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Posts filed under 'Belts/Waistbands'
Several people have contributed good info about the College World Series, but I’m gonna save that until tomorrow or Thursday. Today we’re going to look back a bit further than college baseball — all the way back to Little League.
That topic was inspired by a note I got last week from reader Wally Steidley, who said he coached Little League in Wylie, Texas. “My assistant coach and I are huge fans of Uni Watch,” he wrote, “so we took it upon ourselves to spend a little extra and get our boys outfitted like real baseball players. We have some limitations from the league but put together a pretty nice combo, including stirrups and sanitary socks. All the other teams went with the one-color soccer sock, so we really stood out as the finest uni’ed team in the entire league.”
Cool, I thought — teach ‘em young and all that. So when Steidley offered to send me some photos, I said, “Sure, let’s have ‘em.” That’s when I discovered that he’d left out one pertinent detail. He hadn’t just dressed up his team like real ballplayers — he’d dressed them as one of history’s most idiosyncratic teams: the A’s. Here’s Steidley‘s rundown:
We had some challenges getting the kids to wear everything correctly, but it was worth it, as everyone in the league noticed our classic stirrups and gold sanitary socks. We did have to explain the stirrup and how to wear them to the kids, but the parents thought it was a cool look, so they helped us out by requiring that they wear them correctly. You will also note the white cleats, which were difficult to find, but we talked the parents into them.
The gold belts were used because last year we were the Pirates, and the parents didn’t want to have to buy more belts. I gave in because my assistant coach and I had already purchased helmets, with MLB sticker packs, and fronted the money for the socks and stirrups. This is something we’ll be able to fix with next year’s team.
Amazing. So now there’s a bunch of nine-year-olds in Texas who think “real” ballplayers wear yellow sanitaries and white cleats. That should warp their little minds quite nicely. Still, Steidley’s devotion to uniform protocol is admirable. After Jason Giambi arranges to have Bud Selig bumped off, could we maybe get Steidley in line to take over the Commissioner’s chair?
Research Project — Last Call: If anyone wants to tip me wise to any bizarro minor league uniforms, I’m still taking submissions — hit me.
Membership Update: I’ve added about two dozen more rear-card designs to the membership roster and to the card gallery (including, as you can see at right, our first referee-based design). My continued thanks to all who’ve joined.
Remember that members get three bonus entries in this week’s raffle, which is for a copy of the 2001 MLB Style Guide. If you haven’t already entered, send an e-mail to uniraffle at earthlink dot net.
Uni Watch News Ticker: One of the San Diego Union-Tribune columnists wrote a bit of a Padres uniform manifesto yesterday (with thanks to Josh Berliner). … And a St. Looie columnist has weighed in on the suits-on-the-sidelines situation (with thanks to Luke Pellegra). … Good photo here (helpfully provided by Tom Konecny of the Toledo Mud Hens’ uni-laundering scene. The accompanying article isn’t really about uniforms, though. … One last Father’s Day oddity: Ray Durham wore one of those light blue wristbands on his head during BP (with thanks to Bosox blogger Jere). … Ehan Lewis notes that the NFL recently held its annual NFL Softball Challenge event. If you’ve always wanted to see Jeff Lurie swinging a bat (among other sights), a full gallery of pics is available here. … Nice find by Ethan Rowley, who came up with this portrait of Cardinals greats, which functions as a de facto timeline of the team’s uniform. According to … this article (forwarded by Wes Johnson), “[Minnesota] Gophers football coach Tim Brewster made it clear that there will be only one change in the team’s uniforms this fall: the letter ‘M’ on the helmets will be much bigger.” Which means it’ll look even more like an upside-down W than it already does. … Excellent slide-show essay on the history of — and problems with — U.S. soccer uniforms here. … Latest player spotted wearing Oakley Thumps during BP: Bartolo Colon (great shot by Zach Gibson). … Member Eric Bonus has scanned and uploaded an excellent 1987 article about hockey uniform numbers. … More really disturbing Chris Cooley hot pants pics here. … Carlos Delgado went high-cuffed last night, and it was a thing of beauty. Take note, class: His pants didn’t break right at the knees but, rather, just slightly down the shins. This is exactly — exactly — how it should be done. Such a splendid example of the form that I’m willing to overlook the lack of stirrups. … Pitt’s new secondary logo has been leaked. … Michael Maurino works for the single-A Dunedin Blue Jays and recently attended the Florida State League All-Star Game, where the teams wore East and West jerseys that almost make the Pro Bowl look good by comparison — especially when you factor in the number font — yeesh. The guy wearing double-zero in that last photo is Francisco Cervelli of the Tampa Yankees, who normally wears 34, but that was taken by Omar Malave, who managed the West team. Anyone know which other minor leagues use generic all-star unis instead of letting the players wear their regular team attire? … The Angels are giving away an item I’ve never seen before: wristbands with a built-in watch. If you haven’t seen it already, check out the super-cool animated Watch Your Back ad, now running near the top of the right column.
June 19th, 2007
As you can see, the ticket stub shown at right is from 34 years ago, almost to the day. That date happened to be Father’s Day, 1973 — a day that my family spent at the ballpark.
Looking back, this could not have been much of a treat for my father. Egged on by one of those “Take Dad to Shea for Father’s Day!” ads, I had gotten the bright idea that I would pay for his ticket. But I was so pleased with myself for ponying up the entire $2.75 (no small sum for a nine-year-old whose weekly allowance was a quarter and who wasn’t yet big enough to make extra cash mowing lawns around the neighborhood) that I neglected to consider that he still had to pay for my ticket. And my Mom’s ticket. And parking, and gas, and hot dogs. Plus he had to deal with holiday traffic, which must have been a real bitch. Pop, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry — my heart was in the right place, honest. I just hadn’t thought it all through.
Anyway, the Mets won, thanks in part to recent call-up named Ron Hodges, who hit his first major league homer. I remember reading in the paper the next day that Yogi Berra — then the Mets’ manager — said, “The kid’s got some pop, he’ll hit some more of those,” or words to that effect. And he did — exactly 18 more over the course of a 12-year career, to be exact. To this day, I still don’t understand how such a marginal player managed to stay on a big league roster for more than a decade.
The ticket stub, as you can see, is light blue, which happens to be MLB’s designated Father’s Day color (to promote prostate cancer research, don’tcha know). Among yesterday’s highlights:
• Players have been wearing light blue sweatbands on Father’s Day for years now (I first recall seeing it in either ’99 or 2000), but I think this is the first year that the sweatbands were “DAD”-inscribed — sometimes lengthwise, sometimes crosswise.
• Big Papi really outdid himself with the wristbands: one on the left and two on the right (with a bracelet in between the latter two).
• Many umps wore the blue wristbands too.
• The blue ribbons are old hat by now, but I was mildly surprised to see that they even put one on Terry Francona’s pullover.
• Intern Vince Grzegorek (who took his dad to yesterday’s Indians/Braves game) spotted something I don’t recall having seen before: Santiago Casilla wore a ribbon on his cap.
• As has been the case for the past couple of years, several players also wore blue ribbon temporary tattoos, including Manny Delcarmen, J.D. Drew (who had them on both arms), and Hector Carrasco. (Big thanks to Kelly O’Connor for linking to the Drew and Delcarmen pics in yesterday’s comments.)
That’s all nice enough. But the best thing about this promotion has always been when players wear eye blue instead of eye black. The king of that style yesterday was Felix Pie. If that doesn’t stop prostate cancer, nothing will.
Capital Idea: Here’s a cool opportunity for someone in the DC area. The Capitals will be unveiling their new uniforms this Friday, June 22nd, at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington. The event begins at 5:30 pm, with the actual unveiling slated for about 6:40. I’ve been invited to attend but am unable to make it, so Caps media director Nate Ewell has very graciously consented to allow a Uni Watch representative to attend in my stead.
The surrogate in question will be permitted (indeed, required) to take photos and notes, and will then prepare a summary report that I’ll post on the blog the following Monday. If you’d like to represent Uni Watch at this event, send me a note explaining why you’re the right person for the job. Please include your full name, address, phone number, and age. Thanks. No more applications, please — member Mike Forgy, a longtime Caps season ticket holder, has been selected for the job.
June Raffle: I’ve got an extra copy of the 2001 MLB Style Guide, which shows the official specs and colors for each team, and I’m going to raffle it off for free. This particular copy has a great history: It was raffled off once before, at the 2006 Uni Watch Athletics Aesthetics Party in Brooklyn, where it was won by Mets by the Numbers impresario Jon Springer, but he recently gave it back to me so I could give it away again. Since then, the cover has gotten some light scratches from Uni Watch mascot Tucker (I think he was expressing his displeasure with the Rockies’ solid-purple alternates), which is sort of the Uni Watch office equivalent of a grass stain on a game-used jersey.
This is a free raffle: Just send an e-mail to uniraffle at earthlink dot net by 10 pm eastern on Thursday, June 21st. One entry per person. But everyone who’s signed up for membership by 9 pm Thursday will automatically get three extra entries. If you’re a member and don’t bother to e-mail an entry to the raffle address, you’ll still get three entries. I’ll announce the winner on Friday, OK? OK!
Speaking of membership, Scott is busily catching up on the next batch of cards, and I should be able to add the rear designs to the roster page within a few days. I’ve also created a gallery of all the current back-card designs, which will be updated as Scott creates each new one.
As for the actual cards, just about everyone in the first batch should have received their cards by now. If you still haven’t received yours by, say, Wednesday, let me know. The new batch should start shipping out by the end of this week.
We’ve also decided upon a little bonus benefit that will come into play down the road: All members who join by the end of July will have a special “Charter Member” designation added to their cards when they renew next year.
Uni Watch News Ticker: A few of my recent ESPN columns have mentioned Chuck Kinder, who wore No. 100 for WVU in 1963, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of West Virginia’s statehood. Now Craig Mullen has turned up a video clip about Kinder — nice find. … Really interesting note from Chad Stegemiller, who writes: “Friday’s Indianapolis Star had an article about the 40th year of baseball having a state championship. They included a photo showing Arlington High School and Jasper High School playing in the 1967 state semifinals. I immediately noticed the Jasper players having ‘Jasper’ on their back instead of numbers (plus I am sure you will like their choice in hosiery). Unfortunately, there are no front views of Jasper’s jerseys.” … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Good article here about the history of NASCAR uniforms. … Andrew Daull found some great Cooperalls footage at the 3:10 mark of this video. … On Friday I asked if anyone knew about the little gold circle on the back of Bobby Abreu’s belt. An inside source from an American League clubhouse responded thusly: “It’s a Phiten titanium disc that has become very popular around clubhouses. I’m not sure how well they would work being on the belt (and thus having several layers of clothing between it and the skin) but many players seem to like it, and I even know one photographer who has two on his elbow to help with some pain he was having — he says the stuff works.” And in a related item, several MLB players also believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and Barry Bonds’s negative drug tests. … Faaaaascinating note from Ryan Hemminger, who writes: “As I was sitting in the gallery at the 10th hole at Oakmont watching Tiger Woods line up a shot on the green, I noticed that he was wearing one black sock and one white sock. I thought that it was odd, and I figured it must be some sort of superstitious thing he does. However, later in the afternoon, at hole number 5, I noticed that Vijay Singh was also wearing two different colored socks — one navy blue and one white [as you can sort of see here — PL]. I can’t confirm with photographic evidence (the USGA is VERY strict about not allowing cameras on the course), but is this some sort of trend among pro golfers, or just an odd coincidence?” Anyone know more about this? … Lots to like in this photo of Dunbar High (Kentucky) baseball team (with thanks to Scot Williams). … Bizarre scene at Steelers fantasy camp, where one of the participants was an amputee with a prosthetic leg, which was emblazoned with a Steelers logo (nice find by Dennis O’Neil). … Redskins long snapper Ethan Albright gave up his uniform number to a teammate in what this article describes as a “private barter transaction” (with thanks to Tim Nichols). … Speaking of the ‘Skins, when Chris Cooley played with his fly unzipped last year, I figured it was an honest mistake. But having now seen the hot pants that he’s wearing during Redskins minicamp, I’m convinced that the guy is a serious fetishist (with thanks to Stewart Snelson). … Kudos to Chris Manes, who found this great old photo of the Suns’ 1960s cheerleading uniforms. … According to the second paragraph on this page (forwarded by Rory Gustison), the Patriots are considering “wearing the team’s throwback red jersey and old helmets for at least one game” in 2009. Yes, three seasons from now. … Very odd scene in Japan, where Warren Cromartie — who first played baseball for the Expos and then for the Yomiuri Giants in Japan — recently participated in a pro wrestling event and wore a Giants-style uniform for the occasion (it said “Samuraiman” across the chest). Afterward, he held a press conference, where, as Jeremy Brahm puts it, “he looked almost just like he did when he played in Japan.” … Fernando Rodney’s cap tag was sticking out yesterday. … Very odd find by Patrick Sharon, who was recently at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton and noticed that a Lee Roy Selmon jersey on display had one orange letter. Just a hunch: I’m guessing that the original heat-pressed white letter peeled off, leaving some discolored fabric in its wake.
June 18th, 2007
By Vince Grzegorek
Most of you know that I live in Cleveland, and that I tend to mention Cleveland sports every once in a great while. And at the risk of sounding like a complete homer, and even though the Spurs closed out the series last night, I wanted to dedicate an entry to one of the cooler uni-centric stories that came out of the NBA playoffs and finals — and it just happens to concern the Cavs.
A few weeks ago I sent a note to Paul mentioning that the Cavs had hung some huge jerseys from the Terminal Tower in downtown Cleveland. According to the story, they were 35′ x 25′, weighed 102 pounds each, and had “Rise Up” on the nameplates. Decent enough Ticker fodder, but nothing earthshaking, right?
But then I started to think more about the background of the jerseys. Who had the idea? How long did they take to make? How do you go about making absurdly huge jerseys? Are they exact replicas? So I got in touch with Michael Thom, Director of Merchandising for the Cavs, and he was gracious enough to explain exactly how these huge jerseys came to be.
Apparently, the display was the result of a marketing brainstorm on how to take the “Rise Up” campaign (which has been this postseason’s marketing slogan) to the public. The first thought was to drape various statues around the city with oversized jerseys, an idea Thom said came from a similar marketing campaign done by Adidas for the NBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas. But they decided that Cleveland’s statues were too widely dispersed across the city in nooks and crannies — they wanted a more prominent location.
The Terminal Tower, situated directly across from the arena, was an obvious choice for its size and prominence in the city’s history. After the location was set, the four huge jerseys went from concept to production to installation (the latter of which, incidentally, was the most costly step in the process) in just under two weeks, and were launched with a celebration on April 20. (In addition, they made a inflatable 15-foot version, which was featured at a fanfest and then was placed next to the arena for fans to sign.) They hang from the 37th to the 34th floors, so unless you work on a high floor of an adjacent building or have a good set of binoculars handy, this is what they look like.
But Thom was kind enough to pass on some great photos of the huge jerseys lying on the ground at Action Sports America (a company that apparently specializes in making big jerseys) just after they were finished being put together. Additional views here and here.
These photos helped answer my big question: Are they exact replicas? The answer, of course, is no. The navy alternates don’t have the same side paneling and detail as the real jerseys. Even the Adidas guide for retailing the replica jerseys has the same mistake. Thom lamented that since everything had to be done in under two weeks, and materials and sewing time were at a premium, some things couldn’t be reproduced exactly. Unsurprisingly, however, the Adidas logo is nice and noticeable.
One of the few questions that Thom couldn’t answer (in addition to: What size do you think the jerseys are?) was where the jerseys would end up once they’re taken down. Because of their size, no real good suggestions have emerged for preserving them for posterity, although he did say they will obviously need to be dried out and cleaned. Any Cavs fans have a 35-foot-high room in their house that needs some unique décor?
Membership Update: Paul here (thanks for handling the lead entry today, Vince), with the latest membership news. If your uniform number is clickable on the membership roster, your card has been mailed out — I’d think many if not most of you should be receiving them by now. For those whose numbers aren’t yet clickable, Uni Watch design director Scott M.X. Turner is now back from vacation and working on the next batch of cards as we speak. I figured he’d have a lot to do upon his return — you know how stuff piles up when you’re out of town — so I told him, “No rush.” To which he responded, “To me, there is a rush — people are waitin’ for them!” Is this guy the sweetest, most inspirational lug you’ve ever seen or what?
Meanwhile, I’ll announce a new raffle on Monday, which means a membership benefit will come into play: All enrollees will get three bonus raffle entries.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Not to knock Vince’s fine lead entry, but the best uni-related thing you’ll read today will almost certainly be this absolutely essential article about North Carolina’s myriad baseball uni combos. Crammed with interesting details and info, it’s earns Uni Watch’s highest rating. … Got a note yesterday evening from Jen Muller (who publishes a pretty sharp Yankees-centric blog), with a subject line that read, “Bobby Abreu’s belt (or why I spent the afternoon taking pictures of Bobby’s ass).” Her note was as follows: “Going through some pictures I took at last Saturday’s Yankees/Pirates game, I noticed that Bobby Abreu had some sort of gold circle on his belt. I took my camera again to this afternoon’s game, and sure enough, there it was again. Here’s a different angle. Do you have any clue as to what this is?” Nope. Anyone else? … Latest ridiculous example of the Nike branding juggernaut: If UCI wants to have its merch (which is made by New Balance) sold during the College World Series, all the gear will have to carry a swoosh, because Nike is the CWS’s official merchandiser. Completely offensive details here. … McFarlane has come out with three new Cubs figurines, but Brian Newport has spotted problems in two of them: Greg Maddux doesn’t wear his stirrups like this, and they somehow dressed Derek Lee in home pinstripes with a road cap. “I suppose if the Cubs aren’t cursed on the field, they’re cursed on toy store shelves,” says Newport. … Excellent interview from last year with the Indians’ equipment manager here (courtesy of Clevo’s own Vince Grzegorek). Best quote: “I had a player once who complained that the Chief Wahoo on his cap was not straight. He went through a whole box of a dozen caps, looking for one that he thought the Chief Wahoo was straight. But they all looked straight to me.” Please — everyone knows Chief Wahoo is gay. … Great eBay find by Robert Eden: a 1940s football official’s uni — with a button-front jersey! … Lots of other great stuff on eBay right now, including a bizarre solid-orange 1930s baseball uni (sponsored by Gulf Oil) and 22 yards of pinstriped wool flannel fabric (make your own unis!). Plus lots of nice vintage uniforms here, here, here, here, and here, some amazing varsity-style jackets here and here, and an absolutely killer Blackhawks sweater here. … Colorado State’s football team will wear 1957 throwbacks for their first home game this fall (with thanks to Rob Montoya). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: MLB won’t allow the Royals to wear powder blues at home (scroll down a bit to find the appropriate item on the page). … Speaking of KC, a source who prefers to remain anonymous claims to “have it on very good authority that the Royals will be returning to blue shoes/belts for next season.” … Great tidbit from yesterday’s comments: This week’s Sports Illustrated cover photo originally included reliever “Bazooka” Joe Smith, but he was cropped out of the final shot. … Chelsea FC’s new away kits will look like this. … Matt Lyon passed along this item about how the Astros’ recent draft signees were brought in for a round of BP and given uni numbers corresponding to the round in which they were taken, which led to some odd situations (number-centric part of the article begins in the fourth graf). … Great little tidbit in last night’s comments, courtesy of Matthew Self: “Adam Melhuse was traded from the A‘s to the Rangers a few days ago. He was interviewed by Rangers play-by-play man Josh Lewin before tonight‘s game. When Lewin asked him what the biggest uniform thing for him to get used to was, Melhuse replied that it was weird for him to look down and not be wearing white cleats anymore.” … Manny went high-cuffed last night. … David Chisholm notes that the Adidas striping on the NBA refs’ sleeves forced their O’Brien Trophy patches to be awkwardly off-center. … The Marlins wore 1997 throwbacks last night, and several readers noted that they didn’t include the Jackie Robinson patch that all MLB teams wore that season. Near as I can figure, however, the Marlins never wore the Robinson patch with their vest jerseys in ‘97. The patch was on their home pinstripes and road grays, but the right sleeves of their vest undershirts appear to have been blank all season long (additional pics here and here), and they weren’t smart enough to put the patch on the front of the vest, like the Reds did. … Note, incidentally, that the Marlins’ version of the Robinson patch was teal, instead of blue like everyone else’s, which always struck me as a very inappropriate liberty to be taking. … Also: While looking for Marlins pics, I found this shot, which shows Kevin Brown saluting injured teammate Alex Fernandez with a cap-inscribed “32″ (not so unusual) and Charles Johnson doing the same with a notation on his catcher’s helmet (very unusual). … “Check out the outfield the Cubs had on Thursday when the last out was recorded,” writes Chad Peiken. “Are Pagan, Pie, and Soriano celebrating the victory, or their hosiery choice?”
June 15th, 2007
I don’t mean to pick on Giants equipment manager Mike Murphy — he’s been with the team for nearly 50 years, and he probably has his hands full finding caps to fit Barry Bonds’s ever-enlarging cranium — but the team had some major slip-ups on the uni front last week. First, as reported here last week, Dan Ortmeier’s left-sleeve team logo patch was missing; then Fred Lewis’s right-sleeve All-Star Game patch was similarly unaccounted for. The kicker came on Friday, when Randy Messenger made his Giants debut with no name on his jersey.
Messenger had been traded late the night before, so the Giants had less than 24 hours to prepare a jersey for him. And yes, the trade happenedjust as the team was leaving New York and heading to Philly. Still, it shouldn’t have been that hard to get a jersey lettered and ready to go. Couldn’t they just have gotten one made at the local Sports Authority or something? Messenger didn’t pitch on Saturday or Sunday (no doubt due to embarrassment), so it’s not clear if his jersey has finally been brought up to code.
Interestingly, the Messenger nameplate snafu took place almost exactly a year to the day after the Giants misspelled Eliezer Alfonzo’s name on his jersey. Maybe the team should just take a week off every season during this time of year.
To be fair, the Giants aren’t the only MLB team with uni-related problems lately. As noted in Friday night’s comments, the Brewers’ right-sleeve anniversary patch was missing from Jeff Suppan’s jersey on Friday.
And whatever quality control issues MLB teams are having, it’s nothing compared to what’s happening to the Philadelphia Soul of the AFL. Reader Rob W. was at Philly’s Friday-night game and snapped pics of several players with numerals that had peeled off, as seen here, here, and here. First time I’ve seen anything like that since the Colts’ 2005 opener, when lineman Corey Simon had one of his numerals ripped off of his jersey (an oddity I no longer have a photo of, unfortunately, although I do have shots of of Miguel Tejada with the “1″ coming off of his jersey after a head-first slide in early 2005 [he played the rest of that game as No. 0]).
(Special thanks to Chris Shastid for the Messenger screen shot.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Colorado’s new football uniforms, unveiled over the weekend, will look like this and this. Additional pics, info, and video links here, and still more pics here, here, here, and here. … Amusing teal manifesto here (with thanks to Rob McCallum). … Check out Softbank Hawks pitching coach Tadashi Sugimoto, who appears to be wielding the world’s longest fungo bat (with thanks to, of course, Jeremy Brahm). … “I found my old high school volleyball practice shirt the other day,” writes Jeff Bethune. “I never really liked them, but now looking back I see it’s because of the extreme radial arching. I don’t know what my coach was thinking.” Actually, I think that looks pretty sharp, except for the uni number, which looks way clunky. … Great catch by Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek, who notes that the MLB logo at the base of Mike Rabelo’s mask is patterned on the American flag (here’s a close-up from the All-Star web site) — never seen that treatment before. … More from Vince: (1) Serious decal crowding on the back of the Northwestern softball team’s helmets. (2) Josh Beckett appears to be wearing everything but a noose. (3) Trevor Hoffman’s trophy room, complete with jerseys on the wall. … The guy in the center of this photo is a young Barack Obama, shown on the JV hoops team of his high school in 1977. Here’s another shot, from 1979. … Maybe the reason Carlos Zambrano took a swing at Michael Barrett the other day is that the “C” appliqué on Barrett’s helmet was peeling off, a uni transgression that might move anyone to violence. … Looks like Jorge Posada was wearing white-out on his nails on Friday night (good catch by Mike Foreman). … “Found this picture from this gallery of an American football (as opposed to soccer) team in Germany,” writes Tom Langan. “Note the team names (in English) on the backs of jereseys, what appears to be No. 57 memorial sticker, and some logos on the bottom of the jersey numbers, à la the EPL.” … Todd Burus and Chris Mahoney both note that Wily Mo Peña, who wears uni number 22, is wearing No. 26 wristbands — perhaps a holdover from his days with the Reds. Plus Burus adds that Manny has been wearing his skullcap backwards, with the MLB logo facing front. Not only that, but the Red Sox logo on the back is backwards, which means either he’s also wearing it inside-out (although it doesn’t look that way, because the backwards logo looks raised) or else it’s yet another quality-control issue. … Brinke Guthrie recently stopped in at McCovey’s Restaurant and snapped a buncha pics of the many jerseys on display. Check out his full slide show here. … Anyone know what Troy Glaus was wearing on his leg while running the bases in the 7th inning of last Monday’s Yanks/Jays game? David Chisholm says Glaus wasn’t wearing it while batting, but he apparently strapped it on once he reached base. … Interesting commentary here about how the Trail Blazers need to start fresh with new uniforms (with thanks to Aaron Wiens). … Latest volley in the discussion of the Orioles’ road uniforms can be found here (kudos to Zach Smith). … See that tiny white-ish smudge on the left edge of Terry Francona’s cap brim? You can’t tell from that photo (or from any other that I’ve been able to find), but on TV it clearly appears to be a small “11,” apparently a shout-out to former Sox player Doug Mientkiewicz, who was injured in that collision with Mike Lowell on Saturday night. … Looks like Johnny Damon picked up a first baseman’s mitt on the way to the ballpark last night (with thanks to Michael Basu). … Actual quote from Cincy pitcher Kyle Loshe, when told May 28th could be his day, since he wears No. 28 and the Reds were playing home game No. 28: “I hate my number. I’d rather be 21, 22 or 23.” (Nice find by Jeff Barak.) … Faaaaascinating reminiscence from Paul Hirsch, who writes: “When I was a ballboy for the 1974 Angels, we wore pants without belt loops. However, there was a pocket on the inside of the waistband where a belt could be snaked through, using a special plastic tool that guided the belt through. Not everyone used it, but it was available and it did help keep one’s pants up.” … John Moist reports that Saturday was Price Is Right Night in Fresno, with the Fresno Grizzlies wearing some truly bizarre jerseys. Additional pics here and here. … More minor league zaniness, this time from Matt Nelson, who notes that Memorial Day found the Binghamton Mets using red, white, and blue jersey insignia and bases.
June 4th, 2007
Another university is doing a public service by putting its visual history on the web. Reader Dan Hardin has the details:
Texas A&M has an ongoing project to digitize historic pictures related to the university. Many are of athletic teams, and touch on some of your favorite uni-related items:
• From pre-1900s baseball, here are some interesting collars and pants.
• Here’s another early baseball shot, with some players with pointed collars and some with turtlenecks, a couple wearing ties, and oh my, the socks! [The “AMC” insignia refers to the school’s original name, Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. And yes, this baseball team sure looks football-ish, but note the bats and gloves in the foreground. — PL]
• In 1923, the team name was on the placket. This isn’t the greatest picture, but it’s more notable for who’s included — in the back row, second from left, is King Gill, the original A&M “12th Man.” And in the middle of the back row, the tallest one, that’s Pat Olsen, a former major leaguer for whom the A&M baseball stadium is now named.
• The football team of the 1970s featured some interesting stripeage.
• These 1943-44 basketball uniforms, however, were much more unfortunate, at least in my view. [I beg to differ. — PL]
This is just a sampling. You can access the entire collection here.
The archive is a friggin’ gold mine, whether you’re into baseball (look here, here, here, and here), basketball (here, here [those sneakers!], here, here [love those matching striped kneepads], and here [is that the most amazing jersey design ever or what?]), or football (here, here [note the refs in jackets and bow ties], here, here [ref now in slacks and broadcloth shirt], here, here, here [rear pants striping!], here, here, and here).
Sorry, got a little carried away there, but that’s how good this material is. And there’s a lot more where that came from. Lots of little anomalies, too — two different members of the 1938 football team, for example, were photographed while wearing a No. 57 jersey, and both of them had mismatched numbers on their helmets.
Kudos to Texas A&M for documenting its own history, and thanks again to Dan for the tip.
Duck L’orange L’jaune: By now we’ve all seen the yellow Oregon helmet shown at right. But until yesterday, I hadn’t seen anyone actually wearing the damn thing. That changed last night, when Uni Watch Omaha bureau chief Bryan Redemske sent me a trio of pics that went out over the AP wire but somehow never circulated on the web. Take a look here, here, and here.
They look kinda like motorcycle helmets, no? Fortunately, I already have plans for Thursday night (gonna be attending the annual holiday fish fry at the completely wonderful Sunny’s Tavern, hosted by the even more wonderful Sunny Balzano), so I won’t have to watch the horrid spectacle of the Las Vegas Bowl.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Logo Creep Alert from Travis McGuire, who writes: “I found this photo on the Arena Football web site promoting their new video game. The funny thing is, the Russell Athletic logo on the sleeve is quite large, but it doesn’t appear on this version of the photo, which is on the Chicago Rush home page.” … “Anquan Boldin looks like he needs a belt,” observes Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek, who also sent along this circa-1950 photo of a primitive facemask being worn by Brown goalie (and future U.S. Olympian) Don Whiston. … Yesterday’s post about outdoor basketball prompted several readers to mention that basketball was played on a clay court at the 1936 Olympics (the first year it was a medal sport). Brian Jackson turned up this photo (which doesn’t really show the court, but at least you can tell it’s outside) and a booklet digitized in this PDF file, which includes a player’s recollections of the court (go to the 18th page of the document, which is page 14 of the booklet itself). … Amusing blog entry here about the Redskins’ cheerleaders. There’s also a mention of the now-defunct Steelerettes, who clearly had the best cheerleader unis of all time (further details on them here, but you might wanna hit your mute button first; tip courtesy of Neal Shaffer, who also sent along a page of great Iowa high school patches).
December Call-Up: Attentive readers (which means, y’know, all of you) have undoubtedly noticed my recent references to Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek, who scored the trivia quiz and has been helping me out lately with photo research. Tomorrow he joins the active roster, as I’m turning over the blog’s main entry to him for a day. Not gonna tell you what he’s writing about, but I’ll give you a hint: Vince lives just outside of Cleveland, and his debut entry definitely reflects his locale.
Finally, I’m not gonna be around for most of today (Uni Watch hedge fund analyst Jenny Strasburg and I are gonna go see this and this, and then check out what we’re gonna cook for dinner!). So talk amongst yourselves today, treat Vince right tomorrow, and I’ll be back on Friday.
December 20th, 2006
Two weeks ago, while writing about the amazing Vintage Card Traders site, I mentioned the old flocked helmets that the Pirates used to wear. That prompted a note from reader Josh Curran, who pointed me toward this photo of a flocked Reds helmet — the first one I’ve ever seen. In fact, the only other photos of flocked helmets that I have handy are these shots of Mickey Mantle and Manny Sanguillen (also note Duke Sims’s brimless catching helmet), although I know there were other fuzzy-helmeted players out there. This would be a good research project, so if anyone knows of other players who wore the flocked domes (preferably not from the Pirates), let me know.
That Reds photo, incidentally, comes from Dave Grob’s page on the Crosley Field site, both of which are friggin’ gold mines. Grob, a serious collector of game-used unis, has loads of great photos. Among the many highlights:
• Here’s one of Ted Kluszewski’s jerseys, with the sleeves tailored extra-extra short (not just torn off, as is often mistakenly reported).
• The Reds briefly experimented with putting player names below the uni number, instead of above. Here’s another shot.
• Lots of good sleeve patches on display here, including the WWII-era star-spangled shield and “Health” emblems, the National League’s 75th-anniversary patch (note the slight differences between that version and this one), and the baseball centennial patch.
• Lots of cool personalized tagging too, as seen here, here, and here.
• Most people don’t realize that the Giants’ colors were once red and blue.
• Check out this nifto uni-numbered jacket sleeve.
• Thing of beauty, no?
There’s more on Grob’s page — see for yourself. And the rest of the Crosley Field site has even more, including the evolution of Mr. Redlegs (1956, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1967), tons of old stadium photos (look here, here, here, and here), and this totally boss usher’s cap (dig the caned brow panel!), among other treats. Well worth exploring.
Quiz Results: I’ve put the results of the Distant Replays gift card raffle into a separate blog entry, which you can find by scrolling down to the post below this one.
But wait, before you do that…: We’ve got another giveaway. The good folks at Helmet Hut are donating a free helmet from their Gridiron Memories online store. The lucky winner will be able to choose from any non-autographed college helmet on the site. They have killer stuff, as you can see from the models shown here, here, and here (the full inventory is here), and I can personally vouch for the incredibly authentic workmanship on these reproductions, right down to the stitching patterns on the fabric used in the interior web suspensions.
No time-consuming quiz this time, either. Just send an e-mail to helmetraffle at earthlink dot net (please note that this is not the usual Uni Watch address) and that’s it, you’re entered. I’ll choose the winner at random from all the entries received by next Monday at 9pm eastern time. I probably won’t even open these e-mails, so don’t bother writing anything clever — just think of it as putting your name in a hat. There’s no downside to entering, so everyone should do it.
Only one entry per person, but I’m going to stack the deck ever so slightly, like so: Everyone who’s donated to the cause by ordering Uni Watch temporary tattoos over the past couple of weeks will automatically have their names put into the hat a second time — a small gesture of thanks for supporting the site. And I’ll extend that same benefit to anyone who donates between now and next Monday. Same terms as before: $1 apiece for the first five tats, 50 cents apiece after that, with a five-tat minimum. PayPal those retirement funds to paul_lukas at earthlink dot net.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Blues, desperate for offense, cloned Brett Hull last night. Okay, they actually just retired his number, which meant everyone had to endure that now-trite routine where all the players wore his jersey during pregame warm-ups. … Rob Bironas’s pants appear to be beltless (which is particularly odd considering the Titans have those little belt buckle sleeves). … Nice job by Bill Blewett, who writes: “Last night SDPBS had on a program about the history of South Dakota high school football, called 100 Years, 100 Yards, and I was able to snap some pics of some of the better get-ups. This one’s from 1908. I wasn’t able to catch a year on this one, but that’s some pretty nice striping. The next one is from the 1954 six-man Claremont Honkers — unfortunately, this was the best pic I could get. It really doesn’t do these vertical stripes justice. Next is some numbering I thought was cool from the 1954 Sioux Falls Washington High team. The last ones are a few basketball pics they had thrown in throughout the program — nice socks on the defender, and some cool belt and chest striping.” … Chad Klenk usually only writes in to talk about Ohio State, but today he’s got the 1984 Orange Bowl on his mind: “They recently showed the game as one of those ‘Classic Replays’ that ESPN does. They had Turner Gill and Bernie Kosar making comments throughout the game, and one of the topics they specifically talked about was that two Nebraska DBs actually switched jersey numbers before the game. They showed an old newspaper article covering the switcheroo, but I was unable to find it — although I think I found a link to where that article can be purchased for $2.95″ (and the link provides a good summary, too). … Marquette news, courtesy of Dan Kinderman, who quotes a local newspaper columnist thusly: “Coach Tom Crean has been affiliated with Nike since coming to MU in 1999. And since the Golden Eagles advanced to the Final Four in 2003, they’ve been designated as an Elite program by the shoe company, meaning they receive one of the best outfitting deals around. Their gear could have a new look next season, though, thanks in large part to former MU star and 2006 SI Sportsman of the Year Dwyane Wade. Crean has been in discussions with Converse — the company Wade has endorsed since entering the NBA in 2003, and has since been purchased by Nike — to switch over. Assuming the deal goes through, the Golden Eagles will become the lone team in college basketball to sport ‘Brand Wade’ uniforms and shoes.” … Speaking of Wade, how the hell did he end up wearing a Nike jersey on SI’s cover this week? The Adidas people can’t be happy about that. … I had some boxing on the tube as I was working on this blog entry. Wasn’t paying close attention to it, but at one point I looked up and was surprised to see that one of the fighters was wearing faux stirrup baseball socks. … Good breakdown of Cavs uni history here (with thanks to Justin Kadis). … Disturbing bit of logo creep unearthed by Jeremy Brahm: “I just saw an article apples in Japan with the Hanshin Tigers logo on them. Before the summer, the apples had tape placed on their skin, which turned the taped areas white as the apples grew.”
December 6th, 2006
Okay, so I didn’t expect the NHL to come up with an All-Star Game jersey design as cool as the one shown at right, which was used 1950 (here’s a closer look, plus the rear view). I didn’t even expect them to do something as tasteful as the design they used in 2004, which was unexpectedly simple and straightforward.
But I’d kinda hoped for something better than this and this, which began circulating yesterday — especially since this is also supposedly Reebok’s new jersey template that most (or maybe all) NHL teams will be using next season.
Quick initial reactions:
• Those side panels are a disaster, especially since you know there’ll be matching panels on the breezers.
• The horn-shaped stretch panels that taper up toward the collar mean it’s just a matter of time before something like this comes to the NHL.
• There’s plenty of fuel here for conspiracy theorists who are worried about the league switching to tucked-in jerseys: the lack of horizontal hemline striping; the NHL logo’s migration from the rear hemline to the front collar; the front tagging. By coincidence, however, I was interviewing a Reebok executive yesterday afternoon (for a business article about textiles — not uni-related), so I asked him about the new NHL jerseys, and he said he was “fairly certain” there were no plans for the league to move away from the untucked look.
Of course, All-Star Games are often painful to look at anyway (a gallery of past designs, many of them regrettable, is here). The real issue is what the new teamplate will mean if teams are forced to adopt it next season. Over on the Chris Creamer boards yesterday, aspiring designers were busily coming up with their concepts of what the league might look like next season — judge the results for yourself here, here, here, here, here, and — gasp — here.
Meanwhile: Notes from last night’s World Series game:
• Albert Pujols broke out the white cleats (which he had previously worn in the All-Star Game).
• Jim Edmonds began the game wearing Nike-pox undersleeves but then added a windbreaker, as he’d done in Game 2.
• Several players are clearly wearing special 5950 caps with black underbills (including Joel Zumaya, who’s got something written under there; after tweaking the brightness and contrast, it appears to be “BELIEVE”). Jim Leyland’s got one, too. This is apparently a precursor of the black-underbilled cap that will reportedly become the standard next season. But I want to stress that this is not the same black-underbilled cap that Kenny Rogers has been wearing — Rogers wears a BP cap, as you can clearly see from the thicker, puffier brim. He was wearing it again last night, in fact. In case you missed it, he was asked about this at a press conference on Monday and said the wool 5950s always shrink and give him a headache, so he prefers the polyester BP caps.
• Fans of Detroit’s mismatched “D” logos will enjoy the confusion on the MLB.TV post-game set: jersey D on the wall, cap D on the glass on the table.
Uni Watch News Ticker: For serious conspiracy theorists only: Brad Diesburg notes that Kenny Rogers had a smudge on his belt buckle during his ALCS start against Oakland. … There’s a new book devoted to UK soccer uniforms (with thanks to Perry Michael Simon for the tip). … In case you missed it in yesterday’s Comments section: Check out this hilarious photo (spotted by Jeff Hannaford). Notice any conflict between what the players are wearing and the sign on the wall? … Fun note from Brett Baker, who writes: “That article about the Vikes dropping (so to speak) their purple pants reminded me of a similar reaction from my beloved Cornhuskers. Back in 1986, Nebraska and Oklahoma were set to battle it out for the Big 8 title in Lincoln. The players were looking for a little extra motivation, so they elected to wear, for the first time in Husker history, an all-red uniform. The crowd went crazy and it worked for a time, as Nebraska jumped out to an early lead, but eventually Barry Switzer worked his Sooner magic and OU prevailed. The Huskers have not worn that combo since. I’m also including one of the greatest pictures in Husker history, from a game against K-State in 1998. Amazingly, a facemask penalty WAS NOT called.” … “This is wrong on so many levels,” opines Bryan Redemske. The team in question is the Waukegan (Illinois) Bulldogs. … It’s nice that Carlos Delgado won the Roberto Clemente Award yesterday; it’d be even nicer if he could learn something from the hosiery stylings of the trophy. … Japan Series notes from Jeremy Brahm: (1) Masaru Takeda appears to have made an in-game jersey change, because two photos of him from the same game show him with and without patches on his right sleeve, and (2) Michihiro Ogasawara tore an armpit seam. … Brahm also notes that at least two Italian women’s volleyball teams have exposed gaps in their rear jersey designs, and another team has vertical nameplates.
October 25th, 2006
Last year I wrote an ESPN column about an odd NFL trend that was unfolding in Philadelphia: the unbuckled belt. And now I’ve noticed that the Eagles are the prime exemplars of a new midsection-based phenomenon: the exposed shirttail tag.
The Iggles aren’t the only ones with exposed tags, but they’re definitely the ones who’ve raised it to an art form. Once you start looking, you’ll find that the exposed tag is more the rule than the exception in Philly. It appears to know no demographic boundaries, being featured by offensive players and defensive, speedsters and bruisers, black players and white, at home and on the road. (If that’s not enough, you can see additional examples here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.)
Now, every NFL jersey has an NFL Equipment tag down by the hemline. The thing about the Eagles’ jerseys is that the tag appears to have been moved upward, or maybe the jersey has been cropped to have a shorter hemline — compare this to this.
The Philly tag, as I think we should now start calling it, is related to another trend I’ve noticed this season: the exposed midriff. All over the league, players are showing an alarming amount of abdominal skin. This is apparently due to many jerseys being seriously cropped, sometimes with elasticized hemlines that tend to ride up. It’s all a far cry from the days when players kept their jerseys from coming untucked by wearing snap-on crotch extensions (a photo of which has proven to be surprisingly elusive — anyone..?).
One last note: Speaking of exposed tags, take a close look at this photo (which was provided by reader Rob Montoya). That’s a Reebok logo on the Wyoming player’s hemline tag. But Wyoming is a New Balance school this year, as you can see by the “NB” logo on the player’s chest. Looks like Wyoming had some old Reebok jerseys laying around and just slapped New Balance logos on them when they switched manufacturer affiliations. Bogus!
Uni Watch News Ticker: Last week I noted the logo similarities between the Atlanta Thrashers and USA Rugby. Now Steve Seitz points out a similar separated-at-birth connection between the Red Wings and USA Cycling. … Hilarious logo creep alert from Cort McMurray, who writes: “My brothers are traveling through Asia. They snapped this photo outside of an apartment complex in Ulan Bator, Mongolia.” … I had to attend this food-writer shindig in Manhattan last night, so thankfully I didn’t see the Broncos wearing their blue-on-blues (which were making only their third regular-season appearance).
October 10th, 2006
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