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Archive for July, 2008
Here’s what the new Timberwolves uniforms will apparently look like. Pretty plain, no? Plus I’m so sick of this trend of capitalizing the first and last letters — pfeh. New designs for the Kings and Magic, too. Those pics are from the NBA’s rookie photo shoot, where the uniforms were supposed to be super-secret, but they’ve leaked out here, among other places.
Still no word on what the Sonics-no-more will be wearing, although I hear word may come down on that tomorrow. Which is why my ESPN column featuring dozens of reader-submitted designs is running today — here’s the link.
Quickie Raffle: Heads up, people: Our friends at Distant Replays have given me a $200 gift card to raffle off, but the drawing is tomorrow. To enter, send a blank e-mail with your name in the subject line to uniraffle at earthlink dot net by 10pm eastern tomorrow. One entry per person, plus membership program enrollees will automatically get three bonus entries added into the pot.
Even if you don’t win the raffle, Distant Replays’ current sale — buy a jersey, get a free cap — is a good deal. Please patronize them, and Uni Watch’s other sponsors, when shopping for sports-related merch. Thanks.
Uni Watch News Ticker: This thing with the Browns wearing shorts over their pants has developed into a full-blown trend. Vince, I know you’re reading this — get us the scoop (with thanks to Shaun Ploenzke and David Sterling for the pics). … Most of you have probably seen this already, but just in case: Bayern Munich’s recent uni-unveiling fashion show has to be seen to be disbelieved. … Yup, those Padres camouflage jerseys sure do honor America (Roger Faso took that photo last week at a shop in San Diego). … Glenn Cook was at Tuesday’s USA/Mexico game at the World Junior AAA Baseball Championships and took a bunch of interesting photos. “Several of the Mexican players and coaches were wearing pins in their caps,” he writes. “Some were of the tournament logo (compare to this), while others sort of had this generic baseball with a gold border. The most out-of-place pin had to be on the first base coach, who was wearing a Royal Canadian Mounted Police pin. Also: The American uniforms had a USA Baseball 30th-anniversary patch I hadn’t seen before. I didn’t recognize the manufacturer’s logo on the Mexican uniforms. And speaking of logo creep, get a load of the Under Armour logos on the American pitcher’s socks. think they may be visible from space.” … The Steelers will be wearing throwbacks again this year. … Vikings, too. … From now on, whenever someone asks me where to eat near Shea Stadium, I’m just gonna give them this link. … Paul Bielwicz is in the process of creating “an Okkonnen-esque database of everything relating to the uniform and graphical history of the Rochester Red Wings.” If you have any old yearbooks, programs, or anything else that might be of assistance, please contact him here. … As you may have seen, Page 2 is doing a “What was the best sports year ever?” series. For those who care about such things, my contribution is here. … New Kentucky football uni on display here and here. Note the unusual placement of the seams and panels on the shoulder. … And although I think we’ve all seen the new Cal uniforms by now, here’s a photo I hadn’t seen before (until Brandon Pratt sent it my way). … Rob Ullman has been doing lots of pin-up portraits commissioned by Uni Watch readers, including these beauties for Ben Danner, Jay Rupert, Jason Thomson, and Robb Zurek (”He was afraid you might not approve of the purple,” says Rob). As always, you can see more on Rob’s work on his blog. … Now here’s something you don’t see every day (great find by Jim Pericotti). … The (only) great thing about Pudge going to the Bronx is that the Yankees now have two guys named Rodriguez and I didn’t get a single e-mail asking if they’d be adding first initials to their NOBs. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Nike-sponsored swimmers will be allowed to wear Speedo suits at the Olympics. And yes, I’d be the first to agree that this is a classy move by Nike.
July 31st, 2008
There was a uni-related sequence for the ages during last night’s Mariners/Rangers game in Arlington. With the Mariners trailing by a run in the top of the 9th, Kenji Johjima was hit by a pitch and had to leave the game. With the Seattle bench running a tad thin (Jeff Clement and Jose Vidro are both nicked up), skipper Jim Riggleman called on pitcher Jarrod Washburn to pinch-run — which turned out to be slightly problematic, because Washburn was out of uniform.
There was a slight delay as Washburn disappeared into the clubhouse to put on spikes and a jersey. He eventually re-emerged into the dugout while still tucking in his shirttails fore and aft. Just one problem: He’d forgotten to put on a belt. So Riggleman, displaying the kind of keen managerial acumen that only a man with a season-opening 14-game losing streak on his résumé can possess, took off his own belt and proceeded to give Washburn a whoopin’ handed it to Washburn, who then held the belt while doing a bit more tucking, zipping up his pants, and trotting to first base, where he finally put on the belt.
All this occasioned a fair degree of merriment in the Rangers’ broadcast booth, where Tom Grieve noted, among other things, that it was a good thing Lou Piniella no longer manages the Mariners, or else Washburn would’ve had to wrap the belt around his waist twice.
Footnote: Washburn eventually scored the go-ahead run. I have not yet been able to ascertain whether he then returned the belt to Riggleman, but it’s worth noting that Seattle ended up losing the game a half-inning later, which is the sort of thing that can happen when your manager is working without a crucial component of his uniform.
(Special thanks to Jerry Gardner for bringing this delicious fiasco to my attention.)
Soylent Green Dot: Monday’s coverage of the NFL’s new logo-emblazoned green dot prompted an interesting note from reader Mike Brodsky. Check it out:
My employer, Deloitte, has a green dot at the end of its logo. It’s been in place since 2003. While the green “dot” is effectively a period at the end of a one-word sentence, the purpose of the green dot is for “finality” or to “stop” — i.e., you need look no further for your professional service needs (audit, tax, financial advisory, consulting). …
The green dot has taken on a life of its own at Deloitte. Our “greening” initiative is called “the greening of the green dot.” If you ask my kids where I work, my youngest will say “Daddy works at Deloitte greendot.” For the past three years, we’ve had an annual “Deloitte Film Festival” where Deloitte employees are invited to make short films about their “Deloitte experience,” and many of the movies focus on the ubiquitous green dot. In addition, we’ve all been given lapel pins with the “D” in the Deloitte logo followed by a green dot.
When the green dot started appearing on NFL helmets last year, someone at work mentioned it to me and thought maybe we’d struck a sponsorship deal with the NFL, but I have a buddy who works for the Pats and he told me what it was about. I admit it’s funny seeing green dots in random places since it’s such a part of our corporate identity. When I read that defensive players would be wearing the dot this season, I thought, “Wonderful branding idea — it could be the NFL Defensive Player sponsored by Deloitte.”
Man, you just know someone at NFL HQ is scurrying to explore that idea at this very moment (because as we all know, if there’s one thing the NFL needs, it’s more corporate sponsorships). Nice going, Mike.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I’d totally bid on this, except it’s too big. … “Do you know what this photo is all about?” asks Neil Paine. “It’s Peter Forsberg in 1995, the first year the Avalanche were in Denver, but the uniform is way off. The burgundy of the jersey is too bright/red, and he’s wearing a black helmet even though the Avs traditionally wear white helmets with their white jerseys.” Anyone know more about this? … Rick Friedel notes that Willis McGahee is now wearing a new LT-ish facemask. And Troy Smith has already worn at least two facemasks during camp, switching from this to this. … We’ve heard this before — let’s see if it really happens this time (with thanks to Eric Borer). … And so it has come to this: People need to be shown how to hike up their cuffs. … Note for Brett Favre watchers: The Jets waived punter Joe Smith yesterday. His uni number was 4. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Rockies third baseman Ian Stewart appears to have an upside-down M, instead of a W, on his NOB. Check out Troy Tulowitzki for comparison. … “A friend sent me this picture of Cal Ripken, Jr. in his 1981 Rochester Red Wings uniform,” writes Terry Proctor. “The Wings wore those god-awful mesh-backed caps with a heat-sealed letter for most of the 1980s.” … Josh Rose notes that A’s prospect Jemile Weeks, currently playing with the Kane County Cougars, goes high-cuffed in the field but low-cuffed at the plate. Odd. … Check out the bizarre jersey worn by the host Argentinian team in the recent FIBA 18u Americas Tournament. Additional pics here and here (with thanks to Stanton Smith). … Interesting story of questionable veracity regarding Tampa Bay’s old Bucco Bruce logo, courtesy of Jeffrey Moulden: “I couldn’t find any merchandise with the old logo, so I asked the owner of Buc Heaven in Tampa. Supposedly, when the Culverhouse estate sold the team to the Glazers in ’97, they either told them they had to change the uniforms, or else the Glazers got a cheaper price if they didn’t take the logo rights (I’m not sure which is correct), so the Culverhouse estate still owns that logo and colors. Therefore, the team cannot market the old logo, and the Culverhouse estate hasn’t chosen to market it either. The only loophole is if a player who played on a team prior to the sale in ’97 puts his name on a product — for example, when I found a couple of shirts down there, they all had this Mike Alstott tag.” Not sure how accurate all that is, but I bet someone else can help us fill in some of the blanks, yes? … The Ft. Myers Miracle will be hosting a Negro Leagues tribute night this Friday (with thanks to Scott Johnson, who also sent along this article about clubbies). … Hmmm, is this a Boise State cap or a Florida cap? Both, as it turns out. Details here (with thanks to Mike Kingery). … Larry Wiederecht sent along this ad from the 1969 All-Star Game program. Can you spot the anomaly? Give yourself a gold star if you noticed that the Mets cap has an orange button, something that didn’t happen on the field until 1997. … The Astros wore right-sleeve patches last night in honor of the 50th anniversary of NASA. Details here, and there’s a partial close-up here. … Just when you thought logo creep couldn’t get any worse — oy vey (nice spot by Chris Ray). … David Lee has turned up two articles that mention how the Cardinals considered adding a Sportsman’s Park-esque mound ring to the Busch Stadium mound in 2006. For details, scroll down to the end of this piece and look at the third bullet point in the middle of this one. … Mike Piekarski was looking at some old video from the 2002 season and spotted Toronto’s Raul Mondesi with an “18″ inscription on his helmet. “The only player I could find who wore 18 for the Blue Jays that year was Homer Bush, who had been released a month earlier,” writes Mike. “By the time of this game, Bush had already been signed by the Marlins, so I find it hard to believe Mondesi would still have an 18 inscribed in protest of the release.” Must have been a shout-out to some other 18 — anyone know more? … The Chicago Jacks, an American Legion team, look my-t-fine (with thanks to Mike Hlebasko).
July 30th, 2008
Ricko stepped it up a notch last week. In addition to sending me his usual assortment of archival clippings, he also shipped me a package, which contained a gorgeous pair of pinstriped flannel pants (he says they don’t fit him, but they fit me just right) and some killer striped hose (including, as you can see at in the upper-right corner, a rogue pair just to fuck with me). Never seen vertically striped stirrups before — that’s gonna look pretty swank on the softball field.
It’s hard to tell in the photo, but the four pairs of stirrups in the bottom row are all youth sizes. They’re way too small for me, but if you’ve got a kid and want him or her to be able to dress like a proper ballplayer, I’ll happily give away these four pairs to the first four parents who ask. Just drop me a line with your name and address, and specify your order of preference for the four designs shown. Update: All stirrups now spoken for, so no more applicants, please.
Now then, here’s our weekly dose of Ricko’s archival selections:
• Here are two unusual shots of Hank Aaron: one where he’s wearing No. 52, and one as a minor leaguer.
• Can never have too many pics of those vertically striped Broncos socks.
• We all know the Angels wore those halo-topped caps from 1961 through 1970. But Ricko says there were some exceptions along the way: “I went to a Twins/Angels game at Met Stadium in 1961 (the first season of both teams), and the Angels didn’t have a halo on their hats. I’m pretty sure of that, because I also watched the Twins play them later on TV and thought to myself, ‘Hey, they have a HALO on their hats now!’ Finding photos of halo-less hats hasn’t been easy, but I finally found one. Then I found this one (aside from Rocky Bridges’s hat, note the absence of a halo on the Angels player in the background).”
• Speaking of the Angels, I love those two-tone stirrups from the late ’60s (shown in color on Steve Dewing’s site). And look how narrow their waistband was in 1973.
• Two Cubs items here: First, Ernie Banks with a logo patch on his cap. “That kinda thing shows up often in the ’50s,” says Ricko. “I think maybe they were spring training hats. Probably was cheaper than embroidery.” And the team’s 1957 stirrups appear to have had at least nine stripes (which is too many even for me).
• Awesome set of 1971 MLB posters here.
• We’ve talked before about the Reds wearing white mesh-backed caps. What I didn’t realize until now is that they also had white batting helmets.
• Interesting stripe on the mound at Sportsman’s Park during the 1946 World Series. Anyone know if this was standard practice at that ballpark?
• Another good shot here of Willie Stargell doing the white-tape shoe thing.
That’s enough for now. More soon. My continued thanks to Ricko for sharing his amazing archive and expertise with us.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Here’s something we all missed: George Sherrill’s Jim McKay memorial armband was on his left sleeve for the All-Star Game, even though the O’s have been wearing it on their right sleeve (good catch by Stephen King). … Why would Sean Jones wear shorts over his game pants? Jeffrey Moulden, who took the photo, says everyone else was just wearing their game pants. … Yesterday’s entry about the logo-emblazoned green dots led Joe Hilseberg to show me this hilarious video clip, which pretty well sums up the corporate design philosophy these days, in sports and otherwise. … Yesterday I linked to some anti-Mets T-shirts from Philly, which reminded Rob Ullman of this design, which he says he saw at the Small Press Expo during the ’06 NLCS. … FNOB alert: Antonio Freeman. That jersey is from the 2004 preseason, when the Dolphins also had Arturo Freeman on the roster (with thanks to Eric Stangel, who also pointed me toward an interesting piece of Lakers memorabilia). … Daniel O’Connor notes that Chad Johnson showed up at Bengals camp wearing a Sporting Club du Portugal (Sporting) kit. … Glenn Cook is covering the World Junior AAA Baseball Championships, which are being held in Edmonton and St. Albert, and took a really interesting photo of this Korean catcher’s helmet. “I didn’t know better, I’d almost think it was a modified bicycle helmet,” he writes. Also: Unfortunate logo creep on the Korean team’s socks. … Interesting historical tidbit from Ronnie Poore, who writes: “Did you know that in 1956 the famous clown Emmett Kelley left the circus to be the Brooklyn Dodgers mascot? Details here.” … Latest “worst uni ever” contenders: the Tampa Storm (with thanks to B.J. Foster). … Whoa, just when you thought you’d seen every stunt ever pulled by the 1976 White Sox, John Chadd comes along with this. The sombreros weren’t worn during the actual game, obviously, but still. Anyone know more about this? … Guess what game I won’t be attending. … No more sports bras for Oregon State, who jerseys will look like this. … Someone has started a petition to get the Steelers go go back to block uni numbers (with thanks to Hans Krake). … Good coverage of the new UMich football jerseys here (courtesy of Ryder Kouba). … Chad Pennington has apparently changed from this facemask to this one.
July 29th, 2008
Every now and then a debate breaks out in the comments section about the precise definition of logo creep. As the guy who came up with the term, I feel reasonably qualified to define it as follows: Logo creep is visual clutter formed by the unnecessary proliferation of logos where they don’t belong. This can include maker’s marks, league logos, and other sorts of gratuitous logotypes. And have I got a doozy of an example for you today.
Here’s the scoop: As you no doubt recall, the NFL instituted a new rule last season requiring the one radio-equipped helmet on the offensive side of the ball to be adorned with a green sticker (which led to my receiving an endless stream of “What’s that green dot?” e-mails last season, but that’s another story). As you may also recall, there was talk a few months ago of allowing one defensive helmet to be radio-equipped as well. That led many folks to wonder if a corresponding green dot would appear on the defensive side of the ball.
Judging by this photo from the first day of Giants camp, the answer is yes. That’s Antonio pierce wearing the telltale green sticker. But it looks a little smudgy, no? Is there some dirt on the dot, or maybe something printed on it?
It’s tough to tell for sure in that photo. Fortunately, I’m able to provide you with a better view. Here’s what the sticker looks like up close.
This isn’t the stupidest thing the NFL has ever done, but that’s only because they tried to keep Mike Nolan from wearing a suit. Like, seriously, do these people have the NFL logo tattooed on their dicks or what? Do they sit around an NFL logo-shaped table while munching on NFL logo-shaped macaroons and ponder new places to apply the NFL logo? Are they aware that the average NFL player already wears the league’s logo on his jersey, pants, helmet, gloves, towel, wristbands, and those little stretchy bands that Jeremy Shockey likes to wear on his biceps to show what a studmuffin he is?
There’s something about this whole enterprise that reeks of everything that’s wrong with the NFL (and with a lot of other corporate enterprises that spin out of control). For starters, who needs radio-equipped helmets anyway? Larynxes and hand signals and worked fine for decades. Then radio-equipped helmets begat the problem of multiple radio-equipped helmets, so they came up with the rule that there could only be one electronically wired helmet on the field at a time. Which in turn meant they had to come up with the green dots, which looked like shit because they didn’t match any team’s color scheme except the Seahawks’. And now the green dot has been imprinted with a design that looks like a smudge from a distance and looks pathetic up close.
The technology-driven progression here reminds me of instant replay, which seemed like a good idea until it led to lengthy delays, coaches who didn’t know which plays were and weren’t reviewable, teams that would hurry to the line and snap the ball just to prevent the opposing team from asking for a review, bad calls that couldn’t be challenged because the coach had already used up his allotment of challenges, refs who didn’t remember where the ball should be placed after they’d ruled on a challenge, and little red flags that revealed the horrible truth about NFL coaches (namely that they all throw like girls, at least when tossing a red challenge flag). It’s like there’s something about the NFL that makes them take every idea to its most ridiculous extreme until they’ve sapped every ounce of potential enjoyment from the situation. I still like football, but they’re making it harder and harder.
In happier news, I attended yesterday’s Mets/Cards game in the company of my good friend The Rev. Nørb, who’s smarter than everyone at NFL HQ put together — a fact clearly demonstrated by the two installments of his seminal food and drink manifesto, “Rev. Nørb’s Keen Cusine,” which you can enjoy here and here. It has nothing to do with uniforms, but it’s brilliant in precisely the same way that a logo-emblazoned green dot is idiotic, and therefore serves as a handy antidote for these troubled times.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Any further discussions of “the worst baseball uniform ever” will have to reckon with the uni that Dylan Horowitz has turned up. Look, if you dare, here. … Really interesting article here about the guy who makes Ichiro’s gloves (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … My recent ESPN column on the 1998 futuristic game between the Royals and Mariners inspired gumball helmet maven Bill Jones to create these. He’s also got lots of updated logo sheets available for sharing, as you can see here. … More Iowa State Baseball Tourney observations from Jesse Gavin: a cool, kinda Negro Leagues-esque cap worn by Grandview Park Baptist; award decals being used by Johnston; and lots of very flat brims. … On the subject of logo-emblazoned socks, Karl Krekeler found these UPS hose. … If you go to this link and then click to page 32, you’ll find an article on the designer who created the Astros’ tequila sunrise design (with thanks to John Weghorst). … Brad Foster nominates the CFL’s now-defunct Memphis Mad Dogs in the “worst jersey ever” sweepstakes (here’s another shot). … Pretty damn cute. … Get this: The first time an Atlanta police detective solves a case, he’s rewarded with a fedora. Additional info and photos here (great find by Brent Hardman). … Last year I wrote about how Carlos Gomez had worn a cap that was a weird hybrid of the Mets’ road and alt caps (blue brim, but that version of the “NY” logo usually appears only on the solid black cap; details here). I assumed it was a one-time manufacturing glitch by New Era, but apparently it’s at least a two-time glitch, because Casey Moses found the same hybrid design in a store (additional pics here, here and here). “It was the only one of its kind at the store, so I bought it as a novelty, even though it’s not my size,” he says. … This story about former Czech president Vaclav Havel includes the following: “And what, if anything, disappoints Havel with the state of contemporary capitalist culture, whose forces he helped unleash as a dissident? ‘I do not like the ads on the shirts of hockey or football players,’ he said. ‘You’d think Coca-Cola is playing against Pepsi Cola.’” I assume he’s talking about European hockey and soccer there, and he’s right (great find by Bryant Robinson). … Hmmm, got logo creep? Looks like they worked in just about every manufacturer (with thanks to Wayne Yeung). … Speaking of logo creep, David Sonny points out that the Reebok logo is front and center on this Sporting News cover photo, which is interesting because the MLB undershirt license actually belongs to Nike, not Reebok — wonder whether it was Yunel Escobar or TSN who was responsible for that little maneuver. … On Friday I quoted a reader asking whether any football teams had replaced their primary helmet logos with anniversary logos. But as many readers immediately pointed out, lots of college teams wore the NCAA’s “100″ mark in 1969, including Ole Miss, ’Bama, ASU, Navy, and many more (thanks to Jim Parker for those pics, and please let’s not have everyone posting every single example — we all get the idea). … Lots of really cool old-timey sports T-shirts available here. I especially like this one (with thanks to Dusty McGowan). … Big news from Steve Dewing (whose baseball photo site remains essential viewing): He’s got a new site devoted to old hockey photos. Check it out here. … Some great new baseball revelations from Steve too, including Chris Spier wearing an Astros helmet in the 1972 All-Star Game and Denny McLain as a Brave. … Interesting NOB here (courtesy of Johnny Garfield) — note that it’s “Miller, M.” instead of “M. Miller.” Anyone know more about this? … Brinke Guthrie notes that several of the Giants’ recent call-ups seem to have their uni numbers riding a tad low. … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Cool slideshow of the Oklahoma football equipment room here. … Also from Saturday: Indiana assistant hoops coach Bennie Seltzer wore the team’s candy-striped warmup pants to get recruits’ attention at a recent summer camp. Details here. … Interesting note from eagle-eyed Josh Edney regarding yesterday’s Phils/Braves game, which had a two-hour rain delay: “The umps started out the game in their powder blue shirts, including home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez, whose shirt was No. 61, even though his number is listed on the MLB web site as 72. When the rain delay concluded, the umps returned to the field wearing black shirts, and Marquez’s had his proper number.” … Mark Mihalik’s footwear site has an interesting tidbit regarding Bronson Arroyo’s swooshes. … Mets-hating Phillies fans should dig this and this, both available here (with thanks to Morris Levin). … The B.C. Lions will be wearing a memorial decal in honor of former team exec Bob Ackles. Details here (courtesy of Alex Tepperman). … Jeremy Brahm reports that the Japanese volleyball team will be wearing this in Beijing. … Several jillion readers wrote in to tell me that Xavier Nady’s uni number and helmet number didn’t match on Saturday. Also, the last item on this page reads like so: “The [Yanks’] new left-handed reliever Dámaso Marte was issued No. 34, with the blessing of the injured pitcher Phil Hughes, who had no luck with the number early this season. Xavier Nady took No. 29, last worn by pitcher Kei Igawa, who was dropped from the 40-man roster.” … Becky Taylor has crated a huge gallery of Georgia high school sports photos — some that she’s taken herself, some scanned from yearbooks she’s collected. … And Hadyn Green has scanned a bunch of photos from old rugby almanacs. … “I was going through some old issues of Pro magazine,” writes Michael Princip. “The Aug. 17, 1978 issue had an article on George Brace and the portraits he did of 1931 Chicago Bears players. Great read [here and here], as well as photos [here and here].” … Terry Proctor along a bunch of pics of the 1956-57 Rochester Royals — note the striped shorts. “Sort of a ‘Globetrotters-meets-NBA’ look to the whole set, he says. … Latest team to wear their BP jerseys for a regular-season game: the Rays yesterday. Even worse, they did while playing the Royals, who were wearing their powder blues, resulting in a pathetic spectacle that was unworthy of MLB status. … Lots of news (much of which we’ve already heard) regarding NHL alts here. … Good story here about America’s last remaining baseball glove factory. … Against all reason (but much to my delight), graphic artists continue to depict baseball players wearing stirrups. Latest example is here. … Absolutely stomach-turning sight, at least for me: Bowie Kuhn wearing a Mets cap. … The more you look through the Sporting News archives, the more you find that the old mag was way into uni-watching, as seen in this 1969 clipping regarding Ken Harrelson’s NOB (great find by John Schaefer). … Two interesting field hockey shots from Tris Wykes: First, rather unusual socks on display here. And what was Kecoughtan High from Hampton, Virginia, thinking when they outfitted their goalkeeper? … Jeremy Sowers looked particularly sharp yesterday. … “So I popped open my Hockey News this week, and the contents page showed Brian Rolston’s nameplate being applied,” writes T.J. Leibowitz (who also sent along some pics of Japanese Little Leaguers wearing stirrups and Asian uni numbers). … “This article seems to argue (midway down, right around the white jersey with LUFC in cursive) that Leeds United’s manager at the time (Don Revie) started manufacturer’s logo creep on soccer jerseys in Britain,” says Andrew Connor. … “Here is a pic of my grandpa, John Novosel, who played for the 1941 Springfield Browns, writes Scott Novosel. “They were a minor league team for the St. Louis Browns that played in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana. That year he batted .302 and a scout from the New York Giants came down to see him play. The scout asked the Browns how much it would cost for him. The Browns said $60,000, and the scout said, “No thanks, for that much money, we got a guy who is pretty good in right field.” He was referring to Mel Ott.” … By now you’ve seen that Aquafina commercial with Lou Piniella a few dozen times (if not, it’s here), but Doug Simpson noticed something that nobody else had brought to my attention: The pitcher who’s backing up third base at the very beginning of the ad has no uni number. … The Red Sox have previously flown a Jolly Roger flag in their bullpen, but now they’ve modified it somewhat, as seen here (with thanks to Randy Williams). … “I took this photo at Fenway Saturday,” writes Jere Smith. “As you can see, Ortiz seems to have a flame/torch decal on his bat. He had this bat in BP and, as shown here, on deck during the game. It appears to be red, yellow, and green from left to right, like the Rastafarian flag. I’ve never seen any decal like this on a bat during a game before.” … Speaking of Big Papi, it’s one thing to mark your helmet with a memorial tribute to a deceased family member, teammate, or friend. But I think doing it for a family member of a former teammate, as Ortiz did on Friday night, is pushing it. That inscription on his helmet read, “RIP 45,” for Pedro Martinez’s father — well-meaning, yes, but I say it’s a bit much. … Tigers and Chisox wore Negro Leagues throwbacks on Saturday (additional pics here, here, here, here, here, here, and here). … What the hell is this? Did the Twins really wear this in 1968, as the seller contends, or — as I suspect — is it just a scam? Details, please (as found by Jeff Barak). … Eric Sun notes that Geno Espineli doesn’t just have picture-perfect stirrups, he’s completing the old-school look with a Spalding glove and Puma spikes.
July 28th, 2008
Hologram: check.
Bar code: check.
Coming off the DL to find half your teammates traded: check.
Wait, that was just C.C. Sabathia and Casey Blake. But man, with C.C. gone I bet it seems like there’s room in the clubhouse for an extra four or five guys. At least the September callups will have room to roam.
Conversely, I wonder if the postgame spread in Milwaukee had to be expanded? — Bryan
July 27th, 2008
As we were all made aware a few years back, the NBA instituted a dress code for players on the bench. It’s relatively simple — don’t look like an ass … and wear a collared shirt. But a huge, gigantic deal was made of it, and a turned into a huge racial thing. That story had legs for weeks. I’m going to guess nobody’s going to get riled up about these two (Candace Wiggins and Charde Houston of Minnesota, both injured), but that’s definitely not business casual. Of course, I didn’t actually find a WNBA dress code — just a kooky feminist rant in the Google results. And those are fine — it’s just not what I was looking for. If that’s your thing, rant on, Uni Watchers. Otherwise … well, I have no other suggestions. — Bryan
July 26th, 2008
By Bryan Redemske
Every four years — well, every two, really — we hear multi-millionaires from the NBA and NHL saying how excited they are to wear their country’s colors in the Olympics. You know the speech — it’s the “I’m grateful for the opportunity to wear the flag on my shoulder and try to bring home a gold medal” one. You can insert the sport or country or medal of choice, but it rarely wavers.
And good for them for wanting to do that. What American — other than the completely loco ones — wouldn’t like to represent the Stars and Stripes at the Olympics? You know, pull on the ol’ navy and light blue and hit the track?
What? You thought American colors are red, white, and blue, like the flag? No no, sorry. Your colors are navy, light blue and red now, as detailed in the Nike Swift System of Dress. Deal with it. And the light blue arm-warmer things? Those make you faster because of aerodynamic fabric. Same for the shin-sleeves. And they’re good for swooshes, too. (Gigantic views here and here.)
So goes Nike’s recent chokehold on our national track and field identity — and on our Olympic identity as a whole. The basketball uniforms can be seen here, here, and here, each featuring impossible-to-read letters and numbers atop a graphic called “We The People.”
While this probably seems like another easy case of Nike-bashing, I think it’s more important to ask why Nike, and other companies (blue seems a bit dark, no?), are changing our national colors. England is blue, red, and white. Canada? Red and white. Australia? Green and yellow, sometimes with black. America? Well, that depends on which company makes the uniforms.
So, looking specifically at track and field (no time for team handball, sorry), what are America’s colors anyway? Better take a look:
1984: Made by Kappa, better known for soccer apparel. Mostly red.
1988: Mostly red again, also by Kappa (see side panel).
1992: Nike joins the party with a pretty tame design. Red, white, and blue — that’s us.
1996: Navy blue, that’s you. This design also featured circles on the side panels. You know, for … uh … something.
2000: Nike to USA — Hey, your flag doesn’t match our uniforms. We’ll make a new one for you if you like. The back panels were red, by the way. Nice.
2004: Welcome back, America. Your blue is still too dark, but at least it’s close to the flag.
2008: And … we’re back to the navy-and-light-blue thing. I’m sure you’ve noticed the track and field uniforms also feature the “We The People” graphic on the back.
Look for it to soon be permanently ratified upon our collective consciousness.
Raffle Results: Paul here. My bad for forgetting to announce that David Neuman and Troy Ragsdale are the winners of last week’s Yankee Stadium DVD raffle. Congrats to them, and my repeated thanks to James Craven for donating the DVDs.
Uni Watch News Ticker: CFL news from Dave Delisle, who reports that the Edmonton Eskimos have replaced their helmet logo with a 60th-anniversary mark, as you can see here. “I can’t recall a team replacing their primary logo with an anniversary logo in any sport,” he writes. “Usually those are placed separately on the uniform, like a shoulder patch. The Eskimos are doing this for the full season.” … The Minaya-ized Mr. Met T-shirt is now available in several colors and at a fair price. … Tour de France note from Matt Zegarski, who writes: “In recent years, many riders who wear a leader’s jersey have been wearing matching pants and helmet, but Team CSC-Saxo Bank have been bucking this trend, as seen in these photos of Frank Schleck and Carlos Sastre. I don’t know if it’s because team boss Bjarne Riis put the kibosh on it, or because of their clothing supplier, Craft. Either way, it’s a classic look.” … “I’m the art director of Gator Country magazine in Gainesville,” writes Jason Farmand. “For our football preview issue coming up, we commissioned an artist to paint Tim Tebow for the cover — in a way he’s never been seen before. I thought you’d like to see that.” … Turns out Spider-Man is a Mets fan (or at least he was back when Shea had the great metal exterior panels). Those screen grabs are from this hilarious video, sent my way by James Poisso, who says, “It’s amazing what you can find on YouTube!” … Astros catcher Humberto Quintero is switching to a hockey-style mask (with thanks to Ryan Patrick). … “Mr. Flat Brim himself, Joba Chamberlain, wore a curled brim on his Dunkin’ Donuts cap at a promotional appearance the other day,” notes Tyler Kepner. … MLS All-Star Game observations, courtesy of Kenn Tomasch: “For the first time since a sponsor logo started appearing on the front of the MLS All-Stars shirts in 2004, it was Pepsi and not Sierra Mist this time around. You can’t tell by that photo, but because Landon Donovan (who didn’t start, by the way) had dibs on the #10 shirt (for some reason, seniority, probably), Chicago’s Cuauhtemoc Blanco wore #70. No, that’s not the year of his birth (he was born in 1973), but the odd thing is that MLS’s number fonts are so craptacular this year that #70 looks a lot like #10 (and vice versa). All the 7s on all the shirts look like 1s. (Sorry, no good photo of that.) David Beckham, as always, wore long sleeves — not, as some speculate, because he wants to cover up his ample tattoos, but just because he prefers long sleeves, even when he plays in MLS’s summer heat (he’s never played in Phoenix, though). What’s funny is that West Ham’s Dean Ashton wore long sleeves in the first half but switched to short sleeves in the second half and scored in each jersey (still looking for a photo of that). Meanwhile, Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns, whose hometown is Vancouver, wore a Vancouver Whitecaps 1979 throwback jersey while announcing that he’s part of the ownership group looking to grab one of two MLS expansion teams for 2011.”
July 25th, 2008
Uni Watch librarian Carrie Klein and I spent yesterday afternoon checking out this exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, and my favorite item by far was the item shown above, described simply as a “McKinley/Hobart jacket, 1896.” Not quite a uniform, but definitely a close cousin. And as an enthusiastic bowler, I was amused to see this (sorry about the shitty image quality — camera phone and all).
This is the same museum, by the way, that featured this baseball exhibit last summer (which I wrote about here). They stocked their gift shop with all sorts of baseball books when that exhibit was up, but lots of copies apparently didn’t sell, and now they’re unloading all sorts of great titles for 75% off. Live in NYC and want a copy of Moneyball or Nine Innings for three bucks and change? This is the place. I got this for $7.50, plus there was a massive coffee table book about stadiums that I totally would’ve bought except it was too heavy to lug around for the rest of the day.
New ESPN column today (fifth one this month, don’tcha know) — here’s the link.
Uni Watch News Ticker: This is pretty cool (with thanks to Michael Pinta). … In response to yesterday’s query about whether Marc Sagmoen was the only player to have his number retired after playing one game, Kent Foster, Matt Dubroff, and Mike Vanne all pointed out that Travis Roy of the Boston University Terriers hockey team had his No. 24 retired after playing only one game. During that game, 11 seconds into his first shift, he was paralyzed and never played again. … Richard Stover reports that several of the uniform illustrations The First 50 Years (featured in yesterday’s entry) were also featured on this poster in 1970. “I have a copy from my youth,” he writes, “but of course I had to draw in a ‘19′ on the Chargers’ helmet, and some other notes elsewhere in the poster.” … Speaking of The First 50 Years, there’s a deluxe edition of the book, which includes a two LPs, a commemorative coin, and a poster (not the one I just linked to), and it’ll only set you back a cool grand (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … Yesterday’s post also featured a link to this early Redskins photo, which prompted Brian Codagnone to report that the Sports Museum in Boston (where he serves as associate curator) has one of those early ’Skins sweaters on display. … The Jets will wear Titans throwbacks for their home opener, plus they’ll be wearing a Super Bowl anniversary patch on October 26th. … Finally got a good shot of Lou Piniella still wearing his All-Star Game patch (big thanks to Mark Snyder). … Back in this site’s early days, I wrote about Kenji Johjima wearing that rubber doohickey on his catcher’s helmet to help keep his mask’s strap in place. But here’s something he wasn’t doing back then: He’s added the M’s logo to his brim (with thanks to Kevin Zdancewicz). … “My brother is just finishing a degree at Lehigh, and I made the drive out to see him just a couple weeks ago,” writes Burrill Strong. “As part of our walk around the (gorgeous) campus, we went into their small athletic hall of fame, and a banner celebrating an undefeated football season nearly 60 years ago caught my eye because it featured Lehigh’s old mascot. Their athletic teams are now known as the Mountain Hawks, but before that, thanks to their strong engineering school, they were known as the Engineers, and their old engineer mascot logo immediately put a smile on my face. Sadly, as far as I can tell, the university doesn’t even sell retro shirts with the engineer; he’s pretty much relegated to the banners in the hall of fame.” … As usual, when someone recommends a soccer-related uni site, I can never remember if I’ve linked to it before, but just in case: Michael Doucette says this site is doing a good job of documenting all of the season’s new uni releases as they happen. … Attention footwear mavens: This page breaks down all of the U.S. Olympic track and field qualifiers by event and shoe brand (nice find by Jonathan Cain). … Dan Snider notes that John Maine is once again wearing his cap over his ears, a phenomenon we first discussed a few months ago. … Andrew Habermehl confirms that BU’s 100th-anniversary hoops logo will indeed be worn as a jersey patch this season. … Jere Smith sent along this shot, which I saw as a kid but had forgotten about. “Looks like he was on the Alabama football team,” says Jere. I’ve asked the Cardinals Hall of Fame if they can tell us more about that big helmet number. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Jack Wilson switched to high cuffs and says it helped him break out of his slump.
July 24th, 2008
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