Last Friday afternoon I made a quick trip out to Giants Stadium, where Jints equipment director Joe Skiba wanted to show me the new Schutt XP helmets he’d gotten in. That’s the XP on right (with a Schutt Air Advantage on the left, for comparison) here and here, with an interior comparison here.
Personally, though, I don’t get so excited about new helmet models — I get excited about details. Fortunately, Joe had plenty of cool details to show me. Among them:
• Here’s a closer look at the raised, rubberized logo that appears on the nose bumper plate of the Giants’ non-Riddell helmets. (The Riddell helmets get a flat Riddell wordmark decal, but Skiba says these will be replaced by a 3-D rubberized version shortly.) Last year the “ny” was solid blue, except when the Giants wore their red alternate jerseys, when it was solid red; these year it’s blue outlined in red, and that will be reversed when the team wears its red alts.
• As you know, no company but Riddell is allowed to have its logo on an NFL helmet. The prohibition includes Oakley and Nike, who make the visors that many players wear. But Nike, true to irritating form, has found a spot where they could sneak in a swoosh: on the little clip that holds the visor in place. Not only that, but look what’s printed on the visor’s edge. Fuckers.
• See that clear plastic clip holding the lower portion of the facemask on a Riddell Revolution helmet? It’s called a side stabilizer, and as you can see, it’s usually screwed into the helmet. But Skiba showed me how Riddell has come up with a new screw-less fastening system that just snaps into place, so the stabilizer clip just pops right into position. So far, though, the Giants haven’t used this for regular game action.
• And here’s the ball the Giants and Dolphins will be using for next weekend’s game in London.
Skiba (who, incidentally, is in a very amusing state of denial about this) also introduced me to the team’s director of creative services, Doug Murphy. In addition to getting those rubberized nose bumper logos made, Doug also coordinates the team’s extensive photo archive. We agreed that I’d come back in the near future so he could show me some old pics — stay tuned.
Uni Watch News Ticker: As many of you know, Wisconsin is my favorite state. But even if you’re not a Badger State fan, you’ll still want to check out this page that David Sonny and the Rev. Nørb both alerted me to, where you can page through every Packers yearbook from 1960 through 1967. Loads of great pics and info — highly recommended. … Not truly uni-related, but still very cool (with thanks to Casey Lute). … Holy crap (blame Scott Turner). … Logo revisions aren’t just for sports teams. … Someone over on the Chris Creamer board noted that Yi Jianlian was wearing a jersey patch — presumably a 40th-anniversary mark — the other night. Not clear why Yi was wearing it but the other Bucks weren’t. … Doug Mooney found an early reference to tearaway jerseys in this Time magazine article from 1947, which includes the following: “No matter how far ahead they are, Michigan players always manage to look half undressed — their blue jerseys and yellow pants ripped and torn. [Coach Fritz] Crisler has a reason for that too: once he lost a game at Princeton when an opposing player grabbed his halfback by the sleeve and brought him down. Now Crisler uniforms his teams in flimsy zephyr cloth so rippable that [RB Tom] Harmon once used up 20 jerseys in one season.” … Also from the Time archives: This 1929 rundown of college football results, including the following: “Eight out of eleven Oregonians took off their jerseys, played with their bare arms sticking out of their pads.” … If you lost an eye while serving in Iraq, would you have your glass eye imprinted with your favorite team’s logo? Philip LaBonte did. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Nice breakdown of basketball footwear history here.
Very uni-unusual day in college football on Saturday, with all sorts of anomalies running rampant on the gridiron. Let’s start with Notre Dame’s 1977 throwbacks. Personally, I prefer this green-and-gold combo better than the one they wore on Saturday. But oh, those sock stripes — you know I loved those, although it was distressing to see how many players left their socks at ankle-level.
A sampling of other uni observations from Saturday:
• Oregon went solid white, which looked kinda chalky. Better than their usual visual carnival, natch, but the green helmet was the one really good component of this uniform — here’s hoping they go back to it next week.
• Florida wore a memorial decal for walk-on defensive back Michael Guilford, who died in a motorcycle accident last week (and whose nickname was Sunshine).
• Florida State wore a red “BV” helmet decal in honor of team videographer and cancer victim Billy Vasini, who’s currently in hospice care.
• No photo, but Vince says Michigan State’s Peter Clifford “pulled an L.T. and wasn’t wearing an American flag decal on his helmet” (a handy coincidence, since the Chargers had a bye this week, so we all might’ve gone through missing-decal withdrawal if not for Clifford).
• Graham McCulloch says that Michigan’s Mario Manningham’s surname was direct-sewn onto his jersey, instead of being on separate nameplate. I couldn’t find a good rear-view shot of Manningham, although this photo suggests that the lettering may indeed have been direct-sewn. If so, it would mark a change from how Manningham’s name has been applied in the past.
Intern Update: In case you missed it last week, Vince will soon be moving on to greener pastures, so I’m in the market for a new intern. For further details, scroll down to the “Help Wanted” section of last Wednesday’s post.
For those of you who’ve already applied, hang tight. I can’t acknowledge everyone, but I’ll be getting in touch with a handful of finalists soon. And my sincere thanks to all applicants — it’s humbling to see how many people want to work on Uni Watch.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Iowa State’s official logo specs and identity standards are available for viewing in this PDF file (with thanks to Brian Castile). … Andrew Flynn was recently at the Packers Hall of Fame, where he snapped a shot of the team’s 1962 yearbook cover. Obviously, they tinted those facemasks in the photo (colored facemasks didn’t debut until over a decade later, with the 1974 Chargers), although it’s hard to fathom why they would’ve done that. … Always good to start ’em young (good find by Jay Kuperstein). … Mike Orr noticed a bunch of interesting South Carolina high school football quirks over the weekend: (1) Chester High uses some really big-ass rear helmet numbers. (2) One of the Chester players has a helmet number that doesn’t match his jersey. (3) Lugoff-Elgin uses the biggest TV numbers I’ve ever seen. (4) The Lugoff-Elgin QB is apparently a Sean Taylor fan. … Victory Pennants prexy Morris Levin just scored this excellent postcard showing the Phillies’ uniform history (here’s the other side). Interestingly, the player images on the front of card are also used on the Phils’ web site. … If Curt Schilling’s gonna insist on wearing a Cool Base jersey, could he at least stop saluting the crowd, so we wouldn’t have to look at that stupid underarm mesh insert? … Good article here on the NFL’s latest uniform cop. … Dave Madison says Kevin Youkilis had the Majestic wordmark — instead of just the Majestic logo — on the left sleeve of his road jersey during Games 4 and 5 of the ALCS, suggesting that he might have been wearing a replica jersey. I don’t see any wordmark here, here, here, or here, but it does look like he might have had a wordmark under the logo here. I’m trying to get that photo enlarged so we can get a better look. … I reported lat week that Wisconsin would be wearing this throwback outfit on December 3rd, but the auction for the unis is already underway (with thanks to Nicole Haase). … Mark Coale reports that the Hershey Bears wore 70th-anniversary sweaters on Saturday. A nice idea, except the crest looked like a glorified sleeve patch. … Reprinted from Sunday’s comments: Adalius Thomas has been wearing one red glove and one blue. Additional views here and here. … I don’t care how many field goals you kick — this is still a really bad look. … The Devil Rays’ uni-unveiling event is gonna be a real, um, barn-burner (as noted by Morris Levin). … Dave Eskenazi, who’s contributed many Pacific northwestern baseball pics in the past, has now provided some gorgeous old hockey photos from that same region, as seen in these shots of the Portland Rosebuds, Seattle Metropolitans, Victoria Aristocrats, and Vancouver Millionaires. That’s Lester Patrick — “Yes, that Lester Patrick,” as Eskinazi puts it — here. … The Saskatchewan Roughriders wore throwbacks yesterday (with thanks to Garry Sum). … Two weeks ago I reported that the Wisconsin women’s hockey team was using this design. What I hadn’t noticed in that photo — but what Andy Seeger has now pointed out — is that the “C” and “A” designations are stacked under the uni numbers, which looks awful-and-a-half. … Matthew Lepke notes that Bryce Salvador is wearing Blues-branded boot protectors. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: The Broncos’ socks are supposed to have just a thin band of orange between the navy and white areas, but Brandon Marshall apparently wore navy leggings and white sanitaries with orange tape in between (additional pics here, here, and here, and the tape he uses is probably something like this). … And we conclude with a nice little video report on USC’s equipment staff (as provided by Ryan Whitacre):
Here’s a question: If an Oklahoma State football player in an orange uniform falls into a pylon, does anybody notice?
Another big day in college football otherwise, with Oregon going all white, Pitt going all blue, West Virginia going with gold tops, and Notre Dame giving a uni shout-out to Billy Beane.
More tomorrow obviously, but for the moment, just enjoy the vision of football in the snow in October. –Vince
After I got over the initial shock of looking at Zalgiris Kaunas’ uniforms (that’s the team name, not the player, for those who were curious), the first thing I thought of was this, immediately followed by this (just for the color, not for the exact sign). And then I started looking at the strange scaly design running down the sides of the jersey and shorts. Very fish-like, don’t you think?
I’m sure the design is supposed to be really cool and meaningful, but that’s all lost on me. At the moment, I’m pretty sure this basketball team is best represented by green neon signs in the shape of drunken fish. That’s probably not what they were going for, that’s just what the uni’s are telling me. And I’m hungry for Malaysian cuisine. Strange. –Vince
I’m probably the first writer to cover the sports uniform beat on a regular basis — or even to conceive of uniforms as a legitimate sports beat to begin with — but that’s not to say uniform coverage didn’t exist prior to the advent of Uni Watch (indeed, I cited a key 1970s example just the other day). Reader Doug Mooney recently found a bunch of uni-related articles in the archives of the New York Times, and they clearly show that uniform coverage was alive and well in the 1950s. Here they are, listed chronologically:
• April 2nd, 1950: “Hollywood Sets New Baseball Fad; Players Wear Shorts, Rayon Shirts.” This article is about, of course, the Hollywood Stars, who wore shorts in 1950 (additional info here). Key quote, from one of the Stars’ players: “Let ’em razz us, they’ll all be wearing them in another year or so.” Uh, right. Full text available here and here.
• February 26th, 1956: “Cards Redesign Suits.” This short AP item is of particular interest, because it refers to the uniforms that the Cardinals unveiled in this photo. As you may recall, the road jersey shown in that shot — the one with the “St. L.” insignia — was never used, and the circumstances surrounding it have never been fully explained. I devoted a blog entry to that subject about a year ago.
• August 12th, 1956: “What’s a Man to Wear Afield?” The subheading of this article, which ran in the paper’s Sunday magazine section, reads, “If he is a member of the Cincinnati Redlegs, he wears a vest instead of a shirt and pants with built-in knee pads,” which gives you an idea of the subject at hand. To provide some context, this was the season when Cincy’s uniforms changed from this to this. Key quotes: “The Redlegs’ new uniforms are as spectacular, in terms of costume, as the rabbit ball was in terms of window-breakage when Babe Ruth single-handedly revised baseball” and “The pitchers, whose arms supposedly so exceptionally precious, of course, are expected to wear their [under]sleeves long, to avoid chills, vapors or other calamities.” Lots of other good details regarding fabrics, tailoring, performance features, and more. And here’s a tantalizing tidbit: At one point the article mentions that Branch Rickey “attempted to put the Pittsburgh team into shorts, like lady softball players.” I’d never heard about that one before. Anyone else? Essential reading, available here.
• February 24th, 1958: “Giants Favor New Slim Look for Men in Gray Flannel Suits.” This item — written by Gay Talese, no less! — is one of those filler stories that writers come up with on slow days during spring training. Of course, one man’s filler is another man’s front-page news, and this article does not disappoint. Key quote: “[Ray] Kolas, who works for Wilson Sporting Goods, twirls his tape measure around 600 players each season. He keeps a measurement chart report on each player that would do credit to Brooks Brothers. For instance, on his chart of the Detroit pitcher Jim Bunning, Kolas noted: ‘Taper shirt — has small hips (no seat).’ ” Several other gems too, all available here.
• February 1st, 1959: “Major League Fashion Note: New Flannel; Nylon-Wool Fabric Reduces Uniform Weight by Half.” We all know that the Pirates were the first team to switch to solid-polyester double-knits, in 1970. But when did synthetic fibers first start being incorporated into MLB uniforms? According to this article, it was in 1959, when most teams went from solid wool to a 60/40 wool/nylon blend. The article also includes loads of uni-related ephemera, including this classic: “Yogi Berra, Yankee catcher and a dude, tops the best-dressed players with eight pairs of pants. Relief pitchers and bullpen catchers are not hard on clothes, except pants seats.” Get the full scoop here and here.
I know that’s a lot of material to read. But trust me — these are all well worth your time.
Alpha-Numeric Update: On Monday I wrote about this unusual uniform number (details here). That led to this note from Bob Jaye, which ran in Tuesday’s Ticker:
In a college all-star game following the 1971 season (Senior Bowl, perhaps), the South team had two quarterbacks who’d both worn No. 7 during their stellar careers. So Florida’s John Reaves wore 7R and Auburn’s Pat Sullivan wore 7S, respectively. Unfortunately, I can’t find a photo.
Intriguing, right? I didn’t have time this week to go hunting for a photo. But Bob’s brother, Davis Jaye, did. He contacted the Senior Bowl, whose offices were only too happy to provide him with these pics of Sullivan and Reaves. Big thanks to both Jaye brothers for their stellar contributions to the historical record.
Roster Restoration Update: We’re still missing 17 names from the membership roster (in case you’ve missed it, about 90 names were wiped off the list by a software glitch, and I’ve been trying to get everything back to normal). So if you haven’t already done so, all enrolled members should PLEASE check the roster listing. If you don’t see your name there, e-mail me your name, membership uni number, membership level, and why you chose your number. If your name linked to a photo, please re-send it. And if you’d like to help speed up the process a bit more, pick out your card from the design gallery and send me its URL. Big thanks for everyone’s help.
Meanwhile, anyone recognize today’s showcase card? It’s from the Arena League’s Colorado Crush.
Uni Watch News Ticker: My article on bullpen buggy history, which was posted yesterday on ESPN, is here. … Big kerfuffle in Florida over the proposed new uniforms for workers at Miami-Dade International Airport. Full details, plus an amusingly worded reader poll, here (nice find by Jonah Bamel). … Bowling Green’s athletic director discusses why the school changed its helmet design this season here (with thanks to Tom Konecny). … If you’ve ever wanted to dress up Steve Spurrier, here’s your chance (with thanks to Ronnie Poore). … I did a blog entry on World Series press pins about a year ago, but now Zach Siron has found a bunch of them for sale on eBay. Some real beauties, too. Look here, here, here, here, here, and here. Plus Zach also found an All-Star Game press pin and Gabby Hartnett’s lifetime pass (”which were apparently given out to players who had retired with much acclaim, local sportswriters, or other similar stars,” says Zach). Great stuff. … Florida State will be wearing their black uniforms against Duke next weekend. … The Green Bay Press-Gazette just posted a small gallery of Packers photos from 1942. Of particular interest: The ref’s beret (note the separate stripe pattern on the sleeve cuff, too), the uniforms being worn by the Western Army All-Stars (they’re the ones with the stripes), and these totally cool dusters.
As you know, I’ve been trying to compile a list of teams with unique messages printed on their nose bumpers. That project is still ongoing (contributions still welcome), but along the way it’s yielded an interesting anomaly, thanks to the research efforts of reader Daniel Weimann.
Weimann was looking through photos of Division III teams (a smart move, since I suspect the best nose bumper material will be lurking amidst the D2, D3, and high school ranks) when he came upon Saint John’s, a D3 school in Minnesota. There’s nothing particularly unusual about the school’s nose bumper — it just reads, “Saint John’s.” The unusual thing is right above the bumper, where each player is wearing his name.
I’ve never seen anything like this, unless you count the tape stripes that many NFL teams use during training camp. It looks reaaaaaallly Mickey Mouse, especially on the Johnnies’ white road uni, where the combination of the name decal and the solid-white uni creates the unmistakable impression of a Wednesday-afternoon practice session. The luckiest guy on the team is clearly the fella in the middle of this photo, because his name is short enough to be relatively inconspicuous (especially compared to his lengthily surnamed teammate in the foreground).
Even more curiously, Saint John’s doesn’t use player names on its jerseys, either at home or on the road. So the helmet decals are the players’ only name-based identification. Do they use first initials for same-surnamed players? Have they ever had to use compressed typography for really long names? And it must be discouraging to see your family name get all scuffed and scratched and nicked, no? And most importantly, if you insist on putting names on the helmet, why not put them on the back? If anyone knows the story behind this, please fill us in.
If you want to see more pics, there’s a good collection of photo galleries here. Meanwhile, as an aside, we can add the Saint John’s logo to our list of creative uses of negative space.
Update: Shortly after today’s entry went up, Vince reminded me that Jeannette High School in Pennsylvania also puts player names on the front of the helmet, although they use smaller script lettering, as seen here, here, and here.
Intern Alert: In case you missed it yesterday, I’m in the market for a new intern. For details, scroll down to the “Help Wanted” section of yesterday’s post.
Uni Watch News Ticker:Page 2 has a big “Innovations” package running today, and I contributed a piece about bullpen car(t)s (not sure what time it’s being posted — certainly by early afternoon, maybe much sooner). My thanks to all of you who contributed info on this topic over the past week. … Notre Dame will wear green throwback jerseys and gold pants this Saturday, in honor of the 1977 championship team. The effect will presumably be something like this. … Nebraska is abandoning its ritual of having defensive starters wear black shirts during practice. Details here. … Excellent story here on the history of football helmet industry — highly recommended (with thanks to Richard Craig). … More good volleyball socks here (with thanks to Eric Martin). … According to an item on this page, Wild enforcer Derek Boogaard had two more jerseys tear on him Sunday night (with thanks to Jeff Barak). … I know some of you think I go on a bit much about logo creep, but come on (thanks, Vince). … Someone whose name I’ve misplaced (sorry about that) sent me this baseball card, which shows quite a gap between the number and the nameplate. … When the Rockies wear their black vests in the World Series (which will probably be every game, since neither the Indians nor the Red Sox have a black jersey), they’ll apparently wear the WS logo patch on their chests, not on their undershirt sleeves. … I might make an exception to my purple rule for the Cornell Rams of Cornell College, Iowa (with thanks to Noel Blaha). … We all know the Browns wear an “AL” memorial patch for Al Lerner. But David VanSlyke has noticed a detail I’ve never been aware of: “For game-issued jerseys from 2006 (not sure about other seasons), the ‘AL’ has an ever-so subtle script ‘E,’ which I believe stands for Edward — as in Alfred Edward Lerner.” … NSFW alert: I’ll be attending a sports-themed burlesque show on Friday night. Looks like they’ll be making some creative uses of uniforms. … Major find here: I’d occasionally heard that Deacon Jones had worn just his first name on his jersey while playing for the Chargers, but I’d never seen visual evidence of it — until now (big kudos to Gyula Nemeth). … Central and South American teams often use ads instead of nameplates. But Jean Oliva reports that the Cibao Giants of the Dominican Winter League have taken a different approach: They’re using ads instead of uni numbers. Numbers appear only on the front of the jersey (sorry, no photo of that).
The Patriots are setting all sorts of offensive records this season, but they may also be leading the league in unusual regulatory sanctions. First there was the video-spying incident. And now comes the news that two of the Pats — including Tom Brady — have been fined for not buckling their chinstraps.
Players have been going partially unsnapped for years now, of course (for further details on this and other aspects of chinstrap protocol, look here), a problem that the league has apparently made a concerted effort to eradicate this season. League officials say the issue is safety, not style, but I kinda think that’s just a smokescreen. After all, a few players still wear the old two-point strap, so wouldn’t this still offer more protection than the two-pointer? Methinks to NFL brain trust just doesn’t like seeing those straps flapping around out there.
The league is supposedly issuing chinstrap warnings before levying penalties, which means anyone fined for this infraction is a de facto serial offender. That’s hard to believe in Brady’s case, at least based on the photographic record. Do a Google image search on him and about 90% of the pics that come up show him fully buckled, with only the occasional exception. Sudden thought: Most of the players going unsnapped these days are black (including Ty Warren, the other Patriot who’s been fined). Could the league have singled out Brady simply to avoid charges of racism? Hmmmmm.
Speaking of Warren, he was fined for going unsnapped in the Pats’ game against the Bills on September 23rd. Must not have made a particularly big impression on him, because he was unsnapped again this past Sunday.
For more info on these and other uni infractions, visit our friends at UniformViolation.com.
Intern Position Available: I’m pretty much a self-sufficient guy. I work for myself, and by myself, at home. Delegating has never been my strong suit. When something needs to be done, I’d usually rather do it myself than explain the task to someone else.
About a year ago, however, I was lucky enough to encounter someone who helped bring me out of my shell — someone who showed me that I don’t always have to do everything myself, that it’s okay to trust others, and that I don’t need to maintain complete autonomy over every little thing. For the first time in ages, I allowed myself to surrender a bit of control. I don’t mind admitting that I was a bit nervous about it at first, but in the end it turned out to be an eye-opening experience.
And that’s how I started dating Jenny Strasburg. Lovely gal, but it didn’t work out. Too bad.
Oh, and around that same time I hired Vince Grzegorek to be the first Uni Watch intern. Pretty good hire, right? But after nearly a year of making my life easier and making Uni Watch a much better project than it would otherwise have been, he’s now getting ready to move onward and upward in the media world. So I’m gonna need a new assistant, starting roughly at the end of November.
Here’s the deal: I’m looking for someone who’s passionate about sports in general and uniforms in particular (duh), with a really good eye for detail (double-duh) and an affinity for historical minutiae. A big part of the job involves research, so please be adept at creative googling, willing to go to the library, and unafraid to pick up the phone and call a team’s media relations office. The right person will also be a good writer who wants to become even better, will have some interest (and maybe proficiency) in graphic design, and will be willing to commit substantial time and energy in return for no pay and meager non-cash benefits (how’s that for a great deal?). Ideally, this person will also have a bunch of wonderful qualities that I didn’t even realize I was looking for. Helpful but not essential: HTML literacy, Mac fluency, NYC-area residency.
Also: If you don’t have good writing or research skills but live in NYC and still want to help out, I’d be willing to sign someone on to assist with other tasks, like processing membership orders and basic site maintenance. I promise you’ll never have to make me coffee, primarily because I don’t drink coffee. I make no promises about asking you to run out for a 12-pack of Diet Coke, however.
Interested? Then e-mail me with a short explanation of why you’re the right person for the job. Please note that I don’t want to see your résumé, I don’t care how big your jersey collection is, and it makes no difference to me whether you’ve been reading Uni Watch since 1999 or just discovered it last week. I simply want to hear you tell me why you’re the right choice to be my right-hand man (or woman, as the case might be).
Finally, if you want to learn more about the job from the guy who currently holds it, feel free to e-mail Vince with any questions. He’ll be happy to give you the inside scoop, and he’ll keep your discussions confidential if you don’t want me to know about them.
Uni Watch News Ticker: USC’s John David Booty is trying to protect his broken middle finger with a glove. … While looking for a FNOB photo of Brent Sutter, Chesky Bevo came across this. What’s that symbol above the uni numbers? … Captaincy note from Giants equipment director Joe Skiba: “The NFL sent us blue [captain's] patches for home and road jerseys, and some red ones for the red jerseys. But I called the league and got permission to use the red patches for the away uniforms. Are we the only team with two different-colored patches?” Not sure — anyone..? … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Daniel Sedin was showing some garter the other night. … Also from yesterday: As if NHL players haven’t been complaining enough about too much moisture ending up in their gloves and skates, there’s now talk of them using heated skate blades. No, really! And Wayne Gretzky’s a big fan. … Thank god we’re more than halfway through the month of October, which means all pink uniforms will soon be behind us. For now, though, Sharks goalie prospect Thomas Greiss is wearing a pink mask. Details about two-thirds of the way down this page (with thanks to Paul Locatelli). … Loads of NHL patches for sale here. … Longtime Uni Watch pal Kevin Walsh is showcasing some awesome terra cotta uniforms on about two-thirds of the way down this page on his awesome site, Forgotten NY. … Nick Maibroda reports that NASCAR driver Patrick Carpentier was given a Canadiens jersey with NASCAR-style numbering the other day. … You think maybe Indians pitcher Jenson Lewis’s parents have a lot of furniture from these guys? … Oregon has been practicing in white helmets this week, and the white lids (which appear to have green nose bumpers) may finally make their long-threatened game debut this weekend. Details here (with thanks to Dan Coleman). … Paul Locatelli notes that Joe Thornton’s helmet appears to have a old-style downward-sloping NHL logo, not the new version. … This year’s World Series cap patch will look like this. … Lots of great White Sox uni footage, from many different eras, in the second half of this video. … Bizarre and disturbing photo here (as spotted by Eric Distenfeld).
There are certain topics that seem to come up every few weeks in the comments section. One of them is the issue of players who’ve worn their full names — first and last — on their jerseys. Many examples have been put forth over the course of various discussions, but nobody’s tried to compile a comprehensive list. I’m going to try to begin one now, with the proviso that this is just a starting point — I’m hoping we can all make lots of additions as they occur to us.
Oh, and before we get to the list: For years I’ve used wording like “names on the backs of jerseys” and “player names on uniforms,” even though there’s a simple abbreviation available: NOB, which stands for “name on back.” Teams like the Yankees have NNOB, or “no name on back.” I’ve always resisted using these two terms in a Uni Watch context, because they seemed too jargon-y and are used primarily by collectors of game-used memorabilia, which has never been my scene. But now I’m giving in and accepting them, plus I’m inaugurating a new term to the lexicon: FNOB, for “full name on back.” Cool? Cool.
Now then, here’s the beginning of our FNOB list, broken down by sport:
Football: The classic example of the FNOB on the gridiron remains Jim and Jack Youngblood, conveniently captured together in this photo. While their first and last names were stacked, more recent NFL FNOBs have taken the one-line approach, as seen in these photos of Darrent Williams, Mike Anderson, Tank Johnson, and Dave Brown (as you can sorta see here and here).
Basketball:Isiah Thomas had a stacked FNOB at one point during his career. But that can’t compare with the typographic mishmash sported by Marques Johnson, whose FNOB wasn’t just stacked — it was straight on top and arched below. (Special thanks to Todd Krevanchi for bringing both of these to my attention.)
Hockey: As discussed in the comments section a few weeks ago, the Howe family had lots of FNOB action during their days with the Aeros and Whalers. Rangers teammates/siblings Dave and Don Maloney also went the FNOB route, although I could only find a good photo of one of them. And I’m fairly certain the Sutter brothers had FNOBs, although I haven’t been able to find any photos yet.
Baseball: The sport that’s usually the richest source of material for any uni-related discussion is oddly barren on the subject of FNOBs. I’m pretty sure Andy and Alan Benes wore their full names at some point when they were both on the Cardinals, but I haven’t found any photos, and I can’t think of any other FNOB examples from the diamond, although I’m fairly certain there must be others. Help me out here, people — what am I overlooking? (Bonus points to my ESPN.com colleague Bomani Jones, who says, “If Jarrod Saltalamacchia had a twin brother named James and the Rangers signed him, something tells me they’d have to find a new uniform guy.”)
However long our list ends up being, I think we can all agree that it’s already too long, because FNOBs almost always look like crap. I can make an exception for the Youngblood brothers, especially since their first names were smaller than their surnames (in terms of both length and type size), lending a certain elegance to their stacked FNOBs. But almost every other example I showed is an eyesore. I mean, c’mon, was anyone ever gonna mistake Gordie Howe for one of his kids? Jeez.
Major Hosiery Discovery!: Late last night, this photo was posted in the comments section. The intended point was that yet another team used Dymo Tape labels to keep track of their helmets, but I immediately noticed the seams in Frank Robinson’s stirrups. For years I’ve been writing that Robbie had extra material sewn into his stirrups so he could pull them up higher (this was first reported in Ball Four, and I’ve essentially been repeating that claim), but this is the first time I’ve ever seen photographic confirmation of it. Viva visual documentation!
Roster Restoration Update: I’ve now restored about 65 of the 90 names that were recently wiped off of the membership roster by a software glitch. That still leaves about 25 to go, and I’d like to get as many of them as possible. So if you haven’t already done so, all members should PLEASE check the roster listing. If you don’t see your name there, e-mail me your name, membership uni number, membership level, and why you chose your number. If your name linked to a photo, please re-send it. And if you’d like to help speed up the process a bit more, pick out your card from the design gallery and send me its URL. Big thanks for everyone’s help.
As for today’s showcase card, it’s based on, of course, your current Stanley Cup champions.
Uni Watch News Ticker: It took about 17 seconds for many, many readers to determine that the photo on this 1968 baseball card was taken at the 1964 All-Star Game. The clue? The seats in the background are from Shea Stadium, site of the ’64 ASG. Thanks to all who helped solve the mystery. … Longtime Uni Watch pal (and mascot stalker) Liz Clayton recently took this photo of a woman wearing Cubs earrings. … I think I’ve finally figured out the inspiration behind the new NFL ref jerseys. … Yesterday’s entry about alpha-numeric uni numbers led Ian McLarty to remind me about netball, a girls’ sport popular in many British commonwealth countries. Instead of uni numbers, the players wear letters designating their positions. Details on the sport’s uniform history are here. … And then there’s this, from Bob Jaye: “In a college all-star game following the 1971 season (Senior Bowl, perhaps), the South team had two quarterbacks who’d both worn No. 7 during their stellar careers. So Florida’s John Reaves wore 7R and Auburn’s Pat Sullivan wore 7S, respectively. Unfortunately, I can’t find a photo.” … I’m not sure how I’ve gotten this far without knowing about eFootage, but it’s a friggin’ gold mine of old stock footage. Simple case in point: this five-minute recap of the 1952 NFL Pro Bowl, which features red, white, and blue goalposts, red officials’ uni numbers, and Lenny Moore’s white spats, among other highlights. Loads of other stuff lurking in the eFootage archives, too – have fun poking around (with thanks to Ronnie Poore). … The Cleveland Plain Dealer invited readers to redesign the Indians’ uniform, and the results aren’t pretty (thanks, Vince). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Vincent Jackson wore sky blue cleats on Sunday, and there’s no way that simple spat job is gonna save him from a fine. … Matthew Self has put together an excellent slide show of old SMU football photos. Check out all 31 pics here. … Decent article here about the uniform numbers worn by assorted L.A.-based athletes (with thanks to Eric Borer). … Cool note from Wayne Yeung, who’s one lucky fella: “My girlfriend is part of the Columbia University Business School’s women’s touch rugby team, and she recently sent me a photo of their team’s awesome hosiery.” Man, two different ribbing patterns! … Speaking of hosiery, check out the socks worn by the Bondurant-Farrar Ladyjays high school volleyball team, from Bondurant, Iowa. … Do you know what widgets are? Yeah, neither do I, but those of you who do will presumably be interested in HockeyWidgets.com, which according to Adam Tilsner has “a calendar with a different jersey for each day. The site has around 9,000 jerseys to choose from. There’s also a widget to display any jersey in their database. They have widgets for Yahoo dashboard as well.” I have exactly zero idea what any of this is about, but I’m sure those of you who aren’t as elderly tech-clueless as I am bring us up to speed. … Here’s something you don’t see very often: two-color football socks with the white on top instead of below (with thanks to David Chisholm). … Good catch by Chris Skumin, who notes that Mike Timlin’s left-sleeve piping goes right through the Majestic logo. … Corey Davis notes that Sabres goalie Jocelyn Thibault is still wearing this mask from his Penguins day, complete with his old uni number. … Get ready for a new rallying cry of “Ditch the black!” this Thursday, because Anthony Tessein says Rutgers will be wearing black jerseys to go alone with the black pants they wore last Saturday. So much for the “Scarlet” Knights. … Cheri Chandler has posted an unusual bit of family history — a Canton Bulldogs patch supposedly salvaged from her husband’s great-grandfather’s letterman jacket — here. … Latest System of Dreck team: Washington. … If you were posing for a team portrait, why would you wear your jersey backwards? (As spotted by Andy Beaton.) … Reprinted from last night’s comments: The Seahawks’ green sleeve piping was missing from Matt Hasselbeck’s jersey on Sunday. … Guess which city I won’t be visiting today.
Roster Restoration Update: We’re still missing 17 names from the membership roster (in case you’ve missed it, about 90 names were wiped off the list by a software glitch, and I’ve been trying to get everything back to normal). So if you haven’t already done so, all enrolled members should PLEASE check the 
Roster Restoration Update: I’ve now restored about 65 of the 90 names that were recently wiped off of the membership roster by a software glitch. That still leaves about 25 to go, and I’d like to get as many of them as possible. So if you haven’t already done so, all members should PLEASE check the 
