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Archive for June, 2008
A serious thunderstorm brought yesterday’s softball game to premature end, but not before I’d road-tested a new design from the sock drawer. Let’s take a look:
This week’s design: gray with brown and orange stripes, low-cut.
Ideal for feeling like a member of: the mid-1930s St. Louis Browns.
Color-coordination factor: Tricky — it’s not like I have tons of brown/orange/gray attire. But I found a gray T-shirt with an orange logo and topped it off with a brown cap — not bad.
How they looked: A little drab, no? Not really the greatest color combo. And I didn’t love the effect of gray stirrups and white sanitaries — not enough contrast. The whole thing made me feel somewhat less than resplendent.
How I played: We only got four innings in before the rains came. I was 0-for-1 but made a nifty sliding catch on a sinking line drive to left.
I was due to lead off the next half-inning when the skies opened up. There was this incredible super-cell forming (I’m not a meteorology geek, but I went on a storm-chasing trip once, back when I was a travel writer, and I learned enough to recognize a super-cell when I see one), which was sort of majestically menacing, so we all high-tailed it out of there. Oddly, the storm didn’t hit Queens, so I got to watch the rest of the Mets game once I got home. Pinstripes with black caps/socks/sleeves — ugh.
Uni Watch News Ticker: More than a year ago I ran pics of Lou Brock wearing odd decals on both sides of his helmet during the 1975 All-Star Game. Now, thanks to Brian Finch and Jennifer Jackson of the Cardinals Hall of Fame, we finally have a better view of what those decals were: Look here and here. But here’s the thing: First, it’s not yet clear if there’s another decal on the other side (the helmet is inside an exhibit that’s not easy to get into, but Jennifer is working on it). And second, that helmet was apparently used by Bob Gibson. And no Gibson wasn’t in the ’75 ASG. So that decal was apparently used by more than one player, and not just for all-star purposes. Still trying to get to the bottom of this one. … Jeremy Brahm reports that Japan’s gymnastics uniforms for the Olympics will look like this. But what’s with the “Hulk will smash!” posture from the fellas? … Mark Kluczynski reports that the “NCAA” patch on college football officials’ jerseys will be replaced by a “CFO” patch (for “College Football Officiating”) this fall. … New uniforms for the Boy Scouts here, and for the Navy here. … Still more fuss over the LZR swimsuit. … How much do they miss NFL football in L.A.? So much that a Bengals logo has appeared on a termite-control truck (good spot by Matt Shevin). … Check out this photo of Sam McDowell. Not only does he have stirrup extensions, but one of the extensions actually changes the direction of his stirrup! … Michael Gawley found a photo of Baron Davis wearing a Dodgers cap with an upside-down “LA” logo. Details toward the bottom of this page. … Another old example of sleeved high school hoops jerseys (and I bet there are stirrups under those white socks, too). … Reprinted from Friday night’s comments: Amazing video here showing a one-legged catcher who plays in a Kentucky-based Little League. And he’s left-handed, too. … Wanna immortalize yourself in bobblehead form? Look here (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … Here’s a new one: Jeremy Brahm reports that some of teams in Japan’s Master League (sort of a senior’s tour for baseball) wear tassels on their caps — totally bizarre. ” “They were about 4 inches long in the first year used (2006),” says Jeremy. “But they were extended to 5 inches long last year.” … Plus one of the teams in that league has a rainbow striped batting helmet (that uni is in the running for all-time ugliest, no?) … Lots of stained sheets at Mets fans’ homes on Friday, as the Amazin’s wore blue caps, sleeves, and socks on the road for the first time in a decade, and holy shit did it look awesome. Equipment manager Charlie Samuels (aka “The guy who’s to blame for the few remaining things in this world that aren’t George Bush’s fault”) decided to trot out the blue gear to commemorate the team’s final appearance at Yankee Stadium. But here’s the thing: If you’re going to look good for a special occasion, why not look good for every occasion? Blue Mets = true Mets! … Meanwhile, in the nightcap, Pedro Martinez was displaying virtually every conceivable button configuration: fully buttoned, top button open, and the Uni Watch special. Speaking of which, I’ve decided that the open second button will henceforth be known as the Pedro Porthole, a name that was suggested by Jared Wheeler, who wins himself a free Uni Watch membership for his efforts (Jared, let me know what you want on the back of your card). … Padres and Mariners wore 1978 throwbacks on Friday night in San Diego (where this vendor apparently was never told that it’s hard to sell stuff to an empty section). Yeah, they should have had waistbands instead of belts, the M’s wore thw wrong helmets, everything was too baggy (look at the drop-shoulders on Ichiro’s jersey), blah-blah-blah, whatever. Just be glad your favorite team never dressed like either of these two. … Harry Halloran and his family recently visited Mt. Rushmore, where they stopped in at the Gutzon Borglum museum. “Apparently the workers on the sculpture, in addition to battling acrophobia and blasting dynamite, had a baseball team,” he writes. “Not only that, they had fans who were devoted enough to have special ’sweater jackets’ made up, one of which was on display. The placard reads: ‘SWEATER: This type of sweater jacket was worn by fans who followed the Keystone/Mt. Rushmore baseball team. The emblem on the back is representative of an early design for the Memorial.’ Sure enough, if you look at the back of the sweater, the first question is, ‘Where’s Teddy?’ This is so cool on so many levels. If they’d had these for sale in the gift shop, I would’ve spent many more dollars than I already had. Unfortunately, no jerseys were on display — I would’ve been taking one of those home too, if they’d been available. Maybe the fine folks at Ebbets Field Flannels should look into this?” … Last year Mario Fontana guest-wrote a great entry about the Wiffle Ball tournaments at Little Fenway and Little Wrigley, which were for the benefit of the Travis Roy Foundation. He plans to write another entry based on this year’s tourney. If you want to donate to help support the cause, you can do so here. … Holy shit (amazing find by Mike Engle). … Negro Leagues throwback game between the Rays (dressingup as the Jacksonville Red Caps) and Pirates (representing the Pittsburgh Crawfords) on Saturday (additional pics here, here, here, here, here, and here). Interestingly, although the host Pirates didn’t wear throwback helmets, the visiting Rays did — sort of. Tim Burke explains: “Rays TV reported that when the team arrived in Pittsburgh and found the (well-designed, but sparse) uniforms waiting for them, Rays clubhouse manager Chris Westmoreland took it upon himself to acquire color-matched batting gloves and a blue ‘J’ decal to apply to the helmets for authenticity’s sake (even though, obviously, the Jacksonville Red Caps never wore batting helmets, and their caps were, well, red). He should probably be recognized for going the extra mile in this case.” Indeed! … About two hours after writing that last item, I opened my Sunday paper and found this in the coupon supplement. Hmmm, notice any similarities? … Jonee Eisen sent along some additional scorecard art by Otis Shepard (the Wrigley’s gum art director who also did some work for the Cubs), and holy shit is it amazing. Amazing cover designs here, here, and here, and check out this awesome guide to the Wrigley Field flags. … Great find by Mark Fightmaster and Robert Eden, the latter of whom writes: “Sunday’s Cincinnati paper had a little article on the day Dusty Baker stole second, third and home in a single game. It was June 27, 1984. But look at the accompanying photos — looks like the Reds were wearing their batting practice jerseys.” Personally, I would have assumed that the Reds were just wearing a solid-colored alt jersey, but as Robert points out, Cincy didn’t introduce a solid-red alternate until 1985 (the following year), and that design feature the city name, not the C-Reds logo. Indeed, the jerseys shown in the Dusty Baker photos appears to be this. A very early example of a team wearing its BP jersey for a game. Anyone know of any earlier instances, and/or if the Reds did this on a regular basis? … David Eckstein was hit by a pitch around his waistline on Saturday. As he trotted to first base, his belt buckle was flapping — the pitch had opened his belt! He addressed the situation a few moments later (with thanks to Geoff Loughton). … NSFW: topless soccer with painted-on jerseys (blame Bob Kile). … Still more Speedo LZR intrigue (courtesy of Jeremy Brahm). … Also from Jeremy: “The Polish women’s volleyball has been wearing a memorial ribbon over their flag on the front of their uniform in their matches in the FIVB World Grand Prix. It’s for former national team member Agata Mroz, who died after a bone marrow transplant while battling leukemia. Also: Looks like #17 for Italy has blue numbers, not black like her teammates, and the Turkish team is still wearing Adidas uniforms with Nike kneepads. The mark on their socks is the logo of the Turkish Volleyball Federation. … Good little Q&A article here on the Bears’ equipment manager (with thanks to Jeremy Gracyalny). … Hadn’t noticed this before, but someone on the Chris Creamer board pointed out that MLB’s “Welcome Back Veterans” caps have a star-spangled MLB logo on the back (except, of course, for the Blue Jays’ version). … I’m gonna be off the grid today (Rich Levin is having me fitted for leg irons), so play nice.
June 30th, 2008
The podium isn’t just a fancy staircase. Best wear a helmet. Those champagne corks are dangerous. — Bryan
June 29th, 2008
When I think track and field, I think fancy clothes. The latest fabrics and cuts, joined together in an enviable mix of cutting edge … wait … is that guy wearing a tux? Umm … OK. That’s Paul Litchfield, by the way. And he’s happy about his jump in the prelims at the US Olympic Trials. Here’s more fanciness from the Trials: Shalane Flanagan’s bling, rivaled only by Kara Goucher’s shininess (you have to look close. It’s there, trust me.). — Bryan
June 28th, 2008
[Editor’s Note: Reader Mike Miller recently attended the the 2008 Carolina League/California League All-Star Game in Myrtle Beach and provided such a thorough report that I’ve decided to run it as a guest-written entry — enjoy. I’ll see you down at the Ticker. — PL]
By Mike Miller
The game took place at BB&T Coastal Field, home to the single-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans. Here’s a rundown on the visual aspects of the game.
Batting Practice Jerseys. Nothing too remarkable here. Carolina League, as the home team, had powder blue — err, Pelican blue — jerseys with gold and navy trim and “Carolina” across the front. The design was straight out of the current MLB BP jersey template. (Yes, that’s Roger Clemens’ kid Koby in this shot.) Many of the players had BP jerseys with different numbers than their game uniforms, so I think the jerseys were pre-numbered then had nameplates added when the rosters were finalized.
The California League BP jerseys were similar, except with navy blue as the primary color and “California” across the front. Their numbers were three-layer, with powder blue, then white, then gold. Both leagues’ BP jersey had the all-star logo on the left sleeve.
Game Uniforms. The Carolina League got everyone to wear home whites. The California League couldn’t meet the challenge, with half of their players wearing a colored alternate instead of the road grey.
A few cool and weird tidbits:
• Wilmington probably has the only gold front number on a white uniform of any team in baseball.
• The Stockton Ports, which are an A’s affiliate, go with white cleats, just like the parent club (but they don’t all wear stirrups).
• Although Myrtle Beach wears powder blue caps at home and on the road, they have black batting helmets. I was told that helmet manufacturers don’t make helmets in powder blue and that the team basically didn’t want to pay the money to paint them all that color.
• The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes have a fissure across their cap bill.
• Salem’s jerseys are faux vests (white jerseys with black sleeves). Compare them to the real deal here.
• Winston-Salem, a White Sox affiliate, have White Sox sleeve patches.
• There were a few quality stirrup sightings. The best was Sean Doolittle from Stockton.
Field Markings and Stadium. The logo they painted behind home plate was not the actual all-star logo, but a watered-down version (the full version is much more detailed, with a palmetto tree and crescent moon, which of course are taken from the South Carolina state flag).
The grounds crew had some nice touches, outlining the home plate area and coaching boxes in red, white, and blue, plus they painted each league’s name in the coaching box closest to that team’s dugout. And before the game, the crew put down a stencil of the Pelicans’ “MB” cap logo of behind home plate. So after they watered that area, the logo was clearly evident.
The stadium has a “beach area” down the left field line, where folks can watch the game from beach chairs. They even have a few lifeguard chairs for good measure. Since the main scoreboard is in left field next to the outfield bleachers, they put in a manual scoreboard on the right field foul line so the bleacher folk and beach-dwellers could actually see the score. It’s got to be one of the largest flip scoreboards in history, like the ones you used in gym class. The poor ballboy (blue shirt between the B and S) has to get up after every pitch to change the count.
Some cool things around the concourse too, including a list of every Pelicans player who’s made it to the majors and each year’s Opening Day lineup.
Finally, the gift shop had a heat press for those who wanted a personalized jersey. It got some work while I was watching.
Uni Watch News Ticker: A little birdie informs me that SMU, now being coached by June Jones, is returning to traditional white helmets, and that the new uni “will look similar to throwback Bills — royal jerseys and white pants at home, solid white on the road.” Can’t show any photos yet, but I can tell you it looks pretty hot. Official unveiling to come in the next couple of weeks. … Joe Alexander loves No. 11 so much that he might not play if he can’t get that number (with thanks to Josh Exine). … Pink caps are getting bashed in Boston. … John Blatchford recently attended the http://www.ishof.org/”>International Swimming Hall of Fame in Florida and sent along some photos (look here, here, here, and here). Lots of info on their current “History of Swimwear” exhibit is in this PDF. … Some interesting uni-related content in this video clip about what the UGA baseball team does on an off-day. … Chris Warfford notes that Team Slipstream, in addition their argyle cycling outfits, “are going to have one of the most colorful team photos ever. They’ve got five national title-holders that will be representing their nations during the grand tours, and those riders will be allowed to wear kits that reference their national titles, in addition to the argyle. Of course, we haven’t seen the new kits with the Garmin logo (that will be resolved soon), but if the Giro d’Italia is any indication of the kits, very few colors will be left out of the team photo.” … Not sure if I’ve run this link before, but here’s a good site for UK soccer kits (with thanks to Patrick Murray). … I just scored this nifty old uniform ad. “Preferred by the leaders of Boyville” — how totally great is that?! … Totally love this label (which is on this old uniform). … The Western Michigan White caps are going to wear Star Wars uniforms on Saturday. … Footwear observation from Brian Jud, who writes: “I noticed the SportsCenter commercial with Pierce, Garnett, and Allen shows them wearing road jerseys with white sneakers, when everyone knows the Celtics wear black sneakers on the road. More details here. … Sartorial justice: Maria Sharapova and tuxedo-themed Nike outfit were beaten yesterday by Alla Kudryavtseva, who later said, “I don’t like her outfit. It was one of the motivations to beat her” (good find by Brinke Guthrie). … You know how UMich always wears special shoulder logos for bowl games? Here’s an article on the company that puts them on the jerseys. … Bill Sour was watching the 1984 film Supergirl, which includes a scene in an abandoned amusement park. “I did a double-take when I saw a bunch of bumper cars with NFL helmets on them. After further review there it was, an NFL-themed amusement park ride [additional pics here and here]. I’d kill to find one of these old rides.” Very cool, but they got the Falcons’ logo backwards. … “George Shinn had wanted to own an NHL expansion team in Raleigh, but got pushed aside in favor of Felix Sebates, the NASCAR owner,” writes Tris Wykes. “So he came to Hampton Roads and whipped up ticket and suite deposits and civic interest in his proposed team, the Rhinos. They were in the hunt before being turned down by the NHL in January of 1997. There were billboards and T-shirts and Coke cans with the Rhinos logo. The character’s name was Rhocky.” … By now most of you have seen the Timberwolves’ new logo (which continues the NBA’s odd practice of including a basketball in the vast majority of its logo designs). According to this article, they’ll be unveiling a new uni set in August. … “Sometime last year, I sent along the only unearthed picture of Auburn sporting the hideous orange jerseys from 1979-82,” writes Kris McInnis. “But I was doing some attic shuffling and have found a few more good color shots from a couple of old university yearbooks. I can’t imagine there’d be anymore of these laying around that are actually in color. These shots differ from the original one I sent along, as most feature striped sleeves that are not seen on the tear-a-ways.”
June 27th, 2008
For most of the baseball world, Dock Ellis is “that guy who threw a no-hitter on acid.” Here at Uni Watch, he’s “that guy who wore curlers” (more on that here). But to Jay Kaplan, Ellis is a lot more.
Kaplan (who I learned about from reader Matthew Ronay) is the man behind “Ellis, D.: The Dock Ellis Experience,” a group of 15 amazing poured resin paintings based on Ellis’s life, many of them featuring some awesome uni-related content. It’s a really interesting project for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is this: If you start with one of the paintings and then click on it, you get a bunch of thumbnails showing Kaplan’s source material and visual references. It’s like getting a peek inside his creative process.
Kaplan was already planning a trip to NYC when I contacted him last month, so I got to interview him in person instead of over the phone. Even better, he brought several of the paintings with him, and they’re even more impressive in person than they are on the web, full of depth and saturation and texture. It also becomes much more apparent that the paintings’ dimensions are the same proportions as a baseball card.
Those photos were taken on June 6th, shortly after Jay and I spent some time chatting over a few beers in my back yard. Here’s what we talked about.
Uni Watch: Let’s start with you. How old are you, and where do you live?
Jay Kaplan: I’m 35, and I live in Sudbury, Massachusetts. But I’ve only been there for a year. Before that I lived here in Brooklyn for 14 years.
UW: Why’d you move?
JK: We have two kids, and it was getting tricky. I was getting sidetracked from doing my art. So now I’m, like, in the woods.
UW: Do you make a living as an artist?
JK: I’ve done so many different things to make a living — art’s been one of them.
UW: I know you grew up in Port Washington [Long Island]. Were you a sports fan growing up?
JK: Yeah. And I still am.
UW: Did you play sports?
JK: I played Little League and played baseball up through my junior year in high school. And I played soccer and a little hockey. Some basketball, but I wasn’t very good.
UW: Were you interested in art back then as well?
JK: I played music, and yeah, I did some art. We had a lot of art in our house. My great-grandmother was an interior designer, so she had bought a lot of stuff, and my parents hung work, like, salon-style, so there was art everywhere. And my grandfather was a painter.
UW: And did your interests in art and sports ever overlap, like they have with this Dock Ellis project?
JK: Here and there. When I was about 12, I took an oil painting class and I made a painting of Denis Potvin. I was a big Islanders fan, and that was right in their heyday.
UW: Have you done other sports-oriented art projects as an adult, prior to the Dock Ellis work?
JK: I did a silly thing. I really got into art in college. In high school, I’d been into writing, but then in college I took an elective — a welding elective. It was actually an African-American Studies welding class. And in that class I made a giant sculpture of Patrick Ewing. So that one and the Potvin painting were probably my two sports pieces.
UW: What led you to do that?
JK: At the time, I was so into just the act of welding, and I didn’t really know much about art, so I’d just weld anything that popped into my head. And I was really into the Knicks at the time. It’s at my parents’ house now, along with a lot of my work. The Ewing is a source of embarrassment for me now. A lot of my friends really like it, but I don’t know if they’re just making fun of me.
UW: Okay, so tell me about your fascination with Dock Ellis, and how that fascination led to this project.
JK: I was doing a lot of self-referential art…
UW: How do you mean?
JK: I used to do these performance pieces and photograph them. I made a piñata in my own likeness, and I hung it from a tree and had someone take pictures of me beating it while wearing the same clothes as the piñata, with red paper on the inside. Another time, I ate a box of crayons. And I took a Krazy Glue dropper and basically had a drop of Krazy Glue about to go into my eye.
UW: Was it actually, like, real Krazy Glue?
JK: It was, yeah.
UW: Did it go into your eye?
JK: No. I just kept it right there for the shot. Another time I filled a bottle of Glass Plus with blue Gatorade, went to a supermarket, and placed it on the shelf. Then I took it off the shelf and chugged it. So I’d done all these pieces with me in them, and I was looking for something with more of a narrative, a story. And I remembered this urban legend that someone had taken LSD and pitched a no-hitter. Then I did some research and learned that there was so much more to Dock.
UW: When was this that you began this process?
JK: Probably two and a half years ago. I’d started making these paintings using resin. I started with abstract stuff, geometric shapes. Then I went to the next logical place, naked women. And that’s when I decided to do the narrative. It took me a year to do the whole series.
UW: You said that you learned there was so much more to Dock Ellis than just “the guy who pitched a no-hitter while doing LSD.” Such as..?
JK: He was almost a black activist. He was outspoken, he had this lively personality. He was a character. He was controversial.
UW: The poured resin seems so particularly well-suited to someone who was tripping on acid, and also for the colors and design style of that time period. Was that one reason you thought he’d be a good match for this medium?
JK: Yeah, definitely. It all seemed to fit together so well. [You can see a slideshow documenting the making of this painting here. — PL]
UW: Have you done LSD yourself?
JK: Um… I, uh … No comment.
UW: Did you do LSD specifically as “research” for this project, in the course of making the art?
JK: No.
UW: You’ve got some great uniform depictions in there. When I saw the Reggie Jackson painting, with that Oakland A’s uniform, that’s when I knew I had to get in touch with you. And hey, did you know that those early-’70s Pirates pullovers were the first pullovers ever worn in major league baseball?
JK: No.
UW: Yeah. Whether you realized it or not, you were documenting a really transformative period in baseball — striped waistbands replacing belts, pullovers replacing button-fronts, polyester replacing flannel. Were you aware of any of that?
JK: Not really, no. But I did do a lot of research to make it somewhat accurate to the era. I was hoping to capture the ’70s, when he pitched.
UW: What sort of research?
JK: Just looking at tons of pictures. There’s so much on the web now.
UW: Did you collect baseball cards as a kid, and did you go back and look at them?
JK: I did, yeah.
UW: I’m a little older than you, and I got interested in baseball around 1971, ’72, so I grew up watching precisely this period we’re talking about. Like, I remember watching Dock Ellis pitch. But you grew up after this period. So as you were doing all this research, were thinking, “Damn, I wish I’d been around to see that”?
JK: I have a lot of ’70s nostalgia in me, because the house I grew up in was really tricked out ’70s-style. So I sort of feel like I was there for it.
UW: You also have a piece showing Ellis in his curlers. When did you learn about that episode?
JK: There this great book, Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball…
UW: Right.
JK: So I read about it there, and in other articles about him. I just thought it was an interesting thing to do, to wear curlers on the field. And he even used that to show racial bias, because the commissioner said, “You can’t do that, can’t wear curlers,” but he let white ballplayers wear wigs or hairpieces.
UW: I love how, if you click on one of the paintings, you get all those smaller images. Are those the source images?
JK: Those are some of the inspiration behind each painting. Sometimes I feel like maybe it gives away too much. But at the same time, I don’t know — if you just see the paintings, you might not get as much of the story.
UW: So it’s sort of like footnotes.
JK: Yeah.
UW: And for the painting called Side Show, the source images are mostly these mustachioed ballplayers. What was that all about?
JK: Well, he pitched the no-hitter against the Padres. So the main image was based on the original San Diego Chicken, which was a radio gimmick. I wanted to draw a parallel between the chicken, which was a side show to the game, and a mustache, which I think of as a side show to a face. And mustaches were so prevalent back in that period.
UW: Right, because the A’s started that whole thing. And of course they also started the Technicolor-uniform trend.
JK: Yeah, I was so excited to do that Reggie Jackson piece, just to match that green and that yellow. I knew that in the resin, it would really pop.
UW: You nailed it, too.
JK: You probably can’t tell from the image on the web, but I actually did his glasses frames in inlaid metal, to accentuate them.
UW: Yeah, I noticed you used some unusual media, like Ping Pong balls. What’s that about?
JK: The Ping Pong balls were from this story when Dock fell from grace and drugs kind of overtook him later in his career. He finally went to rehab, and he was in such a bad state that he would actually sniff Ping Pong balls to try to get high.
UW: Really? What did he think he was gonna get out of that?
JK: I don’t know, but when I drilled holes in them and filled them with resin to make the eyeballs for that painting, they were really stinky. I think they’re made out of some kind of crazy plastic.
UW: No no no, they’re made out of reed or something, aren’t they? Definitely something organic.
JK: Really? Huh. [Actually, Jay was right: They’re made of celluloid, which is a thermoplastic. — PL]
UW: Anyway, so you did that not just because it was visually appropriate, but you were referencing an incident from his life.
JK: Yeah, I just took all this information about him and processed it through my head and tried to come up with images to go with them, and tried to make it work. But it didn’t have to be super-precise or literal.
UW: Let’s get back to the Reggie Jackson piece for a second. Why did you include him?
JK: Dock had a little history with Reggie in, I think, the ’76 All-Star Game [actually 1971 — PL]. At mid-season he had a really good record. Like he was 11-0 or something, and Vida Blue was having a great year too, and Dock said, “They’ll never start two black pitchers, two brothers in this All-Star Game.” And it became a big thing in the press, and it turned out that they both did start. And during that game, Reggie Jackson hit that famous home run off of Dock, the moonshot that hit the light tower in Detroit.
UW: But Reggie wasn’t wearing that green jersey in that game — he was wearing a vest.
JK [sheepishly]: There might be a few, uh, holes in the story.
UW: Well, that’s OK — artistic license and all. Didn’t mean to be such a stickler. I was just sayin’.
JK: Yeah, my audience is an art world audience. They’d never know the difference. Anyway, Reggie stood there watching the home run, which infuriated Dock.
UW: Nowadays, it happens practically every game. I mean, Manny Ramirez does it twice a week. I guess Reggie was kind of a pioneer there.
JK: But it really pissed off Dock.
UW: Which is kind of interesting. Because culturally speaking, the whole “standing and admiring your home run” thing is part of a demonstrative or hot dog-ish approach to sports that’s very black, very much part of the black approach to sports. And the people who don’t like it and criticize it are almost invariably white fans and white media people. So it’s interesting that Dock Ellis, being a very racially aware athlete, frowned upon something that was, in essence, very black.
JK: I don’t think he judged people based on color. He loved Pete Rose, for example. I think he just didn’t like being shown up, by anyone.
UW: Yeah, but what I mean is, you and I say, “showing him up,” but a lot of black fans and athletes would say, “That’s not showing anyone up — that’s just my style, that’s being an entertainer,” blah-blah-blah. And what white fans call “classy,” black fans often consider just “boring.” I’m not coming down on either side; I’m just saying the same thing can be perceived differently by different groups. It definitely speaks to a cultural gap.
JK: Yeah.
UW: Anyway, that soured him on Reggie?
JK: Definitely. At one point a bunch of major leaguers were going to do a tour of Viet Nam, and Dock didn’t wanna go because Reggie was going. The next time he faced Reggie again [which was several years later, because Ellis didn’t pitch in the American League until 1976 — PL], he hit him in the face. Intentionally. Broke his glasses and I think broke his jaw.
UW: And that was years after! Wow, note to self: Don’t cross Dock Ellis.
JK: Exactly.
UW: Have these pieces been shown in a gallery yet?
JK: No, I’m trying to find a place for them now. I’ve got some hopefuls. I’m feeling positive about it.
UW: Assuming you find a gallery, will you show the source images, the backstory, the way you have on the web?
JK: I don’t think I would, unless I maybe did it in the catalog.
UW: So it’s a very different kind of exhibition on the web than it would be in person. I mean, obviously, duh, everything’s different on the web, but what I mean is that the quantitative amount of material you’d be showing would be different.
JK: Yeah. At one point I wanted to get video of the no-hitter, and I contact all these different people, but it turns out that game wasn’t televised. There was some home video that someone shot from the stands — Bob Costas showed some of it on his show one time — and I tried to get that, but I couldn’t. The Hall of Fame sent me some other footage of Dock pitching, and I thought of doing something with that, but I decided not to.
UW: In the course of this project, did you make any attempts to contact Dock himself?
JK: I didn’t. I thought about it, but I wanted it to be based on just the story. Like I said before, at first I kind of treated it like an urban legend. I didn’t want to get too close to it.
UW: Did you contact Donald Hall, who wrote Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball?
JK: No.
UW: If this project eventually ends up in a gallery and gets some media, it’s certainly conceivable that Dock Ellis could become aware of its existence. If he were to come into a gallery, or even just visit your web site, what do you think he’d make of all this?
JK: I don’t know. It’s an interesting question, because I spent so much time thinking about him. I was completely absorbed by him — it’s like he’s become a big part of my life somehow. I’d hope he would like it. I know he has a good sense of humor. I read something where he was signing baseballs with some sort of LSD reference. I’d hope he wouldn’t be offended, and that he’d be happy that someone was glorifying his life and accomplishments.
UW: Let’s say you get a gallery, and they do a big opening reception. Would you want Dock to attend the opening?
JK: That would be great, yeah — I’d be into that. He’s actually a drug counselor now, in California, and one of the galleries I’m looking at is in L.A., so yeah, that would be cool.
UW: I know artists hate to be asked this type of question, but do you have a favorite piece among the 15?
JK: I like Kool-Aid and Kools. It’s so iconic, and the idea is so clear to me. It sort of expresses this contradiction that was a big part of Dock’s personality, that he could be angry and loving. Dock smoked Kools, and Kool-Aid can be spiked with acid, so it all kind of fit together.
[That was all the questions I had, so I turned off the tape recorder. But we kept on chatting and drinking, and at some point the talk turned back to sports, so I turned the tape back on. — PL]
JK: Lately I’ve gotten into NASCAR.
UW: Interesting. Do you know any other artists who are into it?
JK: Actually, I’ve got two friends who started their careers based on their interest in NASCAR.
UW: How so?
JK: They were both interested in the aesthetics of it. This one guy, my friend Nathan, he did a lot work that almost looked like the way the patches are everywhere [on the jumpsuits]. And this girl Kristin Baker, she was into the way a car looks when it’s crashed, and her paintings were abstract, but they kind of had this crashing vibe. This was back in the ’90s — I think they’ve both gotten away from it now.
UW: Have you ever thought of a NASCAR-related project?
JK: There’s this one driver, Travis Kvapil, who drives the No. 28 car. For a while he didn’t have a sponsor, so he just put “11 million” on the hood of the car, because that’s what it would cost to sponsor him.
UW: Sort of like “Your Ad Here.”
JK: Exactly. So I saw that, and I thought that would be great if I, as an artist, could sponsor that car and just do some artwork on that car.
UW: So let’s say you’re a gazillionaire and you go ahead and do this. What would you put on the car?
JK: Maybe some kind of op-art thing that’s forms a vibrating pattern, so other drivers get mesmerized and crash when they’re coming up behind you. Or you could just do a minimalist thing, or just something ridiculous, like popcorn all over the car. And at the end of the race, the drivers always mention the sponsor — like, “Yeah, this Office Depot car really came through for me today.” So it would be incredible to hear them say, “This Jay Kaplan art car was was just great.” It would be a great juxtaposition between corporate America and art.
UW: Have you ever discussed this idea with anyone?
JK: I did work for Jeff Koons at one point…
UW: Well, he certainly has enough money to do it.
JK: Definitely. And it was so great when he put a float of his rabbit sculpture in the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade. I still know him and his wife, so I mentioned the idea to his wife. I e-mailed her about it, thinking maybe she’d tell him and he’d do it.
UW: Any response?
JK [laughing]: No response.
UW: Are you aware of the recent taxi art project here in New York?
JK: No.
UW: It started last year, I think. Lots of New York cabs got outfitted with these big floral decals. It’s not quite the same thing as what you’re talking about, but it was an interesting project.
JK: Was it cool?
UW: I didn’t like the designs, frankly, but I really liked the idea of using taxis as a means of creating public art, especially since so many taxis also carry advertising.
==========
And that’s where we left it. Jay hasn’t yet found a gallery for the full 15-painting set, but he’ll be showing four of the pieces, along with some non-Dock artwork, in this group show, which will have an opening reception this Saturday from 6pm-10pm. He’ll be on hand, and I’ll be swinging by as well.
Uni Watch News Ticker: New York’s sanitation workers are getting new uniforms (with thanks to Neil Berger). … The Arkansas Travelers, double-A affiliate of the Angels, are changing from blue caps to red after winning the first-half division title (with thanks to John Evans). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Novak Djokovic, an Adidas-sponsored athlete, wore Nike sneakers at Wimbledon and whited-out the swooshes. Details here. … While looking for something else, I came across this photo Ted Williams and Dom DiMaggio. Note the connective strap on Ted’s stirrup. … Also came across this shot. Look closely and you’ll see that the ump is wearing his cap backwards, even though it has a abbreviated brim. Not sure I’ve ever seen that before. … Super-detailed guide to spotting fake NFL “authentics” here (nice find by Drew Wagner). … Good photos here, here, and hereof the Tigers’ one-year tiger-head style from 1927 (with thanks to Doug Mooney). … Early Astros prototype? Marc Swanson isn’t saying. … Thinnest stirrups ever? … Slow news day in Denver. … Chris Flinn reports that baseball-snagging guru Zack Hample snared a few BP balls at Shea a few days ago and was surprised to discover to find that they were All-Star Game balls. (As an aside, I had no idea there was a “baseball-snagging guru” out there, but the guy actually has a blog devoted to the topic — cool.) … “Many UFC fighters have started wearing tape wraps around their gloves to match the corner they’re assigned (blue corner has blue tape, red corner has red tape),” reports Mike Miller. “Probably helps the judges tell the fighters apart for scoring.” … Good gallery of USA Olympic basketball jereys here (with thanks to Erkki Corpuz). … Did you know the MLB logo was designed by DC Comics artist Jim Sherman? That’s what this page claims (with thanks to Dave Sikula). … Pesky Pirates patch problem persist for Jack Wilson. He must really love that one undershirt (with thanks to Bill Blevins). … Kudos to the U. of Minnesota, who’ve told Victoria’s Secret not to include them in Vicky’s pink collegiate product line. Details here (and nobody’s happier about this than Minnesota resident and scourge of all things pink Minna H.). … Mariners and Padres will be wearing 1978 throwbacks tomorrow night. … Nice photo gallery here of Cal football uni history — a history to which these are now being added. … I’m an architectural intern in Philadelphia and each summer there is a softball league comprised of architecture firms, contractors, and real estate firms,” writes Eddie Layton. “In general the league is very laid back and unorganized, although a few teams do have a semblance of uniforms or others (like ours) just try to all wear the same color T-shirt. This past week, however, we played a firm that had some pretty classic uniforms. I’ve attached a couple of pictures that my fiance took while we were playing.” … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Why did Bruce Boisclair (one of the least baseball-y names ever, by the way) pose for a photo with an aluminum bat?
June 26th, 2008
In 37-ish years of watching baseball, I’ve never seen a big leaguer do what Adrian Beltre did during last night’s Mariners/Mets game. When Brian Schneider hit a soft liner over his head (sorry about the crummy image quality for all these shots), Beltre threw his glove up in the air, which is the sort of stunt usually reserved batting practice.
“You’re not supposed to do that,” mused Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen, a philosophical lilt in his voice. “You know, technically, if you throw your glove at the ball, it’s three bases. … I mean, it’s in the rulebook, if you throw your glove at the ball. Now, I’m sure the umpires will say, ‘Look, he wasn’t throwing his glove at the ball, he was just frustratedly throwing his glove in the air after the ball had already passed.’ And that’s true, but technically…”
And then his voice trailed off. But Gary Cohen, technically, didn’t know what the fuck he was talking about. As the umpires correctly ruled, there’s no penalty for throwing your glove at the ball (or anywhere else) as long as there’s no contact. The relevant section of the rulebook, which I highly recommend to Mr. Cohen, can be found here.
Note that a related section of the rulebook calls for one base to be awarded if a player touches pitched ball with his mask. I remember reading an article in the late 1980s about a catcher who’d blocked a ball in the dirt and then retrieved it by nonchalantly scooping it up with his mask. The opposing manager was Gene Mauch, who scurried out to argue that this was a one-base infraction. The umpire eventually agreed, so Mauch won the argument. The only problem is that his team was losing 11-1 or something like that, and this “Win the battle, lose the war” scenario was presented in the article as a microcosm of Mauch’s entire career.
As for Beltre last night, here’s the kicker: When his glove came back down, he booted it. Rather incredibly, this guy is the A.L.’s reigning Gold Glover at third base. When I mentioned this to my ESPN colleague Jim Caple, who lives in Seattle and therefore sees Beltre play way more than I do, he responded, “He can be a little playful from time to time. If he knows he won’t confuse another fielder, he’ll occasionally try to deke the cameraman just for the fun of it.” Interesting, but it still seems pretty bush to me.
Research Project: I’m trying to compile a timeline of interesting uni-related moments in MLB All-Star Games. I’ve previously listed a bunch of such episodes here, I devoted an entire ESPN column to the 1934 uniforms, and I’ve got plenty of additional examples (Johnny Callison winning the ’64 ASG while wearing a Mets helmet, Reggie Jackson wearing a Mariners uni for the A.L. team photo in ’79 [see left], Larry Walker wearing his helmet backwards while facing Randy Johnson in ’97, etc.), but I want more. If you know of additional instances of notable uni-related moments in all-star history — or notable all-star moments in uni-related history, as the case might be — please get in touch.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Forgot to mention yesterday that the media kit from Monday’s MLB press conference included this lapel pin. Nice of them to slap the trademark symbol on a flag-based design, no? … When you’re as tall as Richie Sexson, shouldn’t they try to center your uni number a bit better? That’s a lot of acreage between the number and his waistline (with thanks to Eric Distenfeld for the pics). … That Big Brown photo with the loose horseshoe is pretty fascinating. … Interesting Japanese baseball tidbit from Jeremy Brahm: “In 1979, the Central and Pacific Leagues had their 30th anniversaries and came out with pillbox hats for each team. From what I can find, these were only used in the 1979 and 1980 Central and Pacific East-West All Star games after the season.” … Did you know Spain has an “unlucky” yellow jersey? Details here (with thanks to Patrick O’Donnell). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Check out this Indians vs. Indians shot, presumably taken during a spring training intersquad game. … Maria Sharapova’s tuxedo-patterned top has real buttons and pleats — not just printed graphics, which was what I’d been expecting. Details here, here, and here, plus more Wimbledon coverage here. … The USA hoops team’s uniforms will look like this and this. … Ryan McGhee reports that the Tacoma Rainiers and Oklahoma RedHawks of the Pacific Coast League will wear special jerseys next week and auction them to benefit the Limbs for Life Foundation, which buys new prosthetic limbs for amputees who can’t afford them in the United States and takes donated limbs to foreign countries like the Dominican Republic. … “The State Farm ad on the Wrigley Field dugout railing was apparently taped over or something on Sunday night,” notes Matt Bennum. … Paul Wiederecht sent along one of the best photos I’ve ever seen of the Golden Seals’ white skates. … Also from Paul: Great page here devoted to ballpark organists, “but nothing about Fernand Lapierre from Montreal, seen playing ‘Les Expos Sont Là’ here.” … My mention of the unusual basketball jersey crotch extension yesterday prompted this response from sporting goods impresario Terry Proctor: “While I was at Ruby’s in Rochester, we sold a set of basketball uniforms with supporter bottoms to Geneseo High School, which is about 35 miles southwest of Rochester. We got the uniforms from Powers Mfg. Co. in Waterloo, Iowa. The players HATED the supporter bottom. Needless to say, the next uniforms Geneseo bought a couple of years later were from SandKnit, sans the supporter bottom. … While searching for something else, I came across this shot of Carlton Fisk wearing some killer striped hose. I’d forgotten about that design. … Also discovered two shots of Chet Lemon wearing some interesting windbreakers under his jersey: First, check out the collar here. And then dig this shot — looks like he’s got two windbreakers on, plus the big-collared jersey. … Nice to see that my question at Monday’s MLB press conference became the basis for the last graf of this AP item. … Doug Mooney found still more photos from the 1968 World Series showing Tigers with their uni number on the left sleeve instead of the right. First there’s this shot — that’s Bill Freehan in the background but we already knew he had the left-sleeve number. Who’s that in the foreground, though — is it Jim Northrup? That’s definitely Northrup in this shot, which appears to show a left-sleeve number as well. … Tyler Kulasza just took his annual trip to Cooperstown and sent along pics of Honus Wagner’s brim-mounted flip-down shades, a pair of gorgeous Cardinals jackets (here’s a close-up), and A.J. Burnett’s no-hitter cap (what did he have written here and here?). … The Pirates and Rays will be wearing Negro Leagues throwbacks this Saturday, honoring the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Jacksonville Redcaps, respectively (with thanks to Jerry Wolper).
June 25th, 2008
I recently scored another vintage uniform catalog. It features some particularly vibrant examples of things we’ve seen before, plus a few things I’ve never seen before. Here are the highlights:
• Good assortment of football jerseys here (the one at upper-right is unusual — you don’t normally see a raglan-sleeved football shirt) and here (love the repeating stripes on the green and black models). As usual, though, my favorite page is the listing of optional details. Interesting to see that the yellow sleeve-number panel (labeled “E26″) was already being referred to as a “TV Insert” in 1963.
• Here’s a standard assortment of football pants. What interests me is the listing of extras. First, note option K14L — I’ve never that type of harness-style color paneling before. And just above it, look at option K7L, which is described as, “Back of knee. Triangle.” Seems like something Nike or Reebok would do today, no?
• Good assortment of old-school hoops jerseys here (note that two of them are sleeved) and here. But once again, the listing of options is where the action is. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crotch extension on a basketball jersey before. And look at item SKB — rib-knit trim at the hemline! I’d give anything to see a team actually wearing that.
• Basketball shorts are here and here, and warm-ups are here, here, and here. But here’s something that just blew me away: Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the warm-up basketball cape!
• No surprise that I like this page. But you don’t normally see socks listed by knit pattern — amazing stuff.
Cap-ital Punishment: So I attended yesterday’s press conference about MLB’s “Welcome Back Veterans” program. They had most of the star-spangled caps on display (for some reason I was really fixated on the treatment of the Angels’ halo), along with the special ball and base that will be used during this promotion. There were lots of big shots on hand, including David Wright (whose presence was disturbing for me — shouldn’t he have been taking a pregame nap or something?) and Fred Wilpon (whose presence was disturbing for other reasons), plus about half a dozen Iraq and Afghanistan vets.
I don’t like the caps at all, but the charity initiative, at least as described, is clearly a good one, with lots of organizations participating on a pro bono basis (for further details, look here). After a presentation that lasted a little over a half-hour, the floor was opened for questions. The first two of these were total softballs — a guy from MLB.com, for example, asked Wilpon, “Fred, could you tell us a little more about why this is so important to you?” Someone else asked something of a similar tenor.
There’s nothing wrong with those types of questions, of course. There’s also nothing wrong with the kind of question I then asked, which went like this:
All the materials related to this promotion say that “a portion of the proceeds” from the cap sales will go to the charity program [look at the last bullet point here, for example]. Can you tell us what percentage that portion is?
The reason I ask is that some fans — including many who have already expressed their opinions to me as news of this initiative leaked out over the weekend — may view this program as just another merchandising program to move product and generate revenue. So what portion of the cap proceeds will go to the charity? And if it’s not 100%, why not?
And man, you could practically hear them crossing my name off their Christmas card lists. MLB PR czar Rich Levin glared at me like I’d just hocked a loogie in his cappuccino or something. “The answer is that that hasn’t been determined yet,” he growled. “But this is a charity initiative — it isn’t about generating revenue.”
“I’m not suggesting otherwise,” I responded. “But there’s a certain level of cynicism out there among some fans, so I was giving you a chance to clarify…”
“We reject that,” he snapped. “We reject the cynicism.”
And that, my friends, was the end of that. No more questions, cue the photographers for glad-handing pics. Afterward, two gentlemen who were involved with the vets’ program (i.e., not MLB employees) approached me and said, “I thought it was a very good question, and I don’t think you got much of an answer.”
When I got home, I found an e-mail from a local newspaper columnist of my acquaintance. “Loved your question at the news conference,” he wrote. “Then you vanished seconds after. Did security haul you away?” Actually, I’d hung around for about 10 minutes afterward. Anyway, I wrote back, “Heaven forbid anyone should ask a non-softball question, right?” To which he responded, “The reason that he got all offended was because you nailed him! Of course it’s just another marketing initiative! LOL.”
Actually, I’m a little less cynical than that. I think it’s more that Levin, and a lot of the other MLB suits, are completely out of touch with the way fans think. And if I told him that, he’d probably say, “Oh no, that’s not true — we do all sorts of focus groups to keep us in touch with fans’ opinions,” without realizing that that’s part of the problem. These guys are so corporate, so expense account, so executive suite and boardroom, they have no freakin’ clue what it’s like to be an average baseball fan, and even less clue as to how their machinations are perceived by the rest of us. They live in a hermetically sealed bubble, sort of like a permanent luxury box. So when they come up with a nice idea — and that’s certainly what the Welcome Back Veterans program is, stupid caps or no stupid caps — they pat themselves on the back and are genuinely surprised when someone (me, in this case) has the temerity to ask a real question that requires a real answer.
Footnote: An MLB spokesman later said he’d try to find an answer to my question.
Meanwhile: About seven hours later, David Wright made an error that led to four unearned runs. He later booted another ball (initially scored an error, then changed to a base hit) and went 0-for-3 at the plate. I rest my case.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Cool-looking vintage uniform catalog – which, unfortunately, I was outbid on — jersey. … Jeffrey Moulden was watching a broadcast of Vinny Testaverde’s first game at Miami (9/7/85) and was surprised to see that the ’Canes wore solid orange (additional pics here and here. … More Textile Mill League throwbacks from the Greenville Drive — I’ve set up a small slide show here (with thanks to Michael Bonasia and Billy Crowe). … “Went to an American Legion baseball game on Friday,” writes Michael Orr. “The West Columbia (SC) team does not have a uniform helmet design for their players, so the guys just wear their regular high school team helmets. This player goes to Airport High School in West Columbia, whose batting helmets apparently have side decals instead of having the logo on the front. I’ve never seen this before.” … The Cubs may be the only MLB team to use an embroidered appliqué on their batting helmets, but there’s at least one minor league team that does it: the Iowa Cubs. And look, they’ve even got the trademark symbol on there (big thanks to Dave Dolmage). … Ever since this site’s very first entry, I’ve been saying that athletes, and their uniforms, have been looking more and more like superheroes. Oregon’s football uniforms are an obvious example, but I didn’t realize Oregon had actually created little comic books for recruiting their top prospects. Unbelievable (with thanks to Greg Riffenburgh). … “The CSC cycling team has picked up a new co-sponsor, Saxo Bank,” reports Benjamin Graff. “Here’s the new jersey.” … Two promising-looking baseball exhibits currently underway at the Bennington Museum in Vermont (as forwarded by Erik Little). … “Mike Stein, a local Philly designer, was hanging outside my local coffee shop, and his tat stood out,” writes Morris Levin. “I’d know that design from the Phils’ 1976 jersey sleeve anywhere.” … Awesome article here about the organist at the College World Series. “Note the fried cheese curds on the organ,” points out Bryan. “Everything for the CWS is either fried, cheese, fried cheese, or beer.” Depressing excerpt from the article: “[Organs at ballparks] peaked in the 1960s and 1970s. Their numbers have dwindled since. The Hall of Fame’s research director, Tim Wiles, traced at least part of the beginning of the end to a change in ownership for the Mets after the 1979 season. The longtime organist Jane Jarvis was nudged out at Shea Stadium in favor of canned music. Teams wanted their music to rock, not reverberate.” … Not uni-related, but interesting nonetheless, from yesterday’s Times: “For the third consecutive game, [Mets manager Jerry] Manuel removed his starting pitcher in the middle of an inning. For the third consecutive game, the starter — this time, Mike Pelfrey — remained on the mound until the reliever arrived.” Seems to me that this used to be common years ago, but at some point pitchers began walking to the dugout as soon as the skipper arrived on the mound. Can anyone confirm or refute? Any idea when the changeover took place? … “It appears that Chris Sabo was way ahead of the Jamie Moyer curve when it comes to having a team logo on low-riding stirrups,” writes Robert Eden. “What’s all the more remarkable is that for years, Sabo had cultivated the fake stirrups look that we all know and loathe.” … Remember yesterday’s Ticker item about Bill Freehan wearing his uni number on his left sleeve during the ’68 World Series, while the other Tigers wore it on the right? Don Montgomery found another left-numbered Tiger from that same World Series: Willie Horton (who had the number on the proper sleeve earlier that year). … An injured hiker who was stranded in the Bavarian Alps was rescued after using her sports bra to signal local lumberjacks (it’s not clear whether the lumberjacks were attracted by the bra or by her bralessness), which I’m sure will lead to a new ad slogan: “Just Undo It.” … As many of you are already aware, this Virginia Tech jersey is up for sale on the web, although the Hokies haven’t yet confirmed that this will be the school’s new design. The full ensemble will apparently look like this, at least according to this blog entry (courtesy of Ryan McGhee). … “You may have heard that NY Ranger Sean Avery was an intern at Vogue,” writes Dan McCue. “He’s offered up his list of the worst sports uniforms ever. He also explains why he wanted to intern at Vogue. Best line: ‘If you feel like teasing this hockey player about an obsession of his that you might think is a little unusual, go right ahead. Just know that you may get your ass kicked by a very expensive pair of shoes — and that they’ll probably match both my belt and my shirt.’” … I’ve occasionally mentioned the Midnight Sun Game, which takes place every year in Alaska. But here’s something I hadn’t seen before: Players wearing Native Athabascan clothing prior to the 1964 game (great find by Mike Caulfield). … Speaking of finds, Jim Pericotti has discovered something I don’t think anyone else has brought up before: Maryland wears white uni numbers on their white helmets. What’s that about? … Yesterday I mentioned that Roger Federer would be wearing this logo on his sneakers. Turns out he’s also got it on his belt (good spot by Brinke Guthrie). … Jason Giambi’s mustache is getting lots of attention. … Mike Fiala just checked in from Vienna, where the European Soccer Championships have been taking place. “Adidas obviously made it their goal to win the advertising title, as they put a giant shoe for every participating country in front of Vienna’s Museumsquartier,” he writes. “Each shoe is as big as a compact car. Another annoying thing, although i haven’t seen it in person yet, is a 33m-tall Petr Čech in front of one of Vienna’s best known and beloved landmarks, the Riesenrad.” But hey, when I complain about the encroachment of advertising in public spaces, I’m just being an alarmist, right?
June 24th, 2008
An interesting discussion broke out in Saturday’s comments section. First, a few people noticed a bunch of star-spangled caps being sold on MLB.com. They look like fashion caps, but, as several readers noted, they’re being sold in the “Men’s Authentic” category and the product pages all say, “Authentic cap worn on-field to show support for the Welcome Back Veterans Foundation.”
Welcome Back Veterans, it turns out, is an official MLB charity devoted to vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and reader Jonathon Binet quickly found this little item from Friday, which says “Welcome Back Veterans will be the focus at every Major League stadium during the July Fourth weekend and on September 11th.”
Does that mean MLB teams will be wearing the star-spangled caps on those dates? As it turns out, yes. That will be officially announced this afternoon at a press conference, which I’ll be attending, so I should have more info on this tomorrow.
For now, though, we can look at the caps themselves, most of which are pretty ridiculous. A few immediate observations and reactions:
• All of the caps are navy (additional examples here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), which will look okay for some teams but will clash really badly for others.
• Why navy, by the way? Isn’t the blue in the American flag more of a royal?
• The White Sox and Reds had already announced plans to wear camouflage jerseys during the Fourth of July weekend. So I guess now they’ll be adding these caps to the mix.
• What about the Blue Jays? They’ve been given a Canadian flag version of the cap, which is somewhat weird on a couple of fronts. First of all, they’re playing on the road on the Independence Day weekend and on September 11th (and also on July 1st, which is Canada Day), so they’ll be wearing a foreign flag while playing in America and marking an American holiday. Secondly, is Welcome Back Veterans intended to help Canadian vets along with American ones? (There’s nothing on the charity’s web site to indicate one way or the other.) How many Canadian troops are even fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan?
• Does the September 11th component of this promotion mean that the Mets will no longer be wearing first responder caps on that date, as they’ve done ever since the World Trade Center attacks?
The bigger issue, of course, is whether the American flag is an appropriate motif for an on-field uniform element. I want to make it clear that I love the American flag design — a lot — but I hate how it’s become an all-purpose signifier for anything even vaguely patriotic, and how it gets slapped onto, or morphed into, every worthy cause (along with plenty of unworthy ones). When I see this, I don’t see a merging of two great designs; I see two great designs being cheapened, watered down, and compromised. This isn’t just less than the sum of its parts — it’s less than either one of its parts.
I think it’s also worth considering that a hefty percentage of today’s ballplayers aren’t American. Yes, they’re playing here, making tons of money here, and should wear whatever uniform they’re given, but I still find this a bit unseemly. It’s one thing to say they should stand and face the flag when the national anthem is played — that’s part of a big group display that involves the many thousands of people in the crowd. I can also see the rationale for a flag patch (although I think those are overdone). But it’s something else to make hundreds of foreign players wear the American flag motif as a central component of their uniform while they play, especially at a time when American military and foreign policies aren’t exactly making us lots of friends around the world.
Seems to me there were smarter ways to have gone about this. Why not have players wear a ruptured duck patch, which would not only honor veterans but also provide a valuable history lesson about baseball and the military? Why not just have everyone wear a flag sleeve patch, instead of a cap that will clash with so many teams’ uniforms? Why not stop creating a new uniform-related cause or issues for every day of the week? (Fortunately, I already have other plans for the Fourth of July, so I won’t have to watch.)
I hope to get more info at today’s press conference — details to follow tomorrow.
Raffle Results: The winners of the tickets for the Don Larsen perfect game screening are A.J. Carr and Michael Gawley. Thanks to all who entered. More raffles coming soon.
Uni Watch Family Crisis: Intern Emeritus Vince Grzegorek was handed a raw deal last Friday. The weekly paper where he works is merging with another paper, and a bunch of people — Vince included — will be pink-slipped in three weeks. And I don’t need to tell you that this is a tough time to be cast adrift in the media job market.
Vince, who worked with me on a daily basis for about a year, is a talented and extremely hard-working guy who deserves better. If you need some writing done — straight journalism, catalog copy, short-term, long-term, whatever — please consider hiring him. You can contact him (and request writing samples, a résumé, etc.) here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Awesome video clip here of Pat Venditte, the switch-pitcher who’s currently in the Yankees’ minor league system. Further coverage here, and here’s a great close-up of his glove (courtesy of Paul Wiederecht and Stephen King, respectively). … Hmmm, does the University of Wisconsin know about this? … The Cardinals have a new bullpen cart, sort of (with thanks to Jon Huensch). … The Timberwolves apparently have a new alternate logo. … Dutch soccer mania has led to a change in Swiss railway uniforms (bizarre find by Brendan Tarpey). … Nice old baseball uniforms here and here. … 1930s pair of stirrups here. … Look at the colored gloves that Spalding was offering way back in 1974! That page is from this catalog. … Tris Wykes has discovered that Frank Sinatra was given a Tidewater Sharks jersey in 1976. The Sharks played in the Southern Hockey League at the time. … “This past weekend I attended the finals of the Churchill Cup (an international rugby tournament run by the USA, Canada, and England rugby unions) in Chicago,” writes Caleb Borchers. “One of the England players had some problems with his sleeves, so a trainer came over and promptly chopped one of them off. Meanwhile, the USA debuted their white kit made by Canterbury (the red version was on the ticker a week or so ago). The dot-matrix pattern Canterbury uses usually looks like dandruff, but the USA has used a blue dot set that actually looks OK. Those Canterbury jerseys apparently aren’t the toughest, though. Mike Petri’s lasted about five minutes. They managed to get him a new one during a time out later.” … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Juan Grande found some really interesting old Little League photos from Pasco County, Florida. Check them out here, here, here, and here. Never seen that type of stripe pattern or that half-length zipper used for baseball before. … If you see Tim Donaghy at the craps table saying, “C’mon, daddy needs a new pair of shoes!,” this is why. … Jeff Knepper notes that Todd Helton had some pant cuff inconsistencies during Friday’s Mets/Rockies game. … Jeremy Brahm reports that this is what the Japanese Olympians will wear during the opening ceremonies in Beijing (additional details here, here, and here). Plus they have a separate outfit just for traveling to the games — it’s the blue one here. … Also from Jeremy: Here are the uniforms for the Japanese women’s badminton team. And what’s the deal with Turkey’s women’s volleyball team, which has Adidas jerseys and shorts but Nike kneepads? … History mystery, courtesy of Peter Kotas: Tigers wore uni numbers on their right sleeve of their road uni in the late ’60s. But when they closed out the Cardinals to win the 1968 World Series, Bill Freehan’s number was on his left sleeve. Other shots of Freehan from that era show him with the proper right-sleeve number, so was this just a World Series glitch? … Jason Smith notes that Jack Wilson had a torn sleeve patch yesterday. An anonymous source with the Pirates reports that this is nothing new: “I’ve attached a shot of Jack from a photo shoot we did with him during Spring Training this year. While we supplied the vest for the shoot, I believe this was the shirt that he came in wearing. As you can see, the logo is torn here too. I wasn’t present for this shoot, so no one noticed the tear at the time. I had the Photoshop the entire thing out when I used the photo. … Roger Federer will be wearing this design at Wimbledon (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … Chris Flinn got a photo of the Cardinals’ new BP pitcher, Dennis Schutzenhofer, and his lengthy NOB. … My ESPN.com colleague Rob Neyer, who I’d never met in person before, came through NYC over the weekend and convene |
