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Archive for April, 2008
Vince here. Last year, Andrew Ranck documented his experience at the Devil Rays game at Disney for the Uni Watch faithful. The other day, I received a missive from Andrew with a new batch of pictures and assorted descriptions of his most recent trip to watch the AL East powerhouse at Disney, so it’s time for an update. Andrew’s account is below.
This year my friends and I decided to take the traditional (read: cheap) route and sit in the grass in the outfield. It was a nice night, so laying out a blanket and watching the game from left field was a nice (and popular) alternative.
One nuance of the park is that the bullpen is actually located directly in front of the grass seating area.
Sitting in the grass was actually kind of a nice change. Disney did a great job of having temporary concession stands located around the outer ring of the grass (the white tents in the pictures.) I was actually kind of surprised with the amount of alcohol being served this year as opposed to last. This year they had the usual ball park choices of beers (all the major domestics), and for some reason they decided to sell Foster’s Oil Cans. They also had full bars set up through-out the park which definitely weren’t there last year.
Before the sun went down it was shining directly in our eyes, so I took the opportunity to walk up towards home plate a get a picture of the batter’s box and home dugout (with temporary advertising for Pepsi and NewEra included). The warm up circle looked to be the same one used the previous year. My guess is that it’s the generic one they use for Atlanta’s spring training games in the stadium.
From the stands you could see the advertising pennants that are a permanent part of the park. Upon closer inspection (aided by the fact that we were sitting right under them), I saw that some of them were temporary coverings, which (due to the Rays-centric nature of them), I assume were just for that series.
The only scoreboard in the place was the one in center field, and like last year it was pretty Spartan in the information it provided. Also, there was a temporary jumbo-tron that showed player intros and between inning commercials. The problem was, from the outfield grass, you couldn’t see the center field scoreboard, and since there weren’t any others, a lot of time was spent figuring out how many balls and strikes there were.
Little kids would play catch on the grass behind the left field wall, until Disney employees (shown here in the orange shirts) would chase them away.The kids were really good at the “wait until they go away, then go right back to doing it” game, so Disney eventually had to have park security (nicknamed “the fun police” by the adults in the crowd) to keep them away.
Anyway, besides that small experience of Disney big brother behavior, they trip was a great time, and not a bad way to spend an evening. I heard attendance was a little lower then last year, but that’s being blamed by the Rays and Disney on the Magic playoff series going on at the same time.
Let’s all give Andrew a nice round of applause for his report from the land of Mickey.
A Quick Aside: If during the second or third inning of last night’s Indians versus Mariners game you heard some dude yelling, “Get a helmet on that first base coach!”, that was me. Seattle’s Eddie Rodriguez was manning first base with just a hat, and being only six rows behind home plate, I decided I could make a difference. Apologies to all children in that section, as my language was not quite as proper as I portrayed it here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: A little birdie named Patrick Wilson points out that some time during spring training, Pat Burrell gave the bird to someone. … Brian Rockwood notes that on April 29, 1913, the Reds had to wear uniforms borrowed from the White Sox because the equipment managers forgot to load the uni’s on the train. It didn’t help the Reds that day, as they lost 7-2. … LeGarrette Blount chose to play football for the Oregon Ducks because — wait, this can’t be right — he liked the uniforms? (A depressing thanks to Greg Riffenburgh and Brett Crane). … Many people chipped in to explain that the quarterback-style wristband on college baseball players is for calling pitches from the dugout without the opposing team being able to pick off the signs. Thanks.
April 30th, 2008
By Bryan Redemske
Regular weekend readers know how much I like to pick on Carlos Guillen. It’s not that the huge dip and baggy pants aren’t ridiculous in their own right — they are — it’s that they pale in comparison to the rest of his getup.
You see, friends, Carlos Guillen is a collector. In one of my previous lives as a high school baseball coach, I had a couple of collectors. Anything that made them feel even a tiny bit bad-ass was added to the wardrobe. It starts with wristbands, progresses to necklaces and elbow pads, then half-sleeves, and peaks with this. I wonder how much faster out of the box he’d be without all that crap? There’s a fine line between things you NEED to play baseball — shoes, a cap, a bat, and a glove. Everything else is extra.
We at Uni Watch can help Carlos break the cycle of dependancy. Let’s start with the legs. This picture was posted by Mark Mihalik in yesterday’s comments. One look at those guards tells me he needs to stay back on the ball. Guys who get pull-happy and lunge tend to foul pitches off their front legs, like this. Stay back, Carlos!
Up to the arms, where the heavy lifting is done. Taped wrists — especially with the stretchy tape Carlos uses — are dumb. By the end of the game, those things are nothing but sweaty wristbands that have to be cut to be removed. Just wear wristbands, dude. Or get stronger wrists or something. And then there’s the titanium-woven elbow sleeves. Not believing in quackery is the only way around those.
In positive news, Carlos seems to have cut down on the necklaces. I see only two here. Perhaps he found a solid all-purpose totem for game use? Let’s hope, anyway.
(The climber in the picture, by the way, is Sean Swarner, a cancer survivor who threw out the first pitch at the Indians/Yankees game last night. Swarner was esentially given a death sentence by being diagnosed with a pair of nasty cancers within a few years of each other. He beat them both — one of them severely decreased his lung function — and became the only cancer survivor to climb the highest mountains on all seven continents. I have no idea, however, why he wore his high-altitude suit to throw out the first pitch.)
Mark your calendars: If you’re anywhere near Barberton, Ohio, on Saturday, you’re going to want to check out this guy. He’s the grand marshall of the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, and this year’s theme is Purple Pride. More info here, thanks to Vince … who will feel Paul’s wrath upon completion of the boss’ vacation.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I know we’ve seen baseball players with quarterback-style wristbands before, but isn’t that usually in cases with a pitcher who speaks a different language? Anyway, here’s a player from the University of Illinois at Chicago with such an accessory, and I can’t figure out why. Anyone? (Thanks to Will Streit). … The Padres wore their usual home whites on Sunday, not the camouflage get-ups that they plan on using for the rest of the season on Sundays, because they haven’t received the camo duds in the Cool Base fabric yet (thanks to Brian Hilemon). … Maybe Jeremy Accardo should share this glove with David Eckstein? Details on Zack Hample, a noted ball snagger who brought the glove to the Rays vs. Blue Jays game in Florida the other day, are on his blog (thanks to Chris Flinn). … Texas A&M doing their part to promote prostate cancer awareness. Photos here. (Thanks to Chris Smith). … The Cavs wore their wine-colored jerseys for the first time in the playoffs on the road Sunday. They usually wear the blue alts. … Mark Jones notes that whenever Southern University and Grambling get together on the diamond, the teams wear Negro League uniforms. Added bonus: each player wears a jersey from a different team. … Loyal reader Paul Lukas found another gem on Steve Dewing’s site: “The stirrups are great, natch, but the real attraction is the San Diego 200th-anniversary patch, which the team wore in 1969.” … I recently judged the Akron Independent Film Festival, and this was one of the bizarre short films that was included. Needless to say, I thought of it in a round-about way when I saw this photo.
April 29th, 2008
First things first: Paul has a new Page 2 column here.
As daunting as it is to be handed the keys to Uni Watch with instructions that include “Don’t screw it up,” even more daunting is starting the week with a picture that isn’t from the NFL Draft. Picture lots of guys with No. 1 jerseys, template-stamped hats, and awkward smiles — all accompanied by Roger Goodell and RBK. Sweet.
So instead of all of that, which is boring to begin with, you get this guy. It’s Miguel Veloso of Sporting from the Portuguese liga, and he’s one of the few men in the world who can go with a faux-hawk, a mullet, AND a chin strap. And highlights! But I need help, futbol fans — what are those black splotches on his sleeve? I’m assuming it’s a sponsorship thing, but it’s hard to find information (in English, at least) for a Portuguese team. So enlighten us, if you will. I have no prizes, no authority to give prizes, and no desire to give prizes. So just tell us what the deal is, huh?
I’ll be here all week: Here’s how things are going to go — we’ll have a main entry and a ticker, which will be compiled by Vince. There may be a couple of standard daily posts, but for the most part it’ll be in the weekend format. And that means a picture and a quick paragraph or two, followed by the standard daily discussion. Since most of us are grownups, it goes without saying that we should be all be able to handle ourselves. But if you can’t, you’ll get a warning and then the boot. So be cool, just like Miguel Veloso. –Bryan
And Now a Note from Paul: Yeah, I’m in New Orelans by now, stuffing my face with crawfish, but over the weekend I got an interesting communiqué from a reader named Sean Fish, who’s a student at USC’s Marshall School of Business. He wants to make Uni Watch the focus of a school assignment he’s working on. I’ll let him explain it in his own words:
I’m a long-time reader and occasional contributor to the Uni Watch comments section. My class about online media has a final project that I think could be interesting if done on Uni Watch. The project is a study of an online community (in my case, Uni Watch), and the basis of the study is to find out how members of the community joined, how they communicate, whether they meet in person (or stay anonymous), and how they feel the community has affected their daily lives, among other things.
I have some questions below. If you can take a moment, it would be great if you could answer by e-mailing me your response at sfish [at] usc [dot] edu. Even if you can only answer some of the questions, any information you can provide will be very useful.
Thanks in advance for your help. But most of all, thanks for creating a unique, nationwide community of Uni Watchers! Keep up the good work.
Here are the questions:
1) What is your view of Uni Watch as an online community? Do you consider it a community? To what extent is it, in your view?
2) If you do view Uni Watch as an online community, what makes Uni Watch an online community to you? Do you feel included in the community? Is there any way that it could be made into a stronger community? Would you want it to be a stronger community?
3) How did you discover Uni Watch? Were you specifically searching for a place to share your thoughts/feelings on sports uniforms? Did you you find it on ESPN?
4) How involved are you in Uni Watch? Do you post comments frequently? Occasionally? Rarely? Never? Read Daily? Occasionally?
5) If you post on the comments section, do you use a pseudonym or part/ all of your name? Do you prefer to be anonymous to your fellow readers?
6) Have you ever made contact with a fellow Uni Watcher outside of the blog/message board?
7) Have you ever met a fellow Uni Watcher?
8) Have you attended a Uni Watch Party?
9) Have you thought about initiating a Uni Watch party without Paul’s involvement (i.e., even if he’s not passing through your town)? Why or why not?
10) Have you started a serious relationship (friendship or more) through Uni Watch?
11) Do you regularly read or participate in other uni-centric blogs, such as the ones Paul links to on the site?
12) If I have missed anything, please feel free to add it here.
And there you have it. I spoke with Sean after he first contacted me, and I’m intrigued by his project, which I think strikes at the heart of what many of us find so remarkable about this site (i.e., that a bunch of strangers congregate each day to share some very specific niche-driven information). I encourage everyone to participate to whatever extent you’re able.
And now over to Vince for today’s Ticker….
Uni Watch News Ticker: Interesting old jerseys up for action here and here. … Figure skater Cecelia Colledge, who competed in the 1932 Lake Placid Olympics when she was only 11 years years old, died a few weeks back. Check out the amazing sweater she wore at the 1936 Olympics, where she won the silver. … You’ve heard of ivy on the Wrigley Field wall? The St. Paul Saints have put their own spin on that maneuver. … Further news here about those Chinese sneakers that some of the Rockets are wearing (with thanks to Brett Crane). … Remember that Colts secondary logo contest? Jon Gates notes that choice No. 4 has changed since the voting started — it was originally this, but then it changed to this. Hmmmmmm. … Steven Wyder notes that Matt Garza has been pitching with a visible underbrim sticker for a couple of starts now. … Brian Temke notes that Ryan Braun was wearing Mike Rivera’s helmet the other day. … There he goes again. … The Rams’ memorial patch for Georgia Frontiere will look like this. … James from Knoxville shares some pics from local Farragut high school where the baseball team has a throwback doubleheader each season, complete with uni’s and concession prices. … Fascinating article on a man who designed some jerseys for his youth group to wear when they saw the Pope at Yankee Stadium and the newfound demand for his wares (a blessing to Jim Roddy for the info). … The University of Cincinnati unveiled new Adidas football uni’s. Bleh. … Those new super speedy Speedo swimsuits that have the whole sporting world aflutter have apparently angered Japanese swim coaches because Japanese athletes have to wear only suits by Mizuno, Asics, or Descente. One coach is calling for those manufacturers to make something as fast as the new LZR Racer. No word on if they want the same creepy x-ray vision aspects or not (thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … I’ve got a feeling we can all agree that this guy has to have the coolest damn socks in the entire Turkish basketball league (with thanks to Matt Eliot, who attended this game in person and captured the sock beauty). … James Poisso notes that Louisiana Tech’s new end zone design will mimic the team’s jersey design.
April 28th, 2008
Paul here. Bryan’s busy with a bike race today, so I’m on weekend duty for a change. And while I realize some of you are probably expecting an entry relating to the NFL draft, I’ve decided to use the day to publish an interview that’s been languishing waaaaaay too long.
Last summer, shortly after the membership program started, I received a check in the mail from Karen Hibbitt. She was signing up at the Satin Piping level, which means the check was for a very generous $500. “I’m joining at this level because it is comparable to the support I give to other activities and organizations that give me great enjoyment,” she wrote, which was one of the nicest, most humbling thing anyone had ever said to me about Uni Watch.
And how did I repay Karen’s kindness? I conducted an interview with her (one of the benefits of a Satin Piping membership) — and then sat on it for months. Karen, who’s the self-deprecating type, said she didn’t really care about the interview anyway, but that’s no excuse — I was simply too lazy to transcribe the tape, and the longer I put it off, the more embarrassing the situation became, so I kept putting it off even longer. Shame on me.
Here, finally, is Karen’s long-overdue Uni Watch Profiles interview. Karen (who’s shown above in her Uni Watch membership T-shirt alongside Screech the Nats’ mascot), I’m really sorry about the delay. Hope it was worth the wait, and thanks again for your support and kind words — means a lot to me.
Uni Watch: Where do you live, and what do you do for a living?
Karen Hibbitt: I live in Arlington, Virginia, and I’m a registrar at the National Archives.
UW: What does that mean?
KH: I work in our exhibits office, and basically everything that goes on exhibit passes through my hands.
UW: So you’re like a gatekeeper.
KH: Sort of, yeah. The curator is the more glamorous job, but museums would just crumble to the ground without registrars.
UW: That sounds like a common registrar’s lament.
KH: Yes, we can be a little touchy about our profession.
UW: I think I need to get myself a Uni Watch registrar, for my collection.
KH: Definitely, you need someone to tell you if you need mylar sleeves, or acid-free folders, or whatever.
UW: How did you discover Uni Watch?
KH: I read your column on Page 2 a bunch of times, and I felt like we had a similar aesthetic. You complained about a lot of the same things I complained about.
UW: I don’t just complain, you know.
KH: Well, yes, but basically I agreed with your tastes. And then I started reading more and more of your stuff, and became notorious among my friends for having lots of useless things to say about uniforms.
UW: What kind of sports fan are you?
KH: I grew up in Rhode Island and always loved the Red Sox. I spent a year after college working for my father, whose company was in Pawtucket, and I must have gone to about half of the Paw Sox’s home games that year. Baseball’s my favorite sport.
UW: Are you still a Red Sox fan?
KH: Yes.
UW: And how do you feel about their uniforms?
KH: I like them. I pretty much like the classic looks. As much as it pains me to say so, I think the Yankees’ home uniform is probably one of the nicest ones out there.
UW: How did you feel about the Red Sox’s solid-red alternate jerseys?
KH: I don’t like them. There are certain teams that shouldn’t have alternate jerseys, like the Original Six NHL teams. I feel like the Red Sox fall into that category too.
UW: What are your other favorite teams?
KH: Having lived in Washington for about 15 years now, I love that we have the Nationals. It’s great that we have a team. And that they’re so incredibly hapless.
UW: And how do you like their uniforms?
KH: They’re OK. I don’t object to them too much. There’s nothing fabulous about them, but there’s nothing objectionable about them. I haaaaaate teal, sort of the way you hate purple, so I’m just glad they didn’t go with teal.
UW: Any other uni-related pet peeves, or things you really like, the way I like striped socks?
KH: Again, I like a classic look — high cuffs in baseball, no biker shorts in football. Classic. Probably one of my favorite uniforms is the Toronto Maple Leafs.
UW: Why?
KH: Well, starting with the name. Nothing inspires fear in an opponent’s heart like vegetation. “Oh my god, it’s a leaf! It’s gonna fall on me!!” And then it’s Leafs instead of Leaves. And their uniform is so simple — it’s that classic thing again. For a more modern uniform, I like the Carolina Hurricanes. The line of hurricane flags, or whatever they are, along the bottom of their jersey is one of the nicest things I’ve ever seen.
UW: So do you have one of those jerseys?
KH: You know, I have this fake reproduction Hartford Whalers jersey that I wear to the games, and I get more compliments on that than for anything else I own.
UW: That’s the same franchise as the Hurricanes!
KH: I know! Everyone loves that jersey. You know, I lived in Hartford for two years, and it’s the biggest armpit of anyplace I’ve ever been — horrible.
UW: Are you aware that the Whalers are one of the two NHL teams that wore Cooperalls?
KH: Yes, thanks to Uni Watch. Which was the other one?
UW: The Flyers. When people refer to Cooperalls, they’re usually thinking of the Flyers. The Whalers get sort of overshadowed.
KH: I didn’t even know what Cooperalls were until I started reading Uni Watch.
UW: You know, a surprisingly large number of people tell me that the Whalers logo ranks among their all-time favorites. And what a lot of them tell me is that they especially love how the negative space forms an “H.” Frankly, I hadn’t noticed that myself until a reader pointed it out to me back in Uni Watch’s early days, around 2001 or so.
KH: It really is a good logo. Nice and simple. A lot of these new logos are too busy — my brain can’t cope with all that. And I like how 1970s it looks. People complain about some of the stuff from that era, like the Padres and Astros, but I like a lot of them. I mean, I’m not going to paint my bedroom yellow and brown, but they had something going on there.
UW: You know, I went to college in Binghamton, in upstate New York, and back then they had the Binghamton Whalers, which was Hartford’s top farm team. They just turned the logo on its side, but they lost the negative space aspect of the design.
KH: So here’s a question for you: What’s the etiquette for wearing jerseys?
UW: You mean for fans?
KH: Yes. I have strong opinions on this. Like, nobody should ever wear a basketball jersey, because it doesn’t look good on anyone except, like, Gilbert Arenas.
UW: What if there’s a T-shirt under it?
KH: Maybe, but it still looks hokey. You look like the fat kid at the pickup game. Even if you are Gilbert Arenas.
UW: What other rules do you have for this sort of thing?
KH: Anyone can wear football or hockey jerseys, but only at the game. You can’t just walk around town in them.
UW: What about in your house?
KH: Oh, you can wear whatever you want in your house.
UW: What if you have friends over?
KH: It’s okay to wear the jersey if you’re watching a game, like if that’s the purpose of the friends coming over. Or maybe also if you’re going to a bar to watch the game.
UW: What about baseball?
KH: Similar rules, I guess. The thing is, I think most people look a bit pretentious in a baseball jersey. Unless you have that nice, trim physique, the buttons aren’t going to look good.
UW: Now, for football and baseball jerseys, should they ever be tucked in? The players tuck them in, after all.
KH: True. But no. Not unless you’re showing up in baseball pants, stirrups, and cleats. And the only ones who should do that are Little Leaguers. They’re the only ones who should bring their glove to the ballpark, too.
UW: Hmmmm, I might beg to differ on that one.
KH: If you’re there to catch a ball, you’re not enjoying the game.
UW: But that is part of enjoying the game! And it shows you’re paying attention to the game, instead of just jibber-jabbering with your friends.
KH: Or yakking on your cell phone. Holy moses, don’t even get me started on that.
UW: So when you go to a Caps game, you wear that Whalers jersey?
KH: Yes. But I don’t put it on until I actually get to my seats.
UW: So you pull it out of your bag or something?
KH: Yes. I’m kind of embarrassed at the idea of wearing it while riding the Metro or something like that.
UW: What about cap etiquette?
KH: You can wear a baseball cap anytime, anywhere.
UW: You know, getting back to baseball, you chose No. 49 for the back of your Uni Watch membership card, because, as you put it, “Tim Wakefield has been my baseball boyfriend for quite some time.” What’s that all about?
KH: Just a little joke between me and my friends. Everyone has their baseball boyfriend.
UW: Got a little crush on him?
KH: For years. I love the knuckleball. I love how it’s unhittable when it’s on, how it messes up people’s swing for days.
UW: Have you ever tried to throw one?
KH: Yes, I have.
UW: How’d that work out for ya?
KH: Not so much. The only pitch I can throw with any skill is a curveball. I marvel at what baseball players can do.
UW: Have you ever written a fan letter to Tim Wakefield?
KH: I have not.
UW: Have you ever considered it?
KH: No. Speaking with you right now is about as close as I’ve ever gotten to someone I was a fan of.
UW: Awww. Now, over at the Archives, you folks had that exhibit about Presidents in their formative years, which included lots of photos of young Presidents-to-be playing sports. Did you help put that together?
KH: Yes, in my registrarial capacity.
UW: Ooh, good adjective, “registrarial.”
KH: It’s mostly photos, but we did have some original items, like Gerarld Ford’s letter sweater.
UW: And when you saw that, did you think, “Ooh, this’ll be good for Uni Watch”?
KH: Yes.
UW: You’ve mentioned to me that you read Uni Watch “at the end of your morning routine.” So it’s sort of like your morning dessert?
KH: Yes. There are a bunch of sites I check before getting down to work each day, and Uni Watch is usually the last one.
UW: How do your friends and family feel about all this? Do they Get It™?
KH: Well, my family has no idea.
UW: And what about your friends?
KH: They’re exceedingly amused. I have this core group of friends, and I’m the one who’s into this kind of stuff. They don’t quite Get It™, but they respect it.
UW: That’s good.
KH: Once I was at a Caps game, and I said, “Look, Ovechkin’s skate laces are yellow — I wonder why?” This was long before you’d written about it on the site. And then you wrote about it and it turned out that his skates are made by a Russian manufacturer that uses yellow laces or something like that, right? So I told that to a friend, and she told one of her friends, “Look, Ovechkin’s laces are yellow, because they’re made by this Russian company.” So this information does get passed along.
UW: Like a virus.
KH: Mmm-hmm.
UW: If you were the commissioner of the NHL, or MLB, or whatever league strikes your fancy, what uniform-related rules would you institute?
KH: I don’t have any big issues with the NHL. They don’t do much in the way of customization or accessorizing.
UW: What about white-at-home vs. dark-at-home?
KH: Oh, I prefer white at home. So yeah, I’d do that. And for baseball, it really bothers me that the players look so different. If the team wants to go with a baggy, pajama-style trouser, then everyone should do it. If they want to go with knickers and striped socks, then everyone should do it. The uniform should be uniform.
UW: I hear ya.
KH: You know, I’d like to see more of the 1960s and ’70s cartoon-y logos. Like the Padres’ swinging friar, and Mr. Met, Mr. Redlegs — totally cool. And some of those minor league teams have such great logo characters, too. I’d like to see more of that. Totally charming.
======
Indeed. Thanks again to Karen for her support, and for her patience.
OK, I’m outta here — be nice to Bryan and Vince next week while I’m gone.
April 27th, 2008
At some point in the last six months, weren’t we promised the banishment of those damn red Pirates jerseys? Seriously — wasn’t that a winter fan-fest sort of thing?
Well I’m here to say, “What the HELL? Why are they back?” And if the end of the line wasn’t supposed to be until after this year, I’m here to say, “Can’t you just stop now? The Pirates’ season is over already. The next five months are merely a formality.”
I’m sorry, Buccos fans. It’s true. — Bryan
April 26th, 2008
Last August, I published my “One and Done” column on ESPN.com, which was devoted to uniforms that were worn just a couple of times. My timeline of such uni designs included the following entry:
1971: Brooks Robinson, who’s moonlighting as a sporting goods executive while playing third base for the Orioles, convinces team management to have the O’s suit up in solid orange uniforms supplied by his company. The team humors him for two games before the solid orange getup is put out to pasture.
My source for that info was this page from Bill Henderson’s MLB Game-Worn Jerseys of the Double-Knit Era CD, which, as you can see, indicates that the all-orange ensemble was worn twice in 1971 — once at home and once in Cleveland. I generally trust Bill’s info, plus I had two other resources that seemed to confirm that the orange design was only worn in 1971: First, there was this photo (probably taken in 1971, since it shows the “Big Four” of Palmer, McNally, Dobson, and Cuellar, each of whom won 20 games in ’71), and then “Dressed to the Nines” (whose database shows the orange uni appearing only in 1971).
But last Friday, Steve Dewing’s awesome baseball photo site featured two O’s-in-orange pics I’d never seen before — look here and here — and as you can see, they’re both dated April of 1972.
Had the Orioles actually worn the orange design in ’72 as well as ’71? Maybe they just wore them at the tail end of spring training? Maybe Steve didn’t date the photos correctly?
I wrote to Steve to ask what he could tell me about the pics. Here’s what he wrote back:
Since the slides are stamped “APR 72″ and were shot in Cleveland [based on the stadium background], I can only guess they were shot in the series that the Orioles played in Cleveland on April 21-23, 1972.
I had another person tell me that the O’s planned on wearing them at home during Friday and Saturday games in 1971. Because of Boog Powell’s objection, though, they only wore them about 10 times.
The month/year stamping on slides doesn’t always tell the story, though. For example, it’s not unusual to get slides stamped with “October” because they were shot at a September 28th game and weren’t developed until October 1st or later. But in the case of these images, it’s unlikely they were shot in 1971 and sat for 6 months before developing, especially knowing who the photographer is/was (for several reasons, I can’t discuss who took the photos on my site).
I suppose the date-stamping machine at the film developing place could have just gotten the year wrong.
Hmmm, lots to chew on there. Were the orange uniforms worn just twice, or as many as 10 times? Just in 1971, or possibly in ’72 as well? When were the Cleveland pics taken?
A few thoughts:
• Note that the center photo on Bill Henderson’s page refers to a Sports Illustrated caption indicating that Brooks Robinson had just hit an orange-clad grand slam. Brooks hit only one salami over the course of 1971 and ’72, and that was in this game — 9/16/71, in Baltimore. So that’s one confirmed date for the orange uni.
• After that game, the O’s went on a road trip that included a stop in Cleveland on September 24-26. If they were experimenting with the solid-orange design, it seems plausible that they’d wear it on the road trip immediately following the uniform’s home debut.
• On the other hand, I’ve had second thoughts about this photo. Sure, it could’ve been taken late in 1971. But it probably wasn’t taken at that Sept. 16th game in Baltimore, because none of the pitchers had notched 20 wins yet at that point. Now, if the team did go orange-clad in Cleveland later that month, the photo could’ve been taken there, because all four pitchers had reached the 20-win plateau by the end of that series (Dobson and Cuellar, in fact, both reached it on Sept. 24th, as the O’s swept a doubleheader from the Tribe). HOWEVER, wouldn’t it actually make more sense for the photo to have been taken the following year, as the pitchers were basking in the glow of their 20-win quadfecta? That logic would argue for the uniforms having been worn at least once in 1972. Can anyone tell which stadium is shown in the background?
So it’s still a bit of mystery. The real lesson here, it seems to me, is how easy it is to fall into the trap of relying on a source like “Dressed to the Nines” or Bill Henderson’s CD — or Uni Watch, for that matter. I’m not critiquing Bill, or Steve, or Marc Okkonen (the historian whose work is the basis for the “Dressed to the Nines Database”) or Tom Shieber (the current “Nines” curator) — I’m just saying that historical documentation is often trickier than it seems, and we all need to remember that something isn’t necessarily accurate simply because an “authority” says it is, whether that authority is Bill, or Steve, or Marc, or me. Something to keep in mind as we try to piece together the puzzle of those orange unis. (Update: See comment Nos. 73, 80, 177, 223, and 227 below — I think we have our answer.)
One final thought: What was the deal with Brooksie’s stirrups? Yeeeeesh.
Uni Watch Vacation Update: I’m gonna be in New Orleans next week (attending the Ponderosa Stomp, eating lots of crawfish, etc.). My original plan, as I reported about a month ago, was to shut down the site for the week, which no doubt gave many of you a case of cold sweats, but it turns out that won’t be necessary. Bryan will handle main entries next week, and Vince will compile the Ticker (communiqués sent to the Uni Watch e-mail address will automatically be forwarded to him). Both of them will be under orders to turn off the commenting function or just shut down the site if people act like 12-year-olds, so please don’t give them the substitute teacher treatment. Thanks.
Membership News: A month ago I promised to address the status of the membership program “in a week or two.” Sorry for the delay. Let me try to anticipate some questions you might have:
Does the membership program still exist?
Yes, but it’s much simpler now. There’s now only one membership level. It costs $15 to join, your membership lasts forever (including all the existing memberships from the past year), and there are no other benefits other than the membership card itself. If you’re an existing member and you want a new card with a different design on the back, that too is $15.
When I launched the program last year, the idea was to generate enough $$$ to justify all the time I was sinking into the site; now that I have a much more generous deal from ESPN, it’s no longer necessary or fair for me to ask for that kind of support, so now the membership program is much simpler. The $15 fee is just to cover the time and labor that goes into creating the cards.
So when I joined at the $100 level last year, that was all for nothing?
No no no — without the many generous contributions that many of you made last year, I would’ve had to either shut down the site or curtail it significantly. You made it possible for me to keep working on the site — I thank you, and I’m sure your fellow readers do as well.
Now that there’s only one membership level, what are you going to do about the membership roster listing, which indicates each member’s level?
For now, I’m leaving the roster format unchanged (mainly because I’ve been too busy to deal with it). But since the “Membership Level” field is now blank for new members, I’ll probably just eliminate that column from the roster altogether.
And what about the “Membership Level” line on the front of the card?
We’ve changed that for new cards, like so.
I made a point of signing up before July 31st last year just so I could be a Charter Member. You said we’d get a little “Charter Member” designation on our cards when we renewed, but now I’m a member for life and there’s no reason to renew. So what about the little designation on my card?
This is the one thing I haven’t found a good solution for. One thing I plan to do is to change the membership roster so charter members’ names (not just their uni numbers) are shown in bold. But that doesn’t address the question of the cards. If you’re a charter member and want to order a new card with a different design, we’ll definitely add the little designation on your new card, but I don’t want anyone to feel obligated to order a new card. We considered e-mailing a little “Charter Member” icon to the appropriate people, with the idea that you could print it out on a label and apply it to your card, but the icon would be too small for most home printers to execute with any degree of clarity.
Frankly, I’m a little stumped. I feel bad about not providing that little extra bonus that so many of you signed up for, but I don’t see a good way to provide it unless you order a new card — and really, I don’t want you to order a new card unless you really want one. If there’s a good solution we’re overlooking, feel free to let me know.
I joined at Level Four, which means Scott Turner’s supposed to design a logo for me. Whatever happened to that?
Scott designed almost all of the Level Four logos months ago. If you haven’t gotten yours, it’s either because you asked him to wait until you had a clearer idea of what you wanted and/or because he hasn’t been able to get in touch with you. If you haven’t gotten your logo, please contact me.
I joined at Level Five, which means you’re supposed to publish an interview with me. When does that happen?
I’ve been very bad about this, even though it only applies to two of you. Karen, I interviewed you months ago and will publish the transcript shortly — honest. V., I contacted you a while back and you said, “No rush,” but I’m sure this isn’t what you meant. I’ll be calling you as soon as I get back from New Orleans.
What about the T-shirt that was available for Level Two and above? Now that there’s only one level, can anyone get the shirt?
I’ve decided to retire this shirt, so that it will be special collector’s item for people who helped support the site over the past year. All future shirt designs will have nothing to do with the membership program and will be available to everyone.
I think that covers everything. If you have additional questions, you know what to do.
Uni Watch News Ticker: My thanks to the many, many readers who pointed out that there’s nothing at all unusual about the How I Met Your Mother T-shirt that I showed yesterday. It’s a Canton-Akron Indians tee, plus the Indians used the wishbone C back in the 1950s (which I should have known, duh, but I was kinda frantic putting together the Ticker yesterday morning). … We all know the President receives lots of commemorative jerseys, but what about Condi? Details here (with thanks to Zac Neubauer). … New uniforms for the Penguins — well, for one penguin. … I’ve opined many times that the Reebok logo on the Seahawks’ sleeves is so big that it overshadows the team logo. But MJ Turner has found this photo, from when the current design was first introduced — note the different Reebok logo placement and the much larger team logo. Would’ve been much better if they’d stuck with that, but Reebok must’ve insisted on the lower sleeve placement. Pricks. … New Hockey Canada jerseys were unveiled yesterday. … Here’s a video of the new Minnesota uniforms (with thanks to Jeff Brown). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The Rams will wear a Georgia Frontiere memorial patch next season. No photo yet. … Tarheel-O-Rama: Mike Orr sent along some old pics of UNC’s 1892 baseball team, 1892 football team, and 1911 basketball team. … Yesterday I ran this photo and asked, “What’s up with that mound?” Chad Wilson says it’s probably one of these. … Former candlepin bowling broadcaster Don Gillis died on Wednesday, and his obituary includes some video links that feature some amazing bowling attire — look here and here (with thanks to Mike Vanne). … Huge manifesto on retired numbers here. … Bit of a cock-up, so to speak, on the logo front in London. … Good photo gallery of hockey playoff beards here (with thanks to brad Smith). … Frank Mercogliano sent along some amazing photos from the recent Idaho State/Utah softball game. The field was pretty wet, so the teams went to Wal-Mart and purchased some paper towels — “Like, a lot of paper towels,” says Frank — which they used to set back the trade of groundskeeping by at least 80 years mop up the field. … Frank Thomas, back with the A’s, has reclaimed No. 35. Dana Eveland, who’d been wearing that number, has switched to No. 30. … Loads of big, wet kisses for Nike in this video clip about the new U.S.A. softball uniforms (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … And in a stunning development uncovered by Bryan, it turns out Nike has also scored a sponsorship deal with the Texas polygamists (I hear they got a group discount). … Remember how the Colts wanted fans to submit designs for a new secondary logo? The five finalists are now up for voting. Personally, I’d prefer to see them use Horse (who wears a uniform!), Quick Draw McGraw, El Kabong, Silver, Trigger, Champion, or whoever this is, but they don’t appear to have allowed for write-in votes. … “I know the trend of having fans dress ‘in uniform’ has been around for a while, with the 2006 Miami Heat 2006 Miami Heat and Calgary Flames coming to mind immediately,” writes Dan Arnold. “However, it seems like this trend has been everywhere in these NBA playoffs.” … Stunner last night in DC, as longtime Stirrups Squad member Johnny Estrada pinch-hit against the Mets and was wearing a pair of those bogus faux stirrups (photo taken and provided by Tim Stackhouse, who was at the game). … Speaking of the Nats and Mets, sharp-eyed footwear specialist Mark Mihalik checks in with some awesome reporting work: “On Wednesday night, I noticed Jose Reyes wearing Easton cleats — surprising, since he normally wears Nike. At first it appeared that he may have switched contracts, but after hearing the details from a few Easton employees, it turns out that Felipe Lopez gave Reyes a pair of his cleats (he’s the only one who wears a model with those colors). Reyes wore them again on Thursday, and here’s a great shot of them together with their matching footwear.”
April 25th, 2008
The Nationals, like every other MLB team, participated in the Jackie Robinson 42fest on April 15th. In fact, they were one of the clubs that dressed the entire team in 42 that night.
But apparently that wasn’t enough for the Nats. Yesterday’s game against the Mets was billed as “Jackie Robinson Night.” They unveiled a 42 on the outfield wall, and 42 was worn during the game by Ray King, Lastings Milledge, and Willie Harris (all shown in that photo).
This raises a bunch of questions for me:
• Why wasn’t the 42 already on the wall? Like, it was already retired, right? I realize it’s a new stadium, but so what? The number was already supposed to be retired on an MLB-wide basis.
• Why did the Nats get to dress players in 42 again? Okay, so they were on the road last week, but so what? Is every road team from April 15th gonna get to do this? I disagree with people who say that the annual April 15th celebration cheapens the number, but I do think it got cheapened a bit last night. I realize some people will say, “Anything that raises awareness of Jackie Robinson is a good thing,” and I generally agree with that, but turning his memory into a way to add another promotion to your home schedule is totally bogus. The whole point of April 15th is that it’s a one-day thing — a tribute day, a special day. If we start to make every day special, the practical result is that no days are.
• Why was Ray King wearing white cleats in the preame ceremony? He switched to black for the game.
• While we’re at it, why is Ray King so fat?
It’s also interesting to see the design scheme the Nats chose for the 42 on the outfield wall. Many (most?) teams have chosen to depict it in the old Brooklyn Dodgers design scheme, or at least in blue (additional examples here, here, and here), although not every team has done this (additional examples here, here, and here). The Nats chose to use their own font with the numbers trimmed in blue and gray, which I find to be an unsatisfying middle ground. By trying to have it both ways, they ended up with neither.
Uni Watch News Ticker: “This site has a ton of photos from the Arizona Fall League (especially from 2002),” writes Steve Delaney. “One of the most interesting finds is this — that’s Jerry Hairston of the Orioles throwing and Alfonso Soriano of the (at the time) Yankees on the right. Looks like a Little League World Series game.” … UMKC is having a logo-redesign contest. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Best shot I’ve ever seen of Pete Maravich’s “Pistol” NOB. … A new book about goalie masks, called Saving Face, will be published this September by Wiley. The editor sent me some sample spreads, which you can see here. These pages are v-e-r-y preliminary — the text and layout will probably change significantly in the finished product — but they at least provide a sense of what the book will be like. … Jon Helf, who runs the awesome Fleer Sticker Project blog, checks in with another Pilots-related post: “Some of the late-’60s Fleer issues had different colors and styles from what the Pilots ultimately used in their intial season. You can see what I’m talking about here.” … Good article here about George Sherrill and his flat-brimmed cap. … Man, I wish I could’ve been in Seattle for this bowling alley auction. … Minnesota’s new football uniforms, unveiled yesterday, look like this, and holy shit do I hate that pants-striping treatment. No rear-view photo yet, but you can see that the stripe does a butt-cheek wraparound, which is bad news. Idiotic piping on the jersey, too. Piece o’. … And here’s the latest on Hawaii’s new uniforms. Not great, but I’m always in favor of more green, and their look has always been somewhat cartoon-ish, so it’s hard to get worked up one way or the other (with thanks to Jeff Osbun). … While searching for something else on YouTube, I came across the classic old Warner Bros. cartoon Dog Gone South, which I hadn’t seen in probably 20 years. I’d forgotten that at one point Belvedere finds himself wearing a Yankees jersey (yes, it’s in inaccurate, but hey, artistic license and all that). … “Great stirrups being worn by St. Helens High in Oregon,” writes Travis McGuire. “But what’s up with that mound?” … Attention, Jeremy Brahm: Steven Wyder spotted this on eBay. Can you offer any insights regarding its provenance? … Helmet logo problems last night for Kosuke Fukudome (with thanks to Cara Morefield). … “I was watching How I Met Your Mother from last Monday,” writes Mike Rich, “and noticed Ted (played by Josh Radner) wearing a bizarre T-shirt with a Cleveland Indians logo surrounded by a Cincinnati Reds logo. There was also a logo on his left sleeve, but they never showed a clear view.” … Several amazing new contributions from northwest baseball historian Dave Eskenazi: The first two are of the Vancouver Beavers, circa 1918. Nice, right? But the real prize is this shot of the 1938 Vancouver Maple Leafs. Man, is that totally gorgeous or what? “The players probably hated it, especially the veterans,” says Dave. … New member of the stirrups club: Matt Kemp. … The NHL’s great front-office coordination strikes again.
April 24th, 2008
MLB’s continuing drive to mark every single game with some sort of uniform tribute ventured into new territory last night, as a few teams trotted out the first-ever Earth Day treatments. The Red Sox wore a patch with the logo shown at right (unfortunately, this is the best photo I’ve been able to find), plus I hear they renamed their left-field wall “the Green Monster” for a night. Over in Houston, the ’Stros wore green caps (additional views here and here). The message on the side is “Play Green.”
I’d heard that the Phillies were going to wear green BP jerseys during pregame warm-ups, but I haven’t seen any photos — does anyone know if they actually did this? If so, it’s by far the most appropriate Earth Day gesture, since the green BP tops were no doubt the same ones they wore back on St. Paddy’s Day, which is a much more recycling-related move than manufacturing a bunch of new patches or caps. (Update: I’ve now gotten word that the Phils didn’t wear green BP jerseys last night after all.)
Speaking of recycling, you know that familiar tri-arrowed logo that’s the basis for the Red Sox patch? It’s arguably one of the most successful and recognizable logos of the past 40 years, but it has no legal meaning, no legal owner, is not trademarked, and can be used by anyone — for some background, check out this page and this page, both taken from the book Recycled Papers: The Essential Guide by Claudia Thompson.
Perhaps most interesting of all, the symbol’s designer — a 23-year-old USC student named Gary Anderson, who submitted the design as part of a contest held in conjunction with the original Earth Day back in 1970 — was completely off the grid for years. In that last page I linked to, Claudia Thompson writes, “I have tried to locate Mr. Anderson in the hope of recognizing and reproducing his original pen-and-ink drawing, but unfortunately without success.” That was in 1992; five years later, I wrote an article about recycling imagery (for Spin magazine, of all places) and made my own attempt to track down Anderson, but I came up empty.
Ah, but nobody stays hidden in the broadband era. Two excellent articles about Anderson and his symbol (both downloadable as PDFs) are available here and here. When he came up with the Möbius Strip-based symbol back in 1970, I’m fairly certain he had no idea his creation would end up on Dustin Pedroia’s left sleeve (especially since Pedroia hadn’t yet been born), but that’s recycling for ya.
Betcha Thought I’d Put a Photo of a Can of Spam Here: OK, here’s the deal: Our old spam filter — the one that was generally fine until last Friday night — is still going through this bizarre phase in which it insists on treating every single post as spam. That’s obviously unacceptable. We don’t know why it’s behaving this way (it worked fine for so long). Last night we tried re-installing it, using a newer version of it, using an OLDER version of it — no dice.
The filter we used on Monday and Tuesday is better, but not good enough. As many of you discovered, it treats lots of legitimate posts as spam. What’s worse, it doesn’t allow me (or John, or Bryan) to go into the filter and rescue lost/eaten posts.
So for now we’ve gone back to a security system that requires you to enter a computer-generated code word. I know, I know — it’s a major pain. But this system is better than the similar system we used a while back. For example, if you enter the code incorrectly (or click “Say It!” without remembering to enter the code at all), your post won’t simply be rejected and disappear — instead, your comment will be preserved and you’ll be taken to a “try again” page.
We hope this will be just a temporary fix. Our goal is to get our original spam filter working again. Please bear with us while we try to make that happen.
And just to underscore how necessary it is to have some kind of filter: It took John about 30 seconds last night to disable the old filter and install the new security system. In those 30 seconds, two porno spams were posted on the site. It’s like The Matrix — the machines are fucking relentless, man, and they’re coming after us.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Really interesting piece here about some of the Rockets players wearing Chinese-made sneakers (with thanks to Brett Crane). … My thanks to everyone who explained that the bracelet on David Ortiz’s left forearm is a saints bracelet. … Yesterday’s note about the Apollo 11 astronauts have to-do lists sewn into their gloves prompted this from Kevin Friede: “Today’s discussion reminded me of a prank played on the Apollo 12 astronauts. In addition to the quarterback-style wrist checklists, each astronaut had a fairly thick mission checklist booklet, and some NASA people managed to sneak some Playboy centerfolds into the middle of the checklists.” … Here’s a truly amazing conribution from Jared Wheeler: “Ray Dumont was the founder of the National Baseball Congress, which is an organization of semi-pro leagues throughout the U.S. and Canada. It has been up and running since 1935. In 1951 Dumont attached a walkie-talkie device on the umpire, so the fans could hear the conversations between the umpire and the batter.” … Who needs Joba in the rotation? Just put Brian Urlacher in there (with thanks to Brian Russ). … So get this: The Patriots are still trying to trademark the term “19-0.” … While looking for something else, I found this really awesome Cubs training video — don’t miss. … The David Ortiz jersey that was buried in the Yankee Stadium concrete will be on display at the New England Sports Museum. … Another reader has commissioned Rob Ullman to create a jersey-clad pin-up illo. This time it’s Michael DeAloia, who had Rob depict his girlfriend, Rachel, “in the best college jersey of all-time — the Notre Dame green and gold.” Michael reports that Rachel “digs” the results. … Cricket report from Jordan Owen, who writes: “After last year’s success with their pink breast cancer awareness unis, Middlesex County cricket debuted their new One Day unis — spectacular navy and pink quarters — this past Sunday in a victory over trans-Thames rival Surrey.” … Tons of amazing Tiger Stadium photos here (with thanks to Paul Wiederecht). … The new Minnesota football uniforms will be unveiled at 1pm today. … Jeff Barak has found a bunch of really beautiful posters showing the progression of baseball stadiums in various cities, including New York (click on each individual ballpark for a larger image), Boston (ditto), Cleveland (for this one and all the ones that follow, you can see more detail by using the links below the poster), Cincinnati, Detroit, Philly, and St. Louis. The guy behind all this, an Ohio illustrator named Jeff Suntala, has a blog called Historic Ballparks, and has also put the stadium illustrations on a series of T-shirts, coffee mugs, and so on. His illos are gorgeous, and edumacational to boot. Check the full lineup here.
April 23rd, 2008
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