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Archive for March, 2009
by Phil Hecken, and UW Design Expert, Paul Soto
Well. “Pretty Boy” Paulie Soto is back with a fresh batch of incredible stuff. And I do mean incredible. If MLB ever needed some design changes to the alternates, or some fresh new looks, the designs that follow would be a good start. If you don’t remember Paul’s earlier work, you can look here and here, where I had commissioned Paul to create “fauxbacks” and some “home/road flips.” Truly amazing stuff. I asked Paul to continue with his efforts at reinventing MLB uniforms, this time by creating alternate and new uniforms, some entirely new, and some with some tweaks. He didn’t disappoint. The new uniforms are fresh, the alternates are mostly spot-on, and the tweaks are outstanding.
Now, personally, I hate alternates. However, given that most MLB teams feel the need to have at least one, sometimes two, and even three alternate jerseys, we may as well make sure they’re better than the current crop. I tasked Paul with designing some new and better alternates and to adjust the current unis as he saw fit, and to take us through each team he addressed . I’ll add a paragraph following each set of some of my own thoughts to these spectacular creations. So, without further ado, let’s have a look-see.
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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Paul really likes the Angels current uniform, and especially, he “digs the numerals!” But there’s too many teams that wear Red/Blue. So why not give them a color combo that isn’t in use in the MLB … maroon and gold. Since they want to be associated with LA now, Paul figured they can don the colors of USC. Without an NFL team, the Trojans are the next best thing. Here’s what Paulie created for the road uniform.
I LOVE this new uniform set. The Angels have been through several different uniforms in their 40+ years, but they’ve never had maroon and gold. Paul has hit one out of the park with this effort. The Angels would do well to consider this next time they decide to redo their uniforms.
Toronto Blue Jays: Paul asks, “Why do the BLUE Jays wear Black?! … F***! marketing!” He wants the Jays to ditch their disastrous duds and switch back to their old typeface and awesome logos … and is wearing some kind of blue in your unis too much to ask? He combined their first Blue Jay head logo with updated version we saw in the late 90’s.
Another new uniform set. And with the Blue Jays’ current duds, it’s hard to argue that this isn’t much better. While I personally was never a huge fan of their old unis and fontface, it WAS the Blue Jays. They should dump the current set ASAP and do something like this.
Atlanta Braves: Paul digs their navy alternates, they’re much easier on the eyes than the red jerseys. But what bugs him is the navy numbers on the back. Paul thinks all they need to do is just add some red and look how much better that is!
I must admit I am not a fan, at all, of the current Braves alternates, either their blue or their godawful red. Paul has certainly made the blue alt look different. It’s a great effort, but I still don’t like it. But that’s just me.
Chicago Cubs: Paul states that this is one of the finest uniforms in the league. He’s just not a big fan of the “walking bear” sleeve patch, and suggests they switch back to a fan favorite … the “angry bear” head. It speaks volumes on the current state of Cubdom. Wrigley field also has a pretty cool logo that is rarely seen. Why not throw it on the home jerseys like the White Sox did for some time? Paul took that minor tweaking and added it to their alternates, and also provided some pizazz to their bland road uni.
I have to agree that the current Cubs home uniform is one of the finest in the land, so a minor tweak or two like Paulie has provided is really all that’s needed. I love that really cool Wrigley logo — what an interesting twist, especially for the blue alts. It’s tough to improve on the classic pinstripe whites, but that blue alt can certainly do with a change.
Arizona Diamondbacks: Paul thinks “D-Backs” shouldn’t be on a home jersey, and I agree. He feels it looks odd to begin with but if they must do it, they should keep it on an alternate. Their home jersey looks a little more legit with their primary “A” logo on the left chest.
Let’s face it … this is one of the worst uniform sets in all of baseball (take a look back at some of the tweaks Paul came up with for the D-Backs in his earlier features). There’s not much of a way to improve this uni, but I think Paul has actually done just that with these. Tough (but not impossible) to polish a turd — which is what Arizona’s uniforms currently are. I was never a fan of the purple and teal, but at least that didn’t have the abbreviated “D-Backs” on their homes. The black alt Paulie suggests keeps the “D-Backs” in tact, but keeps it off the home whites. Good stuff!
San Francisco Giants: Mr. Soto loves script on a jersey! So he came up with this (which he says used to appear on their dugout jackets): Much better! … He asks, “Why’d they stop using it in the first place?”
When you have a word (actually, two words) this long, it’s tough to make it look good on a jersey. Script is equally difficult to pull off. I think Paul’s done both with this nifty away jersey. The Giants would do well to investigate the possibility of making this their new road uniform. Wonderful job.
Seattle Mariners: The Mariners wear a different number typeface, on their alternate, from their other jerseys. The typeface doesn’t bother Paul one bit … but what does bother him is the inconsistency. So, he’s added the typeface to the road and alternate jerseys. He thinks the standard block typeface can get tiresome. Anticipating your reaction, Paul notes, “Yes I am aware that is an incorrect apostrophe (on the “alternate cap”) but I’m trying to stay accurate to their old logo.”
The original Mariners jersey set was probably my favorite, but I realize they’re never going back to that, other than when they “throwback.” That being said, I like the new typeface and it is definitely more of a Safeco than a Kingdome font. I like how Paul has “standardized” this typeface throughout. Again, I could do without the blue alternate, but since that’s never going to happen, what Paul has come up with is preferable to what they currently have. I don’t mind the apostrophe on the alt cap — at least it’s not a “single open quote” like the Orioles use.
New York Mets: This gives “BLACK OUT” a new meaning. Paul would LOVE to see Mr. Met on the sleeves, and I have to admit, he’s done Mr. Met proud. Paul states the old team mascots have been making a comeback in the MLB, so why not give Mr. Met his due and get him on the jersey!
Wow. Paul did something I think most Mets fans can only dream of — removing ALL black from the uniform set. The pins with Mr. Met is fantastic (although I would settle for the current style with the black removed) and the ’snow whites’ without the black drop shadow is something we haven’t seen since they first introduced the ice cream man! As far as the blue alternate, I’m not a fan … BUT … they have worn one before and if it means getting RID of the current black alternate, then BRING IT ON! Another great job Paul! Hey Mr. Wilpon — can ya, you know, think about this instead of the black jerseys and the Domino’s Pizza patch?
Florida Marlins (soon to be Miami Marlins): Paul’s on an anti-black crusade, and I love it. I’ll let him speak to this amazing creation: “Ok many of you may not agree with this color change but you have to agree that the black has to go! Black just doesn’t say ‘South Beach.’” (Check out the “Miami” road uni!) “I like it when teams in the same city share the same colors … I’m not sure if the Heat would look right in teal and orange though. I realized that it takes a lot of work to design a whole new logo and typeface for a team (as you can see by my prototypes). I wasn’t satisfied with my cap logos so I modified their current logos to fit the new color scheme.”
Another WOW! Double WOW! Seriously, this is something the (soon to be) Miami Marlins strongly need to consider when they move into their new ballpark. My god, Paulie has REALLY gone deep with this whole new uniform set. This is fantastic! What better way to christen a new stadium than to break out new uniforms, especially when your current set is not all that great. How awesome would it be if they did something like this? I’ll tell you. REALLY AWESOME. The colors are great, the fontface is superb and the style is modern without being too contemporary. Perfect!
Washington Nationals: Paul feels “The Nationals on field product is mediocre at best … but you gotta admit they look sharp.” That changed when we were introduced to their “Patriotic” alternates. They reminded Paul of this guy. But if you must rock the stars and stripes, Paul thinks this looks a little more tasteful. No?
Yes! Another team who’s finally beginning to get it right (see Paul Lukas’s forthcoming MLB preview column on ESPN if you haven’t yet seen what the Nats have done with their uni set — especially their new roads), the Nats also introduced the garish blue alt. Ugh. Paul Soto’s cleaned that up, and done a nice job of it. This is one alt that needs to go the way of the horse and buggy. Unfortunately, they will be wearing it this year. Too bad they can’t tweak it just a little, like Paul has done here.
Baltimore Orioles: Paulie thinks it’s great to see “Baltimore” on their road jerseys. Why not give it an alternate jersey and cap? Just an experiment. Now Paul knows their Maryland flag patch has been well received (and he does like it) but thinks the old Cartoon bird would like to get some exposure.
Not only did Paul do a bang-up job on this uniform set, he got rid of the incorrect “O`s” cap they’re donning this season. Well done, sir. The “Baltimore” on the black jersey is a nice touch. The Orioles have done a great job with their new uniform set for this year, and Paul’s tweaks make it even better.
San Diego Padres: Paul liked their previous “Padres” wordmark, and thought it would look much better on their new unis. He says, “Who doesn’t love the swinging Padre?! Let this guy go full time on the jerseys!”
Who doesn’t love the swinging padre indeed! Nice tweaks, Paul. All we need to do is work on removing the sand from the cracks.
Texas Rangers: Paul totally agrees with Mr. Lukas’s critique of the Rangers new duds. The number typeface looks like the old typeface with warts. Mr. Soto wanted to give it more of an appropriate Western feel. Paul also wanted to return the team name to the jersey. “I hope you guys liked the way this turned out as much as I did.”
Well, I certainly do, Paul, I certainly do. Getting “Rangers” back on the jersey is a step in the right direction, and that funky ‘western’ font is intriguing. What a great tweak. It just goes to show you how much a slight alteration can go a loooooooonnnng way! Great job, again.
Detroit Tigers: Now Paul wouldn’t change anything on their uniforms but if he had to he would switch the cap logo and give them an alternate. They have such awesome logos why not put them to use. “I’m not saying it MUST be done but wouldn’t it look nice?”
I have to agree with Paulie here, there is no need for an alternate with the Tigers. But, man, if they did have one (or two), these aren’t bad.
Minnesota Twins: With the Twins THANKFULLY moving out of the Metrodome and into a shiny new outdoor stadium, Paul had the idea of giving the Twins a classy old school look. Gone are the grey pinstripes.
Another “wow” Paul. Me likey! The Twins will need new unis when they head into the great outdoors, and these would be a fantastic uniform set. I especially like what he did with removing the pins from the roads. They never looked good.
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Well, there you have it. Fantastic job with these Paul! I may not agree with everything you’ve done (mainly because I don’t think MLB teams need alternates). However, this was another outstanding batch of possible new uniforms for the current teams. All of Major League Baseball, from the executives down to the equipment managers, would do well to take a long, hard look at these and offer them up to Majestic the next time they consider any changes to their uniforms. Thank you so much Mr. Soto for your time and energy in bringing this fine set of alternates and new looks to Uni Watch! Great, great stuff.
Paul Soto will be back for Cinco de Mayo, when he’ll be offering some new designs and takes on the “Los Uniforms” MLB continues to promote. Until then, thanks again Paul! You da man.
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Uni Watch News Ticker: Uni Watch Prexy Paul Lukas checks in with this look at the Southern Alabama Jaguars, who will wear throwbacks in their Tuesday game against Auburn … Northwest UW correspondent Jeremy Brahm informs us The Softbank Hawks have just added another sponsor to their uniform, but it is a Softbank company, Softbank Mobile. Softbank Mobile has had a company with a family called the Whites, and “the father is actually a dog. Well, on the Hawks home uniform there is a picture of a dog. (Here’s the road uniform). At least they had the background colors match.” … Travis McGuire noticed that many of the Oregon Ducks are wearing high stirrups. Perhaps there is hope after all. (Note: photos are in a photos tab above the headline) … Seen late in Sunday night’s comments and also sent from Doug Keklak, the Pens are ditching the powder blues, which is a travesty, but their record speaks while wearing them — not usually good … Neil Parsley was at the Blue Jackets – Blues game Sunday night and noticed that Chris Mason, the Blues’ goaltender, was wearing different socks than the rest of the Blues. You can compare Mason’s socks to the defensemen in the background. They actually look like the socks the Blues wore from the late 90s till 2008 … Nicholas Kowalski has been busy in the Life archives, and notes, “if you saw these and the related pics from the LIFE archive — The huddle pics are like a Twilight Zone still or something.” … Chris Smith delights us with these wonderful soccer socks — and the very special reason they were being worn … Nice spot by Larry Bodnovich who spotted this MSU kicker wearing shorts, no facemask, no faceguard and his number is 00 — “Pretty comical in my opinion.” … Ryan Goldstein remarked about the first game at Citi Field, Georgetown against St. John’s over the weekend, with 22,000 or so in attendance. “A player in one of my classes said they are used to about 20 people coming to home games…what a difference!” … Terry Paffenroth has a question for the board: “I’m a Packer fan and am now again living in Wisconsin and I have never seen this photo until today and have never read anything that has ever hinted to this. Might you or someone you know be able to put a story to the photo?” … also from Terry, this great photo of some youth footballers from 1939 … the aforementioned Doug Keklak has added some more submissions — “What’s better than sexy girls in short shorts? Those same sexy girls wearing stirrups! These are the ballgirls the University of Washington employed.” … Also from Doug, “Upon further review, I think it’s a piece of caution tape, rather than the nameplate I thought it was at first, but still, I have never seen the QB designated as such to keep contact off him in practice (apparently a red jersey or vest wasn’t available!) That’s a Pitt QB, as back in the day, their training camp was held in Johnstown at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.” … Douggie concludes his ticker contributions with this: “Some cool vertical striped socks from my alma mater, Johnstown High, playing at game at none other than the home of Slap Shot, the War Memorial.” (All these photos are from the Johnstown Tribune Democrat at various times during 1971) … And rounding out the ticker, Jim McCue weighs in with this: “As a Pepperdine alumnus (B.A., Telecommunications, 1991), I always follow the school’s athletics programs on the website. I was aware of the school’s football program back in the 40s -50s, and the Sports Information Dept. is finally putting up information about the program’s history, including a photo gallery. I went through the photos and was happy to see that my alma mater wore some classic unis and had some unique posed photos. I especially like some of the unusual ‘team photos.’ Rather than the standard rows of players, they are somewhat scattered in groups with the coaches in a group near the front. I also like the team portrait with the coaches up front with a chalkboard. Maybe the next NFL team in the LA area should be based in Malibu rather than the City of Industry or elsewhere. “
March 31st, 2009
If you were to go back and check every rugby item ever to appear in the Ticker, you’d probably find that about 70% of them were contributed by reader Caleb Borchers, who regularly peppers me with rugby-related items in the faint hope that someone will, y’know, give a shit. He realizes most of the other readers here aren’t rugby fans, but he nonetheless continues to contribute material, and I salute him for his steadfast commitment. Today is his day in the sun, as he’s gone off on an impassioned rant that I’ve decided merits lead-entry status:
As a rugby fan, there are some things that I suffer through that I realize few others care about. Primary amongst them is the horror that is mismatched head gear. To explain: Many rugby players wear head gear (or a scrum cap) to protect against cauliflower ear. One such player is Nathan Sharpe, who wears blue/purple headgear that matches his club (Western Force) jersey. Looks fine. But when he gets the call up to the Australian national team, he doesn’t see the need to buy a new cap. I figure this is attributable to either (a) supreme laziness, (b) supreme cheapness, or (c) supreme superstitiousness. All of which leads to (d) supreme stupidity. I mean, really, you’re selected to represent your country at the third largest sporting event in the world (and getting paid well to do it), and you can’t take the time and spend the $100 bucks to buy a green cap?
Fortunately, not every player feels this way. For example, there’s the bright uni beacon of hope represented by the Waldrom brothers of New Zealand. They make sure the cap matches the team at all times, no excuses. It would be easy for Scott to take the yellow/black he wears in the regular season and keep it with the All Blacks, but he doesn’t — he gets a black/white cap, because the All Blacks don’t wear yellow. How hard is this? (Another grudging pat on the back goes to Matt Giteau, who also cares about color matching but ruins it with those girly ribbons on the cap.)
In other news: Rugby fans and commentators tend to be no-nonsense people. As a result, Adidas’s decision to force NZ teams to wear home and away jerseys has sort of hit the fan. The stupidest part of it all is that two of the teams have a gray away jersey. That doesn’t sound bad to outsiders, but any NZ fan immediately gets nightmare flashbacks to the All Blacks World Cup loss to France in 2007, for which Kiwis still blame two factors: the referee and the All Blacks wearing something other than all black.
And there you have it. Big thanks to Caleb for filling us in on the nuances of a sport none of us actually care about follow, and for do so in an entertaining manner to boot.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Today’s the last day to bid on my Flushing in Flushing T-shirt. … Lastings Milledge’s switch to wearing No. 85 was first reported way back in February, but it still looks really weird. … Kevin McMahon saw this crazy MLB bobblehead shirt selling for $13 and couldn’t resist. “It was too cool to pass up,” he says. “Now I need to decide if I want to keep it, or give it as a birthday gift to my baseball-loving brother. Would it be a serious or a gag gift though? Not quite sure.” Lots of additional photos here. … Here’s the 1915 Avalon (Pa.) High School baseball team. Love that placket lettering (with thanks to Jason Bernard). … Who’d be dumb enough to wear a purple Yahoo! Sports jersey? Mark! Teixeira, as it turns out. He played! stickball in Tampa! for some sort! of Yahoo! promotional thingie! … Interesting shot of JFK conducting the coin toss at the 1961 Army/Navy game. Note that the Navy captain has “Beat Army” on his shoulders (with thanks to David Ryan and CJ Fleck). … Also from CJ: Excellent pair of stirrups available here. … The Raptors apparently printed their tickets before the Thunder’s logo was finalized (with thanks to Andy Rawlings). … Phil already mentioned that the Rochester Amerks painted their ice pink, but here’s a tremendous batch of photos showing the ice-coloration process (with thanks to Greg Netherwood). … Excellent 49ers helmet cart photo here with thanks to Jamison Nash). … The second question on this Q&A page brings up a very interesting Avs-related uni question (nice find by Harvey Lee). … Umbro has release the new England home kit at the Reed Space Annex in lower Manhattan. “The pop-up shop will be up thru Wednesday and it looks great,” says Stephen Wong. “They are raffling off new limited- edition Reed Space kits every day.” … Tremendous article here on the history and origins of Barrel Man, who may date back as far as 1901! Great photos, too (big thanks to Jeff Ash). … Reprinted from the weekend comments: Dan Aykroyd did the ceremonial puck drop at Friday’s Devils/Blackhawks game, and they gave him a jersey with a misspelled NOB (screen grab courtesy of James Huening). … If you liked my subway signage style guide, you’ll probably also like the Manual On Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which is filled with pages like this. Download it here (big thanks to Paul Deaver). … No comment. … Ross French sent along pics of a Western Michigan baseball jersey that appears to have been a salesman’s sample. “It’s similar to what the 1955 club wore, but of course baseball unis can go for years without significant changes,” he writes. “If anyone has any insights, I would love to hear them.” … Interesting F1 note from Al Stone, who writes: “The cars from Brawn GP finished first and second on Sunday. Brawn GP sprang up in recent weeks to buy Honda’s old F1 program when the manufacturer stepped down. What makes this sorta uni-interesting is that Brawn has been looking for a sponsor, since Honda’s sponsors had dropped off. So the Brawn GP cars were relatively sponsor-free (just a Virgin logo and a few small Bridgestone logos that were barely visible). This team will no doubt have a different livery for the next race and the rest of the season, so this is probably the only time that this car will race looking as it did, and it won the top two spots.” … Stunning news from Brian Poulos, who writes: “MLB Tonight on the MLB Network uses a graphic during game highlights where the MLB Network logo (derived for the MLB logo) becomes animated and swings the bat. I am here to say that the MLB logo silhouette is a LEFTY BATTER.” … Paul Wiederecht found more good stuff in the Life archives: The Twins had two batboys who were actual twin brothers, and there was some sort of crazy variety show that featured lots of MLBers wearing dress shoes and Chucks. … Two interesting items in this photo, taken at the Indiana state high school basketball tournament on Saturday: The home team, Jac-Cen-Del, has an usual color combo of red and sky blue, and the other player has great socks. “Unfortunately, I think this was the only player on the Triton team to wear those socks,” says Adam Morris. … The Mets gave their new stadium a test drive yesterday, and several readers report that the replica jerseys in the gift shops all featured this patch, not the Domino’s patch. Again, these are just replicas, not authentics, and my understanding is that the team will still be wearing the other patch on the field. … John Weghorst sent along pics from his old 1982 Topps sticker book. Check them out here. … Super-cool old baseball uni available here. … And here’s something you don’t often see: vintage zebra-wear — and another! … Guess who really likes this old basketball jersey. … I’m on the road for the next coupla days, so Phil will be minding the store today and handling tomorrow’s content. See you on Wednesday.
March 30th, 2009
By Phil Hecken
This past week, a number of pictures from the outstanding Google-Life magazine collaboration, featuring the treasure trove of Life magazine pictures, have been again popping up on the blog. The collection, which was originally released in November of 2008, features literally millions of gorgeous pictures from Life’s archives. You can begin your search for these photos here. I’ll see you in a few hours.
The collection is still relatively new (in fact, as many of you know, UW prexy Paul Lukas already wrote two pieces featuring photos from the Life collection when it was first released). But they keep adding wonderful photos to the archive, and it continues to grow. They estimate they’ll have over 10 million images available when all is said and done. Not all of them are sports-related, of course, but many are.
I won’t spend this article reposting a bunch of pics (although I will post some), since you don’t need me to do that — you can get lost in your own little search for hours (as I know I have and I’m sure I am not alone in that). But just in case there was anyone living under a rock, or who didn’t happen to read Uni Watch when Paul first explored the Life archives, I thought we could take just a few moments to discuss the Google-Life collaboration.
The only problem, if you could even call it that, with the search function, is it doesn’t seem to have a great interface. It takes some getting used to, and finding pics can prove tricky. And once you find your photos, they’re not exactly always clearly marked. I’m hoping they’ll get around to better identifying the photos in the future, but with 10 million of them, and I’m sure many of the originals weren’t well ID’ed, that may prove a daunting task.
Lets say I want to find some New York Mets pictures. Simple enough, right? Just go to the ’start’ page, type in “Mets” in the “search” bar, and voila — five pages of uni goodness. I mean, how gorgeous is this? Awesome, right? And look, the photograph is clearly identified: “Baseball player Willie Stargell #8 (L), of the Pittsburgh Pirates, sliding in a game vs the New York Mets.” They also include the date, location and photographer’s name.
Unfortunately, however, that same search turns up this beautiful photograph, but the only identifier is “1969 Mets Baseball Team” (I am pretty sure that’s Gil Hodges on the left, but many, I’m sure, do not.) And if I change my search terms to “Gil Hodges”, I do find 10 photos, (one of which may have been taken the same day, only it’s in black in white), but I don’t find any in color. So, while finding pictures, especially with an easy search such as “Mets” turns up gold, I simply wish there were more to go on, especially with older teams or teams for which I am not familiar.
Likewise, a search for “Tom Seaver” turns up ONE (!) result, and it’s flipped! (this pic appeared in the comments this week and prompted today’s column). That’s another small beef I have with the archive. Here’s how that pic should have looked (and surely, it was correct if it did appear in the pages of Life). As several readers (I’m looking at you Squiddie) have pointed out, many of the pics are flipped, such as this Baltimore Colts pic (which I unflipped). Again, with 10 million photos, give or take, I can’t really complain about the lack of identification or a few being reversed, but it is more than a minor flaw.
A search for “Giants”, for example, will return not just sports photos, but other stuff as well, so it’s always advisable to refine your search terms. If you just wanted to keep going after that initial search, however (and why not — those pics are gorgeous), seven pages in you’d find this page, and if you click on the 18th (out of 20) thumb, well then you’d be rewarded with this fantastic pic of “The New York Giants, in dark jerseys, playing against the Dallas Cowboys in light jerseys. (December 1962).” Notice the player is wearing sneakers. Of course, he’s not identified (pretty sure that’s Frank Gifford), so the greatness of the site is somewhat diminished by the lack of identifiers.
A final, although not major complaint I do have is when one finds, say, a photo string to one’s liking. Say I just click on the “Baseball” link on the home page. The result will be thousands of photos in thumbnail form. If I click on the one from page 1 entitled Cuban Baseball Players, I get that particular photograph, with not much identification (ok, fair enough). To the right of the photograph are four additional thumbs (”Related Images”) plus a link to “more” photos. I wish they could have spread those photos and the additional links out in the same form as I get if I typed in “Cuban Baseball Players” in the search screen. The way they’ve set the board up, however, yields the photo with the four thumbs (which seem to rotate in a bizarre order when you click on them). If I click the “more” link, all I get are four new small thumbs. If there is anyone from the Google-Life page reading this, maybe you could talk to someone about this and set about to fixing it pronto? (I keed, I keed).
Anyway, in sum, I LOVE the Google-Life stuff. I just wish it were a little easier to identify and/or search for specific teams, persons, etc. And Life isn’t the only game in town as far as finding old sports photos goes. The Library of Congress (head down to the third item in Paul’s Follow-Up Roundup for linkies) has pics, as do Corbis (be sure to sign up — it’s free) and Shorpy and probably a bunch of others. But the Life archive is still relatively new, adding new pictures all the time, and just a wonderful place to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon (or a day in your office, if you know what I mean). If you haven’t yet bookmarked it, what are you waiting for?
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From The Ricko Files we have four beautiful photographs today, in honor of the announcement that the Original Eight AFL clubs would be wearing throwbacks this season. (For the full story, click here. For a pretty damn cool link showing a bunch of 50th Anniversary stuff, click here.) Paul referenced the report (first item in Friday’s ticker), and announced the referees (to our surprise and delight) would also be “throwing back” to their original AFL uniforms. Some discussion ensued as to whether the AFL referees really wore orange and white stripes, or if the stripes were, in actuality, red and white. As we Uni Watchers are nothing if not a detail oriented group, we of course needed additional confirmation that the ref unis were, in fact, orange and white. Confirmation came in the form of this auction piece, which shows the unis are a beautiful orange and white stripe. Notice that the uniform on the left has what appear to be equal width stripes, while the two on the right have thicker orange stripes (as well as numbers). One is obviously the short-sleeved and the other is the long-sleeved version of the same jersey. They are distinctly different from the third jersey however. This will be evident in the photos below.
Ricko has delved deep into the Ricko files to provide us all with additional photographs showing the referees in their original orange and white. The first pic appears to be just a couple of Patriots (and, c’mon, how freakin’ gorgeous is that uniform? — I know the ‘losing’ sentiment that is attached to those, but seriously, that’s 9,000 times better than the stuff they won all their Super Bowls in). Anyway, if you look closely at the photograph, you will see in the upper right-hand corner a referee, clearly clad in the orange and white. You’ll also see the lower portion of his leg, which features a black and orange striped sock (but no stirrup!). It’s hard to tell, but the orange stripes appear thicker than the white ones on the official (ref?). The second photograph shows the Buffalo Bills in action (another gorgeous uniform), with a clear image of a referee in the background wearing the orange and white stripes and an orange cap. The stripes on his jersey appear to be of equal width. The third photograph is from a 1963 Chargers versus Oilers game (love those Oiler helmets) and notice the color of the Chargers jerseys — I’m not quite sure what color blue that is, but I know what it isn’t — ‘powder’ blue. Notice the referee (or is that a line judge?) in what could be described as red (but most likely orange) stripes, and they appear to be much thicker on the color side and thinner on the white side. Also, the cap is white. Finally, the fourth photograph is from 1961 (it says 1962, but it’s a pre-season guide, so the pic is from ‘61), Buffalo Bills versus Dallas Texans. The official does appear to have red stripes in that one as well, but don’t appear to be equal width either. Hmmm.
I can certainly see how it might be possible to think the referees and officials wore red back then, because in a couple of these photographs they sure appear red. If anyone knows more about the stripe width (as in, who on the field wore which), it’d be great if you could post it. Also, what was the distinction between the orange and the white capped officials?
Ricko sent me a note along with the photos, a portion of which I will reproduce here:
“That Bills-Texans photo is the first color action photo I ever saw from an AFL game. Imagine that, the ‘62 SI football preview. Two full seasons played and its the first color game action seen by a kid who bought every annual he could find for those two years. Saw football cards, of course (which were all posed), but no game action. Granted, I didn’t live in an AFL market, but still…
And these young guys think we’re kidding, exaggerating, bragging or telling sob stories when we talk about how tough uni-watching was back then. LOL”
Thanks, Ricko! You’re the man. These kids today, eh?
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This and That: Interesting stuff from reader Charlie Lockett: “The new England soccer kit is launched this weekend and for what i believe will be the first time, each kit is individually tailored to each player, like a suit! Some really interesting preview videos you might enjoy” … Today’s NC2A regional final between the Heels and the Sooners may be more about Blake and Tyler than NC and OU … Texas Ranger Michael Young states, “I played for the Cubs. Our uniforms were green.” … They’re still doing that pink thing in hockey? … This may have already been posted, and if it was, my apologies, but the Chiefs will be wearing the Texans unis this year, and some are not happy about it (again, apologies if this exact story was already posted) … The Jags will be getting really shitty uniforms this fall, but at least they have low expectations for the upcoming season … Speaking of new uniforms, the Russians are getting some for their national soccer team … Yesterday’s post got me thinking “Go Terriers” (no, not really) … Speaking of hockey, this is REALLY cool — why didn’t they have cool stuff like this when I was a lad? … “We haven’t bowled a single game as a team and we already have equipment companies calling us, so the word is getting out” … A bit of uni news can be found in the “Briefly” section of this 49ers article … Do people still skateboard? If so, here are some skateboard logos … and finally, Brawn scores with Virgin.
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Everybody enjoy your Sunday. I gotta work, my brackets are all busted (there’s more red ink there than in the stimulus package), and it’s supposed to rain. Cheers!
March 29th, 2009
By Phil Hecken, with Uni Watch Hockey Wing President, Teebz
We begin with a some words from Teebz:
As some of you have seen on this blog, I have railed on certain NHL teams for their unbelievable and seemingly ridiculous jersey designs. I’ll admit that I like the way hockey looked before Reebok got their grubby mudhooks all over the game, but corporate dollars are what they are, so who am I to criticize business decisions? In speaking with Phil, bench boss for Uni Watch Blog, we wanted to take a look at the NCAA’s jersey choices, but there are literally hundreds of teams when you include both the men and women. So, instead, we decided to focus on the 16 best men’s teams in the NCAA. Those would be the 16 teams participating in the 2009 Frozen Four in Washington, DC. Before we get started, here’s Phil with a couple of paragraphs on how this collaboration started. — Teebz
Earlier this week, a reader commented on whether or not there would be a review of the “Frozen Four” Hockey Uniforms. UW President Teebz immediately expressed interest and so, as is my wont, I approached him to assist me with what follows. Basically, the “Frozen Four” is the hockey equivalent of the NCAA basketball tournament, with a few differences. Rather than a field of 65, the Frozen Four includes the top sixteen college teams, broken up into four regions (East, Northeast, Midwest and West), who face off (pardon the pun) against each other until a champion for each region is decided. We then have the “Frozen Four,” which is taking place this year in Washington, D.C. Additional information on the Frozen Four can be found at the always trusted Wikipedia site.
Since I don’t know much about hockey, but I do know unis, I have entrusted the aid of Mr. Teebz in preparing this article. It will focus almost exclusively on the uniforms of the sixteen teams in the Tournament, as they were ranked coming in (#1 through #16 — although they are seeded as #1 through #4 in each region). Teebz will take the reserved, measured, studied look at each team’s uniform, from a hockey historian and player perspective, while I will pretty much just tell you what I think about them. I have often said that of the four major sports, hockey uniforms are without question the best from a variety and color perspective. Lets see how the college puck unis stack up. Without further ado, then, we begin our uni-examination. — Phil
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Boston University Terriers: Home, Road, Alternate White, Alternate Red.
Teebz: Boston University is the Detroit Red Wings of the NCAA. They have timeless uniforms that stand out with their solid colour and striping scheme. The only major drawback that I can see are the number of swooshes displayed by the players. There are four on the knees and thighs alone. And do you really need four jerseys? C’mon, BU, that’s ridiculous.
Phil: Well, if BU is the Red Wings of the NC2A, then why do they have two alts? FAIL. However, I’ll concede the regular home and away are gorgeous. I love the armband with the different color opposing color numbers, and that font is a keeper. The Nikeified alts aren’t garish, but they aren’t necessary — the shoulder stripes add NOTHING. I do, however, like the lace-up collar. (In Nike’s defense, Rbk did begin the shoulder wings.)
Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Home, Road, Alternate.
Teebz: The home and road jerseys are solid. I like the colour scheme used, and the font makes the jerseys feel a little more traditional. The alternate, however, is not something I would want to wear often. While it could be used either on the home or road, I’m not fond of that particular shade of… whatever that colour is.
Phil: As far as the ‘regular’ home and away: The font kicks ass! Nice socks, good color scheme of blue, gold and white. Nothing superfluous. These look like hockey sweaters. Gold helmets are a nice matte finish. Quite frankly, I’m surprised the three stripes could pull off something as nice as this. I could do without the drop shadow on the numbers, but I guess that’s kind of a puck tradition. Now…those gold alts — I don’t hate them, but I’d have preferred they stuck with the same elements found on the home and away unis.
University of Denver Pioneers: Home, Road, no alternate.
Teebz: When scouring the Interwebs for photos of the Pioneers in action, nearly every photo had them in their white home uniforms. And that’s ok because they look pretty sharp. But they really need to wear their crimson jerseys more often. They’re pretty sharp with the gold accents.
Phil: That’s burgundy crimson? Looks like maroon to me. Either way, I’ll agree with Teebz here. That’s another solid uni — it looks like a hockey uniform (ignoring the many swooshes on pant and knee). But Nike didn’t crap it up with a “Bettman Bib” and pit stripes and such, so commonly found on NHL unis. Beautiful socks with stripe design echoed on the sleeve. Good stuff here.
University of Michigan Wolverines: Home, Road, Alternate.
Teebz: The white is traditional, and looks very classy. The blue is very much a Michigan colour, and looks great against the ice. The yellow maize jersey is hard on the eyes. A skating beacon doesn’t work so well. Leave the alternates, and stick with the white and blue, Michigan. The helmet design? I suppose I can give that a pass as it is distinctly Michigan.
Phil: Three different font styles (two with actual words, one with a big “M”) for three different jerseys. Really? But I gotta say, I do like the home white. Nice vertically arched wordmark, lace-up collar, and three blue stripes sandwiched in between two maize … wait. Aren’t these made by adidas? Could have fooled me, perhaps that’s some subliminal advertising? Nah. Well, it’s still a solid look. I’ll give adidas and Michigan a pass and say the three stripes were purely coincidental. The blue sweater with the big “M” … meh. It does look old school — old school like a football uni should look. I actually prefer the diagonal lettering on the maize alt and that’s totally Michigan’s color, so that would really work for me as a home and not an alt. I say, pick one style and stick with it, but that’s just me. I like consistency throughout the uni and well, this ain’t that. As far as their ‘iconic’ helmet design? It looks best on their football squad. Let’s keep it that way, and lose it on every sport that isn’t football, k?
Yale University Bulldogs: Home, Road, no alternate.
Teebz: Yale appears to be the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NCAA. The traditional blue-on-white home jerseys and white-on-blue road jerseys are classy and timeless. The best part of Yale’s ensemble might be that there are no sponsor logos all over the uniforms.
Phil: These guys, according to a conversation I just had with Teebz, appear to be a “non sponsored” school, meaning they’re not outfitted by any particular manufacturer. That would explain the swoosh on the breezers, the Bauer stick, and the three stripe sock pattern — I may be naive, but I doubt a Nike school would permit socks like that with their unis. As far as the unis themselves, I like them. Y’all might find them “boring” but they’re staid and understated, and far from boring. Typical Ivy smugness (or maybe traditionalism) is evoked by this uni set. It’s like, “We’re fucking Yale, deal with it.” Still, it’s a solid, if unspectacular uni. No major complaints here.
University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs: Home, Road, Alternate.
Teebz: Overall, these are pretty decent jerseys. The home jerseys are a clean white with minimal flair. The road jerseys are similar in their crimson design. The alternates, however, are beacons again. The one thing that saves the alternate jerseys, though, is the striping across the chest. I like the colour scheme.
Phil: OK, these rank pretty low on the list, lowest so far. Maybe it’s me, but I’m not really a fan of cartoon characters as the crest. The colors aren’t bad, and the yellow (gold) is certainly more muted than Michigan’s maize. Home uniform is at least not crapped up with a lot of superfluous shit, while the road is essentially a mirror image of the home, which I like. Doesn’t mean I like the uniform, just the uniformity of the uniform. I get what they’re trying to do with the alt, but it’s not really working. What I think they’re trying to do is evoke a very old-timey feel (never saw what their old unis looked like, so maybe this is some kind of throwback). Just don’t like the burgundy and white stripes on a gold uni. Sorry. Not working for me.
Northeastern University Huskies: Home, Road, Alternate.
Teebz: The Huskies are the Chicago Blackhawks of the NCAA. While I’m not saying they are using the Blackhawks’ jerseys, they look awfully close. In any case, the Huskies look good in their uniforms. My only advice would be to lose the black alternate. It’s unnecessary when the red and white jerseys look so good.
Phil: I’m inclined to agree with pretty much everything Teebz said above. Without prompting, my first thought was “Blackhawks” ripoffs. Except that the Blackhawks use a red alternate, and not a black one. Now, these colors are nice and the unis themselves are pretty solid. Not a huge fan of the cat’s paw on the shoulder blades, but it’s not bad either. What? That’s a dog’s paw? Gotcha. Anyway, I am a big fan of the socks and jersey striping echoing one another, and the lace-up collar is a bonus. The road red is much nicer than the black alt, and since alt’s are pretty much unnecessary in my mind (although in hockey, they are much more preferable to baseball, where an alternate is completely unnecessary). Plus, they’ve put the dog on the alt and not the “N” and that’s kind of not my cup of tea. Otherwise, though, a nice, solid uni set.
University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux: Home, Road, Alternate.
Teebz: First off, they will always be the Fighting Sioux. Political correctness isn’t necessary when speaking about UND’s storied hockey program. Green and white simply cannot be overlooked as a gorgeous combination for hockey. It shocks me to think that the one NHL team who used green, the Minnesota Wild, opted to stick with red. The black alternate looks decent as well. Green really does make a difference, though.
Phil: OH BABY. My absolute favorite, at least for the road uni. I’m prolly one of the few folks on UW who prefers the Celtics alternate to their regular uni (I know, shoot me), but that’s also why I love the Fighting Sioux road uni. For some reason, this is the only shade of green which looks great when accented with black (in fact, it’s prolly the only COLOR that looks good when accented with black). That Sioux sweater and sock combo, with the black pants, helmet and gloves, I donno — it just looks great! I could do without all the damn swooshes, and the font is not the best, plus the drop shadow is unnecessary…but damn, that can’t stop the power of the green and black. As far as the home and alt — take ‘em or leave ‘em (especially leave the alt). But that road green is just freakin’ sweet.
University of New Hampshire Wildcats: Home, Road, Alternate.
Teebz: I’m not sure why this is, but the Wildcats seem to play almost every game in their white jerseys. I scanned through their website, and all the pictures of the Wildcats team were in white jerseys. The white and blue jerseys look similar to Yale’s uniform set, but that grey/silver alternate is slick. I’m not overly impressed that the socks don’t match the colour of the jersey, though. Huge oversight on UNH’s part.
Phil: These kind of suck. But that’s not to say they don’t have some redeeming qualities. The font sucks. The stripes are great. At least, if you removed the wordmark (initialmark?) they’d be pretty solid unis. The alts are a travesty, however. Cartoon crest, non matching socks, side panels. Phooey. If there was ever a team that didn’t need an alt, at least if that’s what they’re gonna come up with, this is it.
Cornell University Big Red: Home, Road, no alternate.
Teebz: Cornell shows that traditional two-colour uniform schemes work well. The red-and-white scheme worked well for Boston University, and Cornell is no different. Classy, simple, and a very good look. If I could change one thing, I’d add a shoulder yoke. That’s it. Otherwise, Cornell’s look is nearly perfect.
Phil: OK, I like these, but they’re not my faves, although they’re pretty close. I’m prolly partial to Cornell because my pop’s an alumnus, and I always had an affinity for, and knowledge of, Big Red unis growing up. You can’t get much more basic than these, and that’s not a bad thing. Home and roads echo each other, which you know I like. And, well, they’re Big Red, so of course there is only going to be red and white in the uni. You may call it bland and boring, I call it classic and traditional. No extraneous striping, piping and bibs, just a workman-like uni. It works.
Princeton University Tigers: Home, Road, Alternate.
Teebz: Princeton looks like an ivy-league school in these uniforms. I love the shield logo on the front, and it really sets the rest of the jersey off. The striping is done well, and the orange-and-black colour scheme, like a tiger, fits to a tee. Unfortunately, the orange alternate jersey does make the Tigers look like moving pylons, similar to what the New York Islanders faced a few years back. There needs to be a white shoulder yoke to break up all that orange.
Phil: (*removing sunglasses*) If this were any team but Princeton, I’d prolly hate it, but since they make black and orange somehow look great, I’ll give it a solid grade. The home is pretty good, and while I’m not generally a fan of the shield (or any symbol) on a college hockey jersey, the Princeton shield works. The black and orange fat stripe circling the jersey and repeated on the sleeve (with the number inside the stripe too!) looks pretty neat. Road uni = home uni mirror? Check. Now … onto that alternate … It’s not the worst uniform I’ve ever seen, but it’s not … it’s not good. It’s just too much orange. Like … WAAAAAAY too much orange. I’m not advocating for the shoulder yoke like Teebz, but maybe, I donno, not having an alternate would work. I don’t hate orange as a color, in fact it’s one of my favorites, but not this much. This is overkill.
University of Vermont Catamounts: Home, Road, Alternate.
Teebz: Green and yellow is such an iconic look. The NFL’s NFL’s Green Bay Packers wear it, and they are known for that colour combination. Vermont looks very classy, and I am a huge fan of their road uniform. What I don’t understand is why they would go black on the road when they had an incredibly beautiful green road jersey in 2008. Vermont took steps backwards with their road choice this season.
Phil: Green and yellow is an iconic look … for Green Bay … and the Green Mountain State too, I guess. These are pretty nice unis, nothing slick and sassy, just pure, simple mapley-syrup goodness. Solid font, nice radial arching on the wordmark. Good color scheme. The alternates are pure shit unnecessary. That’s all I’m gonna say about that.
U.S. Air Force Academy Falcons: Home, Road, no alternate.
Teebz: The Falcons wear, ironically, Air Force Blue as their main colour, and mix in some grey for a pretty decent look. The one thing that bothered me was the lightning bolt on the breezers of the player in the road uniform. Why is that lightning there? What purpose does “ass lightning” serve?
Phil: Great colors, horrible font. What do they want to evoke with that? A sense of flying or something? I’m not a fan of the lightning bolt on the side of the breezers, but they may use it on some other stuff they have, so I’ll give it a free pass. While this uni is slightly more “modern” in appearance than some of the others, it’s not ‘badly’ modern. Nice stripes on the bottom of the jersey and the socks (which match!) but I could do without the extra stripes on the shoulders. Still, not a bad uni at all. Thankfully there is no alternate.
Miami University (Ohio) RedHawks: Home, Road, no alternate.
Teebz: You know how when something works, everyone tries to copy it? Red-and-white work well as a colour combination. Miami-Ohio looks solid in their jerseys. Clean, crisp, and very well-dressed. Exactly what a hockey team should look like.
Phil: Who even knew they played hockey in South Florida? Certainly not Panther fans. What’s that? Miami is in Ohio? Who knew? All kidding aside, these are pretty solid unis. Seems like a lot of hockey teams wear red and white. Prolly because it’s a great color combo for a hockey uniform. Nice and basic, it’s very workmanlike. I like the smaller stripes on the jersey sleeve on both home and away, although the outline around the numbers and wordmark isn’t really necessary. It’s not bad either. Damn fine uniform here. And no alternate, which is a bonus.
Bemidji State University Beavers: Home, Road, Alternate.
Teebz: Bemidji State goes green and white as well. These two-colour uniform schemes seem to be a very good mix for teams. I’m not sure if it’s the lighting in the road jersey picture, but Bemidji could use less dark green/black and a little more white in there. Mix it up a little, Beavers!
Phil: I like the colors, and the home and road uniforms are both damn fine. I’m not a fan of breaking up the “Bemidji” and “State” with a number, however. I guess with a name that long, it’s hard to make it look good, but it’s just not visually appealing in this instance. Also the vertically arched “Bemidji” and the horizontal “State” somehow doesn’t look right. But that’s a small complaint. Nothing obnoxious about either the home or road uni, and the stripes are perfect. The alternate is not one of the worst I’ve ever seen, and despite the cartoon beaver, I LOVE the crest. That circular logo is sweet, but I’m not a fan of the odd sleeve pattern. They just need to figure out what to do with that beaver.
THE Ohio State University: Home, Road, Alternate.
Teebz: I don’t mind tOSU’s home and road uniforms. They are distinctly Ohio State, and the red and white colours are used again. The grey alternates, however, leave something to be desired. I’m not liking this uniform at all. Bland? You bet. Why waste the effort?
Phil: Lets start with the homes. Pretty solid uni, although the striping on the sleeves has gotta go. Colors are totally tOSU. Nice job except for the sleeves. Onto the roads. Despite the “mirror” quality of the road (which I like), it’s TOO MUCH red. I know they can’t wear white pants, but they look like the Cuban baseball team or something the US sent home in 1980 in Lake Placid. It’s not a bad look (excepting, again, the sleeve stripage), but it’s overkill on the red. Now those alts … another example of me “getting” what they’re “doing” but it’s just not working for me. It tries for that old time feel (a good thing) but it just doesn’t look right — especially in gray. The modern “Buckeye” wordmark, the helmets, the Nike swooshes — it just doesn’t work for a throwbackish feel.
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Honestly, I don’t hate any of these jerseys per se, but I’m not fond of college teams having alternate uniforms. It just reeks of selling out, and, since you can’t get a player’s name on the back from the university team due to stupid NCAA rules, is there any point to making an alternate? For the most part, though, all of these teams have very good colour schemes, and all of them look pretty sharp. – Teebz
Well, there you have it. The final 16 teams (some of which have already been eliminated) in the Frozen Four. If you think I’m off the mark, or was a little harsh or whatever, let me know. After all, they’re just opinions, and even though mine are right you may feel differently. Tell me aboot it. – Phil
March 28th, 2009
You know I love uniform catalogs and uniform style guides. But I also like (and collect) catalogs and style guides that have nothing to do with uniforms, and we’re going to take a look at a couple of those today, because I recently scored two of the greatest finds of my life. Seriously, people, these are two for the ages. They’re not sports-related, but they’re both rooted in the same kind of programmatic classification methodology that makes uniforms so compelling.
Let’s start with this tremendous Hopp Press grocery signage catalog, which dates back to 1954. It’s an extremely satisfying artifact right off the bat, because it’s SUBSTANTIAL — the heavy-duty binder measures 19″ x 12.5″ x 3.5″ thick, and it weighs a whopping 15 pounds! Why does it weigh so much? Because it’s filled with all sorts of metal and plastic signage.
It’s impossible to capture how incredible this thing is, but here are a few highlights:
• There’s something very pleasing about the way everything is bolted onto the heavy catalog leafs. It all feels so solid, like it could survive a fire or something. Actually, yes, it can!
• “Fresh foods look fresh!” — with synthetic rubber greens.
• Order by number! For those who want to read all the signage possibilities (which include “Yoke of Mutton Triangle,” “Old Rooster,” and “Fresh Pork Brains”), here’s a larger version.
• Liquor store shelf signage is pretty much the same today as it was in 1954, at least here in NYC. Do liquor stores in other towns still use this same system?
• There’s always a little letdown when you’re paging through something cool like this and then you get to the end and think to yourself, “Damn, that’s the end, now it’s over.” But not with this catalog, because there’s a little bonus catalog tucked into the inner back cover. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.
• My favorite thing about the entire catalog (aside from the general awesomeness permeating every single square millimeter of it) is how the Hopp folks used tagged their product line with all sorts of “modern” lingo, including Clamp-O-Frame, Direct-O (love that “4″ with the arrows!), Reverso, Flexo, Adapt-O, Duratag, Picturama, Point-O-Frame, Price-O-Mat, Illustro, Extrudo, Embosso, Divid-O, and Ray-d-Glo (note the clever “h” stack at upper right). After that lineup, a name like Fits-All seems kinda limp by comparison.
Finally, check out the little anthropomorphized aluminum character here. Would you buy a signage system from this guy? I would.
And what did this treasure, which I found on eBay, end up costing me? A mere $14.28 plus $17 shipping. I think the high shipping charge must have scared people away, because there’s no way this should have sold for less than $100. Stupid people’s loss, my gain.
The other item I want to talk about today is somewhat NYC-oriented, but I think it’ll still be of interest to everyone. First some quick background: If you’ve ever ridden the New York subway system, even if only while visiting the city on vacation, you’re no doubt familiar with the iconic signage found throughout the system. Last November I linked to a stupendous article that told the story of how that signage system was designed and implemented, and the article in turn explained how all the signage specs had been laid out in a 1970 document called the New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual, which was created by the design firm Unimark.
A copy of that manual — essentially the Rosetta Stone for the entire NYC graphics program — is now in my possession.
Much like the other catalog, this thing is big — 15.5″ x 13.5″ x 3″. After a brief introduction, it proceeds with the nitty-gritty of how signs in the subway should be placed, designed (note the measurement specs), constructed, and deployed, along with info on typography, iconography (did you know the subway system used to have a QB and QJ line?), and so on. Among the many, many revelations:
• This is my favorite page. It shows exactly how an arrow being used on any transit sign should be drawn (sorry for the maxi-sized image, but you need to see all the details to get the full effect). Subsequent pages show the proper and improper (at bottom) ways the arrow can be deployed.
• My second-favorite thing: There’s a great discussion of letter spacing (i.e., kerning) here, followed by a chart that specifies the proper letter spacing for any possible combination of characters. Total control-freak obsessive genius! I’m fairly certain the MTA sign shop had a good laugh over this page and just ignored it, but it’s still an admirably comprehensive attempt at imposing visual uniformity throughout the system.
• One of most interesting thing about the manual is the discovery that the MTA — or maybe just Unimark — originally planned to equip every single subway station with a “directory,” which would show how to get from the given station to every other station in the system (further details here, and a partial view of one such directory is here). I’m not sure if this was attempted and then abandoned or if it just never got off the ground to begin with, but it was a hopeless idea from the start, because the system has always been plagued by so many service changes, reroutings, and so on (i.e., the fastest way to get from A to B today may not be the fastest way — or even be possible — two weeks from now). They’d have to constantly put little patches or stickers on all the directories to keep them up to date. I’m surprised this even made it into the manual.
• I love that they included specs for typography on turnstiles, doors on the platform, and street signage leading down or up.
• The only disappointment about the style guide is that there’s no color — except for these swatches, which show the official colors for the various subway lines. Interestingly, no Pantone numbers are listed (and yes, Pantone did exist in 1970).
• There’s a pretty cool glossary. If you want to read it, look here and here. (And if you want to see a larger version of any of the other pages I’ve shown, go to this gallery, click on the image you want, then click on “All Sizes” and then on “Original.”)
I can’t tell you how excited I am to own this. And I owe it all to Uni Watch, too. Here’s the deal: A UW reader who works for a group affiliated with the MTA found the manual in a closet and thought I might like to see photos of it, so he took some pics to show me. Once I saw the photos, I asked if him if he was looking to sell the manual (I didn’t realize that it wasn’t yet his property), and he said he wasn’t sure he was even allowed to take it out of the office. So he asked, and some idiot said, “Sure, go ahead, take it — it’s yours.” We then agreed on a fair price and I had my Holy Grail.
Whoever allowed this amazing artifact to leave the office should be fired. But at least now it’s getting the showcase treatment it deserves, instead of gathering dust in a closet.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Some commenters and e-mailers have been wondering if the officiating crews for next season’s AFL throwback games might be wearing period-appropriate orange zebra stripes. I figured there was no way this would happen, but I sent off a query to the NFL, just to be sure. The response: “Yes, they will be worn. Sidelines are also going to be in AFL style. It will really feel as though you are back in the ’60s.” How cool is that? Kudos to the league for going the extra mile on this one. Love the striped socks on the Pats uni, too. More photos coming soon. … As you know, the Mets have two Citi Field inaugural-season logos — the sleeve version and the cap version. Which one do you think will be appearing on baseballs used at the new stadium this season? Answer at the end of the Ticker. … Mizuno has answered Speedo’s LZR swimsuit with its own high-tech design (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Yesterday’s Ticker included a mention of Italian roller hockey, which prompted Mike Hersh to send me this fantastic 1932 photo. … Odd phenomenon: A fairly high percentage of people who send me stirrups-related e-mail add a hyphen to the word — “stir-ups,” or sometimes “stirr-ups.” And no, I don’t think it’s because they’re cleverly suggesting that stirrups “stir things up.” Very strange. … We all know about quarterbacks wearing red practice jerseys, signifying “no contact.” But get this: At Brewers camp, if a player has a medical condition that limits his activity (a sort hammy, say), he wears this red jersey — with this on the back! Do other teams do this? … Speaking of Brewers camp, someone should tell them there’s no such thing as a “Wild Card Champion” (both of these Brewers items courtesy of Thomas Miller). … Better view of the Lions’ new uni design here. … Oooh, check these out! Those are old Gatorade lids. Full details here. … The NFL is considering putting advertising patches on practice jerseys. But that article doesn’t even mention that the Titans have been wearing an ad patch on their practice jerseys for years. Personally, I don’t much care what the players wear during practices, but I worry that this could be a stepping stone toward ads on game jerseys. … Whoa. Those are the Cincinnati Jungle Kats (af2). Additional photos of their helmet here (with thanks to Brian M. Willette). … Hey look, Nike has its own cable channel! OK, no it doesn’t (not yet), but that’s what James Huening momentarily thought when he saw his channel guide. “For the record, the old abbreviations were NICK (for Nickelodeon East) and NIKW (for Nickelodeon West), but then they changed NICK to NIKe.” … The Bulls did the Latino thing last night. According to this story, the team was considering going with Los Toros, but the league insisted on Los Bulls. League officials have told me that their market research indicates that Los Bulls (and Los Spurs, El Heat, etc.) is how Hispanic fans actually refer to these teams. … While looking for something else, I came across this photo. Lots going on there, what with the NNOB, the inside-out pocket, and the casual-Friday batboy. … Lots of new soccer kits have been leaked. … Check out these 1994 shots of Mark McGwire in an Oakland Oaks throwback uni (nice find by Eric Westover). … The Indians are giving away a logo-history fleece this season (thanks, Vince). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: About 100 old color NFL photos from the Life archive can be found here. … In a real breakthrough for the cause of naming rights, the city of Louisville is allowing KFC to advertise on filled potholes. … Always fun to see this uni design (with thanks to Ronnie Poore). … Good story about Hull City (EPL) attire here (with thanks to Les Motherby). … Good spot by Tris Wykes, who notes that the Richmond (Va.) Collegiate lacrosse team appears to have the Calgary Flames logo on their helmet. … And here’s your answer. Not the one I would’ve guessed (with thanks to Erik Bal).
March 27th, 2009
There was some chatter in the comments yesterday about the Pittsburgh Maulers, who played in the USFL back in 1984. By happy coincidence, reader Jeff Warner has an interesting story about the Maulers’ uniforms:
When the Maulers came into existence, they were looking for a practice facility that had space for a couple of offices, and my school district had an old junior high school with a decent football field, not too far from downtown Pittsburgh. The agreement worked well for the one year that the team was in existence, but when the team disbanded, they basically left most of the equipment to the school district as part of payment.
It was a convenient coincidence that Baldwin High School wore purple and white while the Maulers were, of course, purple, gray, orange, and white. Thus, we gladly took in the unis and made them our own. For several years — roughly 1985-88 — we had uniforms with the orange highlights, despite not having orange as a school color. The pants and helmets lasted the longest, the jerseys not as long. I’ll have to look to see if I can find some old pics in a yearbook at home and scan and send a couple to you.
The team was pretty bad while wearing these uniforms — kind of like the Maulers. When we won a game midseason in 1988 (my freshman year), it was the first win in something like 27 games, if I remember correctly.
I like this idea of using uniforms as a unit of barter or payment. Hell, in the current economic climate, even a shitty purple jersey is probably worth more than a $100 bill. All you jersey collectors, your moment of triumph has finally come!
It’s gotta be better than buy Citicorp stock: Our friends at Ebbets Field Flannels are looking for investors. Interested in getting in on the ground floor, or the field level, or whatever? Contact EFF prexy Jerry Cohen here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Monster find by Paul Wiederecht, who found a site loaded with old AFL program covers, many of which are pure gold. Take some time to click through each year’s offerings — tremendous stuff. … A Cubs exec wants more night games at Wrigley. … Mattew Algeo’s living in Rome these days and has noticed something interesting: “Professional street hockey seems to be quite popular here. It’s played in gyms, with a ball (not a puck), field hockey-like sticks, and four-wheel (not in-line) roller skates. The uniforms are the usual ad-covered monstrosities found throughout Europe, but the goalie pads sometimes feature some pretty cool designs.” … Another Lions leak, and I can confirm that it’s accurate. Helmet and pants are still silver (they look a little bleached in that scan). Is that number typeface a huge mistake or what? … This story about Sidney Crosby’s visor refuses to die. Look, we all know that if you challenge a guy to a fight and he responds by removing his visor, that’s code for “How about a blowjob after the game?” and “You bet, but only if I can wear your sweat-soaked jersey while we’re doing it!,” so let’s just move on already. … Turns out Kansas City isn’t the only city that’s all worked up about the AFL throwback uniforms (with thanks to Steve Harbula). … The Flyers will be wearing orange at home throughout the postseason and next season (with thanks to Kieran Kelly). … Brazilian soccer coach Roberto Fernandes punishes players who don’t hustle by making them wear a pink dress (as reported by Mark Kaplowitz). … An Oakland writer has some interesting thoughts about the Raiders’ AFL throwbacks (with thanks to Michael Gawley). … Hey, remember af2? Right, me neither, but one of their teams has new uniforms (with thanks to Dan Bewley). … Michael Cline Jr. notes that the Sabres wore their throwback-logo helmets with their non-throwback jerseys last night, which isn’t how it usually works. … Speaking of the NHL, my Page 2 colleague Thomas Neumann and I attended last night’s Isles/Wild game, where the pregame festivities featured Darryl Strawberry, of all people, wearing an Islanders jersey to accept a check to his charitable foundation. Just about died when I saw that. Unfortunately, I was sitting at the other end of the rink and couldn’t get a good photo, but I’m hoping something will turn up on the wires. … Doug Keklak sent along a shot of a high school softball pitcher wearing what appears to be a team-insignia headband, plus some cool old shots of then-Civic Arena. … Also from Kek: “While reading this book, I came across this story. I have an email out to [the author] to see if there’s photographic proof of this, but he’s in Egypt for the next two weeks, so I won’t hear back from him right away.” … Little Boy Blue? Nah, it’s just Boise State’s softball team (with thanks to Cory Dowling). … Here’s a rare photo of the Broncos’ brown-logo helmet from 1962. The brown decal was only used for part of that season, because team officials decided it didn’t stand out enough on the orange background, so they changed the decal to white (with thanks to Tom Jacobson). … The Jets’ 50th-anniversary logo has been unveiled. I’m not usually one to call for more drop shadows or additional colors, but this feels a little flat, no? …
March 26th, 2009
The NFL began rolling out the details of its AFL throwback program yesterday, and there’s a lot to like. The jerseys and helmets look pretty damn sweet, no? (For the full effect, check out this larger version.) Here’s a bit of additional info and observations:
• Some details still need to be worked out. For example, that photo shows a white Pats jersey and a blue Bills jersey, but the Bills and Pats are supposed to be wearing throwback gear in Foxboro on Sept. 14th. So will the Pats be wearing white at home for that game? I posed that question to an NFL rep and was told, “Not necessarily.” Not sure if they’re being coy or if they haven’t laid all the groundwork yet.
• The sight of Josh McDaniels holding a Jay Cutler jersey is apparently being interpreted as a peace offering.
• Speaking of the Broncos, I’m sure you want to know if their 1960 throwback design will include the vertically striped socks. I asked about that and was told, to my surprise, yes. I have a feeling this plan may go the way of the Texas Rangers’ two-tone helmets once fans and players make their feelings known, but we’ll see. It would be a major coup if they actually went through with it. And then, as James Craven suggested in last night’s comments, they could hold a throwback bonfire.
• Aside from the Denver hosiery news, no other pants or socks info is available yet.
• As we all know, the Chiefs used to be called the Dallas Texans, so their throwback uniform features a Texans helmet. This has ruffled some feathers in Kansas City, where some idiots think the team would be “betraying Missouri” or something like that by wearing the shape of Texas on their helmets. A KC sports station apparently spent most of yesterday afternoon trying to stoke the fires on this one, and the station has even launched a petition drive. When you all stop laughing, could someone please tell these people that franchises sometimes like to honor their history, even if that history was in another city? I realize this probably says more about a talk radio blowhard who’d rather stir up phony outrage over a phony issue for an afternoon instead of actually thinking (much less working) than it does about Kansas City fans as a whole, but still, you’d think KC — which was lucky enough to get the Kings/Royals from Cincinnati and the A’s from Philly and then didn’t support either team enough to keep them from relocating again — would be less uppity about this kind of thing. Just sayin’.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Back in January of 2008, I ran this entry about a curling team that bought some vintage sweaters on eBay and adopted them as their official team attire. Now Nolan Thiessen, a member of that team, has checked in with an upsetting story: “One of the sweaters was stolen out of our second’s truck a week ago, so we can’t wear them anymore — can’t wear only three of four (you wouldn’t be impressed with our threads that we have to wear now). We’d love to hear from anyone if they ever see the sweater turn up.
Not sure how much anyone could end up getting out of it — tough to sell a sweater with our names and sponsor cresting on it.” So if you see one of these on eBay or at your local vintage shop, give me a holler. … The Nuggets’ green jerseys, slated to be worn in early April, will look like this (with thanks to Kayce Harris). … The NFL is considering lots of changes to its schedule and playoff format. … Ladies and gentlemen, your Miami Marlins. … A little birdie has generously photographed an entire Niketown employee handbook for our enjoyment. Many pearls of wisdom to appreciate here, including the suggestion to greet the consumer “in an authentic way,” such as by saying, “Cool tee! Where did you get it?” Sounds good, but I wore my “Nike Can Blow Me” tee to one of their shops the other day and nobody said boo. Phonies. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Weird scene in the final WBC game, as Yong-Kyu Lee slid head-first into an infielder’s knee and shattered his helmet. You can see video of the play about one-third of the way into the clip on this page. … I have a parking meter in the corner of my living room, so I was disappointed to hear that someone in Chicago is defacing parking meters (with thanks to Kenny Keil). … Slow news day at Deadspin. Basically, a food blogger set up his own meat bracket nine days ago, and now he and some of his readers have their bratwursts in a twist cuz I ripped him off or didn’t credit him or whatever. The truth, of course, is that meat brackets have been going on for years, so neither of us was exactly splitting the atom here. In any case: Yes, his bracket came out before mine, and I would’ve happily credited him if I’d seen it. But I hadn’t, so I didn’t. … Long-overdue shout-out: I never would’ve been able to attend the Super Flush at the Mets’ new stadium if John Vivino hadn’t told me about it a few weeks ago. Thanks, buddy! … And speaking of the Big Flush, my T-shirt is a hit on eBay. … Dwyane Wade gave away a jersey to a disabled kid the other day (with thanks to Dominick Carfello). … Chris Warfford reports that the UNC baseball team, which usually wears black cleats, went with white on Sunday. … The baseball team at Jesuit High School in Sacramento wears these stirrups. “Many of the boys like to wear the pants low,” says Jesuit alum Germano Diniz, “but there is one thing that is always true: The ship must show.” … TV note from Mark Wolven, who writes: “In Monday night’s episode of Rules of Engagement, Jeff (the character played by Patrick Warburton) comes in after a softball game wearing his uniform, which has ‘Buttermakers’ script (an obvious reference to coach Morris Butermaker, played by Walter Matthau in the original Bad New Bears) and a Chico’s Bail Bonds sleeve patch.” … “Went to a stanford baseball game recently and noticed a memorial (embroidered) patch on their uni,” says Paul Wiederecht. “Here’s the info from their media guide.” … “My wife and I were visiting her family in Taiwan in November when I came across a note that shows the Taipei Little League team when they won the Little League World Series,” says Jeff La Hie. “The note is actually quite impressive in person, with the sanitaries showing up very clearly.” … Michael Orr was watching a girls’ high school soccer game and noticed that the captain of one team was wearing her captain’s band on her calf instead of on her arm. “Maybe her arms were just too small, or maybe it’s common in girls soccer,” he says. Anyone know more about this? … A few days ago I mentioned that Ozzie Guillen wrote “OPD” (for Oakland Police Dept.) on his cap. Now James Huening has provided a photo. … Remember how Chase Utley hiked up his pants when playing in a minor league game, because the Phils require all their minor leaguers to go high-cuffed? Cole Hamels did the same thing yesterday (with thanks to Kevin Riley). … In other Phillies news, sort of, Sarge Matthews now has his own line of hats (as reported by Mario Carr). … Larry Bodnovich likes to colorize old black-and-white photos — especially old shots of Ohio State football. … “As you may recall, Bob Knight coached the ’84 Olympic basketball team,” writes Mark McGinnis. “I don’t know whose idea it was, but that team wore familiar warm-up pants, at least for Indiana fans. I had forgotten this completely.”
March 25th, 2009
Time to pay another visit to our friend Will “Doc” Ginn (if you missed his Uni Watch debut, look here). Here’s his latest batch of unusual memorabilia:
• “I’ll bet you’ve never seen these three stickers together,” says Doc. Interesting how they didn’t try to make “Washington” fit in that little well between the “b” and the left wrist, the way they did with “Capital” and “Baltimore.”
• Here’s a rarity: a World Team Tennis bumper sticker — with a suggestive slogan to boot.
• And speaking of suggestive bumper stickers from fringe sports leagues, check this out. The team in question is the Connecticut Bicentennials of the NASL.
• Apparently sports in the 1970s was on big sexytime-o-rama. Nice to see the Spirit stuck with Pittsburgh’s black/gold theme, though.
• “I have never seen this Pistons logo anywhere else,” says Doc. Me nether. Dig the basketball-patterned “hubcaps.”
• Before the NFL’s Houston Texas, there were the WFL’s Houston Texans. I love — love — the “globe” in the center. If the WFL had used that for their logo, instead of this, they might still be around today.
• Did you realize that WFL teams played a 20-game schedule? I didn’t, until Doc showed me this.
• More WFL ephemera here. Note that the signature at lower-left is from a guy identified as “Portland Storm Governor.” Man, a football team with a governor? I thought that was strictly a hockey thing.
• “Love this little Houston Rockets guy,” says Doc. Me too.
• And speaking of the Rockets, I had actually forgotten that they once played in San Diego.
That’ll do for now. My thanks to Doc for sharing more of his stash with us.
The Proctor Chronicles, Continued: Terry Proctor has an interesting take on the snafu involving the North Lawndale basketball uniforms. Dig:
I put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the manufacturer and then the dealer that sold the uniforms to the school. Since the majority of basketball uniforms are sold for use in high schools, it should be the manufacturer’s first responsibility to make garments that comply with the rules set forth by the NFHS (National Federation of State High School Athletic Associations), which are clearly outlined on the NFHS web site.
I personally check over the uniform rules before each season. For example, in 2008-09 every home team was supposed to wear white uniforms, rather than gold or light blue or silver gray. This rule was announced two years ago, in order to give schools enough lead time. But as I watched high school games this season, I saw that many schools were still wearing light (non-white) colors at home. When I would ask about it I was told that “the local association gave us a waiver.” Well, that’s fine. But in a state competition, the state association will not be so understanding. That’s what happened in Illinois.
Are the uniform rules silly? Yes, a lot of them are. But they’re presented clearly and understandably to the schools and with plenty of lead time to make the changes. …
I couldn’t stand to know that a uniform I sold was declared illegal and ended up costing a team a game (or worse, a state championship). Without bragging, I take enough pride in my craft to know the rules going in. I’ve alerted manufacturers of impending changes so that they can check them out and make appropriate corrections. I’ve had to tell schools that a particular design feature or lettering graphic they want is not legal and then I suggest acceptable options.
No, I feel the ultimate blame for this incident lies with the manufacturer/sales agent. They frankly did not do their homework. It’s just that simple.
In case you missed it yesterday afternoon, my own take on the North Lawndale situation is here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: As promised, my “I flushed the toilet at the Mets’ new stadium” T-shirt is now available on eBay. … The Lions’ new helmet logo and wordmark have been leaked — by the NFL Shop. They might take that item down, but too late — it’s all over the web now. … Several readers have noted that Xavier’s C.J. Anderson wore brown tape over his white socks during the Xavier/Wisconsin game. But I think he was actually wearing low socks and sweatbands, not tape. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Admirably obsessive breakdown of the Rockies’ performance in each of their uniforms here. … Jeff Popovich notes that the L.A. Galaxy and D.C. United both wore American flag sleeve patches on Sunday. “I don’t remember flags being on kits before,” he says. Anyone know more? … Bizarre scene in Clevo the other day, as a Lake Erie Monsters hockey game had to be postponed because the pink ice (for breast cancer awareness) became unplayable (thanks, Vince). … Check this out: An old Pennsylvania Railroad baseball uniform with safety messages. … Here’s something odd: Boomer Esiason wearing a No. 63 helmet (with thanks to Stephen King). … Lots of old Wrigley Field photos here, and old Comiskey pics here. My favorite: Chisox usherettes (nice find by Steve Shanabruch). … Here’s a new one, at least to me: Some NCAA umps have been wearing pullovers with zip-off sleeves. Reminds me of the button-on sleeves that players used to wear (interesting find by Rob Montoya). … I’m pretty sure we’ve covered this before, but someone please refresh my memory: What’s the deal with the Bears wearing block numerals? … Dog Bites Man Dept.: MLB is once again warning players not to pull their pant cuffs down under their shoe heels. They go through this dance every season and then the players keep doing it anyway. … Good mask-painting story here (with thanks to Mark Snider). … Is it possible that the good people at Nike might be selling a substandard product? This article thinks so (with thanks to Greg Riffenburgh). … Is this the cast of a high school musical? A troupe of mimes? Nope — it’s the 1982 boys’ gymnastics team from Alan Borock’s high school. … Best White Sox ever, by uni number (with thanks to Steve Johnston). … You wouldn’t believe the response I got to yesterday’s meat bracket (among other things, the national meat buyer for SuperTarget liked the article so much that he’s sending me some steaks) — never imagined it would generate so much fun feedback. My only regret: I forgot to work a reference to this 45 into the piece. … And speaking of meat, the fourth graf of this item states that the new Yankee Stadium will include “a window found in the left-field concourse of the Field Level where fans can see butchers from Lobel’s of New York [best butcher shop in NYC -- PL] preparing prime, dry-aged steaks to be served in various locations in the Stadium.” … Now that’s some nice eye candy right there (thanks, Scott). … A 1910 New York Giants uniform was appraised on Antiques Roadshow the other night (with thanks to Casey Lute). … Chris Mycoskie reports that the Louisiana-Lafayette baseball team has been going high-cuffed recently.
March 24th, 2009
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