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Posts filed under 'All-Star Unis'
Remember my recent ESPN column about unusual uni-related moments in MLB All-Star Games? We appear to have another one on our hands — or, at the very least, an interesting mystery to figure out.
The incident in question was brought to my attention by reader Joe Alvaro, who forwarded me two photos that a friend recently showed him. The pics show the 1977 American League all-star squad sitting for a team portrait. Notice anything amiss? You might not, because it’s hard to see in that shot, but take a look at the second photo, apparently taken just as the photo shoot was disbanding, and you’ll see that one of the players was wearing a Yankees road uniform — which makes no sense at all, since the game was played at Yankee Stadium.
If you go back to the first shot, you can see that same player standing in the center of the top row, in between Dennis Eckersley (Indians) and, I think, Wayne Gross (A’s). There were five Yankees on that year’s all-star team: Reggie (second row, yawning), Willie (right next to Reggie), Sparky (top row, with his back partially turned toward the camera), Graig (I think that’s who Sparky’s talking to), and Thurman (or maybe that’s who Sparky’s talking to, which means either Thurman or Graig is missing from this portrait). Our mystery player in the road uni definitely isn’t any of those guys.
So I checked the photo against the 1977 A.L. roster and began ticking off names. I found that six players on the A.L. team weren’t present for that photo shoot: Vida Blue, Mark Fidrych, Don Money, Nolan Ryan, Frank Tanana (who was named to the team but was injured and probably wouldn’t have around for a photo shoot anyway), and either Thurman Munson or Graig Nettles.
I was hoping one of the missing all-stars would match up with our mystery player. Then we could say with some certainty, “Nolan Ryan [or whomever] misplaced his uniform, so the Yankees’ equipment staff found a spare road uniform for him to wear at the photo shoot.”
But now I’m not so sure, because I don’t think our mystery player looks like any of the MIA players. We can immediately rule out Munson, Nettles, Blue, Ryan, and Fidrych, and I’m pretty sure it’s not Tanana either (who, remember, was injured anyway). That leaves Don Money — I couldn’t remember what he looked like, so I googled him and came up with this. Again, doesn’t look like our mystery player.
So who was wearing that Yankees road uni, and why? It couldn’t have been a batboy or anything like that, because you wouldn’t put a batboy in the center of the top row of a team portrait. If you’ve got ideas, or if you’ve spotted a flaw in my logic, speak up.
Raffle Redux: Our friends at SoccerPro.com have given me another $100 gift card to raffle off. Just like last time, it can be applied to any of their replica soccer jerseys and gear. To enter, send a blank e-mail with your name in the subject line to the raffle address (not to the usual Uni Watch e-mail address) by 10pm eastern this Friday, September 5th.
Rules are the same as they were for last month’s raffles: If you’re enrolled in the Uni Watch membership program, you can send in up to four e-mails; everyone else gets one e-mail (and I’ll be checking multiple e-mailers against the membership roster, so don’t bother trying to cheat). I’ll announce the winner next Monday.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The NFL announced yesterday that all players will wear a Gene Upshaw memorial patch on their jerseys this season. That article says everyone will wear it on “left chest” area, but I’m assuming they’ll move it to the right side for teams that already have patches in that region this season (Lions, Titans, Rams, Steelers, Jets, etc.). But then what about the captaincy patches, which are worn on the right? I’m trying to find out what the deal is with that — as you may have noticed, the captaincy patches haven’t been worn in the preseason, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be worn when the regular season begins this Thursday. I’ve got a call in to the NFL office about this — will advise. … If you choose to believe a leak of questionable origin — and I’m not saying you shouldn’t — the NBA’s OKC team’s logo will look like this. … Several readers have noted that the raised-felt “C” logo patch has frequently been missing from Geovany Soto’s catcher’s helmet this year, presumably because of friction from the straps of his mask. Now they’ve apparently given up on using the raised felt patch and have instead given him standard decal, as you can see in this screen grab that Bryan sent me over the weekend. … We’ve talked several times about those clear anti-scuff helmet decals that players have been wearing in practice. But Ray Rice was wearing one in a game last Thursday (with thanks to Rick Friedel). … DI-AA Western Carolina has new uniforms (with thanks to Chris Geis). … Lots of cool striped socks at the Australian Football International Cup, as seen being worn by the UK, Nauru, China, and South Africa. The various team captains make for a colorful display (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Also from Jeremy: The Women’s Baseball World Cup recently took place in Japan. Weirdest team uni was India, whose home uni didn’t even say “India,” except on the cap brim. … The Canucks have released 10 finalists for Curtis Sanford’s new mask design. Plus they’ve posted staff picks and a gallery of past Canucks masks (with thanks to John Muir). … Interesting video clip here about a Blue Jays jersey storage room (with thanks to Ted Stempak). … Interesting eBay listings here and here. … Great article here on college trophy rivalries (with thanks to Susan Freeman). … Some really good shots of Oregon’s reflective uniforms here and here (with thanks to Steve Sundell). … Awesome (but somewhat lengthy) video clip here showing how LSU’s equipment manager applies stripes and decals to the team’s helmets. Amazing stuff (big thanks to Derek Ponamsky, who says there’s more where this came from). … Not really uni-related, but still interesting and fun (courtesy of Jeffrey Waszak). … The Pedro porthole was in full bloom on Sunday. … Speaking of Pedro, Nicholas Schiavo notes that he was wearing an orange undershirt and solid-black cap while sitting on the bench on Friday, while the rest of the team was wearing the black/blue cap. Even worse, he’s become the latest player to start wearing those Phiten-branded socks. Fortunately, that particular disease hasn’t yet spread throughout the team. … Bill Henderson has acquired what he believes to be a prototype for the first knit pullover Royals jerseys for the 1973 season. “Notice the V-neck trim — solid blue, not blue-white-blue like on the team-worn versions. Also note the sleeve end trim — it is a soutache braid, nearly like that on the sleeve ends of the last flannels of 1972. But the real kicker is, to me, the Wilson tag in the collar which has the vertical red line next to the size marking — the style that was used through the end of the flannel era, and last seen in 1973, which is when I would surmise this jersey was made. While it’s possible that a fan could have ordered this as a souvenir in 1973, retail sale versions of MLB jerseys were very, very rare in those days. I am 99% sure it is a prototype.” … The Des Moines Register is running an Iowa State helmet poll (with thanks to Jack Coyier). … No photo, but Dave Shucosky notes that Denny Bautista still has a “D.” initial on his red vest’s NOB, even though Jose Bautista was traded, making Denny the team’s lone Bautista. … Team Handball is going to use “smart ball” technology at the 2009 Men’s World Handball Championship in Croatia (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … A big Uni Watch shout-out to Wynn Pelzer of the Fort Wayne Wizards, whose stirrups are a thing of beauty (courtesy of Stanton Smith). … The Edmonton Eskimos will be wearing green helmets this Friday (thanks to Roy Ellingsen). … Anyone know what that yellow decal is on the back of Arizona’s helmets? … “This is John Afoa of the All Blacks,” writes rugby specialist Caleb Borchers. “Apparently the All Blacks take that extra little step, and initial the gear they give out.” … “The Kansas Jayhawks are touring Canada, playing three exhibition games against Canadian Universities,” writes Moe Khan. “It looks like they’re wearing a different uniform, along with no names on the jersey. Any news on them getting a new look?” That’s news to me. Anyone..? … Vince Young had his number retired by the Longhorns the other day. Since he’s an NFL/Reebok guy, he had to tape over the Nike logo on the pullover he wore for the occasion. If you don’t see this as a symptom of something very, very wrong in our culture, I’m afraid you and I just aren’t living on the same planet. … Pitt used to have this panther-head logo, but then it was revised like so. Now Chris Hilf says the old design is making a comeback: “Our family was at the game Saturday (season tickets, natch) and we saw the old logo everywhere — on the sideline, on the tunnel where the team enters, on the pants, etc. When we ran into someone we know who works in the athletic dept., they told us Steve Petersen is quietly returning to the old panther head logo, with no announcement.” … The whole “Los” thing is lame, and so is the use of a nickname on a team’s jersey. Add those two strains of lame-itude together and you get this. … Bill Monti has a very odd Phils/Pirates hybrid cap. “I got from a family friend when I was roughly 10 or 11 (so, 1983 or ’84). It just so happens that this family friend is the grandson of Pirates Hall of Famer Kiki Cuyler. The grandson was employed by (or owned, I don’t recall) a company that created licensed merchandise. This hat was either an intentional misprint, so to speak, as a gag, or (more likely) simply a mistake with the wrong ‘P’ embroidered on. There are no tags whatsoever on the inside, which probably indicates that it was pulled from the production line before they would’ve been applied. The only identifying mark is a brand name, ‘Natural Season,’ on the plastic adjusta-strap on the back. Unfortunately, since I got it when I was so young, I didn’t really take good care of it. I’m pretty sure the first thing I did was put a crease (or three) in the bill.” … I’m sticking to what I said over on ESPN last week: I think the new Colorado jerseys, with their raised-dot shoulder panels, look pretty cool. Can’t say the same about the pants, however. … Reprinted from Sunday’s comments: Now here’s a cool uniform. … The Marlins all went high-cuffed yesterday, for good luck. That’s Dan Uggla wearing the accursed Phiten-logo sox. … Joe Hilseberg, you’re gonna hate this: Check it out. Is that the lamest job of nameplate sewing ever or what?
September 2nd, 2008
So I’m watching the All-Star Game last night with my buddy Large from No Mas. We haven’t seen each other since February (he lives in California these days), so I’m trying to not to get all Uni Watch on him. No need to make a pest of myself by pointing out every single pair of white shoes or other uni anomalies when we can enjoy universal pleasures like making fun of Dan Uggla, imagining what the youth of America is thinking about all the Viagra and prostate-shrinkage commercials, wondering how many pitches it will take for Billy Wagner to blow the lead, and despising Tim McCarver.
So when Ryan Ludwick came up in the eleventeeth inning, or whatever it was, with about 17 things wrong with his batting helmet, I held my tongue. Instead of saying, “Holy crap, look at that!” and pointing out all the aberrations Ludwick was wearing on his noggin, I just said, “I bet Dan Uggla’s sister got made fun of a lot when she was growing up” and reached for another drink.
Inside, though, I was thinking, “I bet my readers are all over this.” And I’m proud to say that you did not disappoint. Fourteen of you e-mailed regarding Ludwick’s headwear, and many more posted comments about it. For those who missed it, here’s Ludwick’s helmet, and here’s what was unusual about it:
• It’s red, which is the Cards’ home helmet. The National League was the road team last night, so he should have been wearing a navy lid.
• Although it’s hard to see in that screen shot, Ludwick was wearing a Coolflo helmet, which none of the Cardinals normally wear. (Albert Pujols also wore a Coolflo last night, but at least it was navy.)
• The weirdest thing is that Ludwick’s “StL” logo was red outlined in white, instead of white outlined in navy. If you look again at the Pujols shot, it’s obvious that they used a road helmet decal on Ludwick’s helmet.
Ludwick wasn’t the only National Leaguer improperly wearing a home helmet, by the way. Aramis Ramirez wore the Cubs’ solid-blue model instead of their red-brimmed road version. Fellow Cubs Geovany Soto and Kosuke Fukudome wore the proper helmet, however.
As for Uggla, that was some performance — I’m afraid all the Viagra in the world isn’t gonna help him now. Personally, I was rooting for the N.L. to run out of pitchers and be forced to put Uggla on the mound (whoever took over at second base would have to qualify as a defensive improvement, no?), but ya can’t have everything. And here’s a tidbit that only one reader caught: Uggla wasn’t even wearing his own wristbands. Maybe that was his problem right there.
(Thanks to Bob Sherron for the Cards screen grabs, and to Brett Crane for bringing Uggla’s wristband to my attention.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Another brimless catcher: Jim Essian (with thanks to Andy Chalifour). … Another very stripe-centric football team: Ray High School in Corpus Christi (additional pics here, here, and here). “I’m almost positive they’ve worn an entire ‘candy-stripe’ uniform,” says Todd Hotz. “I’m looking for it.” … According to the third item in this web chat transcript, Idaho State will be wearing solid black at home, and the helmet will be tweaked (with thanks to Mark Snider). … “TCU’s top-ranked baseball team has been wearing throwback uniforms for Sunday home games for the past three years,” reports Mark Rybczyk. “They do a pretty good job and, I know that Coach Jim Schlossnagle requires his team to wear the stirrups on Sundays. I especially like the hats, which use a very old TCU Logo.” These are so nice, I won’t even complain about the purple. … With the Spectrum in Philly now slated for the glue factory, the Phantoms (AHL) and Kixx (MLS) will be wearing a farewell season patch (with thanks to Chris Ashworth). … New football uniforms on the way for Vanderbilt. … Jim Parker sent along a photo of some amazing UMich socks from 1953 — love to see more of these.
July 16th, 2008
[Editor’s Note: Reader Mike Miller recently attended the the 2008 Carolina League/California League All-Star Game in Myrtle Beach and provided such a thorough report that I’ve decided to run it as a guest-written entry — enjoy. I’ll see you down at the Ticker. — PL]
By Mike Miller
The game took place at BB&T Coastal Field, home to the single-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans. Here’s a rundown on the visual aspects of the game.
Batting Practice Jerseys. Nothing too remarkable here. Carolina League, as the home team, had powder blue — err, Pelican blue — jerseys with gold and navy trim and “Carolina” across the front. The design was straight out of the current MLB BP jersey template. (Yes, that’s Roger Clemens’ kid Koby in this shot.) Many of the players had BP jerseys with different numbers than their game uniforms, so I think the jerseys were pre-numbered then had nameplates added when the rosters were finalized.
The California League BP jerseys were similar, except with navy blue as the primary color and “California” across the front. Their numbers were three-layer, with powder blue, then white, then gold. Both leagues’ BP jersey had the all-star logo on the left sleeve.
Game Uniforms. The Carolina League got everyone to wear home whites. The California League couldn’t meet the challenge, with half of their players wearing a colored alternate instead of the road grey.
A few cool and weird tidbits:
• Wilmington probably has the only gold front number on a white uniform of any team in baseball.
• The Stockton Ports, which are an A’s affiliate, go with white cleats, just like the parent club (but they don’t all wear stirrups).
• Although Myrtle Beach wears powder blue caps at home and on the road, they have black batting helmets. I was told that helmet manufacturers don’t make helmets in powder blue and that the team basically didn’t want to pay the money to paint them all that color.
• The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes have a fissure across their cap bill.
• Salem’s jerseys are faux vests (white jerseys with black sleeves). Compare them to the real deal here.
• Winston-Salem, a White Sox affiliate, have White Sox sleeve patches.
• There were a few quality stirrup sightings. The best was Sean Doolittle from Stockton.
Field Markings and Stadium. The logo they painted behind home plate was not the actual all-star logo, but a watered-down version (the full version is much more detailed, with a palmetto tree and crescent moon, which of course are taken from the South Carolina state flag).
The grounds crew had some nice touches, outlining the home plate area and coaching boxes in red, white, and blue, plus they painted each league’s name in the coaching box closest to that team’s dugout. And before the game, the crew put down a stencil of the Pelicans’ “MB” cap logo of behind home plate. So after they watered that area, the logo was clearly evident.
The stadium has a “beach area” down the left field line, where folks can watch the game from beach chairs. They even have a few lifeguard chairs for good measure. Since the main scoreboard is in left field next to the outfield bleachers, they put in a manual scoreboard on the right field foul line so the bleacher folk and beach-dwellers could actually see the score. It’s got to be one of the largest flip scoreboards in history, like the ones you used in gym class. The poor ballboy (blue shirt between the B and S) has to get up after every pitch to change the count.
Some cool things around the concourse too, including a list of every Pelicans player who’s made it to the majors and each year’s Opening Day lineup.
Finally, the gift shop had a heat press for those who wanted a personalized jersey. It got some work while I was watching.
Uni Watch News Ticker: A little birdie informs me that SMU, now being coached by June Jones, is returning to traditional white helmets, and that the new uni “will look similar to throwback Bills — royal jerseys and white pants at home, solid white on the road.” Can’t show any photos yet, but I can tell you it looks pretty hot. Official unveiling to come in the next couple of weeks. … Joe Alexander loves No. 11 so much that he might not play if he can’t get that number (with thanks to Josh Exine). … Pink caps are getting bashed in Boston. … John Blatchford recently attended the http://www.ishof.org/”>International Swimming Hall of Fame in Florida and sent along some photos (look here, here, here, and here). Lots of info on their current “History of Swimwear” exhibit is in this PDF. … Some interesting uni-related content in this video clip about what the UGA baseball team does on an off-day. … Chris Warfford notes that Team Slipstream, in addition their argyle cycling outfits, “are going to have one of the most colorful team photos ever. They’ve got five national title-holders that will be representing their nations during the grand tours, and those riders will be allowed to wear kits that reference their national titles, in addition to the argyle. Of course, we haven’t seen the new kits with the Garmin logo (that will be resolved soon), but if the Giro d’Italia is any indication of the kits, very few colors will be left out of the team photo.” … Not sure if I’ve run this link before, but here’s a good site for UK soccer kits (with thanks to Patrick Murray). … I just scored this nifty old uniform ad. “Preferred by the leaders of Boyville” — how totally great is that?! … Totally love this label (which is on this old uniform). … The Western Michigan White caps are going to wear Star Wars uniforms on Saturday. … Footwear observation from Brian Jud, who writes: “I noticed the SportsCenter commercial with Pierce, Garnett, and Allen shows them wearing road jerseys with white sneakers, when everyone knows the Celtics wear black sneakers on the road. More details here. … Sartorial justice: Maria Sharapova and tuxedo-themed Nike outfit were beaten yesterday by Alla Kudryavtseva, who later said, “I don’t like her outfit. It was one of the motivations to beat her” (good find by Brinke Guthrie). … You know how UMich always wears special shoulder logos for bowl games? Here’s an article on the company that puts them on the jerseys. … Bill Sour was watching the 1984 film Supergirl, which includes a scene in an abandoned amusement park. “I did a double-take when I saw a bunch of bumper cars with NFL helmets on them. After further review there it was, an NFL-themed amusement park ride [additional pics here and here]. I’d kill to find one of these old rides.” Very cool, but they got the Falcons’ logo backwards. … “George Shinn had wanted to own an NHL expansion team in Raleigh, but got pushed aside in favor of Felix Sebates, the NASCAR owner,” writes Tris Wykes. “So he came to Hampton Roads and whipped up ticket and suite deposits and civic interest in his proposed team, the Rhinos. They were in the hunt before being turned down by the NHL in January of 1997. There were billboards and T-shirts and Coke cans with the Rhinos logo. The character’s name was Rhocky.” … By now most of you have seen the Timberwolves’ new logo (which continues the NBA’s odd practice of including a basketball in the vast majority of its logo designs). According to this article, they’ll be unveiling a new uni set in August. … “Sometime last year, I sent along the only unearthed picture of Auburn sporting the hideous orange jerseys from 1979-82,” writes Kris McInnis. “But I was doing some attic shuffling and have found a few more good color shots from a couple of old university yearbooks. I can’t imagine there’d be anymore of these laying around that are actually in color. These shots differ from the original one I sent along, as most feature striped sleeves that are not seen on the tear-a-ways.”
June 27th, 2008
It remains one of the sports world’s enduring mysteries: Every year the NFL selects the best players at each position, gathers them together for an all-star game in Honolulu, and then humiliates them by dressing them in the most god-awful uniforms imaginable. I’m not gonna bother going over every unsightly detail of this year’s design, because it’s pointless — every new Pro Bowl uniform is the worst ever, until the next one is unveiled. It’s almost like the league is saying, “Yeah, okay, so you get your free trip to Hawaii, you get to party with hula girls, you get to drink piña coladas out of a coconut shell, but don’t think you’re gonna get out of this without paying a certain price.”
As you know, medical research has concluded that only 17 people on the planet have the gene required to watch the entire Pro Bowl without falling asleep (and five of them, perversely, are African tribesmen who don’t own television sets), so there’s a good chance you missed at least a few of Sunday’s more noteworthy details. Here’s a quick guide:
• By far the most significant development — and I haven’t seen anyone else mention this, boys and girls, either in the comments section or in e-mails to me — is that all the players were wearing a new pants design, with added seams and panels on the rear thigh (here’s the AFC version), kind of like a football version of MLB’s Cool Base jersey gussets. I’m not sure if this was for added flexibility, ventilation, or both, but man did it look like shit. Let’s hope this wasn’t a test drive for league-wide implementation next season.
• As many of you are already aware, Derek Anderson had quite a little adventure with his jersey patches. A few days prior to the game, he was photographed with his left shoulder patch upside-down. On game day it was fixed (or, more likely, he’d just switched to a different jersey) but now the patch on his right shoulder was askew. Not only that, but compare that last photo, which shows the facemask pointing down roughly to five o’clock, to this shot, which appears to show the facemask oriented more toward four o’clock. Just how many defective jerseys did Anderson wear in one week? (Big thanks to Dominic Atencio and John Boris for the screen grabs.)
• The Chargers’ official lightning bolt logo use to be white outlined in gold, but this season it was changed gold outlined in light blue and navy. So why were all the San Diego players in the game wearing the now-defunct white logo on their shoulders? Interestingly, the jerseys for sale at NFL.com got it right.
• Terrell Owens wore at least two different pairs of cleats: white trimmed with blue and silver (plus, as Nick Hanson notes, he also wore a cross necklace).
• Speaking of cleats, look what Tony Romo was wearing.
• That’s quite a pustule Peyton Manning had on his knee.
• No photo, but Osi Umenyiora still had the Super Bowl XLII decal on the back of his helmet. Anyone notice if the Patriots players had it too?
• The new NFL logo finally made its on-field debut, on the MVP trophy (although it looks like they used the old logo here). And it’s good to see that Adrian Peterson’s uni number gets gunked up in the Pro Bowl, just like in a regular game.
• And that’s finally that.
Next year, let’s have some throwbacks, shall we?
Uni Watch News Ticker: Check out who’s wearing striped socks — the astronauts who are currently up in space (with thanks to Rob B). … A nice selection of Karl Ehrhardt’s sign work is shown in this video clip (a forwarded by Matt Edwards). … Got an on-site query yesterday morning from Ryan Perkins, as follows: “I’m in a restaurant in Jackson, Mississipi, sitting by a huge picture of Kent Hull (who was from Greenwood, Mississippi). I can clearly read ‘Wet Rat’ printed on the tongue of each side of his Reebok Pumps. Did some Googling and found nothing. Any idea if this was on all the pumps or if this was custom-done for Hull? And either way, what did it mean?” Anyone..? … Wake Forest was wearing new kicks on Saturday. Lots of interesting details on these sneakers, including a very subtle Skip Prosser memorial — for the full scoop, check out this page, written by Uni Watch charter member Zach Smith. … Northern Kentucky’s women’s hoops team will be wearing 1970s throwbacks this Saturday. Full details here (with thanks to Steve Hensley). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Lots of coverage here about Rick Pitino changing suits in the middle of a game the other day. … The Aussie rugby team sure looks sharp — yes, even with that little purple ribbon on the guy’s leg. Anyone know what that’s for? … Good interview here with the principals of Plan B Branding, the San Diego-based design firm that’s responsible for a lot of current minor league uni designs (with thanks to Greg Victor). … The Staten Island Yankees have unveiled a new logo for every day of the week. Okay, not quite, but almost. “Looks like a cartoon version of the classic Yankee stuff,” says Tyler Kepner. “I’d actually like the block SINY thing, if it were for a sleeve patch and not a cap logo. Also: A short-season class A team with FIVE cap styles? That’s a little much, no?” Indeed. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Fascinating college hoops game recently, featuring Grand Valley wearing throwbacks against Northern Michigan, whose jerseys have no lettering — just huge uni numbers fore and aft (and those aren’t throwbacks — those are their regular unis!). … Seth Horowitz spotted this at a Yankees game last year. … Doug Keklak reports that Penguins fantasy camper get to wear the team’s original scarf-clad penguin (although the color scheme is an odd choice).
February 12th, 2008
The NHL All-Star Game was last night, but I found the uniforms to be unremarkable at best (and besides, I was busy participating in Soup Night for most of the game). Fortunately, reader Chuck Miller has a report on another all-star game that recently took place — one that featured many more interesting uni-related moments that the NHL game did. Here’s the scoop:
The Continental Basketball Association held its annual All-Star Game last Tuesday. The players wore their regular team uniforms, like in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, so there was a wide variety of designs on display. For star-spangled style, the Butte Daredevils pay homage to Butte native Evel Knievel by wearing jerseys inspired by Knievel’s leather jumpsuits. The Minot Skyrockets’ road jerseys may be hard to read from the front, but there’s no problem identifying the player from the back. The Albany Patroons’ road jerseys are also hard to read, as the jersey front looks more like abstract art than a team name.
Due to some last-minute player replacements, some all-stars didn’t arrive with their proper uniforms. Zach Marbury of the Atlanta Krunk was forced to wear an All-Star Game T-shirt and practice shorts. Despite the Oklahoma Cavalry playing as members of the “home” team and wearing their white jerseys, Oklahoma’s Marvin Phillips brought his blue road Cavalry gear, which could have caused confusion on the court.
Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Xplosion, who wear white at home and black on the road, chose to wear their yellow alternates (and yes, all three jerseys have the words “PITTSBURGH XPLOSION” as contrasting side seams). However, the National Conference squad was designated as the home team, which meant that the Yakama Sun Kings (four of whose players were in the game) wore their home yellow jerseys, meaning that you had, for a time, yellow defending against yellow.
Several players found unique ways to accentuate their sweatbands. Nat Burton of the Albany Patroons chose to wear the official All-Star Game logo pin on his headband, while Atlanta’s Zach Marbury wore armband with a Sharpie-inscribed tribute to his father, who passed away earlier in the season.
Native American influence was felt throughout the game. When the Butte Daredevils’ Odell Bradley was named the game’s MVP, he was given a special jacket, with artwork inspired by Native American culture.
Big thanks to Chuck for what I’m fairly certain is the longest report ever written about a CBA game.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Some nice old uniforms up for auction here, here, and here. And check out this one, which features dotted-line embroidery, an unusual belt style, and an awesome sleeve patch. … Nice feature of Super Bowl rings here. … News flash: Hockey fans like wearing hockey jerseys. … Interesting piece here about presidential campaign logos (with thanks to Justine DeCotis). … Jeremy Brahm reports that several Puma-outfitted teams at the African Cup of Nations soccer tourney are wearing bitmapped uni numbers (additional examples here, here, here) and that the 2008 Beijing Olympics soccer ball will look like this (only, y’know, a little bit smaller). Jeremy also sees some similarities between Monty Python’s classic “I’m a lumberjack” skit and very embarrassing U.S. figure skaters Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto. … College hoops note from Brian Rice, who writes: “Here are the new Tennessee basketball warmups, which debuted for the beginning of SEC play earlier this month. They’re throwbacks to the warmups worn during the era of legendary coach Ray Mears, who passed away last June. One down note: These are worn during pre-game only — when the team returns for introductions, they’re back in the standard Adidas shooting shirts and warmups, as the contract requires.” … Hawaii is angling for a new apparel contract. … Randy Miller reports that USF has switched to Under Armour and will apparently be wearing this jersey next season. Interesting to see that the design includes a football version of the NikeWorld collarbone horns we’re used to seeing in college basketball. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: According to this Chicago Tribune blog entry, the White Sox will be wearing camouflage jerseys on the 4th of July, which I think is really overdoing it. Independence Day is about a lot of patriotic things, not just militarism. … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: LSU players in the Senior Bowl wore white helmets to match the South squad’s white jerseys. … And speaking of the Senior Bowl, Colt Brennan was wearing a sunburst visor. … If you like stripes as much as I do, then De Paul vs. Marquette is about as good as it gets (additional pics here and here). … You know the pink/breast cancer thing has gotten out of hand when even the refs are getting into the act (with thanks to David Soline, whose full album of pink-themed Indiana Ice photos is available here). … Also going pink in recent days: the Johnstown Chiefs (wtih thanks to Doug Keklak) and the Purdue women’s hoops team. … As many of you are already aware, the A’s have been showcasing their hideous new alternate jerseys in recent days. … Randy Williams was watching How It’s Made on the Science Channel and was surprised to see a segment on the Riddell helmet factory. He alertly snapped some nice screen grabs, as seen here, here, and here. … Jeff Barak attended the annual Twins Fest over the weekend. “They had a wonderful historical display of Twins jerseys,” he reports. “They were in two rows, going chronologically left to right across the top [as seen in sequence here, here, here, and here]. The top row started with the earliest 1961-71 style, followed by the 1972-73 button-down, 1974-86 pullovers, and 1987-present styles. Then they had the red alternates, blue alts, vest alts, St. Patrick’s spring training, Senators throwback, a St. Paul Negro League throwback, and 1970s and 1960s throwbacks. The bottom row had the fabulous turn ahead the clock [here’s the back view], a Jackie Robinson reproduction (for some unknown reason), a pair of batting practice jerseys, a No. 71 worn by Joe Mauer when he first signed, a No. 20 worn in the movie Little Big League, a pair of jackets (one of which was a six-foot-long bullpen jacket for cold weather), another more modern pair of jackets, and a sampling of jerseys with commemorative patches.” … Great blog post by Kenn Tomasch about his visit to the NFL Experience exhibit in Phoenix. … A UNC hoops museum is set to open today (with thanks to Tom Arnel).
January 28th, 2008
A few Sundays ago, while the rest of you were watching football, Scott M.X. Turner and I went over to reader Steve Flack’s house — or, rather, to the building next door to his house, which his father, John Flack, has turned into a de facto museum for his amazing collection of baseball artifacts — mostly books (like, lots of books), but also bobbleheads and other treats.
There were tons of great things to look at (plus some great ironies — what are the odds, for example, that these two players would end up collaborating on this book?), but of course I focused on uni-related details. While flipping through assorted books, I encountered two such tidbits:
• I’d known that Roger Craig of the ’62 Mets changed his uniform number from 38 to 13 when he was mired in a 13-game losing streak, but I’d never seen any visual documentation of it until I came across this early example of uni-watching.
• While paging through this, I stumbled upon this.
Big thanks to Steve and John for their hospitality. If you want to see more of their museum, Steve has assembled over 250 photos into a Flickr gallery here.
Steve isn’t the only reader who recently shared some uni-related treasures from his family’s collection. There’s also Jay Danbom, who sent me the following communiqué:
My grandfather, Larry Danbom, played fullback for Notre Dame from 1933-36. He was from Calumet, Michigan, on the Upper Peninsula, where his boyhood idol and neighbor was none other than George Gipp (that’s basically why he went to Notre Dame over Michigan).
At Notre Dame he played for Hunk Anderson and Elmer Layden (one of the Four Horsemen), and he played in the 1935 “Game of the Century” against Ohio State. He played in the All-Star Game that year (with Sammy Baugh, I believe), which was the first team of college all-stars to beat the NFL champs, as they beat the Packers, 6-0. We still have his all-star uniform — it’s amazing what they played in back then. The jerseys were all long-sleeved and made of polyester [more likely durene — PL] and is a little shiny, whereas his Notre Dame jersey was 100% wool (can you imagine playing USC in L.A. in early September in those?). The elbows are reinforced, and the socks are stirrups.
The pants are satin, for that shiny night-game look. The knee pads in the pants feel like they’re padded with wool. But by far the most interesting thing about the whole uniform are the pant stripes on the back — check it out!
Here are some pics of the pants and socks on me ((the jersey quit fitting me in sixth grade). My god, my ass is big. Well, I did play offensive line in college.
Since Notre Dame didn’t play in bowl games back then, making the all-star team was the only way to play in the “post-season,” so they also gave out sweaters and blankets (though he was an All-American in the 1936 football season, the game was played in ’37, which accounts for the two different years). The sweater is personalized on the inner hem.
We also have my grandfather’s Notre Dame letter sweater. The two sleeve stripes indicate the two letters he earned playing football, but his letter sweater for gymnastics is nowhere to be found.
As for his beautiful Notre Dame Uniform, we framed it for his 80th birthday. It was displayed in his living room, but then when he passed away my aunt took it and threw it under her bed. I can’t tell you how pissed I am about that! That beauty needs to be displayed. … If I can pull up any pics of his Notre Dame uniform, I’ll email ’em, as well as pictures of him playing.
My grandfather was supposedly drafted by the Lions four years later in the first NFL draft. We’ve never found documentation of this, but he said they begged him to play for them. He was an extremely humble man and could’ve cared less about his accolades on the field, so I’m inclined to believe him. He and I were pretty close. … I remember one of the last times I saw him, he couldn’t remember what he had eaten for breakfast, but recalled a game against USC nearly play-for-play.
Wowzers — incredible stuff. Can’t even begin to tell you how special it is for people to share their family histories like this. Thanks so much.
Raffle-0-Rama: Our friends at Distant Replays are running their annual January clearance, with almost everything marked down 25%. Better yet, they’ve given me a $250 gift card to raffle off. I’m tellin’ ya, they’re like Crazy Eddie over there (only without the securities fraud).
By now you know the drill: To enter, send an e-mail to uniraffle at earthlink dot net by 10 p.m. this Friday. Only one e-mail per person, but everyone enrolled in the Uni Wach membership program by the time of the drawing will automatically get three bonus entries added to the pot. I’ll announce the winner on Monday.
By the way, several of you — you know who you are — have been trying to increase your raffle odds by e-mailing more than one entry. Some of you have been doing this by entering from multiple e-mail addresses; others have been entering once every day or so, figuring we wouldn’t notice the duplicate submissions if you spaced them out far enough. Guess what: We noticed. I’ll skip all the usual bromides about being fair to your fellow readers and just cut to the chase: Trying to cheat on a free internet giveaway is about as pathetic as it gets, people. If you don’t have any respect for me, at least have some for yourself. Okay? Okay.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Bizarre scene at UMich, where new football coach Rich Rodriguez wore a hockey jersey while introducing his staff the other day (with thanks to Tom Konecny). … We’ve talked before about Ohio State’s huge TV numbers. What I didn’t realize until yesterday, however, is that their sleeve numbers were black back in the 1960s — weird (with thanks to Kevin Bresnahan). … Remember this? Maybe it was inspired by this 1937 photo of the Philadelphia A’s apparently experimenting with a hard hat-styled batting helmet (great find by Jared Wheeler). … West Ham United’s Freddie Ljungberg had to wear a nameless, numberless blood jersey the other day (with thanks to Cole Ollinger) … Uni Watch design director Scott M. X. Turner is currently vacationing in New Mexico. Judging by this attachment he sent me yesterday, I assume he spent the day at Roswell. … For years I’ve been using this shot as my go-to photo when referring to Marquette’s untucked jerseys. Didn’t realize that much better pics had been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, as seen here and here. … Great contribution from photographer Jason Palmer, who got a shot of a Giants staffer checking the team’s radio-equipped helmets. Invasion of the green dots! … Better view here of Cullen Jenkins ripping off Matt Hasselbeck’s muff (with thanks to Jeff Ash). … “There are some great little uni details in this pic,” writes Neal Shaffer. “It’s the script ‘Cale’ on the one helmet that gets me the most, but the stripes, the old-school plain white helmet, and particularly the Hawaiian Tropic logo on the guy on the left are also pretty cool.” … Todd Davis reports that the Dakota Wizards of the D-League are featuring some intense negative arching. … “This could very well be the most bizarre jersey ever to grace a professional hockey team,” writes Kelly Phillips. “It’s from the DEL (German Ice Hockey League) and was used in a charity game to raise money for building schools in Germany through UNICEF. They say, ‘We’re helping the kids! Schools for Africa.’ They were worn in the 2001/2002 season by the Sinupret Ice Tigers.”
January 15th, 2008
SI.com’s photo galleries are usually pretty good, but their current “Greatest College Football Players by Number” rundown offers a particularly rich lode of uni-related details. Here’s a rundown (several of which were also spotted by various readers over the past few days):
• I had completely forgotten about Texas A&M’s shoulder stripes.
• Was there a particular reason Oklahoma State was wearing a huge shoulder flag?
• I don’t think I’ve ever seen such small or high-positioned uni numbers as Iowa was wearing in the late 1930s. Also, note how the knee pads appear to be poking out below the pant cuffs.
• I’ve mentioned Ohio State’s big-ass TV numbers before, it’s always worth another look, just for the “Holy shit!” factor.
• Love this shot of Doak Walker wearing an all-star uni.
• Think monochromatic uniforms are a modern phenomenon? Then check out this old shot of Syracuse wearing solid orange. Plus note that the helmet stripes don’t match, and dig Jim Brown’s Lucite facemask.
• What’s the deal with Dick Butkus’s helmet stars? Were these early merit decals?
• I had no idea that Nebraska had worn this number typeface in the early ’60s.
• Check out Greg Roberts’s helmet — looks like a cross between the Willie Lanier style and the ProCap. Anyone know more?
• I love how football photos from the 1920s always seem to feature lots of little patches and rivets on the pants, like in this shot of Bronko Nagurski.
• Look at this shot of Buck Buchanan. Looks like he’s got “Bell” written on his elbow pad. At first I thought maybe this was a makeshift memorial for former commish Bert Bell, but he died in 1959, when Buchanan was still in college. Can anyone shed any light on this?
• Dig the stripes on Jim Seymour’s shoes — pretty cool. Also, it’s tough to say for sure, but it looks like the official may be wearing two-tone (i.e., non-striped) socks.
Too bad the gallery stops at uni No. 99 — they could easily have included an entry for Chuck Kinder, who wore No. 100 for WVU in 1963, to mark the 100th anniversary of West Virginia’s statehood.
We Can’t Make This Stuff Up: My ESPN.com colleague Patrick Hruby is looking to get his hands on a giant ear costume (something like this) as soon as possible. If anyone has any idea where to find such an item, please let me know, post-haste.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Yesterday’s item about the guy with the Patriots logo tattooed on his head led Jon Smith to send along this photo, taken in 2006. That’s Jon on the left, posing with what he describes as “the ultimate Chargers fan.” He says there’s a matching bolt on the other side of the guy’s head. Wonder how he felt when the team changed its bolt design last spring. … According to this item UGA’s black jerseys have helped the school’s recruiting efforts (with thanks to Greg Riffenburgh). … Did you know that American-style football is played in Italy? I didn’t, until Travis McGuire sent me this photo from the Italian Super bowl. Not sure what the temperature was, but dig that ref in shorts! … Fun NOB find by Caleb Borchers, who notes that Richard Wigglesworth (of the Sale Sharks rugby club in Manchester) wears “W’Worth.” … Dude, you forgot your mouthguard (as spotted by Glenn Chamberlain). … Several Canadiens and Black Hawks old-timers were honored before last night’s Habs/Hawks game. Happily, the oldsters got to wear CCM jerseys, not newfangled Reebok models. … Maryland wore yellow alts last night (thanks to Bryan Duklewski for the screen grab). … Remember yesterday’s Ticker item about basketball gloves? Turns out that idea was first floated (and presumably sank) way back in 1991, as you can see toward the bottom of this page (great find by Matt Shevin). … Just as I was about to post today’s entry, this query came in from Matt Weber: “Recently a friend told me that Arizona State’s football team wore gold jerseys for one game vs. University of Arizona, a game that they lost. I believe it was in 1989. However I can’t find any pics of these jerseys. My friend said that since ASU lost that game, they would never wear gold jerseys again.” Can anyone confirm and/or provide more info? … Every now and then it’s good to remind people that I don’t just write about uniforms.
January 9th, 2008
We’ve all heard about the NFL’s “uniform police.” But when you see articles about them (like this one, which I linked to a few weeks back), they tend to give boring NFL party-line quotes. Being a company man is how you get that job in the first place.
So I raised an eyebrow when a reader named Danny (who prefers that his last name not be used here) recently contributed some Ticker material and concluded his note with the following: “As a former New York Jets personnel intern, one of my unofficial jobs on game day was to take a look at the players and see who was running the risk of fines. Aaron Glenn [shown at right] was probably the most notorious.”
Naturally, I was intrigued, so I followed up with some questions. Here’s how our correspondence unfolded:
Uni Watch: Got any good stories to share regarding your experiences?
Danny: My uniform code obsession started when I noticed how much Aaron Glenn was being fined week after week for violations. I was having dinner with a couple of the players when I brought up the subject, and they asked if I would help keep them (and the other guys) within the guidelines. After three weeks (two of them being in the preseason), I just gave up, because of course they chose fashion over compliance. I felt like a nagging mother-in-law telling them to “make sure your gloves are strapped,” “your whites are too high,” and “your pants are too short.” The lesson I learned was that, as always, is it that is better to look good than to not get fined by the league.
UW: When was this — what year? What was your staff position at the time? And what violations was Aaron Glenn being fined for?
D: I actually took notice in 1995, before I started working with the team. I had previously noticed that the Jets were one of the teams that had a different numeral “2″ for their linemen’s jerseys and the position players’ jerseys, and that had always bugged me. Then, when I started in 1997 as an operations assistant, I was fascinated by the equipment room. My duties included everything from picking up players’ wives from the airport and making sure the golf carts were full of gas to making sure the jars of vitamins in the weight room were filled and being a security guard at the cafeteria. We were called “honchos,” and there was between six and eight of us. If something needed doing, we did it.
One morning I noticed the poster in the locker room stating the NFL’s uniform regulations (which you’ve linked to a few times). Then I noticed a Newsday article on uni violations, which centered mostly on Deion Sanders, but it also had a section on Aaron Glenn. If I remember correctly, he led the league in uni-related fines that season. He was being find for high whites, unstrapped gloves, unbuckled chin straps, and short pants.
After reading the article, I did some research through old media guides and yearbooks to see how different players were wearing sweatbands, socks, gloves, chin straps, and so forth. I thought there was something oddly cool about the NFL having a standard issue of dress, and even cooler that some players were consciously violating the code in order to look fashion-forward.
UW: Tell me a little more about how your “police” activities worked. Like, when would you approach the players — during pregame warmups? In the locker room?
D: My policing activities were pretty simple. Since I was a mere peon at the time, I wasn’t going to get too visible in the locker room, because I didn’t want to become an annoyance and get fired. But my game day duties had me walking around the locker room anyway, so when I noticed something in violation of the code, I’d walk by the player and say a simple, “Hey, make sure those whites don’t go up too high, they may fine you,” or “Try and keep those pads tucked in your sleeve, they’re fining guys for that,” and so forth. Most of the guys just ignored me, because they just didn’t care about being fined and were more worried about playing the game. The last thing I wanted to do on a game day was distract any of these guys, but a few of them didn’t mind me being their uni-Jiminy Cricket. I also didn’t want to get on the bad side of the equipment managers — those guys really run the show on game day and could be quite ornery when people got in their way.
UW: Did you agree with all the regulations, or did you feel silly trying to enforce some of them?
D: I definitely don’t agree with all the regulations. I think it would be awful if all the players looked exactly the same. I understand the chin strap rule (which I wish I had obeyed myself, because I suffered a lot of concussions while playing football in high school), and I understand that the league wants to keep players looking somewhat uniform, but I think they take it a bit too far. I think guys should be allowed to wear high whites [not much of an issue these days, since most players now prefer low whites — PL]. I also think they should be allowed to wear team-colored tape and team-colored chin straps.
UW: Any other good stories to share?
D: My best uni-related Jets story comes from when I had been with them in 1997 as an intern. To preface the story, I was recruited by some 1A and 1AA schools to play QB and/or WR but wound up not being able to play after suffering my sixth concussion in my last high school game. After practice during training camp, I would sometimes stay on the field with the young QBs and run some pass routes if they needed some extra bodies. I had made a few acrobatic catches one day and the fans who stayed cheered for me and some of the coaches thought I was ridiculous for trying so hard.
Cut to the very next day — I was cleaning up coffee cups and soda cans in the “war room” after a pro personnel meeting and went into office of a friend I’d made on the marketing staff (I’d routinely hang out in her office after team meetings as she was wrapping up her day). She told me she had just gotten the prototype for the old-school unis the team was going to switch to for the next season (what they wear now). One of the unis was my size, so she asked me to go to the equipment room and get some pads so I could model it for her.
For reasons you would completely understand, I shot downstairs and was downright giddy about putting on the uniform. Once I got all the pads in (I put everything in but hip and butt pads) and the uniform on, I was striking Heisman poses and living out my NFL dream (well, as much as it can be lived out in an office building with no one else around). Lost in my own little world, I had forgotten that the special teams meeting was about to break and that the office I was in was directly across the hall from the auditorium where it was being held. So before I could get the uniform off, the players began to walk by and the ST coach, Mike Sweatman, who had a very dry sense of humor, saw me and let out a chuckle. He then came into the office and said with a smile, “Son, I know you made some nice catches the other day, but it’s just not going to happen for you. Stick to cutting up game films and getting coffee.” We all had a good laugh at my expense, and I took the uniform off.
Coincidentally, I had three drops the next time I ran routes after practice.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Here’s a closer view of the California State Firefighters Association logo, which the Kings are wearing as a patch (thanks, Teebz). … This season’s NHL All-Star Game jerseys will apparently look like this and thiszzzzzzzz. … Yikes. … Check out this NOB: first initial and a “Jr.” at the end (great find by Don Schafer). … The Baseball World Cup is taking place, and Cuba has found a new place for logo creep: on the tips of their belts (good spot by Jeremy Brahm,). … Attention AJ Connelly, and anyone else who owns a Nike chinstrap: You might want to switch to another model (thanks, Bryan). … “ESPN was mistakenly using the St. John’s logo instead of St. Joe’s at the beginning of the Syracuse/St. Joe’s game Tuesday night,” writes Jason Farmand. “They soon made the correction.” … Indiana’s throwback uniforms for this weekend will look like this and this. … Kevin Youkilis has shaved for a good cause. … There’s a great video clip here of a Vikings/Eagles game from 1978. Someone on the Chris Creamer board noticed that the Vikes were wearing black left-sleeve armbands (additional views here, here, and here). Anyone know who was being memorialized?
November 14th, 2007
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