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Archive for May, 2007
Coupla things I’ve been meaning to get to, all of them slightly bigger than typical Ticker fare but not quite weighty enough to merit full-scale blog entries of their own. So without further ado…
The most interesting thing about NFL spring minicamps (actually the only interesting thing, at least from my perspective) is the widely disparate protocols that the various teams have for their helmets this time of year. Some teams just have their regular, full-decal look, others leave the helmets blank (or blank except for the center stripe). Then there are the teams that identify the rookies via strips of tape, which can be typeset on a regular helmet, typeset on a blank helmet, handwritten on a regular helmet, or handwritten on a blank helmet.
And then there are the Browns.
Got a great tip recently from Joel Brigham (who does some writing for these guys), who pointed me toward this site, where you can digitally design your own basketball uniforms. Start by choosing one of the stock templates on the right, then custom-colorize it using the options on the left. “I spent HOURS messing with it the other day,” he writes, and it’s easy to see why once you start using the site. I like some of Joel’s designs better than others, but it’s a nifty tool either way. Have fun, and don’t blame me (well, not more than you already do) if you get nothing else done today.
• We all know that the A’s have been wearing white shoes for over 40 years now. So when Michael Turner recently wrote to ask if I had any photos of the A’s wearing green shoes in the early ’80s, I said, “Nope,” and privately wondered what the hell he could have been thinking about.
Shows what I know. Turns out there are quite a few shots of the A’s wearing dark shoes on the road in 1982, although it’s tough to say if they include green — maybe (here’s another potential candidate), maybe not.
Interestingly, Dressed to the Nines (which I obviously should have consulted before so blithely dismissing Turner’s query) shows the A’s wearing green footwear on the road in 1983, and what appears to be black cleats in ‘81. But for 1982 — the year in which all those photos were taken — they’re listed as only wearing white. (And yes, almost all those photos were of Rickey Henderson, but I also found dark-shod pics of other players, so it wasn’t just a Rickey thing.)
When the Padres recently wore their early-’70s throwbacks, which were made by Majestic, you may recall that the pants featured real belts instead of the period-appropriate elastic waistband. That prompted the following note from one of Majestic’s competitors, who prefers to remain anonymous:
We actually bid that job. We had a gold fabric that was a little less brassy than the one Majestic used. The problem is that Majestic gives each team such a large marketing credit that most clubs want to get all of their uniforms as near as free as possible. It’s very frustrating for us, because we really feel like we are being “played” by clubs a lot of the time, but Majestic hands over the big money to squash guys like us. Ninety percent of the time, these [throwback] projects are being handled by the [team’s] marketing department, and they generally lack the experience to execute a uniform’s details flawlessly.
A few days ago I asked about the origins of “Clemson cut” pants, which brought this response from DJ Gordon:
My father, Doug Gordon, was the head equipment manager at Clemson University from around ‘83 to ‘94. The “Clemson cut” pant was originally made by a clothing company called Powers. The rep from Powers would come help my father fit the entire baseball team with their pants. The Clemson cut is called so because Clemson was one of the first schools to fit players by their waist, calf, thigh, and inseam sizes. They were custom-fit for each player to fit their legs. Most players got three pairs each, due to the fact that they always wear the white-styled pant. The web site you have shown [in the link above] is odd to my father, because the Clemson cut pants never had stirrups in them. I myself am an equipment manager at the University of South Carolina, so I just happen to have an interest in the whole uniform genre.
Gotta love that — the family that equipment-manages together, uh, what rhymes with that? Too bad about the whole calf/inseam thing, though — this may have been ground zero for the ruination of baseball hosiery.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Very telling fold of the fabric here (as spotted by David Fleming). … “I went to my brother-in-law’s senior art show at Washington University in St. Louis this past weekend,” writes Dan Brown. “While I was there, I saw this painting by Elena Rodriguez.” Man, someone needs to commission Elena for a big mural, pronto! … Veeeery interesting blog entry here regarding the cost of English Premier League sponsorships (with thanks to Dominic Litten). … Here’s an eBay auction with another jersey featuring the number on the “wrong” side. … Some really sensational uni-related bits (and, by any standard, some very cruel moments of sexism) in this video of Babe Ruth teaching women who to play ball (nice find by Crhis Manes). … Good article here regarding cyclists pulling their socks up high (as forwarded by Lee Wilds). … Yesterday I linked to a photo gallery from the shooting of the Ernie Davis biopic. Turns out that a reader who prefers to remain anonymous was watching the film shoot through a fence and took some great additional pics, as seen here, here, here, and here. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: I didn’t realize that the Rockies originally had logo-emblazoned stirrups! The photo is taken from this timeline. … Cathy Reeder sent along some interesting Florida Little League photos, including shots of a kid with mismatched socks, a kid with no socks, and a team that wears its uni numbers on the caps. … Remember Frank DiPino? Yeah, I barely do either, but apparently he wrote, “Get Somebody OUT!” on his underbill, and you can have that cap for your very own here (nice find by Eric Stangel). … Not only do the Diamandbacks and Astros now have similar color schemes, but as Chris Shastid points out, they have similar problems regarding the integrity of their lettering across the placket. … The Yokohama Bay Stars will be wearing these uniforms during the Japanese interleague games. “They’ve added a brick-red panel and color to the cap, plus a gold neckline,” writes Jeremy Brahm. “But look at the serif on the 2 — it would look fine without it, but it is huge.” … Great contribution from Larry Brunt, who writes: “I’ve been reading a bunch of baseball picture books with my four-year-old, including Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man, by David Adler. The illustration that accompanies the text of him taking himself out of the game that ended his streak is here. I’m quite impressed that the artist (Terry Widener) included the historically accurate sleeve patch the Yankees wore in 1939 for baseball’s centennial.” … Thomas Harris notes that there’s some good stuff going on in the Coastal Plain League (”The Nation’s Hottest Summer Collegiate Baseball League”), including some killer stirrups being worn by the Thomasville HiToms and the completely endearing logo being used by the Columbia Blowfish (who also appear to have one of history’s greatest mascots). Even the league’s logo gets it right. … Bosox pitcher Julian Tavarez has been wearing Big Papi slippers in the clubhouse (where he’s also been spotted wearing a “Manny Being Manny” T-shirt) and even in the dugout on days when he’s not pitching.
May 23rd, 2007
Last Tuesday I had a small Ticker item about how the old Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA used to put first intials. in addition to last names, on the back of every player’s uniform (as you can see in this video clip). That prompted an interesting reply from Bob Halfacre of AIS uniforms, who happens to have some very strong thoughts on the matter:
First initials on jerseys may be my greatest professional pet peeve. My disdain for them rivals your distaste for purple. I have always hated them and will fight clubs from placing them on their jerseys to the bitter end. Clubs that we provide lettering for who don’t use them include the Anahiem Ducks (Niedermayers) and the LA Kings. You also won’t see them on the Mets. To quote the great longtime equipment manger/traveling secretary Charlie Samuels [we’re gonna have to agree to disagree on that assessment of Charlie. — PL], “What the fuck are they wearing numbers for?” I couldn’t agree more. It eventually leads to one of players being out of the lineup or off the club and the other one sporting an initial for no reason.
A few specific experiences:
• The San Francisco Spiders of the old IHL had every player’s first initial on their jerseys. It was at the insistence of the owner’s wife.
• When Reggie Smith was with the Dodgers, he was adamant that his jersey have “R. Smith” on the back. He didn’t care if the Dodgers had another Smith or not.
• Tim Brown of the Oakland Raiders always wore “T. Brown” on the back of his jersey, whether or not the Raiders had another Brown. His first NFL jersey was that way and I think he was superstitious about it.
A specific instance that I remember is when Howard Johnson joined the Mets in 1985: His jersey read “H. Johnson,” but manager Davey Johnson just kept wearing “Johnson” — no initial — which I always interpreted to mean, “I’m the main Johnson around here.” (And please, let’s not have a slew of johnson jokes in the comments section.)
As for the “They’ve got uniform numbers, so why bother with the initial?” gripe, it’s fine as far as it goes, but it’s a bit of a straw man argument. If you take that line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, it becomes, “They’ve got uniform numbers, so why bother putting names on the jerseys in the first place?” I still haven’t heard a completely satisfying answer to that one.
Membership Update: Preparations continue for the launch of the Uni Watch membership program (if you missed the initial announcement, look here), including a new twist regarding the membership card: As I mentioned last week, you can choose your own uniform number for the back of the card, along with your choice of lettering styles for your name (vertically arched, radially arched, NFL-style, subscript [a new offering!], or no name at all). HOWEVER, if the Uni Watch colors aren’t good enough for you, you can instead choose to have your name and number rendered in the style of your favorite team (but we’ll remove the border and bunting around the edge, so the colors won’t clash). There are a few gaps in our typeface collection, but we can do most MLB, NFL, or NHL teams. Unfortunately, no NBA teams for now. And to nobody’s surprise, I will not permit anything involving the Vikings, Ravens, Rockies, or any other purple-inclusive team. Also, please don’t ask for minor league or old historical teams, since we don’t want to drive poor Scott Turner crazy as he prepares the cards.
Personally, I’m kinda hoping you’ll all choose to stick with the Uni Watch colors for your name and number (as I’ll be doing on my own card) — Uni Watch is our team here, after all. But at least now you have some additional options.
And if you want your name to include your initial, that’s okay with me. But we won’t tell Bob Halfacre about it.
Meanwhile, don’t forget that I’m raffling off a free membership as we speak. If you haven’t already done so, go ahead and send an e-mail to uniraffle at earthlink dot net (one per person, please), and I’ll announce the winner when the entire membership program is ready to go, which I hope will be within a few days. Be patient, people — it’s gonna be worth the wait, I promise. (Extra-special thanks to Ben Thoma, who whipped up the super-cool raffle ticket graphic.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Cinematic report from Jared Peterson, who writes: “The Syracuse Athletic department has put up a gallery of pictures from the set of the upcoming Ernie Davis biopic, with 1959 Syracuse uniforms.” … Greg Evans reports that the Anderson Joes, whose logo was the subject of much discussion here last week, had their home debut over the weekend. Additional photos of their retro-style uniforms are available here. … Brilliant catch by Ferdinand Cesarano, who writes: “I was watching a little of the LSU/Stanford college softball game on ESPN on Saturday and noticed that LSU’s jerseys buttoned in the direction of men’s baseball jerseys [i.e. buttons on the right, buttonholes on the left], but Stanford’s jerseys buttoned the opposite way, like a women’s coat. I watch very little women’s softball, but it seems that most college softball jerseys that I’ve seen button in the same direction as men’s baseball jerseys.” … Rugby update from Caleb Borchers, as follows: “The American tradition of wearing patches to commemorate appearances in championship games is certainly preferable to what went on in rugby this weekend. The Bulls, who won the Super 14 final, wore this jersey. Note that to commemorate the occasion they added the verbose ‘Finaal Bulls v. Sharks Durban 19 MEI 2007.’ (I don’t believe that the Final of May are misspelled. Instead they are in Afrikaans, even though the Super 14 is a primarily English-speaking league.) They also have put each player’s first name on both the front and back of the jersey near the top, something they had not done all season.” … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Nice video report here on ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte and his special lefty/righty glove. … I loooooove this guy’s baseball uniform drawings. … Anthony Memme has come up with a rare sight: Blue Jays skipper John Gibbons in an actual jersey (instead of that annoying smock he usually wears)! … Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek notes that Fausto Carmona tends to leave the MLB hologram sticker on his underbill (additional pics here and here). … Also from Vince: Bernie Williams got an honorary degree from Iona College the other day, leading at least one graduate to wear the Yankees logo on his mortarboard. … “The Capitals signed and introduced 2006 No. 1 pick Nicklas Backstrom on Monday,” writes Michael Alper. “It’s interesting that they had him pose with the current jersey, since the Caps are introducing new ones in a few weeks. It’s also interesting (and pretty sad) that it was a cheap replica jersey, not even a game-issued or authentic one — note the CCM logo on the left sleeve. It’s also dumb that he posed in an empty locker room!” … Interesting documentation of game-used Roger Clemens jersey here — among other things, he likes to have the front shirttail tags removed (courtesy of Kevin Gee). … Tough to see in this screen grab (snapped by Tom Mowbray), but pitcher Winston Abreu was wearing shades during a night game yesterday. … My vote for the Miss Universe pageant is going to the Canadian entrant, Inga Skaya, for obvious reasons (with thanks to Nick Vossbrink). … The double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats wore a Manchester Police Dept. patch last night in honor of a slain officer, and are also retiring his badge number (with thanks to Eric Martin and Mike Hennessy). … Don Whelan notes that uniform designer and longtime Uni Watch pal Todd Radom designed this really nifty clock as part of a fundraiser for the American Institute of Graphic Arts (you can see the rest of the clocks here).
May 22nd, 2007
You probably know that the Devil Rays played a few “home” games in Orlando last week at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex, which, despite having only 9000 seats, was no doubt an upgrade over Tropicana Field (and where, as you can see at right, Richard Petty threw out the first ball for one of the games). Reader Andrew Ranck attended one of the games and documented some interesting factoids regarding the 246th stadium to host an MLB game:
The field in front of the dugouts had logos commemorating the 10th anniversary of the complex (who knew). The on deck circles had MLB logos on them, and they seemed pretty worn. I’m guessing they may have been spring training holdovers, but they didn’t seem to get much use anyway.
Left field had a collection of pennants representing some of the Rays’ regular sponsors. Also the area beyond the left field fence was grassy, with families spread out on blankets and kids running around.
Center field was pretty bare, and the scoreboard gave little batter information. Besides the line score and the current count, we only saw the batter’s uniform number and batting average. Right field had a temporary Jumbotron, which only displayed the basic graphics from the player intros and whatnot. In the foreground of that last photo, you can see the soft drink race, which took place after the 4th inning.
The only beers for sale that I could find were 24-ounce cans (for $8.50!). The Anheiser-Busch products had Rays logos on them. This surprised me, because Disney is known for not selling that much in the way of A-B products, because Busch Gardens and Sea World are main competitors.
Thanks to Andrew for the first-hand report. Meanwhile, if anyone wants to give a similar account of the proceedings at the Trop, that might be amusing.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Big kudos and thanks to Trevor Williams of the Brainerd Dispatch, who attended the Uni Watch party in Minneapolis two Saturdays ago and then wrote this very nice article about it. … Lotsa stuff you might have missed over the weekend, beginning with Boise State’s new football jerseys, which were unveiled late on Friday. They’ll look like this, this, this, and this. Further details here. … Also from Friday: Roger Clemens warmed up for his minor league season debut wearing high cuffs and white-striped Adidas cleats but later switched shoes and pant styles. … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Friday’s blog entry about Chris Sampson being told to remove his hospital bracelet (in case you missed it, look here) should have included a reference to Rob Mackowiak, who hit two home runs while still wearing his hospital bracelet on the day his baby was born back in 2004 (full details here). … It was Armed Forces Night in Milwaukee on Saturday, with the Brewers and Twins wearing military-themed caps. … Interesting thread on the Chris Creamer boards regarding the Cincinnati Jungle Kats, an AF2 team with a pretty innovative helmet design. … More arena football news from Michael Alper, who notes that Kenny Higgins of the Nashville Kats (again with the stoopid spelling) is wearing red shoes, even though there’s virtually no red in the team’s uniform. … The Orioles are denying reports that they’ll put “Baltimore” on their road jerseys next year (as forwarded by Jason Reddish). … Antiques Roadshow recently had a nice little segment on this medal. Details here (with thanks to Jeremiah Conway). … Anyone know why a manufacturer would refer to this pant style as a “Clemson Cut”? Also, who knew there was a hidden interior stirrup in there? (Good find by Rick Subrizio.) … Grant Emerson notes that Angel Pagan’s helmet logo appliqué has been crooked lately. … Club Deportivo Chivas USA has a new jersey sponsor. Full details here (with thanks to Jeffrey Israel). … If you’re interested in Tennessee high school uniforms, tons of photos are available here (courtesy of Marc Walls). … Texans cornerback Jason Simmons came up with a novel way to sell his uniform number to new teammate Ahman Green. … Ronnie Poore noticed something interesting in this photo of the 1965 NFL draft: The little figurines on each desk are wearing stirrups, instead of football-style socks. Most NFL players did wear stirrups in those days, but they also wore shin-length white socks over them — odd that the figurines didn’t get that final finishing hosiery touch. … Good story here about this Texas company, which makes varsity/letterman jackets. Further background info here. (With thanks to Matt Mitchell.) … Follow-up report from Jen Muller, who recently provided the photo of Dane Richards with his name misspelled: “At a Red Bulls ‘meet the team’ event on Saturday, I had a chance to ask Richards if he knew his name was spelled incorrectly on his jersey. He said he had no idea until he saw it later on the internet. Maybe he’s a Uni Watch fan.” … Check out the socks on Dong Tam Long An of the Vietnamese soccer league, who’s been playing in the AFC Champions League this year (as spotted by Jeremy Brahm). … Can’t say I thought much of Cory Spinks’s trunks or glove colors during his fight against Jermain Taylor on Saturday night. Weirdest bit: When Spinks’s trunks started slipping down, his corner tried to secure them with tape around the waistband — never seen that maneuver before. Meanwhile, check out the fringe on Taylor’s trunks. … Former Knick John Starks is promoting a new line of basketball warm-up pants, which are supposedly easier to pull off in one motion. Details in the “Starks to NBA” section about two-thirds of the way down this page (with thanks to Eric Stangel). … Lots of great stripes on display in this rugby photo, taken by Rick Collins. … Odd logo/number format being worn by the Texas City Stings (good catch by Seth Harris). … A little birdie tells me that the U. of Texas hoops team will go to Nike’s tight-fit jerseys next season. … Matthew Lepke notes that as of yesterday, Ron Gardenhire was still wearing his Mother’s Day ribbon on his windbreaker. … Matt Meltzer and I both want to know what’s printed on Dice-K’s left undersleeve. … Seth Horowitz forwards the following, from yesterday’s NY Post: “Tom Nieto, the Mets’ catching instructor, now has a tilde over the ‘N’ in ‘ÑIETO’ on the back of his jersey. He didn’t have one in his previous two years with the Mets but had it switched this season so that it would be properly pronounced.” … Nike’s latest brainstorm: a new and “improved” design, featuring a black jersey, for the Miami baseball team. … Awesome stirrup display by Brian Garman of the UC Bearcats (with thanks to Buckeye Mike, who says he’s known Garman since they were both about five years old). … Uni Watch design director Scott M.X. Turner and I attended last night’s Yanks/Mets debacle. The shameful truth: I was cold, tired, and depressed by the game’s proceedings, so I left in the middle of the 8th inning. Let the record show that Scott stayed to the bitter end.
May 21st, 2007
I’m just going to say, I love the Brewers’ throwbacks. It just reminds me of Robin Yount and good baseball.
Yeah, I know a ton of other stuff was going on like the Cavs/Nets, Suns/Spurs, etc., but I really just wanted to share my love of this uniform with you.
To keep you happy though, Boise State unveiled their new uniforms yesterday (but how come the jersey in the video just says “Bronco Nation”? Is that a mock-up only?). Roger Clemens made his first start and appeared to have a large patch on his glove (looks like The Rocket 300 win patch to me, but any help?).
May 19th, 2007
If you think I was a Scrooge for giving the thumbs-down to MLB’s pink Mother’s Day wristbands, that’s nothing compared to what umpire Bill Welke did in Houston on Wednesday night.
To explain: Astros pitcher Chris Sampson’s wife gave birth to the couple’s first child on Tuesday. When Sampson took the mound for Wednesday night’s game, he was still wearing his hospital wristband/bracelet thingie — which, by coincidence, appears to have been pink, as you can see on his left arm here. But before he could throw his first pitch, Welke — who was umpiring the plate — walked out to the mound and then gestured toward the Houston dugout. Out trotted a trainer, who huddled with Sampson and Welke and then cut off the offending bit of wristwear.
Sampson didn’t appear too upset about all this, and we all know pitchers aren’t supposed to wear anything distracting, but come on — couldn’t they at least have let him throw a pitch or two in his baby’s honor before making him snip off the wristband? Jeez.
Little-known fact that Elias won’t be telling you: The last MLB player to have something scissored off of his person while standing on the field of play was Scott Williamson, who was ordered to remove his Nike-pox sleeves last May 12th.
Membership Update: In case you missed yesterday’s entry, scroll down to it to see the big news about the official Uni Watch membership program, which should be ready to roll in another week or so. Big, big thanks to the many of you who’ve already expressed your enthusiasm and support for this idea. One change I’ve decided to make after getting lots of feedback yesterday: The membership “uni numbers” will be non-exclusive, so you can have whatever number you want on the back of your membership card, even if someone else already has that number (which should be good news to the roughly eight gazillion of you who tried to call dibs on No. 21 — why is that number so popular?).
More details to come soon.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Fantastic photo gallery detailing the history of women’s basketball uniforms here (with thanks to Todd Krevanchi). … Excellent article about the Jaguars’ equipment crew, plus a video link at the top of the page, here (with thanks to David Chisholm). … WVU’s new football jersey is visible in these shots from the Playboy Pre-Season All American photo shoot. That’s Steve Slaton is wearing the gold No. 10. (Good find by Jonathan Eskridge.) … Boise State’s new football jerseys will be unveiled late this afternoon. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Lots of chatter about the Orioles wearing “Baltimore” on their road jerseys next season. … Also from yesterday’s comments: All ACC football teams will wear a black armband this season, in remembrance of those who died in the Virginia Tech shootings. … Remember our recent discussion of FieldTurf baseball diamonds? Glenn Chamberlain sent along this shot of the Washington State field — even the home plate “dirt” area is FieldTurf. … “I wanted to send along some more info about Lamar Hunt tributes that you mentioned on Tuesday,” writes Scott Whaley. “The Hunt family also owns the Columbus Crew in Columbus, Ohio, and Lamar paid for the construction of Crew Stadium, the first soccer-specific stadium in the United States, out of his own pocket (not a dime of taxpayer money) in 1999. The Crew are also doing a lot of tribute items for Lamar this season, including an ‘LH’ chest patch logo. This same logo is being used in all sales and marketing materials for this season, and also appears on a flag flying in the stadium.” … Interesting side decal placement on the batting helmets used by Hunters Lane High in Tennessee (good catch by Lee Wilds). … “Schutt has created a couple of different DNA facemask designs that are apparently tied in with their agreement with the AFL,” writes Matt Olson. “The letters ‘AFL’ are even included in the mask names, the AFL-EGJOP and AFL-EGOP. This is the first time in my experience that masks have been marketed to a specific league. I’m assuming they’ll also be available to players outside of the AFL, but we’ll know for sure in the coming months.” … On Wednesday I mentioned how the scoreboard at Minute Maid Park inexplicably lists players with single-digit numbers as “09″ and “07,” but I didn’t have a photo. Happily, Jason Mintz just provided one. … Marcus Ramsey reports that the Rangers’ broadcast team was none too thrilled with last night’s green-vs.-blue display — and neither was Ramsey himself: “It was bad enough that the Rangers can’t beat the Rays,” he writes, “but they’re playing at a spring training park and this made it look like a spring training game.” … Speaking of the Rays, auto racing legend Richard Petty threw out the first ball the other night and donned a green jersey for the occasion. … Remember yesterday’s photo of the horse with the wrestling-esque mask? Here, apparently, is the actual mask on which it was modeled (good follow-up by Jeremy Brahm). … Latest MLBer whose pant leg cuffs appear to be elastic-free: J.D. Drew (as spotted by Adam Bachelder).
May 18th, 2007
Exactly one year ago today, I uploaded this entry, thereby launching the site you’re now reading. At the time, I had two primary concerns: (1) Would anyone notice? (2) What the hell would I write about the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that? (Confession: I intentionally launched the site on a Wednesday, so I’d only have to come up with three entries for that first week.)
A year later, the site has been a much bigger success than I ever could have imagined. Except for that little server hiccup back in February, we’ve had fresh content every single non-holiday weekday, and on a few weekends to boot. I’m proud of that, and you should be too, because so much of the material comes from, or is inspired by, you. I’ve also had invaluable assistance from webmaster John Ekdahl (who, aside from all the technical help he’s provided, is the one who came up with the idea for this site in the first place), design director Scott M.X. Turner, and intern Vince Grzegorek. In addition to all their behind-the-scenes help, John and Vince have also given me occasional days off by writing blog entries, as has Todd Krevanchi. I’m super-grateful to all of them.
So what’s on tap for Year Two? In my fantasy world, I’d like the site to become less of a blog and more of a magazine, with separate sections devoted to various sports and uniform elements, additional writers (I would love to have a regular column written by someone at Nike or Reebok — a “voice from the corporate side,” as it were, to counter my relentlessly anti-corporate stance), a message board, and so on. That isn’t going to happen without a major sugar daddy, something I’ve so far been unable to attract. A more realistic fantasy, or so I’d like to think, is for Uni Watch to become self-supporting, meaning that I’d be able to focus on it exclusively, without devoting time to non-uni-related writing.
And that leads me to a big announcement: We’re are about to start offering (read: selling) multiple levels of Uni Watch memberships, the most immediate benefit of which will be a super-cool plastic-laminated membership card, designed by our own Scott M.X. Turner. The front will look like this, and the back will be styled like the back of a jersey — you’ll be able to pick a uniform number and your last name will appear in your choice of typography: vertically arched, radially arched, straight, or, for you old-schoolers, no name at all. I’ll add an “Active Roster” page to the site, listing all current members by uniform number and membership level. (Sorry, no duplicate membership uni numbers — if someone else already has the number you want, you’ll have to choose another number, just like on a real team. Update: There’s already been such a scramble by people trying to call dibs on certain numbers that I’ve decided to make the numbers non-exclusive, so you can have whatever number you want, even if someone else already has it.)
So what does membership cost, and what do you get in return? Here’s the breakdown of the various one-year membership levels and their respective benefits:
Level One: Wool Flannel ($25): Benefits are as follows:
- Official Uni Watch Membership Card
- Uni Watch fridge magnet
- Three bonus entries in all Uni Watch raffles
- Your name featured on the Uni Watch “Active Roster” membership listing
Level Two: Vertically Arched ($50): All of the benefits listed above, plus a special Uni Watch T-shirt, available only to members. This design is still in development and should be ready in about a week, but trust me — it’s gonna look great.
Level Three: Chain-Stitched ($100): All the benefits listed above, plus a CD containing the digital art files for three rare, hard-to-find uniform style guides: NFL 1972, XFL 2001, and MLB’s 1999 “Turn Ahead the Clock” series.
Level Four: Leather Helmet ($250): All the benefits listed above, plus Uni Watch design director Scott M.X. Turner will create a logo for your team, fantasy league, company, civic association, church group, or just for you.
Level Five: Satin Piping ($500): All the benefits listed above, plus I will conduct a “Uni Watch Profiles” interview with you, a transcript of which will be posted on the blog. During the interview we will discuss your favorite uniforms, your uni-related pet peeves, your cap collection, or anything else uni-related that you want to talk about. You will be uni-king for a day!
Level Six: Striped Stirrups ($1000): All of the benefits listed above, plus I will fly to your town (or to the nearest city with an airport) and host a Uni Watch party at the local venue of your choosing. Probably your best chance at attending a Uni Watch party if you live in, say, Wichita. Continental U.S. only. If you live within a 100-mile radius of New York City, I will take you and a guest out to dinner either before or after the party. If you and some friends pool your resources to come up with the fee, you will all receive membership cards.
I may come up with other benefits, and I’m also hoping to get some e-merchants to offer some discounts to Uni Watch members, but that’s all still in the “We’re working on it” phase.
So you’re probably thinking, “Is this just a money-making scheme, or a glorified donation program?” To a certain extent, yes. But I’ll be frank with you: I need some more money from this project. The site now eats up a significant amount of my time (easily 25 hours a week, often a lot more), and it’s starting to cut into the time I’d ordinarily devote to “real” work. Obviously, nobody’s forcing me to do this, and I can stop anytime I want. But I don’t want to stop — I love working on the site. I just need to be able to justify the increasing bite it’s taking from my schedule.
That said, I also think the membership program is a fun little sub-project. The benefits ain’t bad, and I’m pretty stoked about the membership card myself. All in all, I think membership at any level is a fair deal.
That said, I’m fully aware that some of you are students, and/or have families to support, loans to pay off, ad bankruptum. I also realize that many of you have already donated and/or bought raffle tickets in the past. Believe me, I know. I’m not trying to put the squeeze on anyone, I’m not trying to lay a guilt trip on you, and I can assure you that access to the site will always be free. I’m just asking for a little help, from those of you who are able to give it, so I can keep doing this thing we all enjoy — a thing that is rapidly approaching the status of a full-time job.
I won’t even accept any membership purchases until the Level Two T-shirt design is finalized. While we’re waiting, I’ll get the ball rolling by raffling off a membership — send a note to uniraffle at earthlink dot net (one per person, please) and I’ll pick a winner when the T-shirt design is ready.
Okay, enough of that. Thanks for a great first year, people — looking forward to more.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Nice note from Greg Evans, who writes: “Anderson, South Carolina, has a new Class A independent team called the Joes, after Shoeless Joe Jackson. Shoeless Joe was an upstate South Carolina native, and supposedly got his nickname while playing semipro ball in Anderson. The team logo is pretty cool, especially compared with the cartoonish logos of most other minor league teams. Also, the inclusion of a pair of spikes on the cap is a nice touch.” … Tuesday’s post mentioned the troubles that the Red Bulls have had fitting Dave van den Bergh’s name on his jersey, but I didn’t have a photo. Now, thanks to Kenn Tomasch, I do. … The Broncos’ memorial helmet decal for Darrent Williams and Damien Nash will look like this (with thanks to Andrew Mason). … Jeff Scott (who has a pretty sharp Cardinals blog) notes that the Majestic logo has been missing from David Eckstein’s road jersey for several days now. … In a related logo-anti-creep item, Kevin Gee reports that the MLB logo has been missing from the back of Carlos Lee’s batting helmet, and “it just doesn’t look right.” … “Hey Paul, a while back you linked to one of my pictures of the Oregon Marching Band, in our numbered, helmet-attired glory,” writes Matt Takimoto. “The helmets have since been retired — apparently we looked like Nazis to some of the older, donor set here in Eugene — and we are now selling them to raise money for the band.” Takimoto said he’d even try to arrange a raffle for us — stay tuned. … A confused and outraged Brandon Hall wonders why Lindy Ruff was wearing a Senators-colored necktie the other day. … Lots of great old West Virginia high school football uniforms on display in this gallery (kudos to Brad DiCola). … You know how a book’s index will have listings formatted like “Stirrups, Uni Watch’s obsession with” and “Purple, utter loathsomeness of”? Check out the jersey insignia for D3 school St. Thomas University (great find by Mike Miller). … According to a small note contained in this article Ted Lilly and Lou Piniella “enjoyed a novel bonding moment recently when Lilly informed Piniella that his fly was unzipped during a conference at the mound” (with thanks to sharp-eyed David Chisholm). … So this horse and this Mexican wrestler walk into a bar… (as spotted by Jeremy Brahm). … Bill Pinsak notes that Ben Roethlisberger was wearing Nike tri-bolt shorts the other day, instead of standard-issue NFL Equipment shorts made by Reebok. … Photos of Miami’s new football jerseys (first discussed here) are starting to circulate — look here, here, and here.
May 17th, 2007
We all know that weird things can happen during All-Star Games. The problem is, not many of them have been properly documented for posterity. But a reader who prefers to go by TC has been watching lots of old MLB all-star video footage lately, and he’s compiled some downright heroic additions to the historical record. Here’s his report:
• 1972: Carlton Fisk wore his Boston uni with a Brewers helmet.
• 1975: Lou Brock had some kind of sticker on both sides of his helmet. It looks like maybe some kind of Cardinals logo..?
• 1975 again: The A’s had seven players and the manager on the squad, including five starters: P Vida Blue, 1B Gene Tenace, SS Bert Campaneris, LF Joe Rudi, and RF Reggie Jackson. From what I can tell, all players wore green stirrups and yellow sanitaries. The infielders wore green/yellow hats, yellow shirts, white pants. The outfielders wore green/yellow hats, green shirts, white pants. Vida Blue wore green/yellow hat, yellow shirt, yellow pants. Manager Alvin Dark wore a green/white hat, white shirt, white pants. The two bench players — Rollie Fingers and Claudell Washington — wore totally different combos. I also spotted a coach (not Alvin Dark) wearing a white hat and green shirt. It was hard to find a good shot with all the players in it, but I managed to pull at least a couple with multiple players. [Also: Note the maroon blazers being worn by the AL umps — standard-issue for them back in the mid-1970s. — PL]
• 1985: Nolan Ryan batted while wearing a Padres helmet. [As an aside, I was once at a Mets/Astros game where Ryan stepped into the batter’s box while still wearing his dugout jacket. The ump had to remind him to remove it. — PL]
• 1985 again: This was the game when Lou Whitaker forgot his uniform and had to use a replica jersey from the stadium gift shop with his number Magic Markered onto the back. The shirt itself looks pretty cheap. The announcers mentioned it — they said something like, “There’s the familiar number one, but it was drawn on with marking pencil.”
TC also noticed something interesting while perusing footage of the 1977 ALCS:
The insignia on the Royals’ jerseys wasn’t always the same thickness or weight. In Game 4, Freddie Patek had the thick/heavy logo, and the NEXT BATTER, Frank White, had the thinner version. In Game 5, Cookie Rojas wore the thin logo, while the third base coach (not sure of his name) had the thicker logo. Weird.
The real all-star, of course, is TC himself, for sharing all these amazing finds with us. Next round’s on me, buddy.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Soccer-centric uni quiz here (with thanks to Tony Payne). … Good article about baseball bats here (as forwarded by Matt Nelson). … Well, that’s one way to move some Arena League jerseys. … As if the story about Ken Griffey’s jockstrap weren’t enough, Brian Urlacher’s jock is for sale on eBay. … The Nationals wore their red jerseys and alternate “DC” caps on Sunday — except for infielder Felipe Lopez, who wore the “W” cap (good catch by Tim Buckley). … Latest news about Rudy Giuliani’s World Series rings — and new tidbits about a Joe DiMaggio uniform he owns — here. … Fantastic historical survey of English rugby uniforms here (with thanks to Jim Atherton). … Not positive, but I think we first saw this Lambeau Field anniversary logo a while back, didn’t we? In any case, I’m fairly certain that this press release, issued yesterday, marks the first confirmation that the mark will appear on the team’s uniforms. … Jesse Spector e-mailed me from last night’s Astros game with the following communiqué: “I don’t have my good camera with me, but when a player with a single-digit number is at the plate and they put his face on the big screen, they put a zero in front of the number, like ‘09 Hunter Pence’ and ‘07 Craig Biggio.’ It doesn’t really make sense — it’s a computer-generated image, not like a two-digit scoreboard thing where the zero is just a place-holder. I wonder how they would differentiate between Pence and Benito Santiago, if he was still here.” … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Jarrod Saltalamacchia appears to be wearing Brian McCann’s knee savers. … Unfortunate news in the rugby world yesterday, as England and France unveiled their new NikeWorld designs — woof! Dominic J. Litten offers this analysis: “Note the raised, bumpy area around the torso section of the jersey. According to this news release, ‘[T]he new shirt also features an extensively tested gripper print for players, on the torso, when they are carrying a wet ball and, on the shoulders, when locking into the scrum.’ Apparently, the boys at Nike are actually using the Dot Matrix powers for good.” Not sure I’d go quite that far, but it’s a good observation all the same. … The Yomiuri Giants recently recorded their 5000th victory, and there’s a nice historical photo gallery here to mark the occasion (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm).
May 16th, 2007
I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: Uni Watch readers are the best. How great is it that I can show up in a city and get to meet a bunch of you? Very great indeed, as this past weekend’s Minneapolis and Chicago parties ably demonstrated.
My Midwestern road swing got underway on Friday night at Nye’s Polonaise Room in Minneapolis. While other people danced to the Ruth Adams polka band, about 15 of us gathered toward the back of the bar. Here’s a rundown of attendees:
• Gotta start with comments section mainstay Teebz, who drove down all the way from Winnipeg (a six-hour haul) just to make the Uni Watch scene. He also wore two New York-centric jerseys, just to make me feel more at home: the Islanders’ fish sticks disaster (complete with seasickness-inducing rear view) and then, underneath that, an Eli Manning special.
• The other comments section royalty in attendance was Minna H., shown here with me. Note my Minnesota 9th District American Legion Band jacket (and my gold/maroon U. of Minnesota color scheme!), which I wore all special-like for the occasion.
• That last photo was taken by Trevor Williams, who made the drive down from Brainerd, where he works for the Brainerd Dispatch. I am very disappointed to report that he barely made a dent in his sumptuous-looking kielbasa platter, but he’s a swell guy (and he may be writing a little something about the event for this Sunday’s Dispatch), so let’s cut him some slack.
• Getting back to Golden Gophers colors for a sec, here’s Jim Snouwaert, looking sharp in a Gophers hockey jersey. He said he had a hard time deciding whether to tie the lace-up jersey or leave it hanging loose (ah, the pressures of attending a Uni Watch gathering).
• My favorite shirt of the night was the tee being worn by frequent contributor Todd Davis, who came all the way from Colorado. (Okay, he was also in town for a wedding, but still…)
• Here’s Jeff Barak, who began by wearing a Russian Red Army hockey jersey, then took that off to reveal a Giants retro design, and then stripped down to a really cool Minneapolis Millers T-shirt that he designed and produced himself. (As an aside, Jeff also very generously provided me with some photos of the 181 high school hockey jerseys that are on display inside the Xcel Energy Center.)
• Mead Mueller was really trying to butter me up. First he wore a green jersey (that’s the University of North Dakota hockey team — here’s a closer look); then he took that off to reveal a Uni Watch T-shirt underneath. All this brownnosing finally paid off when I posed with him for this shot, taken by Trevor Williams.
• This is Adam Roesch (and no, he doesn’t have mustard on his lip — it’s just the weird lighting), who has an interesting blog project called “Mugshot Purgatory,” devoted to those ubiquitous head shots that appear on web-based MLB roster pages. If you’re curious, he began the project here, some of his best entries are here, here, and here, and his archive is here.
• Here’s Hugh Gitlin, who wore a biking jersey over a basketball coaching polo, and seemed to know a little something about every single imaginable sport.
• This is Peter Kotas, who, in a bit of fortuitous timing, just moved to the Twin Cities about two weeks ago (and who, despite what my camera thinks, doesn’t really have a luminous chin). He’s only 19 and wasn’t sure they’d let him into Nye’s on his own, so he brought along his mom, Mariann Montagne (who, even more fortuitously, lives right across the street from Nye’s; thanks again to Trevor Williams for that last shot). I thought it was really cool that they came together.
• And no visit to Minneapolis is complete without seeing my longtime pals Jack Kirr (who graciously put me up for the night) and Rachel Hutton, who are two of the sweetest, most wonderful people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. Always great seeing you two — big love to both of you.
From there I flew to Chicago, where a smaller but no less enthusiastic crowd convened at the Montrose Saloon. Among the attendees:
• I was particularly happy to meet Dave Dixon, who drove over from Rockford. Dave saved my ass last year when I wanted to write an ESPN column about the World Cup (and, more to the point, my editors wanted me to write one) but I was faced with the slight problem of not knowing jackshit about soccer. Dave’s the guy who basically held my hand and led me through all the World Cup uni designs, and it’s no exaggeration to say that this column wouldn’t have existed without him — thanks again, bud. And you don’t have to be forever in his debt to appreciate his Seahawks T-shirt, which garnered a lot of well-deserved compliments.
• Here’s Adam Elkana-Hale, who wore two interesting items: a Russian jacket of uncertain provenance (probably a track warm-up jacket, although he’s not sure, because he scored it at a thrift shop), complete with uni number on the sleeve, and a killer hurlng jersey (dig the rear view).
• Adam broke out laughing when he glanced toward the door and saw John Borovicka arriving in a Devil Rays jersey. I was so amused myself that I didn’t even give him any shit over the purple-brimmed cap.
• This is Eric Bangeman, proudly wearing his Australian rugby shirt, complete with a totally boss crest.
• Jennifer Hayden and her co-worker Sandy Eberhardt had both ends of Chicago’s baseball spectrum covered. Big thanks to both of them for all the French fries, and bonus points to Sandy for her Chisox pendant.
• Pat Ratliff wore a really interesting Hanshin Tigers jersey. Look closely at that photo and you’ll see that the button placket ends slightly below the chest insignia, so it’s essentially a henley-style jersey. But there’s a row of non-functional buttons continuing down the length of the jersey, just for ornamentation.
• Finally, here’s my old pal Tim Adams, who I’ve known for nearly 20 years. He put me up for the night (as he almost always does when I visit Chicago) and also picked the venue for the night’s gathering — a fine choice, as it turned out. Thanks again, Tim.
In short: a really swell weekend. Thanks yet again to all who came out — I’m a lucky fella to have such wonderful readers.
Uni Watch News Ticker: In case you missed it in Sunday’s comments, reader Tim Stoops put together a killer slide show from Friday night’s Padres throwback game. … Great find from Jennifer Hayden, who came up with this shot, from the Oberlin College women’s rugby team calendar. … Some serious logo creep on the Oklahoma football truck (with thanks to Timm Decker, who adds, “I checked the tires — they are Goodyear, not Nike”). … Daniel Sherman notes that Blue Jays outfielder Adam Lind has a big “LIND” printed on his batting gloves. You can see part of it on his left glove here, and there’s a clearer (but very isolated) view here. … “Here’s something I’d never seen before,” writes Dave Scocca. “At AAA Durham [which is a Devil Rays affiliate], Tampa’s ‘minor league roving hitting coordinator’ Steve Livesey was in the dugout — in the uniform of the big league club. He was wearing the dark green, while the Bulls were wearing their sleveless whites (with team colors of blue and orange). It was odd to see the contrasting uniform in the dugout.” … Interesting track uniforms worn by Lancaster High School in Texas (as spotted by Tory Humphries). … Rob Thomas reports that Lamar Hunt, who helped created MLS, was memorialized over the weekend by the two teams he owned. The Kansas City Wizards wore a special “LH” jersey (here’s a closer view; their usual design looks like this), and FC Dallas, which is still owned by the Hunt family, went with an “LH” sleeve patch, which they’ll continue to wear all season. … Spectacular photo here of the 1892 Centre College baseball team (as spotted by Peter Stork). … “Sheffield United used kits with the number and name typeface that the Premiership will be using next year,” writes Dan Jacobsen. “But with their loss and relegation, this may be the only game they ever wear this particular font.” … Multi-pronged report from Jen Muller, who writes: “During Sunday’s Red Bulls game, Dane Richards’s name was spelled as “RICHADRS”. I’m guessing that the team had new home whites made after they auctioned off their VT tribute jerseys. While they screwed up Dane’s shirt, at least they made some improvements with a couple of others. In the same photo as the Richards gaffe, you can see that Dema Kovalenko (#21) doesn’t have the subscript “K” and “O” that he had in the first game. Dave van den Bergh also had issues with his name in that game, but unfortunately I don’t have any before pictures. Oh, and Kovalenko got blood on his jersey and had to finish the game in numberless model.” … Latest Japanese observations from Jeremy Brahm: (1) Tsuyoshi Nishioka of the Chiba Lotte Marines (No. 7 in this photo) appears to have his name rendered in boldface. (2) Check out Ryoko Tani — two-time gold and silver Olympic medalist in judo — wearing the Toyota logo. And (3) The Hanshin Tigers are wearing a special uni design (front, back) for the Japanese interleague games. … Late-breaking observation from Robert Eden regarding spring college football intra-squad scrimmages: “For Nebraska’s spring game, the starting offense and defense (the Red Team) don the current home uniform. The backups (the White Team), however, wear the white road jersey and the home white pants, instead of the traditional red road pants. I’ve never seen a reason given for this, but I suspect it’s because it’s possible for players to participate on both the Red and White teams during the game, and changing pants would be difficult and time-consuming.” … In response to my uni cameos column on ESPN.com, reader Neal Smith sent me this shot of O.J. Simpson in a Chargers jersey (but not Chargers pants or socks, apparently because it’s a practice session). He didn’t know the background of this shot, and neither do I. Anyone..? … Interesting article here on how Nike products (among other American brands) find their way to Cuba, despite the trade ban (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … Alan Topolski sent along this video clip of an old WHA game between the Cincinnati Stingers and the Houston Aeros. The interesting thing is that all the Stingers’ have their first initials (as well as their surnames) on the backs of their jerseys — apparently a team-wide thing. Anyone know of any other teams who’ve done this? … Speaking of names on the backs of jerseys, yesterday’s comments included a note about Ryan Rowland-Smith, who could become MLB’s first-ever compound-surnamed player. For details, scroll down to the “Waiting for the Word” section of this page. … You don’t have to be a Rams fan to be creeped out by this photo, taken during yesterday’s Fatah/Hamas clashes in Gaza City. … Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio discusses a few uniform details for the upcoming season in this short video clip (with thanks to Moose G.). … Regarding the pink bats on Sunday (and a few other things), an inside source with the Rangers chimes in with this: “Everyone was saying too bad Cruz didn’t hit that walk-off with his pink bat since his broke, because it would’ve been interesting to see if he tried to use it on Monday. As for the ‘T’ on the mound, they started doing that during the season last year when Dennis Klein became the new groundskeeper. Incidentally, MLB Authenticators have been running rampant here with all the pink stuff getting signed and with Sosa’s chase for 600. You’ll notice we’re now using the specially marked balls for Sosa’s ABs.” … Speaking of the pink-ism, when I referred to Kenny Lofton’s pink anklet yesterday, I meant to point out that this was, I think, MLB’s first ankle band since Jason Simontacchi’s ankle-borne memorial to Darryl Kile in 2002. In fact, that’s the only other MLB ankle band I’m aware of, aside from Lofton’s. Anyone know of any others? … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Some blogger is claiming that Ken Griffey gave him (the blogger) his (Griffey’s) jockstrap on Friday night. Sounds like a hoax to me, but decide for yourself here. … Rugby news from Caleb Borchers, who writes: “A couple of weeks ago I told you about Nike and France teaming up to change the traditional French colors because of the All Blacks. Now Nike is at it again: They introduced a new red jersey for England on Monday, believed to have been created so that they can deny the Welsh their traditional red shirts in the World Cup Quarterfinals.” … Fascinating quasi-uni-related article here about the controversy surrounding an amputee sprinter.
May 15th, 2007
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