aspect to the team’s imagery, which meshes nicely with the more recent addition of the “Dawg” logo (but please, let’s not have them mesh like this or this, ideas that belong in the same graveyard as this one).
Three other Brownie items of note:
• Brownie was also pressed into mascot duty by the St. Louis Browns baseball team just prior to their move to Baltimore (where they became the Orioles). During this brief run, Brownie appeared on the team’s jersey sleeve, on the cover of the team’s 1952 schedule, and even on the door to owner Bill Veeck’s office.
• Need a last-minute Christmas gift? Live near northeastern Ohio? You can get plenty of Brownie-related merchandise at the GPS Gift Gallery in Rocky River, Ohio, the self-proclaimed “Home of the Brownie Elf.”
Meanwhile, as far as the logos and designs of sideline ponchos go, the Uni Watch Intern Department and a group of elves will be working earnestly on this topic in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.
Another university is doing a public service by putting its visual history on the web. Reader Dan Hardin has the details:
Texas A&M has an ongoing project to digitize historic pictures related to the university. Many are of athletic teams, and touch on some of your favorite uni-related items:
• From pre-1900s baseball, here are some interesting collars and pants.
• Here’s another early baseball shot, with some players with pointed collars and some with turtlenecks, a couple wearing ties, and oh my, the socks! [The "AMC" insignia refers to the school's original name, Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. And yes, this baseball team sure looks football-ish, but note the bats and gloves in the foreground. -- PL]
• In 1923, the team name was on the placket. This isn’t the greatest picture, but it’s more notable for who’s included — in the back row, second from left, is King Gill, the original A&M “12th Man.” And in the middle of the back row, the tallest one, that’s Pat Olsen, a former major leaguer for whom the A&M baseball stadium is now named.
• These 1943-44 basketball uniforms, however, were much more unfortunate, at least in my view. [I beg to differ. -- PL]
This is just a sampling. You can access the entire collection here.
The archive is a friggin’ gold mine, whether you’re into baseball (look here, here, here, and here), basketball (here, here [those sneakers!], here, here [love those matching striped kneepads], and here [is that the most amazing jersey design ever or what?]), or football (here, here [note the refs in jackets and bow ties], here, here [ref now in slacks and broadcloth shirt], here, here, here [rear pants striping!], here, here, and here).
Sorry, got a little carried away there, but that’s how good this material is. And there’s a lot more where that came from. Lots of little anomalies, too — two different members of the 1938 football team, for example, were photographed while wearing a No. 57 jersey, and both of them had mismatched numbers on their helmets.
Kudos to Texas A&M for documenting its own history, and thanks again to Dan for the tip.
Duck L’orange L’jaune: By now we’ve all seen the yellow Oregon helmet shown at right. But until yesterday, I hadn’t seen anyone actually wearing the damn thing. That changed last night, when Uni Watch Omaha bureau chief Bryan Redemske sent me a trio of pics that went out over the AP wire but somehow never circulated on the web. Take a look here, here, and here.
They look kinda like motorcycle helmets, no? Fortunately, I already have plans for Thursday night (gonna be attending the annual holiday fish fry at the completely wonderful Sunny’s Tavern, hosted by the even more wonderful Sunny Balzano), so I won’t have to watch the horrid spectacle of the Las Vegas Bowl.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Logo Creep Alert from Travis McGuire, who writes: “I found this photo on the Arena Football web site promoting their new video game. The funny thing is, the Russell Athletic logo on the sleeve is quite large, but it doesn’t appear on this version of the photo, which is on the Chicago Rush home page.” … “Anquan Boldin looks like he needs a belt,” observes Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek, who also sent along this circa-1950 photo of a primitive facemask being worn by Brown goalie (and future U.S. Olympian) Don Whiston. … Yesterday’s post about outdoor basketball prompted several readers to mention that basketball was played on a clay court at the 1936 Olympics (the first year it was a medal sport). Brian Jackson turned up this photo (which doesn’t really show the court, but at least you can tell it’s outside) and a booklet digitized in this PDF file, which includes a player’s recollections of the court (go to the 18th page of the document, which is page 14 of the booklet itself). … Amusing blog entry here about the Redskins’ cheerleaders. There’s also a mention of the now-defunct Steelerettes, who clearly had the best cheerleader unis of all time (further details on them here, but you might wanna hit your mute button first; tip courtesy of Neal Shaffer, who also sent along a page of great Iowa high school patches).
December Call-Up: Attentive readers (which means, y’know, all of you) have undoubtedly noticed my recent references to Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek, who scored the trivia quiz and has been helping me out lately with photo research. Tomorrow he joins the active roster, as I’m turning over the blog’s main entry to him for a day. Not gonna tell you what he’s writing about, but I’ll give you a hint: Vince lives just outside of Cleveland, and his debut entry definitely reflects his locale.
Finally, I’m not gonna be around for most of today (Uni Watch hedge fund analyst Jenny Strasburg and I are gonna go see this and this, and then check out what we’re gonna cook for dinner!). So talk amongst yourselves today, treat Vince right tomorrow, and I’ll be back on Friday.
Meanwhile: As I was working on some other stuff late last night, I got an e-mail from reader Mark Surra, who had an interesting report to deliver:
On Monday evening, Arizona State’s women’s basketball team hosted Texas Tech for an outdoor game at Chase Field. Temperatures were pretty cold at game time with the roof retracted, so the NCAA allowed players to wear long-sleeve shirts under their jerseys [although some players chose to stay bare-armed. -- PL]. In another twist, the game had to be called due to rain with 4:18 left.
This unlikely spectacle (additional views of which are available here and here) was reportedly only the second outdoor game in women’s college hoops history. (The first one was at this same stadium — then known as Bank One Ballpark — in 2000.) Gametime temp was 56 degrees — not so bad, although this news account says fans were “bundled up like Packers fans at Lambeau Field.”
This all recalls that outdoor game that the Canadiens and Oilers played three years ago, with Jose Theodore donning a toque to protect himself from the sub-zero chill. Anyone know of any other instances in which a nominally indoor sport has been played outdoors, leading to uniform adjustments?
Uni Watch News Ticker: Remember those electronic jerseys that I wrote about a while back? They were the subject of an NPR story yesterday. … Todd Kortemeier notes that the Reebok logo on Quentin Jammer’s sleeve was gold (instead of the usual white) on Sunday night. … Check out what the Wyoming football team used to look like (good find by Todd Krevanchi). … In case you missed it, Chad Johnson came out for pregame warm-ups last night wearing a “personal mural” on his shoes, but he switched to a regular pair when threatened with ejection (thanks to Peter Bonnett for the photo). … Seth Harris sent along this photo. “It’s from the Aztec Bowl,” he explains. “It’s Divison 3 kids, I think mainly from Texas, vs. Mexico college kids.” … Remember last week’s discussion of the Riddell Kra-Lite facemask? Interesting follow-up by Dan White: “I was doing some research and discovered that the only three players left in the NFL who wear that mask (Wayne Gandy, Willie Anderson, and Kendall Simmons) all went to Auburn. I wonder if that’s an Auburn-only deal where Auburn supplied that mask more than other schools? Obviously the mask isn’t Aubun-specific, but maybe it was more popular there than any other school.” Okay, but it’s worth noting that Greg Lloyd went to Fort Valley State, not Auburn. … While looking for that Greg Lloyd photo, I came across this (the article it appeared with is here).
Arthur Farrell’s Hockey: Canada’s Royal Winter Game, published in 1899, is thought to be the first book ever written about hockey. Only four copies are known to exist, none of which are currently held in Canadian libraries.
As several readers have excitedly told me in recent days, one of those copies has now been made available on the web. Each page has been scanned and the uploaded version has been Flash-configured so you can “page-turn” through the book. If your browser has trouble with the Flash version, there’s also an HTML version, although I think that one isn’t as much fun. But whichever version you view, there are some amazing photos that showcase the rather genteel uni stylings of day, as you can see here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Too old and musty for you? Fast forward to yesterday, when I got a note from reader John Muir, who’d stumbled upon a cache of photos from, as he puts it, a “second-tier (or third, who knows) Swedish hockey” league. Most of the pics feature the Haninge team, which proudly wears a turkey on its jerseys. Their opponents include Väsby, Skå IK, Värmdö (note the Dallas Stars-esque design), and — brace yourself — Vita Hästen, whose socks and shoulder yoke are reason enough to cancel that trip to Stockholm you’d be been planning. Additional pics from this same photographer are available here.
Now I ask you: this or this? Shit, man, it’s not even a fair fight.
Uni Watch News Ticker: While poking around the Ponyfans.com message board, Matthew Self came upon a discussion of an interesting photo from the 1936 Rose Bowl between SMU and Stanford. “Check out the official’s knickers,” he writes. “Puffy doesn’t even begin to describe them.” … On Friday I asked if any other NFL team besides the Chiefs had uni-numbered ski caps. John Okray came up with one: the Packers. … Bizarre photo reprinted here from Friday’s Comments section: NASA astronaut Donald A. Thomas posing with Cleveland Browns regalia (great find by Jeff Lindquist). … Just when you thought the Mets had run out of ways to fail the “Is it good or is it stupid?” test: An inside source says the team is thinking of adding a metallic/glitter finish to its batting helmets next year (like the Dodgers did last season). … While basketball shorts keep getting longer and baggier, volleyball shorts are getting shorter and tighter, a trend examined in admirable detail in this article (you’ll have to register, but it’s free; thanks to Bryan “Two Line Hed Here” Redemske for the tip). … New uniforms for the Colorado Rapids (courtesy of Tony Payne). … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: If you check out the video of the Jeff Bagwell’s retirement press conference, at about the 14-minute mark he talks about a 1991 spring traning game during which his boyhood idol, George Brett, made fun of his baggy uniform (good catch by Brian Crisp). … And from Sunday’s comments: Apparently the NFL is considering having the on-field officials wear helmets. The mind fairly boggles. … Speaking of which, NFL officials’ socks usually have a thick black stripe at the bottom (like the sock shown at the right in this photo). But referee Gerry Austin, who was working yesterday’s Jints/Iggles tilt, had much much thinner black stripes on his socks, which kept upsetting my equilibrium all game long. … Bryan Redemske has turned up another women’s hoops team with racer-back jerseys: Mississippi State. … Not quite uni-related, but this article about hockey dentistry — including the immortal subhead, “No teeth? Part of hockey” — is a great read (score an assist for Karl Anderson). … The Chiefs’ Lamar Hunt memorial decal — which was also worn by Herm Edwards — turned out to be exactly the same style as the one they wore for Hank Stram. And according to sideline reporter Andrea Kramer (who could use some serious uni advice herself), the Chiefs wore white-on-white because it was Hunt’s favorite combo. … Someone over on Chris Creamer’s board has noted that the “7″ on Channing Frye’s jersey is different from the numerals the Knicks have previously used. … Vikings QB Tarvaris Jackson was wearing a necklace yesterday. … College hoops note from Dan Bingham-Pankratz, who writes: “Just watched Georgetown play Winston-Salem State last night, and everyone noticed that WSS’s uniforms all had ‘C.E. Gaines’ nameplates. It’s a tribute to Clarence Gaines, their coach for 47 years who died last April. They’re apparently wearing them all season.” … Not uni-related, but this has been bugging me for years: If the QB is hit in the pocket by a defensive player and fumbles, why does the defender get credit for a sack? Like, the QB hasn’t been tackled (or, in many cases, even knocked down) — he’s just fumbled. So why isn’t the defender simply credited with, um, a forced fumble?! Makes exactly zero sense. I anxiously await the manipulations of quantum physics that will no doubt be needed to explain this one.
New ESPN column today. I’ll add the link when it goes live. [Update: No ESPN column today after all. It'll run next week.]
Meanwhile: As I noted at the end of yesterday’s Uni Watch News Ticker, the Chiefs will presumably wear some sort of memorial tribute this weekend for team founder Lamar Hunt, who died on Wednesday. But Hunt’s passing has already provided some valuable uni-watchery, thanks to a memorial photo gallery that’s been posted on the Chiefs’ web site (first brought to my attention yesterday by reader Jacob Reed). Many of the pics feature great little uni-related details I’d never seen before. Check it out:
• We’ve all seen Hank Stram wearing this Chiefs logo blazer. But I’d never seen him wearing one with the team name spelled out.
• Even better: Dig the amazing team-branded blazers worn by Hunt and Bud Adams in this 1962 shot, back when the Chiefs were still the Dallas Texans. Looks like Adams might also be wearing an Oilers tie tack.
• Speaking of the Texans, dig this shot of Hunt and his young son, the latter wearing a Texans T-shirt. Love to know what Goodwill outlet that eventually got donated to.
• Here’s something you don’t see anymore: a postgame celebration with one of the players (Sherrill Headrick, in this case) smoking a cigarette.
• Here’s Hunt presenting the NFL Man of the Year Award to Derrick Thomas in 1993. The uni detail that fascinates me here is the trophy itself: Like, when’s the last time you saw an NFL player wearing a poncho? Or maybe it’s supposed to be a superhero’s cape?
• Check out Chiefs prexy Carl Peterson in this shot: He’s got the “58″ button (a memorial for Derrick Thomas), the red-white-blue Chiefs ribbon (not sure what that’s for — the photo isn’t dated, but Thomas died in 2000, so the ribbon probably isn’t 9/11-related), and it looks like there’s a number on his tie (no idea).
• And in an age when Reebok dresses the coaches wear those ridiculous polo shirt designs, the elemental simplicity of this is quite refreshing.
‘Husker History: Reader Jonathon Binet has turned up a sensational little video chronicling the history of Nebraska’s football helmets. Check it out below:
Helmet Raffle Update: Speaking of helmets, I got a note yesterday from Pete Ellingsworth, winner of our Gridiron Memories helmet raffle. He says he’s taking the 1976-72 Indiana helmet — “I love the simple ‘I’ and stripes on the crimson
helmet,” he writes. “Plus I’m from Indiana (never mind the fact that I now reside in Burbank, California). I just wish IU would stop wearing those red on red unis!” Gotta love a contest winner who works a uni critique into his victory speech. Congrats, Pete!
No mas? No, mas!: My recent profile of No Mas led to a Wednesday-night sit-down between myself and No Mas principals I-berg and Large. Fueled by a pu pu platter and ample servings of chicken chop suey and “Richard Yee’s Style Chow Clams” (better than it looks), we discussed several weighty matters, including the possibility of creating a line of No Mas/Uni Watch co-branded T-shirts. Stay tuned.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Speaking of NFL coaches’ polos, check out the swash-”S” at the end of the insignia on Vince Lombardi’s shirt (with thanks to Robert Erdtmann). … An Orioles prole has been caught stealing team items, including jerseys and jackets, and selling them on eBay (as spotted on the police blotter by Matt French). … Turns out Daisuke Matsuzaka was fated to join the Red Sox all along — check out the stirrups he wore in high school (good catch by Richard Stover). … Remember Joe Pavelski’s upside-down Reebok logo, which first showed up about two weeks ago? Pavelski’s childhood friend and Uni Watch reader John Okray asked him about it on Wednesday. “He didn’t even realize it,” Okray reports. “He said, ‘I heard something about that. I forgot to look for it last night before I put my jersey on. I hadn’t noticed until somebody said something to me about it.’ Is it possible players aren’t as obsessed with their jerseys as we are? [There's a stunner. -- PL] The Sharks don’t have another road game until December 30th, so maybe the problem will be fixed by then.” … Okray also notes that Dwyane Wade, who was inexplicably wearing that Nike-branded Heat jersey on the cover of SI a week or two ago, now has three stripes shaved into his head. A mea culpa to Adidas, perhaps? … Good note from Chuck Miller, who writes: “Butte, Montana, is the hometown of motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel. The city’s new CBA basketball franchise is not only named the Daredevils, but their uniforms are an interpretation of Knievel’s famous ‘Commander Jumpsuit’ motorcycle leathers.” All this was presumably done with Evel’s blessing, given his litigious nature. … A few days ago I linked to this photo of the 1905 Cherokee Male Seminary football team. I mentioned the noseguards that most of the players have hanging from their necks, but Michael Ferry has noticed something I missed regarding a few of the players seated in the middle row: “I was wondering if those are ‘helmets’ on the knee and arms, respectively, of those on the far right and left.” Looks like it, but those would definitely be the flimsiest helmets I’ve ever seen, so I asked Helmet Hut prexy Curtis Worrell, who said they’re definitely helmets. “Look at this,” he wrote back. “The helmet top far right has the same openings.” … The Marlins will have a sleeve patch next season celebrating the 10th anniversary of their 1997 championship. … Man, one lousy signature on a contract and suddenly you’ve got two Boston jerseys in one day. … Matt Corica notes that Seahawks’ “neon-snot sleeve stripe” was missing Deion Branch’s jersey last night, and from Nate Burleson’s too. … Looks like Mike Nolan went from wearing a suit to joining the janitorial staff.
As I recently mentioned in another post, a lot of our knowledge, if you can call it that, of early uniforms is based more on templates and illustrations than on photographs. Case in point: It’s one thing to see this depiction of the tattersall plaid pattern worn by 1916 Brooklyn Robins (they later became the Dodgers), but it’s something else again to see a photo of it — say, this one.
That photo comes from Baseball’s Golden Age: The Photographs of Charles M. Conlon (see link at right), an excellent book recently recommended to me by reader Matt Ciccone. It turns out to be a fertile ground for uni-watchery, as you can see in the following pics (my apologies for the moiré pattern on many of the photos — haven’t had that problem with other books, but it kept happening again and again with this one):
• After the Indians won the 1920 World Series, they wore “Worlds Champions” jerseys the following season, as seen here and here. (Note that this was grammatically incorrect — they should have included an apostrophe, as the 1906 Giants did.)
• Here’s one where the template gives almost no hint of just how majestic the real uniform was: Judging by this, you’d say that the 1938 Boston Bees (forerunners of today’s Atlanta Braves, don’tcha know) looked okay but hardly spectacular. But check out the lettering in this photo — beeYOOteeful! (As an aside, any idea who’s shown in that photo? I’ll provide the answer at the end of this entry.)
• Even better: the caps worn by the 1910 Philadelphia Athletics. The stripes, the short brim, the just-so angle and profile — I’d wear that baby today.
• The book features several great Pirates jersey styles, including the lettered placket (1912), the “P P” collar (1914), and, in the background, the chest pocket (1911).
• Speaking of lettered plackets, check out the 1913 Brooklyn Superbas (another of the franchise’s pre-Dodgers names), whose team name lives on in Uni Watch design director Scott M. X. Turner’s graphic design business, Superba Graphics.
• Brooklyn’s team was finally being called the Dodgers by the time of this 1925 photo. The black armband is in memory of team owner and stadium eponym Charles Ebbets, who had recently died. The chest patch, although difficult to decipher in this photo, reads “National League Golden Jubilee, 1876-1925,” and was worn by all NL teams that season — sometimes on the chest, sometimes on the sleeve.
• Here’s eternal punchline Wally Pipp, doing the gum on the cap routine. And look — the Babe did it too!
• Pointy collar-o-rama on display here by the 1904 Giants.
• Would never have guessed in a jillion years that the Yankees ever wore a dugout jacket like the one modeled in this 1927 shot of Miller Huggins.
• Turns out that the sideways cap thing dates back at least to 1925. And in that same year, the Tigers’ mismatched cap and jersey logos were plain for all to see.
As for that 1938 Boston Bees photo, the subject is none other than a young (well, 48-year-old) Casey Stengel, just cutting his managerial teeth.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Good article here on Ravens equipment manager Ed Carroll (with thanks to Matt Radebaugh). … Yesterday I asked why Jeff O’Neill wore an “18″ necklace pendant. The answer comes from Steve Zolis, who writes: “It’s in memory of his late brother Don, who died in a car accident in 2005. Eighteen was the number Don wore as the captain of the Ontario Hockey League’s Peterborough Petes. While most players have their names and numbers pre-printed on the tops of their sticks to identify their personal curve pattern, Jeff’s sticks read ‘Donnie.’ ” Zolis adds that “What do NHLers write on their sticks?” might be a good Uni Watch research project, and I agree — feel free to send contributions this-a-way. … The NBA’s new ball, supposedly headed for the unemployment line, will be able to continue moonlighting in Japan (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … With Lamar Hunt’s death last night, expect the Chiefs to sport some sort of memorial this weekend. The bigger question is whether the Chiefs will update their uniforms now that Hunt — a traditionalist — is no longer around to hold the line.
