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Archive for January, 2008
On the “Dressed to the Nines” page devoted to patches, there’s a small paragraph that reads as follows:
In 1945, former servicemen Peanuts Lowrey, Paul Gillespie and Mickey Livingston of the Chicago Cubs were each allowed to wear a special honorable discharge patch, affectionately known as the “ruptured duck,” on their sleeve. Though other clubs discussed the idea, apparently no other players donned these patches.
There are no photos accompanying that text, and I’d never seen a shot of the patch in question until a few days ago, when I got a note from reader Daniel Ostroff-Moskowitz. “I recently went to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, where they have an exhibit on baseball during the war,” he wrote. “I saw these pictures which I found to be interesting.” Sure enough, that’s the ruptured duck being worn by Lowrey, Gillespie, and Livingston.
But what intrigued me more was the museum’s exhibit caption, which Daniel also photographed. As you can see, it mentions a letter that expressed concern about “how those players who didn’t serve [in the war] might be received and even ostracized by fans due to the patch,” which is apparently why the patch wasn’t used by other teams. Unfortunately, Daniel didn’t photograph the letter itself, which I was curious to see.
So I contacted Tom Shieber at the Hall of Fame. Sure enough, he had the letter (which, incidentally, was sent by American League prexy Will Harridge to representatives of four of the eight A.L. clubs, not to National League teams as stated in the museum caption). Since it’s hard to read at that size, here’s a transcript:
July 17, 1945
Messrs. Harry Grabiner
Donald L. Barnes
Jack Zeller
Alva Bradley
Gentlemen:
I enclose herewith sample of the emblem which the War Department has issued to be worn by boys honorably discharged from the service. The sample I am sending you was prepared by the Chicago Embrodiery [sic] Company, which furnished the shield now worn by our ball players.
One Major League Club, at least, The Chicago Cubs, has this emblem attached to the uniform of their players honorably discharged. I will leave it to your judgment as to whether or not this is desirable. There are two sides to it, of course. It may attract too much attention to players who, through no fault of their own, did not enter the service.
If you desire any of the emblems, we will be glad to furnish them on receipt of advice with the number.
As I had only four samples, will ask that you return the enclosed at the earliest possible date so that I can contact the four eastern clubs.
With best wishes, I am
Sincerely yours,
{Signature} Will Harridge {End of signature}
President
There are several remarkable things about this letter, but the one that stands out is Harridge’s recognition that healthy patriotism can often mutate into ugly jingoism. It’s hard to imagine any league president or commissioner exhibiting that kind of foresight and courage today, in an era where some folks treat American flag lapel pins as loyalty litmus tests.
A few other notes regarding the ruptured duck:
• Although “Dressed to the Nines” states that only three Cubs wore the patch, Todd Radom has come up with a fourth: Hiram Bithorn.
• Red Ruffing of the Yankees also wore the patch. No photo, though.
• Finally, take a look at that patch. It’s an eagle, not a duck, and what exactly is “ruptured” about it? According to Wikipedia, the term’s genesis is unknown — but that’s, y’know, Wikipedia. Anyone know more about this?
NYC Party Info: Okay, we’re good to go for a Brooklyn Uni Watch party on Saturday, February 2nd (the day before the Super Bowl). We’ll convene at 2:30 p.m. at Sheep Station, an Aussie-themed pub with plenty of beer choices, a short but excellent menu of chow options, and plenty of room to stretch out. See you there. OK? OK.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Remember how I didn’t have any photos to go with yesterday’s lead entry? Still don’t have any, but we now have a video clip that shows exactly what was going on (big thanks to Mike King). … Got an interesting note yesterday from Orlando Rodriguez, who writes: “With Monday being the Martin Luther King Day, it reminded me of a period when Arizona didn’t have an official MLK holiday (which led the rap group Public Enemy to cancel their sold-out concert in Phoenix), so the Arizona basketball team wore an MLK patch on their uniforms and warm-ups. I remember the first time I saw it, it looked like it said MILK (I was probably around 10 years old). Have any other teams taken a political stance on jerseys?” … David Kranz reports that many people on something called the Jam Cruise (which sounds like a nightmare and a half) were wearing these bizarre-o glitter helmets. Where’s that giant iceberg when you need it? … Lots of gorgeous views here of a game-used 1965 Reds vest, complete with subscript NOB (with thanks to Robert Eden). … As many of you know, the WFL briefly experimented with position-specific pant designs. Whenever that topic comes up, the photo that people refer to is always this one. Anyone got any others? … Some genius on YouTube has come to the brilliant conclusion that authentic NBA jerseys might not be such a good bargain. … Glynn McGehee noticed Georgia Tech wearing some cool sneakers the other day. As always, I’m too sneaker-clueless to know whether these are actually a new design, so I consulted our own Todd Krevanchi, who says, “That shoe is the Nike Zoom BB. The schools that wear these shoes often get exclusive colorways. USC has recently been wearing a maroon/yellow version, which readers on the Nike Talk blog have described as ‘Ronald McDonald’ shoes.” … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The New York Post ran an interview with R. W. McQuarters on Sunday. Here’s the uni-pertinent part: “Q: [What's up with] the SpongeBob bandage you used to wear under your right eye? A: Last year was Dora, SpongeBob and a little bit of Scooby-Doo. So this year, it was Hello Kitty, but I ran out of Hello Kitty Band-Aids, so in my bag I just had a bunch of Band-Aids from last year, and I pulled out one and it happened to be SpongeBob. Q: Why under the right eye? A: Demond Parker, we went to the same high school, and our first varsity game he said, ‘Man, we’re gonna wear a Band-Aid up under the right eye.’ I don’t know what it meant.” Man, is that a contender for World’s Least Satisfying Interview Segment Ever or what? … Good article here about the Canadiens’ equipment manager (with thanks to Casey B). … Monday’s Ticker item about old NFL kiddie merch prompted Thomas Turner to send in some photos from his own collection, including these Rawlings helmets (note the black Saints model, which was only used during the 1969 preseason), these MacGregor helmet, and this MacGregor ad. Surprised to see Johnny U. wearing a MacGreger lid — did he ever wear one on the field? Thought he was strictly a Riddell man. … Not uni-related, but Vince just pointed me toward this site which is full of college poll-ranking info — recommended. … The annoying and thoroughly unacceptable advertising sleeve patch worn by the A’s and Red Sox for their season-opening series in Japan will look like this. Depressing details here. … Great contribution from Chris Cruz, who reports that the Emerald City Gazette uses soccer jerseys to denote its issue numbers, as seen here and here (lots of additional examples here). I really, really like that. … Much worse (although in a sort of delicious kind of way) is the All Sports Band, an unlistenable hard-rock outfit dressed in athletic garb. Major points to anyone who can get though this entire video clip without puking (blame Tom Richards, not me). … Decent article here about NASCAR auto numbers (courtesy of Adam deNobriga). … Interesting observation from James DeFrank, who writes: “This week’s Senior Bowl features something that I can’t ever recall seeing in an all-star-type game: Two of the North’s quarterbacks are Chad Henne of Michigan and Joe Flacco of Delaware, who wear nearly identical helmets (just a different shade of blue). During practice this week, it appears that the coaches, organizers, or even Flacco himself have decided to distinguish Flacco from Henne by outfitting him in a generic white helmet. Unfortunately I can’t find a picture but the white helmet is seen and even mentioned in a video clip on this page.” … Special thanks to the several readers I saw at last night’s Union Hall event — good times.
January 23rd, 2008
It’s not often that I run a lead item with no photo links. But reader Mark Snider sent me a really interesting communiqué the other day, and it deserves showcase treatment, even without pics. Check it out:
The Idaho Stampede of the NBA Development League recently hosted the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. It was the Stampede’s NBA Affiliate Night [a promotion designed to highlight the relationship between NBA clubs and their D-League affiliates], so Idaho was wearing the black road uniforms of their NBA Affiliate, the Portland Trail Blazers, and the Mad Ants wore the red uniforms of the Detroit Pistons.
But Mouhamed Sene, assigned to the Stampede by their other NBA affiliate, the Seattle Super Sonics, wore his green road Sonics uniform. Turns out that the Sonics didn’t want their contracted player wearing the colors of their division (and Pacific Northwest) rivals from Portland. So at times, you had Idaho players wearing black and green uniforms, with Fort Wayne’s team in red. Unfortunately, no photos of the game yet.
There was a similar situation earlier in the season, when Idaho was on the road and was supposed to wear their Sonics uniforms in a game at Rio Grande Valley, where the Vipers were wearing yellow New Orleans Hornets uniforms. But Idaho had an assigned player from Portland, and the Blazers didn’t want him wearing Seattle’s colors. So Idaho wore their regular road red uniforms instead. Apparently the D-League and NBA didn’t take into account assigned NBA players from different teams when they established the NBA Affiliate Nights.
Interestingly, Brian Thompson reports that a similar case of bad planning unfolded at a recent Ontario Hockey League game:
In conjunction with the Windsor Spitfires’ final year at historic Windsor Arena, they’ve brought back their 1950s jerseys for Sunday games. But the Plymouth Whalers only brought their white jerseys to last Sunday’s game, so after the first period the officials made the Spitfires switch to their red jerseys, which happened to clash with their retro socks.
I’m sure there’s a lesson here of some sort, but I’m too busy obsessing over the fact that there’s simply no excuse for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants’ uniforms not to use this fabric for their uniforms. I happen to have several yards of the stuff (that photo is actually a scan of the material) — anyone want to make a jersey out of it?
Annals of Human Folly, Vol. 879,351: Remember that chunk of plastic that came off of Ahmad Bradshaw’s helmet on Sunday? Giants equipment director Joe Skiba tells me he actually picked up the wayward fragment from the Lambeau Field turf — and then threw it away.
Are you fucking kidding me?! Here’s an artifact with “Hall of Fame Exhibit” written all over it, and Skiba treats it like a cigarette butt. As Scott Turner remarked when I told him about this tragicomic turn of events, “Why didn’t he just chuck the Mona Lisa in the trash while he was at it?”
I fully expect the next edition of Skiba’s online video series to address this woeful error in judgment. But I won’t be around to see it, because I’m so distraught over this episode that I’m about to go put my head in the oven.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I love The Power Puff Girls, and apparently so does R.W. McQuarters. I was pretty sure he rotated his cartoon Band-Aids from game to game, but this is the first time I’ve seen a clear shot of him wearing a non-SpongeBob strip. Also, I didn’t know this, but McQuarters’s Band-Aid ritual dates all the way back to his college days at Oklahoma State, as you can see in this 1996 shot (which was kindly provided by Clint Spaulding). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: At the 58-second point of this video clip, you can see one of those chemical hand-warmer thingies fall out of Brett Favre’s pocket. … Just when you thought you’d seen everything (with thanks to Chris Flinn). … Interesting mystery uncovered by John English, who sent along this photo gallery from the 1979 American League Red Book. As you can see, two of the Chisox players have red-brimmed batting helmets — never seen that before. Anyone know more about this? … Ewww. … Double-ewww. … All those Packers wearing sewn-in pockets on their jerseys prompted Noel Blaha to send in this shot of Benie Kosar — note the high pocket placement. “During the cold-weather games, one of his hands would seemingly be on top of the other in two different pockets, rather than one pouch,” writes Noel. … “You recently mentioned that the New York Rangers wore three different colored jerseys during a practice,” writes Danny Kroll. “But yesterday here in Pittsburgh, the Capitals wore six different colors during their morning skate.” … Remember, I’ll be deconstructing the finer points of trade magazines tonight at Union Hall in Park Slope, 8 p.m.
January 22nd, 2008
[Editor's Note: As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of the writings of Dave "Large" Larzelere, which appear daily on the No Mas blog. He e-mailed me during yesterday's Giants/Packers tilt to say he was feeling rather uni-inspired and asked if he could pen today's lead entry, an offer I was only too happy to accept. Here's his essay; my own report follows after his. -- PL]
By Large
Could any true football fan of a certain age who watched the Packers/Giants game last night honestly say that their enjoyment wasn’t keenly heightened by the mere sight of those two iconic uniforms doing battle against the freezing backdrop of Lambeau Field? The way the colors and logos so vividly hearkened to championship games played by these same two teams in the NFL’s glory years lent an inescapable air of nostalgia to the contest and a powerful sense of the sport’s past being present, a feeling that all too often seems lacking in this day and age of the league’s generally wretched marketing aesthetic.
The fact that the Giants wore their whites and the Packers their home green-and-yellows made for an interesting historical note, for it gave them a striking likeness to their 1961 NFL Championship showdown at Lambeau (then called City Stadium), which the Pack won in a Paul Hornung-fest, 37-0. That was an important year for Green Bay, marking the first NFL title of the Lombardi era, and it was also an important year for both the Packers’ and Giants’ uniforms, with each team wearing helmet logos for the first time — the very same logos they wore last night. Of course, the Packers only ever have sported one logo on their helmets, while that classic Giants helmet logo survived until 1975 and made its triumphant return in 2000.
For a generational uni-comparison, check out this shot of Frank Gifford and this shot of Hornung in their teams’ respective ’60s road and home looks, and then move on to Lawrence Tynes and Brett Favre yesterday. The colors are certainly brighter now, particularly with the Packers, and there are many subtle differences that I’m sure the average Uni Watch devotee is far more hip to than I am. The overall similarity is amazing, though. So when, I wonder, is the last time that an NFL playoff game was reprised almost a half century later and saw the two teams looking so similar to their bygone editions?
Well, if it had been left up to the Chargers, the answer to that question might have been “Oh, a couple hours earlier.” The championship game history between the Packers and Giants got a lot of press last week, while the same history between San Diego and the Pats was largely ignored. The great Chargers of the John Hadl-to-Lance Alworth era beat the then-Boston Patriots 51-10 in the 1963 AFL Championship Game at San Diego’s great Balboa Stadium. I managed to find only one picture of a Pats/Bolts game from that season, but it’s from an exhibition played in August. Anybody out there have pictures from the 1963 AFL title game? Of course, even if the Chargers were in white for that game — a uniform whose jersey and helmet would at least bear a passing resemblance to they sported yesterday the Pats couldn’t hold up their end of the time-travel bargain in any way whatsoever. Such a shame that the best of yesterday’s four teams was by far the weakest link in the uniform department. To that, I say: Help them, Pat Patriot, you’re their only hope.
Chip Off the Old Blockhead: Paul here. Gotta love how the paint and decals were flying yesterday at Lambeau. Brandon Jacobs’s “ny” logo got seriously torn, but we’ve seen that happen a jillion times this season. The real story was Ahmad Bradshaw, who not only lost one of his front helmet numerals but also had a helmet collision for the ages in the fourth quarter, when a big chip of paint, decal, and maybe brain matter came loose, peeled off, and went flying (here’s another view), leaving Bradshaw with a badly scarred lid (additional pics here, here, and here).
Better yet, in case you missed the play, we’ve got it on video. Check it out here.
Coupla other NFL notes:
• How much do I love stripes? So much that I kinda dig those undershirts that the teams were wearing yesterday.
• What the hell was Favre using on his nose?
• For those who are wondering: Pats are the designated home team for the Super Bowl, and will presumably wear their blue jerseys, meaning the Jints will wear white.
(Extra-special thanks to Ryan Whitacre, James Wortham, and Bobby O’Brien for their screen grabs, and to Matt Moschella for the video clip.)
Raffle Results: The winner of the $250 gift card from Distant Replays is Patrick Stickney, who should contact me to claim his prize. Thanks to all who entered, and watch for more raffles coming soon.
Friendly Reminder for NYCers: I’ll be presenting a lecture/performance on the pleasures of obscure trade magazines (like, say, this, this, this, this, and this) tomorrow nite at 8 p.m. at Union Hall in Park Slope. Four other people will be discussing similarly eccentric and entertaining topics (like this one), and the event is free. Hope to see lots of you there.
Uni Watch News Ticker: By now most of you know that many Cowboys players tie their jerseys to their shoulder pads. But that’s nothing compared to this old high school shot. Love the Band-Aid on the forehead, too (with thanks to Steven Brown). … Our recent discussion of prototypes prompted JD Denison to send along this. I have my doubts as to its authenticity, but it’s still pretty cool. … The Air Jordan XXIII will apparently feature an argyle pattern, presumably as part of a UNC tribute (with thanks to Seth Snyder). … Larry Weiderecht sent along some vintage uniform ads the other day. First there’s this one, for Rawlings youth football attire. Love how the text mentions that the jerseys “are great for just knocking around in between games” — still a novel concept at that time. Then there’s this one. Interestingly, the text notes that “16 major league teams suit up in Wilson uniforms … 9 for both home and road.” It had never occurred to me that a team might have different outfitters for their home and road unis. Why would that be the case? Anyone..? … Speaking of kids’ uniforms and related merchandising, check out all the great material Jon Helfenstein has assembled here (click on the individual images for larger versions) — addictive stuff. … Jeremy Brahm is intrigued by the logo for the 2008 FIVB World Congress: “The panels form a U, an A, and an E, for ‘United Arab Emirates,’ where the Congress will be held.” … Also from Jeremy: a gallery of Naomi Yotsumoto’s table tennis outfits (she’s featured in the shots with the green boxes). … Jeremy also notes that Ricoh is sponsoring MLB’s season-opening series between the Red Sox and A’s, which presumably means we’ll be seeing advertising on the sleeves and helmets again — ugh. … Lots of new MLS uniforms were unveiled at Friday’s draft (with thanks to Steven Lewis). … According to this item, the Raptors are working on an alternate jersey for next season. … The Bobcats wore special NASCAR-themed alternate uniforms on Saturday (additional views here and here). I’d been told about these before the season started but wasn’t allowed to talk about them and had forgotten about the whole thing until I saw the pics. I generally like checkerboard patterns, but the NASCAR connection is way too forced. And besides, shouldn’t the Pacers have first dibs on racing-related tie-ins? Not one of the NBA’s better ideas. … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: North Dakota State had a really interesting football uni back in the late ’60s. On first glance it looks like they’re wearing short white sleeves with longer-sleeved undershirts, but it’s actually all one piece with contrast-colored upper sleeves. … Roman Karmazin, fighting on the Trinidad/Jones undercard, wore the name of slain NYPD officer Ruslan Timoshenko on his trunks Saturday night. … Karmazin’s opponent, Alex Bunema, was wearing one of those annoying loincloth/skirt getups, and so did another undercard fighter, DeMarcus Corley. … And let’s not even get into this guy (although it’s worth noting that he had a Yankees logo on his trunks). … “The U.S. men’s national soccer team beat Sweden, 2-0, on Saturday night,” writes Andrew Ghassemian. For some reason, Landon Donovan (our captain) decided to go with the orange cleats.” … Japanese golfer Ryo Ishikawa, who wore camouflage pants as an amateur last year, will not be allowed to wear them on the Japanese pro tour (with thanks to, of course, Jeremy Brahm). … Good article here about QBs and gloves (with thanks to David Sonny). … Faaaascinating article here about how Flying Elvis was designed, although the designer and the guy who wrote the article both seem to think that Elvis is cool and that Pat Patriot was lame, which should give you an idea of how clueless they both are. … Chris Yandle reports that Louisiana’s basketball team wore NOBs on Saturday night, after going NNOB this season up until then. … UConn wore silver-gray alternates yesterday. … Happy MLK Day, folks. I have a dream of a world without logo creep, of a Mets uniform set featuring only orange, blue, and white, and of the New York Football Giants winning one more championship for my old man, a lifelong Jints fan who turns 84 this week and probably never thought he’d get to see his team in another Super Bowl. Whoo-hoo, Big Blue!
January 21st, 2008
They should probably rethink this whole college basketball thing. Texas A&M in black, Kansas State in … white, I guess. Bad doesn’t do it justice. On an otherwise delightful day in college basketball, this is unfortunately an enduring image. Unless, of course, you’re like me. Through several hours of deep concentration (I found a self-study tape on eBay; had to buy a cassette-tape player, but it was totally worth it), I now have no recollection of Saturday. Ignorance is bliss, friends.
But I took notes in order to bring you this. That’s Baylor’s Tweety Carter (No. 20) in what is likely the blood jersey. His usual number is 45 and the Bears are an NOB team. Plus, dig the Nebraska cheerleaders in the background. Cool socks, even though they’re Adidas stripes.
I’m going to put the finishing touches on my igloo today. Projected high in Omaha: 17, with 20mph wind and snow showers. Awesome. — Bryan
January 20th, 2008
The man in this tableau is James Goodloe, which matters more for identification purposes than for storytelling. Anyway, he’s shown readying his electric football squad before a game in December. Come Jan. 24-25, he and other like-minded individuals will participate in the 14th Annual Electric Football World Championship and Convention in Detroit.
The actual AP cutline says he’s changing his players’ jerseys from home to away, but given the construction of those little guys, they can’t possibly have removable jerseys, can they? But James does have nail clippers and a pair of pliers on the table there … hmmm (and dig the foam-lined carrying case!). Like Bill Jones, whom Paul profiled in December for a Page 2 article, James has clearly undertaken some serious work here. But while Bill gets to look at all of his gumball machine helmets, James painstakingly lines up his little Chargers, so detailed and exact, and then flips the switch, sending the board into a state of chaos resembling a middle school marching band’s first practice.
Seems like a small reward for something that took so long to set up. Or perhaps the enjoyment is in the details. Hey, that sounds familiar …
Have a great Saturday, folks. — Bryan
January 19th, 2008
By Bryan Redemske
There’s a guy in my office who rattles off lineups and stats when you start talking about baseball teams from the 1950s and ’60s. There’s another guy who talks about the various stadiums teams played in. Me, of course, I think of uniforms. And not just uniforms, but the way they were styled in particular eras. While the first guy’s mental Rolodex is fluttering from stat to stat, I’m picturing Al Kaline (right). While the second guy talks about the the monuments at Yankee Stadium, I think about the Mick, and how totally awesome he looked in pinstripes.
At this point, both guys usually leave because I’m rubbing my fingers together, eyes closed, and mumbling, “Wool flannel … so pretty … so scratchy … so baggy… .” And so on.
All weirdness on my part aside, this is actually how I think of different eras in sports. Pre-WWII baseball? Longish sleeves soft-crowned hats. And then there’s the ’70s. It’s like a long, tight, polyester nightmare. Things toned down in the ’80s, but the Straw pops into my head every time. Lots of sock, still tight, still slightly garish. For the current era, it’s Manny. Sigh.
Take a minute and consider your own mental filing system. Is your old-school football reference point this guy? The sleeves shortened for Unitas’s era, then the pads got really big in the ’70s. The college kids thought it necessary to show off their abs during that same period, something that continued well through the ’80s and into the ’90s. And that’s how I think of college football through the era — a faceless, teamless guy in big pads with exposed abs.
Three hockey images come to mind: Original Six, expansion/Gretzky, Crosby.
Basketball? Short and tight to longer to ridiculous. And also, unfortunately, shiny. I now generalize the entire high school basketball-playing population because of nylon dazzle fabric.
As a cyclist, I’m forced to render that sport’s past in uniform-based context as well. Really old guys (pre-mid-’50s) all look like this, Eddy Merckx represents almost every rider through the ’70s, and then there’s the tragic ’80s and early ’90s. And then there’s this. He has a category to himself.
Research Projects: Paul here. Earlier this week I posted pics of Marquette’s untucked jerseys. But as someone on the Chris Creamer board pointed out the next day, De Paul also went untucked back around 1981, as seen here and here — I hadn’t been aware of that. Aside from the pajama-era White Sox, have there been any other untucked teams? Obviously, I’m not counting hockey or other sports where the jerseys are meant to be untucked — I’m talking about teams that showed off their shirttails in an otherwise tucked-in league.
Also: Yesterday’s comments included a link to this pink helmet, which is essentially a scarlet letter that has to be worn by the player who comes up on the short end of a scoring game during practice (full details about halfway down this page). So it’s sort of like the pink knapsack routine in baseball, except it’s more uni-based. Can anyone think of any other uni-based scarlet letters?
Raffle Reminder: You know the drill — $250 Distant Replays gift card. E-mail your entry here by 10 p.m. tonight. One e-mail per person. Winner announced on Monday.
Uni Watch News Ticker: “Two CBA teams, the Oklahoma Cavalry and Great Falls Explorers, have had their road uniforms disappear this season,” writes Chuck Miller. “In Oklahoma’s case, fired head coach Micheal Ray Richardson simply took the road unis until he was rehired a week later; in the Great Falls situation, the circumstances are unknown. Anyway, this caused both the Cavalry and Explorers, on the road, to wear the road uniforms of their host teams, as can be seen by these photos of Albany versus Oklahoma (Albany is in the yellow) and Albany hosting Great Falls (ditto).” … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Great gallery of New Jersey high school hockey jerseys here. … We’ve all seen plenty of shots of Cleveland’s elfin mascot, Brownie. Until now, though, I hadn’t seen one where he had spikes on his stockings (with thanks to Brendon Yarian, who also passed along this shot of a Bears jersey with what appears to be an upside-down “3″). … As I mentioned in my ESPN column a few weeks ago, I don’t like uni memorials that include the deceased’s signature — seems a bit creepy. But Motherwall FC in Scotland apparently feels differently, as they’ve just tributed Phil O’Donnell by embroidering his autograph onto their jersey. Full details here (with thanks to Patrick O’Donnell). … Interesting note from Travis Edwards, who writes: “My boss and I were talking about football jerseys, and he had told me about some team (unsure who they were) who used to have footballs on the sides of their jerseys. They used to run the wing offense and when they would run, everyone would have their hands to their sides acting as though they had the ball. Now, was he jerking me around, or can you help me to identify who that team was?” … The Central Hockey League held their All-Star Game a few nights ago, and Scotty Hockey sent along a pic of both uniforms. … Hmmm, separated at birth? (Good find by Ronnie Poore.) … Good note from Steve Shanabruch, who writes: “Twins pitcher Pat Neshek has a blog, and he often has auctions for game-used items. The funny thing is, the winner isn’t the person who bids the most money, it’s the person who offers the best baseball cards (he’s a huge collector). Anyway, one of the recent auctions was for a luggage strap that he used for road games last season, inscribed with the last name ‘Dahmer.’ I figured he was using the name of a serial killer as his alias, but it turns out his alias was ‘Cy Dahmer,’ because if you say it fast, it sounds like ’side-armer,’ which is how he pitches.” … LeBron James has a new sneaker, and Vince has written his take on them. … Yesterday’s lead item regarding prototypes prompted Andrew Schimmel to send in n this shot from the Florida Panthers’ uni unveiling back in May of 1993. “Note that the red sweater has blue numbers with a yellow outline,” he writes. “The Panthers never used this color combo for the red sweater at any point. Also, the gloves have claws printed on them. I would tend to think they weren’t serious about actually using such gloves — I believe it was only for the unveiling ceremony.” A shame, because I think the claws look pretty cool! … Very unusual hoops jersey being worn by Fairfax High in L.A. Here’s another view, with a T-shirt underneath (with thanks to Hunter Franks). … We all know the Lakers wore short shorts a few weeks back. But until now, I didn’t know that there was an “I saw the short shorts” T-shirt, which you can have for your very own (nice find by Matt Shervin). … Latest reason to love Wisconsin. … “Formula 1’s Red Bull Racing unveiled their 2008 car on Wednesday,” reports Dane Drutis. “You can also see David Coulthard and Mark Webber wearing their new fire suits. I believe this is the first time F1 drivers have worn their car numbers on their driving gear. It’s somewhat odd that Coulthard will drive car No 9 but is wearing 09 — why the zero, I wonder? As for the stripe running from right shoulder to right ankle, you be the judge.” Personally, I dig the stripe, but I’m sure that’s no surprise to anyone here. … Latest installment of “Equipped with Joe Skiba” is up on the Giants’ home page, and it’s a really good one — enjoy. … Lots of crazy helmet decal action in this Shrine Game practice photo gallery (with thanks to Nick Noyes). … Latest example of handwritten uni numbers on socks: Denison Cabral of the Baltimore Blast (courtesy of Jen Muller). … Alarming news from Jere Smith, who writes: “I work for a children’s book publisher. One of the books slated to come out in ’09, for kindergartners, is about getting dressed for a baseball game. It shows your basic T-ball outfit, and each page shows a different piece of the uni. When it gets to the all-important ankle-ish area, they’ve put the poor girl in those white socks with the blue vertical stripe down the sides that end at the shoe line. The climactic scene shows the dad appearing, also in full identical uni, right down the fake stirrups.” … I’m going to be out off the grid again for most of today, so contact Bryan if you have any major site problems. I’ll be back on Monday.
January 18th, 2008
New ESPN column today — here’s the link.
Meanwhile: I’ve written several times about uniform prototypes that were produced but never used on the field of play (if you missed my ESPN column on that topic back in August, look here). Now reader Kevin Mericle, who’s apparently a prototype specialist, has contributed a bunch of new photos and information, most of it related to the NFL’s last wave of expansion in 1995.
“During the time of the expansion committee, I made many a call to the expansion finalists to find out more about their logos, colors, etc.,” Kevin explains. Here’s a rundown of what he recently shared with me:
• I’ve previously linked to this Jaguars prototype mock-up (as you may recall, the design was scrapped after Jaguar Motors threatened legal action over the helmet and jersey logos), but I’d never seen photos of the design until Kevin sent me this and this. “There was a small story on SportsCenter the day they were awarded a team franchise and showed off the jerseys/helmet,” he writes. “I specifically remember Keith Obermann saying the jerseys looked like something had licked them. Personally, I was disappointed to see that uniform and jersey scrapped.”
• Here’s one I’ve never seen — an early Carolina Panthers prototype. “That image appeared in SI shortly after the team was awarded a franchise,” says Kevin. “When the Panthers took the field in ’95 wearing black jerseys, I called the team office to find out what happened to the blue unis. Their PR guy told me that when they did some photo shoots of the blue jerseys in sunlight, it caused the dye to turn a brownish color. Not sure if that is true.”
• As you may recall, several other cities were being considered for franchises. One of them was St. Louis (remember, this was before the Rams had left L.A.). I’d previously seen this and this, but Kevin came up with some photos of actual prototypes (and boy does that look like it would’ve been the ugliest team ever).
• As for the proposed Baltimore franchise, I’ve seen this floating around for years, but no photos. Kevin doesn’t have any photos either, but he does have this. “The logo is from a T-shirt, with what I think are more accurate colors, because I was told the colors would be navy, orange and silver,” he explains. “Also, I was told that the pants were going to have either ‘Baltimore’ or ‘Bombers’ written down the sides.”
• “The Memphis Hound Dogs were the only proposed expansion team not to have a logo ready for any unveiling,” says Kevin. “I was told by their PR guy that the colors would have been forest green and copper (much like the CFL’s Memphis Mad Dogs). There’s a logo that has been circulating on the internet for years, but I’m pretty sure that’s not the logo they designed.”
• Here’s a proposed Rams logo from back in 2000. “It’s in the old colors and has a few small differences from the current logo,” says Kevin. “Note that the ram has an ear.”
• Kevin also sent some proposed Bills logos. “This one was actually registered in TESS [Trademark Electronic Search System] and appeared on the shoulder of their current uniforms in a style guide but was never used,” says Kevin. “This one appeared on a gumball helmet sticker sheet that appears to be genuine, not fan-made [I agree. -- PL]. You can see how they swapped it for the current logo here. Not sure how close they came to using it, but I can’t help but think it would be better than what they have now.”
Great stuff — thanks-o-plenty to Kevin for sharing all this material with us.
Raffle Reminder: I’m currently raffling off a $250 gift card from our friends at Distant Replays, who are currently conducting their annual clearance sale. To enter, send an e-mail to uniraffle at earthlink dot net by 10 p.m. tomorrow. Only one e-mail per person, but everyone enrolled in the Uni Wach membership program by the time of the drawing will automatically get three bonus entries added to the pot. I’ll announce the winner on Monday.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Next time someone asks me why Wisconsin is my favorite state, I’m gonna point them toward this (extra round of cheese curds for Greg Riffenburgh). … There’s a really sensational compendium of information on cold-weather football games here, and a dynamite photo gallery here. … Unfortunate report from Thomas Foote, who writes: “I was watching NFL Total Access on the NFL Network this evening, and Mike Pereira, the NFL’s head of officiating, said both crews for the conference championship games would be wearing the black pants.” … Colin Wilcox notes that someone over at Wikipedia must be a Sean Taylor fan. … Major letter-spacing problems for Noel Spencer of Austrialia’s Newcastle Jets (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Not uni-related, but this is pretty funny. … A high school track star was disqualified from a recent event because her Muslim attire was deemed to be in violation of various rules. Vince may be writing more about this — stay tuned. … John Weghorst was poking around on Flickr and found this awesome 1970 Little League shot. … Speaking of Flickr, the Library of Congress has Flickr-ized a bunch of their pics. To see some amazing old stuff, go here and type “baseball” or “football” into the search field. … IUPUI hoops coach Ron Hunter will coach barefoot on January 24th to promote African footwear relief (with thanks to Chris Flinn). … Another ballpark ski jump setup here (with thanks to Chris Sperry). … Great 1934 Cardinals spring training photo here (awesome find by Bruce Menard). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Major pants piping inconsistency in this 1992 photo. Lineman Will Wolford, in the background, has red outlined in blue, while the other players have blue outlined in red. … Also from yesterday: West Virginia will supposedly wear these in the Big East tourney. … Tim Bennett reports that Dayton broke out some new baby blue alternates two nights ago. … I’m going to be out and about for most of today, researching a food story. Bryan will be minding the store, so let him know if you have any site-related concerns. Ticker material can still come to me.
January 17th, 2008
Apparently they were voting for something or other in Michigan yesterday. But the bigger election story came, as election stories so often do, from Washington. Only this one had nothing to do with the White House.
Here’s the deal: About a year and a half ago, Major League Baseball randomly selected about 20,000 of MLB.com’s registered users and invited them to join a huge virtual focus group called Fans at Bat (further background info, much of it somewhat sick-making, is here). The focus group members — several of whom happen to be Uni Watch readers — have periodically been prompted to fill out online questionnaires and give feedback regarding various MLB policies and decisions. One of the early questionnaires involved getting feedback on the U.S. national team’s uniforms (I’m pretty sure I ran a Ticker item on that back at the time, but at the moment I can’t find it), but apparently none of the others have been uni-related.
Until now, that is. Several readers checked in yesterday to inform me that the latest Fans at Bat survey had just kicked into gear and that it involved the Nationals’ uniforms. Kim Kolb explains how the questionnaire began:
[The survey started by asking] if I had any MLB wearable merch (hats, jerseys, sweatshirts, T-shirts, etc.), and who my favorite team was. I answered “Phillies,” but the survey didn’t seem to care. It basically said, “We’re going to ask you about the Nationals…”
Ben Park picks up the sequence from there:
The survey started by asking what my favorite team was (I’m a Cardinals fan). Then it told me there were several questions concerning the Nationals uniforms that they wanted info about, regardless of how I felt about the team, which I thought was very interesting. … I’ve learned in the past that once the web link is used, it can’t be used again, so this time I made sure to get screen grabs of the questions so I could send them to you.
Thanks to Ben’s quick thinking, we can all see that the survey asks for a basic assessment of the Nats’ home whites, then asks a squishy follow-up question, and then repeats the process for the road grays, the alt reds, and the cap logos. Then there’s an overall assessment and a chance to make suggestions.
The most interesting questions, of course, aren’t the ones in the survey. They’re more along the lines of “Are the Nats thinking of a uni revision?” and “Is this because the team’s merch sales are in the toilet?” and “How soon can I cast my vote against the Mets’ black jersey?”
Todd Radom, who designed the Nats’ threads, says this is all news to him and that he doesn’t know anything about any planned changes (not that they’d necessarily tell him anyway), and I’m too busy with other stuff right now to pester the MLB people about this (not that they’d tell me anything either), but I hope we can revisit this topic in more detail at a later date. Uni design via referendum doesn’t strike me as the smartest idea in the world.
Meanwhile, just to bring things full circle, I caught a quick glimpse of a Mitt Romney campaign rally on TV yesterday and noticed that many of the people in the crowd were holding up signs shaped like baseball gloves — mitts, get it? Only problem is, a regular fielder’s glove is not a mitt, because “mitt” is short for “mitten” and only applies to the fingerless gloves worn by catchers and first basemen. Do we really want a president whose campaign makes this sort of mistake? I think not.
Uni Watch Calendar: Coupla events coming up that NYC-area readers will want to know about. The first one is next Tuesday evening, January 22nd, when I’m going to be participating in a performance/presentation thingie at Union Hall in Park Slope.
The event is called Adult Education (the name wasn’t my idea, believe me), and the topic is “Micro-genres,” which in my case means I’ll be talking about the largely hidden realm of trade magazines — American Funeral Director, Elevator World, Hay & Forage Grower, etc. Each of these industry-specific magazines is a little world unto itself, full of really weird articles and ads for solutions to problems you never thought of. An oddly compelling little corner of the media world. In addition, my pal Liz Clayton will discuss fast-food restaurants that have been repurposed into other sorts of businesses (a topic she also explores on this excellent site), Jim Hanas will discuss meta-tourism (photos of tourists taking photos), Heidi Cody will talk about depictions of Eskimos and Indians on food packaging, and Russell Scholl will examine TV commercials for personal hygiene products. I’m fairly certain it’ll be fun. Plus it’s free. Festivities begin at 8 p.m.
And just like last year, I’ve decided to convene a Brooklyn Uni Watch party on the day before the Super Bowl, which is February 2nd. Venue and starting time are still being finalized, but figure mid-afternoon in the Park Slope-ish vicinity. Further details to follow shortly.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Bridgeport Sound Tigers wore camouflage jerseys the other night. Additional pics and info here (with thanks to Tom Liodice). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Prior to the release of Revenge of the Sith, George Lucas sponsored a Formula 1 race car, complete with storm trooper helmets for the pit crew (with thanks to Sarah Schneider). … You know how some players have their uni numbers written on their socks and/or stirrups? Four-time New York governor and 1928 Democratic presidential nominee Al Smith took things a bit further than that (nice find by Eric Trager). … During the Cowboys/Giants broadcast, the announcers mentioned Brandon Jacobs’s extra-large thigh pads,” writes Nate Budziszewski. “Sure enough, they are huge.” … On Monday I wrote that several of the Packers like to tuck their collar trim into their pads, resulting in a lower placement for the NFL Equipment logo. But Alex Ramirez says this is a matter of tailoring, not tucking: “I got some screen caps of Donald Driver [without his pads],” he writes. “As you can see, the collar trim is cut differently. I wonder if this is something Marge Switzer would have done.” Good question, although I’m fairly certain she won’t say. … Major cleavage alert at the Australian Open, where Austrian phenom Tamira Paszek was pulling a Serena the other day. … Interesting note from Will Radie, who writes: “While reading Messier (a great read by the way), I discovered that When Messier came to the Rangers, he missed the first game of the season because the trade hadn’t yet been finalized. Adam Graves took Messier’s No. 11 for that first game in honor of his former teammate (Messier was still technically an Oiler). So are there pictures of Graves wearing an No. 11 jersey out there?” … Good views here of the paisley-trimmed design that UNC’s women’s hoops team wore in the early ’90s (with thanks to Todd Krvanchi). … Yesterday’s comments included some pics of a phenomenon with which I’d previously been unfamiliar: ski jumping at sports stadiums, as seen here at Soldier Field and Dodger Stadium. Bizarre. … Also from yesterday: Cam Ward has his surname engraved into his mask. … The Chicago Fire have taken on Best Buy as a jersey sponsor. More pics and details here. … Nowadays, of course, NFL waistband towels feature the NFL and Wilson logos. Too bad they can’t go back to this (nice spot by Dan Herr). … If you download this PDF, you’ll get a little style guide for the University of North Dakota’s graphics (with thanks to Jay Danbom). … Jeremy Brahm found some great old photos of Japanese Olympic attire, including 1932 gymnastics; 1924 marathon (toe shoes!); 1908 speed skating (check out the skates); 1936 figure skating; 1912 track and field; and 1952 wrestling. … Also from Jeremy: the latest outfit from Japanese table tennis fashion plate Naomi Yotsumoto. “It’s based on Joan of Arc because Yotsumoto wants to make a revolution in table tennis,” he explains. … This photo is part of a Flash sequence on the Pistons’ web site. Not sure of the date, but here’s my question: When did NBA refs stop wearing zebra stripes? … The Cincy Bearcats football team is switching to Adidas (with thanks to Matt Lesser). … Jay Swenson reports that the Great Falls White Sox have become the Great Falls Voyagers, thanks in part to a viral marketing campaign that included phony UFO sightings. … Each day seems to bring a better photo of the muff sack play (this one courtesy of Geoff Poole). … Apparently you really can find anything on craigslist (good spot by Erik Koper). … Possibly the biggest bowl patches ever, worn by Auburn in the 1990 Hall of Fame Bowl (good find by Jeffrey Lindquist). … Not uni-related, but two great bits at HomerDerby.com: Harry Caray going on a truly hilarious anti-Cracker Jack rant (he compares the product to corrupt Congressmen, among other things), and a series of stadium demolition videos.
January 16th, 2008
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