Going for Broke
It’s pretty simple, or at least it should be: You don’t wear an alternate uniform for the first game of the season. And that goes double when you’re playing the very first game at a brand-new ballpark.
But the Braves were more interested in selling a few shirts and caps than in having any respect for the game or for their hosts, so they chose Opening Night to unveil their new blue alternate road jerseys and solid blue caps. Nice going, John Schuerholz. Maybe at your home opener you can announce that you’ve sold the stadium’s naming rights to Coca-Cola.
Such unseemly breaches of protocol notwithstanding, how did the new togs look? Well, they’re waaaaay better than the red alt jersey (which, sadly, will still be worn for Sunday home games). The big problem is that the blue script and, especially, the blue uni numbers look sooooo Little League, like they didn’t have enough $$$ to shell out for an additional color or something. I never thought I’d ever be using a BP jersey to make a favorable comparison, but compare the BP shirt’s red lettering and numbering to the new gamers and it’s no contest. As someone on Chris Creamer’s site pointed out, the blue-on-blue uni numbers are very reminiscent of this and this, neither of which is the kind of thing you’d wanna be associated with. The jersey needs some red.
As for the navy-brimmed cap, I don’t mind that so much, esp. since it harkens back to an earlier era. But a spot of red would’ve been nice, even if only on the top cap button. And hey, how come they didn’t have solid navy batting helmets?
Other notes from the game:
• That little left-sleeve patch says, “Beach,” a memorial tribute to coach Jim Beauchamp.
• I didn’t realize that the Nats’ stadium sleeve patch was gonna be reprised as a cap patch. Let’s hope this is just just for the first game or first series of the season.1
• Odalis Perez had major undershirt-tag problems early in the game.
• Fans of double-flap helmets will be happy to hear that Willie Harris is still wearing one, just as he’s done earlier in his career. In addition, Brayan Pena wore one, something he has not previously done.
• I understand that stuff like this is unavoidable these days. But seriously, I am so sick of these mound logos. The mound is a place for serious work, not a billboard for you to tell people something they already know anyway.
• Speaking of Ws on the mound, we’ll never have to see this again, and that’s more than dandy with me. Go back to sleep, George.
Simple Rule: If someone posts a photo of an attractive female athlete — or just an attractive female, period — and if you respond by posting a dick-for-brains comment like, “Uniform? I don’t see any uniform!” or something of a similar ilk, my new policy as of right now is that you will be blocked from making any further comments on the site. This is not because such comments are offensive, but because they’re so totally lazy, stupid, and depressingly predictable. If you need to convince everyone that you’re heterosexual, at least come up with a more creative way of doing it, like by running for governor of New York or something. Thanks.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I hadn’t spent any time poking around Steve Dewing’s completely addictive photo site for a while, so I checked in the other day and, as usual, got completely sucked into the gorgeous imagery. Among the new finds: Keith Hernandez in white shoes (clearly from the 1987 All-Star Game) and this shot, which appears to show a Dodgers catcher wearing either a front-facing helmet or a brimless helmet. The thing is, this photo is almost certainly from 1969 (as evidenced by the MLB 100th-anniversary patch on Tony Perez’s sleeve), and I wasn’t aware of catchers going front-brimmed or brimless that early. … Chris Burris notes that Orlando Mendez-Valdez has been wearing the Western Kentucky logo on his socks. … Nice historical rundown of Coastal Carolina logos here (with thanks to Greg Sharp). … While looking for something else, I came across this 1988 photo. Check out that amazing American League umpire’s cap! … The Brooklyn Cyclones are planning to wear Hebrew uniforms for Jewish Heritage Night in a few months. Details here (with thanks to Mike Stutzman). … Good Converse article here. … David Stern floated a trial balloon the other day about possible uniform advertising for NBA preseason games overseas (a particularly disappointing prospect when you consider how interesting some of the country-based preseason designs have been over the past two years). If you’d like to help shoot that balloon down, you can contact the NBA here. … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Outstanding article about Rawlings gloves — highly recommended. … Remember Rob Ullman and his uni-themed cheesecake illustrations? Kent Foster certainly does: “Took your advice and had Rob create a hockey pin-up girl for me,” he writes. “The team is the University of Richmond Spiders and the girl is my wife, Monica. I actually got it for her for her birthday, although it was probably more of a present for me.” … “I think this is my favorite picture so far from the SI vault,” writes Jesse Spector. “I think you’ll really enjoy it too, for the little details like the red shoes, the sock stripes, and the Baltimore Clippers championship banner.” Indeed. … Padres news from Brian Hilemon, who writes: “CEO Sandy Alderson stated during his weekly radio chat that next season the Pads will have uniform designs to honor not only the Marines but other branches of the military as well.” Jesus Christ, why don’t they just put mosquito netting over the stadium, make fans salute when they go through the turnstiles, and install David Petraeus in the manager’s office already. … Headband or wannabe-monk? (As forwarded by Greg Riffenburgh.) … “I went to the games in Tokyo last week and got some cool shots of the unis in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and at the game,” writes Mark Bittick. “The Hall is mostly about uniforms (there’s something um, unsettling about the Hiroshima Carp’s sleeve patch), and the beer girls at the stadium are straight out of anime. They even wear stirrups!” … Good close-ups here of David Beckham’s 100th-match golden cleats, jersey, and cap (big thanks to Dana Prey). … Cool video segment about our friends at Distant Replays here. … Thoughts on the Civil Rights Game: Overall, the uniforms were really lame (duh), but the orange trim on the Mets’ attire looked really good (although it would’ve looked a lot better if they’d worn blue sleeves and caps, to match the chest insignia, instead of going with black). Interesting that the Mets had special pants made for the occasion, while the Sox just wore their regular road pants. Also interesting that both teams wore their regular caps (well, except for that little “Civil Rights Game” embroidery on the side), while the Cards and Indians wore specially designed caps (and helmets!) last year. … Strange boxing phenomenon the other night: Arthur Abraham was wearing Adidas gloves, or so it appeared during his bout with Elvin Ayala (in fact, Ayala had Adidas gloves too). But when the tape came off the gloves after the fight, it turned out Abraham’s gloves were also Everlast-branded — what gives? I have a friend at Everlast and hope to have an answer soon (big thanks to Richard Giron for spotting this one). … According to the little “Did You Know?” squib in the right-hand column of this page, the Sean Taylor memorial movement is alive and well (good catch by Daniel Weimann). … Really nice old baseball uniform available here. I’d bid on this one myself, but the seller says the jersey is 22 inches from pit to pit (i.e., a size 44), which means it’s too big for me. Dang. … Really, really good article here about rugby sponsorships, logo creep, and related issues (with thanks to Caleb Borchers). … Great article and audio slide show about some interesting behind-the-scenes details at Yankee Stadium. … Good catch by Brian Russ, who writes: “When CBS showed the brackets after the Memphis/Texas game, they misspelled Xavier on the screen.” … Jeremy Brahm notes that the Romanian women’s handball team has off-center uni numbers. … Jon Chin reports that New Era is now selling fitted MLB caps for women. The sales copy says they’re “fit for a woman!” (not sure if this refers to the cap’s tailoring or if they mean it in the “fit for a king” sense) and adds that the caps have a “re-designed fit with a re-sculpted crown and trimmed visor.” Not sure how this makes them more “woman”-ly. Anyone..? … At first I got all excited when Scott Marcusky sent me these awesome photos of a Pirates farmhand from Saturday’s Bucs/Twins spring training game. “Ah,” I thought, “Nyjer Mogan’s hosiery influence is spreading!” But then I checked the Pittsburgh roster and found that No. 79 is Luis Munoz, who (a) is a pitcher, (b) isn’t listed in Saturday’s box score, and (c) looks like this (tough to say for sure, but that doesn’t look like this fella). Now I’m inclined to think that the player in question might actually be Morgan himself wearing someone else’s jersey, as occasionally happens in spring training. If anyone can help confirm or refute my theory, I’m all ears. … As many readers have noted, the new NFL logo is now being featured on NFL.com. … Contrary to what I wrote a few days ago, the Dodgers never intended to wear throwback flannels for Saturday’s game at the L.A. Colisseum. Instead, a bunch of 1958 old-timers will wear the flannels during today’s Opening Day ceremonies at Dodger Stadium. Sorry to have gotten the two events mixed up. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Vince Young has a nameplate tattoo. … The Hershey Bears wore 1938-39 throwbacks on Saturday night. Additional pics here (courtesy of Mark Coale). … Check this out: baseball stadiums made out of Lego, plus an interview with the guy who designs them.
283 comments March 31st, 2008
