Sunday Open Thread

Scarlet fever yesterday in Toronto, where the Nets wore their red alternates and revived their red playoff socks (additional pics here, here, and here). Plus virtually everyone in the crowd was wearing a red T-shirt, and the Raptors even used red bench towels.

181 comments April 22nd, 2007

Saturday Open Thread

A rare case in which the pants down might’ve been a better idea: The Red Sox wore green jerseys last night, in memory of Celtics honcho Red Auerbach. A nice idea, but it looked like crap. Other notes from the game: Jason Varitek’s captain’s C was missing; this may have been the first time ever that the Sox wore names on their jerseys at home; and most players had the Virginia Tech logo either on their sleeve or on their cap.

124 comments April 21st, 2007

And Guest-Starring, as Himself …

A really interesting subject came up in yesterday’s comments section: uniform cameos, meaning players who made very brief and easily overlooked appearances with a given team. It’s a great topic, and one that really shows the power of a uniform. Take Pete Rose, for example: It’s one thing to remember that he briefly played with the Expos in 1984, but actually seeing him in a Montreal uniform is pretty jarring. Uni cameos also serve as useful refresher courses in sports history — did you remember, for example, that Mike Piazza was a Marlin for about 10 minutes in 1998, or that Harmon Killebrew finished his career with a forgettable season in Kansas City? I confess that I had no idea Fergie Jenkins once wore a Phillies uni. And even if you know that Randy Johnson came up with the Expos, it’s still a bit of a mind-fuck to see him wearing Montreal threads.

The uni cameo is a flexible concept, so I want to narrow it down a bit. Like, okay, so Todd Zeile played 34 games with the Expos, but so what? The guy played for a gazillion different teams, so it doesn’t seem unusual to see him in any particular uniform. But seeing Franco Harris as a Seahawk, Curt Schilling as an Astro, Brett Favre as a Falcon, or Roger Maris as an Indian are all sort of hard for me to wrap my brain around. And of course certain player/uni pairings will just never compute, no matter how hard I stare at the photographic evidence.

To a certain extent, the question of what qualifies as a uni cameo is a function of personal perspective. The Pete Rose and Randy Johnson cases, for example, might not seem so unusual to someone who grew up in Montreal. Similarly, the sight of Willie Mays in a Mets uni seems perfectly normal to me, since I was a very enthusiastic eight- and nine-year-old Mets fan during Willie’s short tenure with the team. Also, it seems to me that more recent uni cameos (like, say, Armando Benitez as a Yankee) don’t pack as much of a punch, for three primary reasons: (1) Recent examples are fresher in our memories, so they don’t have as much of a surprise factor; (2) modern media coverage ensures that we’ll see much more of a player in a given uniform today than we would have 10 or 15 years ago, further diluting the impact; and (3) players move around so much these days that a cameo stint with a team doesn’t look as weird as it once did — nobody stays in one place long enough to establish a base-level look in the first place.

But that still leaves us plenty of fertile ground. In fact, I like this topic so much that I’m probably going to devote an ESPN column to this in the near future. So let’s compile as big a list as possible — send suggestions, links, and so on this-a-way. Big thanks in advance to all contributors, and bonus thanks to those who got the ball rolling yesterday.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Great tidbit from a reader who prefers not to be named: “Rob Cucuzza, the Yankees’ equipment manager, said that Gary Sheffield was very particular about his uniform, including some bizarre alterations. For example, he said Sheffield ‘would ask for 1/16th of an inch to be taken off his sleeve, but not from the bottom of the sleeve.’ Instead, Sheffield would ask to have the sleeve taken off his jersey, get the 1/16th of an inch taken from the top of the sleeve, and then have the sleeve re-attached. When you think about it, maybe it makes a little sense to give more room at the top of the shoulder, but I’ve never heard of anything like that.” … More on Carlos Guillen and his inside-out pockets: According to the second item on this page, the fine that Guillen was threatened with was $1000. And then there’s this: “Guillen usually wears one pocket out, either the left or right, ‘depending on who’s pitching.’ He called it a superstition and doesn’t see the point of having to change.” (With thanks to longtime Uni Watch Motor City bureau chief Doug Kalemba.) … Mark Liyeos notes that all the cold weather has brought a welcome resurgence of home plate umps wearing blazers. … You know your mesh jersey is too see-through when you can make out the undershirt logo through the jersey (as spotted by Jeremy Brahm). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: For the second time in four months, I forgot that the 1983 Cowboys were not the only NFL team whose captains wore “C” designations. There’s at least one other example: the 1994 Patriots. … Turns out the President isn’t the only one who gets free swag. “It’s from the National Book Festival Author’s breakfast, whatever the hell that is,” writes Marcus Ramsey. “Here’s the thing: That looks like a Clippers jersey, but Baron Davis plays for Golden State and Diana Taurasi plays for Phoenix.” … Really interesting link here describing how baseball caps are made (with thanks to David Soline).

421 comments April 20th, 2007

Aye-Aye, Captain

Yesterday’s post about baseball captains and “C” designations got me thinking about football. As most of you know, the C often shows up in college football but it’s rarely seen in the the pros. The only NFL example I’m aware of is the 1983 Cowboys, where the C was worn by Danny White, Bob Breunig, Drew Pearson, and Ron Fellows.

And that’s usually where the discussion stops. But in a timely coincidence, reader Erik Little sent me something the other day that I don’t recall having seen before. It’s a 1993 football card that shows Junior Seau of the Chargers with “Captain” spelled out on his chest.

I did a bit of photo research and found that the Chargers had at least three “Captain”-emblazoned players in 1992: Seau, Marion Butts, and Stan Humphries. It appears to have been a one-season thing (the “Captain” patch doesn’t appear in photos from ’91 or ’93), but I’m surprised I don’t remember it, because 1992 was a good year for the Chargers: It was the season they began 0-4 and then won 11 of their final 12 to win the AFC West, which was a big story at the time. Then they won one playoff game. So I probably saw my share of Chargers game action that year. But somehow I have no recollection of this particular captaincy designation.

Little discovered several other interesting football cards, incidentally:

• Remember our discussion of football players wearing sunglasses? Here’s another one: Mel Gray.

• Check out Ernest Givins’s personalized towel.

• Terance Mathis had only one sleeve stripe, while the rest of the Jets had two (and note the placement of the Champion logo, which makes it clear that this was a designed as a one-stripe sleeve, not a two-striper that was cut short).

Uni Watch Midwestern Road Trip Update: Last week I said I was tentatively planning to convene Uni Watch parties in Minneapolis on May 11th and Chicago on May 12th. Those dates are now solid — mark your calendars and all that. The Minneapolis shindig will take place at Nye’s at 7:30pm on the 11th; details on the Chicago party to follow shortly (please, no more venue suggestions — I have more than enough to choose from). Looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Remember when Brian Urlacher wore this cap during Super Bowl Media Day? Turns out it was one expensive cap. … Speaking of uni-related disciplinary actions, MLB appears to be cracking down on inside-out pockets (a topic explored in depth here). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Shawn Green’s superscript Y has reappeared. … But that’s nothing compared to the typographic alignment problems on the back of Bill Hall’s jersey (with thanks to Milwaukee’s finest, Nicole Haase). … The National League’s BP jersey for the All-Star Game was unveiled yesterday. … More Virginia Tech caps on display yesterday, first on Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel and then on Mark Buehrle and Ozzie Guillen during the news conference after Buehrle’s no-hitter (with thanks to Chris Ashworth and Tim Donovan, respectively, for the screen grabs). … Anthony Memme notes that Jonathan Papelbon had something — maybe “LOL”? — written on his underbrim last night. … Yesterday I asked for action shots of bowlers wearing ties, and Scott Johnson came through with several.

253 comments April 19th, 2007

‘C’ Section

Derek Lowe is scheduled to pitch tonight for the Dodgers. I’d been looking forward to this, because several readers reported over the weekend that Lowe was spotted in the dugout during last Saturday’s game with a captain’s “C” on his jersey. Unfortunately, nobody provided a screen grab or even specified the inning in which Lowe was visible, and I haven’t had the patience to scroll through the entire gamecast to find the appropriate shot (or the heart to ask Vince to do it), but I figured we’d all get to see the C when Lowe took the mound this evening.

The thing is, I couldn’t find anything on the web about Lowe having been named the Dodgers’ captain. So yesterday I called the team’s PR office, where a spokesperson let all the air out of the balloon: “He’s not the captain. That was just a joke that the other players played on him — they put the C on his jersey as a prank.” Too bad. This means Jason Varitek and Mike Sweeney maintain their status as MLB’s only current C-clad captains. (Derek Jeter is also a team captain, but he doesn’t wear the designatory letter.)

The reason the Lowe situation was so intriguing, of course, is that pitchers almost never serve as team captains. C-clad pitchers are rarer still, and C-clad starting pitchers rarest of all — rare, but not unprecedented. Back in 2000, the Cubs had four captains, all of whom wore C sleeve patches (a confusing protocol, since “Chicago” and “Cubs” both start with C): Sammy Sosa, Mark Grace, reliever Rick Aguilera (you can just barely make out his C here), and starting pitcher Kevin Tapani (the best shots I’ve been able to find are here and here).

So at least for a day there, Lowe was an honorary member of a very exclusive club. Maybe he’ll be a real captain someday — but first he really needs to something about his pants. That’s no way for a person of stature and responsibility to dress. Meanwhile, if anyone recalls roughly when they showed Lowe during Saturday’s game, I’ll do a screen grab to preserve the moment for posterity. (Update: Thanks to a helpful post in the comments section, I was able to locate the shot — look here.)

Uni Watch News Ticker: Nice gesture last night by the Nationals, who acknowledged the shootings at Virginia Tech by wearing Hokie caps — or, more specifically, a variety of Hokies caps (much like the assorted first responder caps that the Mets wear annually on September 11th). The Nats actually wore their regular caps in the 1st inning before coming out in the Virginia Tech lids for the top of the 2nd, because the truck with the collegiate caps got stuck in traffic (details here). Additional pics here, here, here, here, here, and here, courtesy of Jason Reddish (who asked me to mention that he has a new blog). … Daniel Kinderman and Mike Toriello both report having received the following communiqué from USA Baseball: “In this survey, we will ask you to help U.S.A. Baseball select its uniform and headwear logo design. When considering the logos presented to you, please select the one you feel would best represent Team U.S.A. when they compete in national and international team competitions such as the World Baseball Classic and the Olympics.” Four options were given: the current design (Kinderman’s choice), and then this (Toriello’s choice), this, and this. Anyone else think these logo all look like postmarks? Not a decent cap in the bunch, either (and I swear to god, if anyone posts a comment about the flag sleeve patch being “backwards,” I’m gonna just blow up the site). … South Carolina just had their spring intrasquad game, which provided a look at their new Under Armour uniforms, and holy crap do they look awful (with thanks to Ronnie Poore). … The dates that the English Premier League teams will be unveiling their new kits are here (as provided by Dominic Litten). … Yesterday’s post about neckties led Scotty Johnson to point out that early pro bowlers also wore ties (an action shot would be better, though — anyone..?). … My old ESPN.com colleague Darren Rovell has done a small rundown of cool minor league baseball logos. … Andy Head was looking at some old Seattle sports photos and came up with this early baseball shot — note the beret-like caps. Nice early football shot, too. And another ballplayer wearing a tie! … William Blevins notes that Yankees emergency starter Chase Wright was wearing Sean Henn’s glove last night. … Not only does Felix Pie have the coolest baseball name in years, but he already had midseason-caliber pine tar on his helmet yesterday, even though it was his MLB debut (good catch by Bryan Redemske). … Another ballplayer wearing sunglasses at night: Hitoshi Tamura of the Softbank Hawks (as spotted by Jeremy Brahm). … Speaking of which, there’s an explanation for Morgan Ensberg’s night shades about halfway down this page. … Quasi-uni-related item: Vikings CB Cedric Griffin was arrested after a scuffle that began when he was ejected from a nightclub for wearing droopy pants. … Maybe someone should arrest Micah Owings, too. … Several of the Rangers were still wearing the Jackie Robinson helmet decal last night. … Very nice article here about the history and evolution of baseball gloves (with thanks to Billy Duss). … The Hawks may be getting new uniforms. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Check out this old hockey ref photo. Yeah, he’s got a tie, just like the officials whose photos I linked to yesterday, but the most interesting thing is that he’s holding a bell in his left hand, because early hockey officials used bells, not whistles. … Hey is that where the term “bells and whistles” came from?

202 comments April 18th, 2007

Ties That Bind

Twenty-odd years ago, before he reinvented himself as the indie-rock act called Smog, Bill Callahan published a cool little fanzine called Disaster. In 1986, while reviewing an LP by the British punk band the Membranes, he noted disapprovingly that one of them wore a tie. “The tie is universal,” he wrote. “It fairly screams: I’VE GOT A PIECE OF CLOTH AROUND MY NECK. I AM A DINK.”

I think of that line every time I wear a tie (which isn’t very often these days, thanks to the whole work-at-home thing). I also thought of it the other day when I was clicking through some old-timey baseball photos and came across something I’d never seen before: a ballplayer wearing a bow tie. The player in question is Cal McVey, who played for Boston of the National Association from 1871-75, so that’s how old the photo is.

Coaches notwithstanding, neckties in the sports world are uncommon but not unheard of. Early golfers and tennis players usually wore ties, reflecting the more genteel, formal era in which they played, and women’s teams in many sports wore cravats (a protocol preserved today in the world of granny basketball). Then there are horse racing jockeys, who often have little faux bow ties sewn into their silks — not quite the same as genuine neckwear, but close enough for our purposes.

But the people most likely to be wearing ties are the officials — not surprising, since more formal clothing usually implies greater power and authority. In baseball’s early days, umpires often wore a top hat and tails, and big league umps were still wearing ties as recently as 1969. Hockey officials used to be tie-clad too, and early NFL officials wore bow ties. I haven’t been able to find any photos of that, although I do have this early college football photo where you can see the refs wearing hats, jackets, and ties. Although the officials in these sports now dress more casually, ties can still be found on many boxing refs and tennis chair umpires (and, at Wimbledon, the linesmen).

There are probably other examples I’m missing — let’s have ’em. And if you’re wearing a tie while reading this, my sympathies.

(Special thanks to Michael Ferry, who pointed me to the series of archival photos where I found the Cal McVey shot — look here and here.)

Research Request: With all the recent chatter about players wearing No. 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson, I want to compile as big a list as possible of players who wear particular uni numbers for particular reasons, whether due to superstition, as a memorial gesture, or whatever. Jason Giambi wears 25 because it adds up to 7 (Mickey Mantle’s number), for example, and Gilbert Arenas wears zero because that’s the number of minutes he was told he’d get to play at Arizona — that sort of thing.

All sports are fair game. Ideally, I’d like to come up with at least one example for every number 00 to 99; the upper part of that range will definitely be more challenging, so high-numbered contributions are particularly welcome. Send all your suggestions here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Baseball-related cartoons in The New Yorker almost always show the players wearing stirrups (note that the ones worn by the pitcher are backwards — the higher opening should be in the back, not the front). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Moderately interesting piece here about how the Astros’ equipment manager had to scramble to get a full set of 42 jerseys for April 15th. … Reader Tim Donovan has pointed me toward a really great video series about Chicago-area football — look here. Of particular interest is the “Public League” (i.e., high school) segment, which features the largest helmet-borne uni number I’ve ever seen. … The English Premier League has a new lettering and numbering application guide (with thanks to longtime contributor Dominic Litten). … The Nationals were rained out on Sunday, so they did their Jackie Robinson routine last night. … So did the Giants. … The Sharks’ “WAS” memorial logo for deceased goalie coach Warren Arthur Strelow, which was originally worn as a helmet decal in Game 2 of their playoff series, has now been repurposed as a shoulder patch (additional views here and here). … John Romero notes that the Diamondbacks logo was missing from switch-hitter Albert Callaspo’s right-handed batting helmet on Saturday night (but his left-handed helmet was fine).

188 comments April 17th, 2007

Ich Bin Ein 42er

Personally, I loved yesterday’s 42-athon. In a sports world that’s become way too scripted and predictable, it was a kick to see scenes like this, this, and this. And even though I knew it was coming, it was still kinda startling to see 42 being worn by, say, Joe Torre or Derek Jeter. I even enjoyed the inevitable discrepancies between jerseys and other equipment (bonus points to the Devil Rays staff for their attention to detail).

A few specific observations:

• I liked how several teams used larger uni numbers than usual for No. 42, to make up for the lack of the player’s name. Teams that didn’t do this ended up with 42s that looked just a bit small (although in in at least one case maybe it was just a case of the numerals being overwhelmed by the size of the player).

• MLB equipment mangers are clearly out of practice when it comes to positioning uni numbers on a nameless jersey, because several players’ 42s were either a bit too high or a bit too low. One team that got it just right was the A’s.

• Those little helmet decals looked like total shit, and were the day’s one major misstep.

• Nice to see that several players went the extra mile by going high-cuffed. All the more disappointing, then, that Junior Griffey, who got this whole ball rolling in the first place, didn’t get the memo.

• Mike Cameron went a step further: high-cuffed pants and no batting gloves.

• Check out what MLB.com did for the roster pages of the all-42 teams — very cool.

• I’d been wondering if any of the umpires would get into the act, and one of them did: C.B. Bucknor. (In case you’re wondering, the first black umpire was Emmett Ashford in 1966, but umps didn’t yet have uniform numbers in those days.)

• The celebration extended beyond the world of baseball, incidentally: Check out what Jerry Stackhouse, had written on his sneakers yesterday. Stackhouse already wears No. 42, but I’m not sure if that’s a coincidence or if he chose that number as a Jackie tribute. Anyone know?

Ready to do it all over again next year? Actually, you won’t even have to wait that long, because the Indians are planning something similar later this season for Larry Doby.

Raffle Results: The winner of the David Wright BP jersey is Adam McCracken. Congrats to him, and thanks to all who entered. More raffles to follow soon.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Nifty little item available on eBay here. … Nationals pitcher Jesus Colome appears to be setting a new standard for uni bagginess. … “Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, traveling in Japan, was playing baseball the other day with students from Ritsumei University’s baseball team,” writes Jeremy Brahm. “He’s wearing a batting glove on his throwing hand, without the strap velcroed on. Someone needs to train the man if baseball is going to be successful in China.” According to this article, he wore uniform No. 35, to represent the number of years that China and Japan have had bilateral relations. … Interesting to see that the Yankees’ black armband in memory of Cory Lidle is even being worn by the team trainer. … Lots of chatter here about the Bears’ uniform combos (with thanks to David Bonetto). … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has an interesting lining for his suit. … The Sharks have added a “WAS” memorial helmet decal for recently deceased goaltending coach Warren Arthur Strelow. Unfortunately, the best photo I’ve been able to find is this one — the little logo to the left of the “29″ on the helmet is the memorial sticker. … “I heard on the radio that UCF was dropping the ‘Golden’ from their nickname in favor of simply ‘UCF Knights.’ The radio report stated that the change takes effect June 14 with the here. … “I spent this evening at Lou Malnati’s, a local and very popular Chicago-style deep dish pizza joint,” writes Craig Glass. “They have display cases of memorabilia, and on my way out, my eye caught a gray baseball jersey sitting there that I did not recognize. Upon further inspection, about a quarter of the logo was missing but the outlining stitching was still visible. I looked closer and saw a clear lettering of ‘STL,’ with an ‘H’ across the whole thing. Moreover, the display included baseball cards that said ‘St. Louis AMER,’ which I suppose meant American League. Upon googling for more info at home, I discovered the existence of the Harrisburg-St. Louis Stars of the Negro Leagues in 1943, which explains the H. But then why are the baseball cards picturing white ballplayers?” Anyone know more about this? … Sean Dickie notes that Jose Calderon’s wristband doesn’t match his uni number. … How come the wax figure of David Wright at Madam Tussaud’s doesn’t have a uni number? … You probably know that Jackie Robinson played in the Negro Leagues before joining the Dodgers. But I hadn’t noticed until now that his KC Monarchs uniform included his uni number on the pants. … The Pirates are going to retire Paul Waner’s number. … As several readers noted over the weekend, the Pirates’ red vest and Ronny Paulino’s chest protector make for an unfortunate combination. … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: An Iowa high school is considering a ditch the black policy. … Eric Duhs notes that Morgan Ensberg was wearing sunglasses during a night game on Friday. … The Steelers have unveiled a 75th-season logo, which will presumably become a jersey patch. … We’ve all seen plenty of cold-weather maneuvers over the past two weeks, but Michael Kissane notes that Andruw Jones went a step further yesterday, wearing a batting glove on his throwing hand. … Jeremy Brahm reports that the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team will wear pink jerseys on Mother’s Day weekend. … More from Jeremy: “Sevilla FC of Spain’s Primera Liga has had some funky fonts on their uniforms this year.” … Really interesting story here about a guy who makes custom umpires’ equipment (with thanks to Bill Gornall).

148 comments April 16th, 2007

Sunday Open Thread

The Cy Young Award looks so totally cool, no? One of my favorite-looking trophies. It was presented to Johan Santana last night.

180 comments April 15th, 2007