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Posts filed under 'Caps'
An interesting discussion broke out in Saturday’s comments section. First, a few people noticed a bunch of star-spangled caps being sold on MLB.com. They look like fashion caps, but, as several readers noted, they’re being sold in the “Men’s Authentic” category and the product pages all say, “Authentic cap worn on-field to show support for the Welcome Back Veterans Foundation.”
Welcome Back Veterans, it turns out, is an official MLB charity devoted to vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and reader Jonathon Binet quickly found this little item from Friday, which says “Welcome Back Veterans will be the focus at every Major League stadium during the July Fourth weekend and on September 11th.”
Does that mean MLB teams will be wearing the star-spangled caps on those dates? As it turns out, yes. That will be officially announced this afternoon at a press conference, which I’ll be attending, so I should have more info on this tomorrow.
For now, though, we can look at the caps themselves, most of which are pretty ridiculous. A few immediate observations and reactions:
• All of the caps are navy (additional examples here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), which will look okay for some teams but will clash really badly for others.
• Why navy, by the way? Isn’t the blue in the American flag more of a royal?
• The White Sox and Reds had already announced plans to wear camouflage jerseys during the Fourth of July weekend. So I guess now they’ll be adding these caps to the mix.
• What about the Blue Jays? They’ve been given a Canadian flag version of the cap, which is somewhat weird on a couple of fronts. First of all, they’re playing on the road on the Independence Day weekend and on September 11th (and also on July 1st, which is Canada Day), so they’ll be wearing a foreign flag while playing in America and marking an American holiday. Secondly, is Welcome Back Veterans intended to help Canadian vets along with American ones? (There’s nothing on the charity’s web site to indicate one way or the other.) How many Canadian troops are even fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan?
• Does the September 11th component of this promotion mean that the Mets will no longer be wearing first responder caps on that date, as they’ve done ever since the World Trade Center attacks?
The bigger issue, of course, is whether the American flag is an appropriate motif for an on-field uniform element. I want to make it clear that I love the American flag design — a lot — but I hate how it’s become an all-purpose signifier for anything even vaguely patriotic, and how it gets slapped onto, or morphed into, every worthy cause (along with plenty of unworthy ones). When I see this, I don’t see a merging of two great designs; I see two great designs being cheapened, watered down, and compromised. This isn’t just less than the sum of its parts — it’s less than either one of its parts.
I think it’s also worth considering that a hefty percentage of today’s ballplayers aren’t American. Yes, they’re playing here, making tons of money here, and should wear whatever uniform they’re given, but I still find this a bit unseemly. It’s one thing to say they should stand and face the flag when the national anthem is played — that’s part of a big group display that involves the many thousands of people in the crowd. I can also see the rationale for a flag patch (although I think those are overdone). But it’s something else to make hundreds of foreign players wear the American flag motif as a central component of their uniform while they play, especially at a time when American military and foreign policies aren’t exactly making us lots of friends around the world.
Seems to me there were smarter ways to have gone about this. Why not have players wear a ruptured duck patch, which would not only honor veterans but also provide a valuable history lesson about baseball and the military? Why not just have everyone wear a flag sleeve patch, instead of a cap that will clash with so many teams’ uniforms? Why not stop creating a new uniform-related cause or issues for every day of the week? (Fortunately, I already have other plans for the Fourth of July, so I won’t have to watch.)
I hope to get more info at today’s press conference — details to follow tomorrow.
Raffle Results: The winners of the tickets for the Don Larsen perfect game screening are A.J. Carr and Michael Gawley. Thanks to all who entered. More raffles coming soon.
Uni Watch Family Crisis: Intern Emeritus Vince Grzegorek was handed a raw deal last Friday. The weekly paper where he works is merging with another paper, and a bunch of people — Vince included — will be pink-slipped in three weeks. And I don’t need to tell you that this is a tough time to be cast adrift in the media job market.
Vince, who worked with me on a daily basis for about a year, is a talented and extremely hard-working guy who deserves better. If you need some writing done — straight journalism, catalog copy, short-term, long-term, whatever — please consider hiring him. You can contact him (and request writing samples, a résumé, etc.) here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Awesome video clip here of Pat Venditte, the switch-pitcher who’s currently in the Yankees’ minor league system. Further coverage here, and here’s a great close-up of his glove (courtesy of Paul Wiederecht and Stephen King, respectively). … Hmmm, does the University of Wisconsin know about this? … The Cardinals have a new bullpen cart, sort of (with thanks to Jon Huensch). … The Timberwolves apparently have a new alternate logo. … Dutch soccer mania has led to a change in Swiss railway uniforms (bizarre find by Brendan Tarpey). … Nice old baseball uniforms here and here. … 1930s pair of stirrups here. … Look at the colored gloves that Spalding was offering way back in 1974! That page is from this catalog. … Tris Wykes has discovered that Frank Sinatra was given a Tidewater Sharks jersey in 1976. The Sharks played in the Southern Hockey League at the time. … “This past weekend I attended the finals of the Churchill Cup (an international rugby tournament run by the USA, Canada, and England rugby unions) in Chicago,” writes Caleb Borchers. “One of the England players had some problems with his sleeves, so a trainer came over and promptly chopped one of them off. Meanwhile, the USA debuted their white kit made by Canterbury (the red version was on the ticker a week or so ago). The dot-matrix pattern Canterbury uses usually looks like dandruff, but the USA has used a blue dot set that actually looks OK. Those Canterbury jerseys apparently aren’t the toughest, though. Mike Petri’s lasted about five minutes. They managed to get him a new one during a time out later.” … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Juan Grande found some really interesting old Little League photos from Pasco County, Florida. Check them out here, here, here, and here. Never seen that type of stripe pattern or that half-length zipper used for baseball before. … If you see Tim Donaghy at the craps table saying, “C’mon, daddy needs a new pair of shoes!,” this is why. … Jeff Knepper notes that Todd Helton had some pant cuff inconsistencies during Friday’s Mets/Rockies game. … Jeremy Brahm reports that this is what the Japanese Olympians will wear during the opening ceremonies in Beijing (additional details here, here, and here). Plus they have a separate outfit just for traveling to the games — it’s the blue one here. … Also from Jeremy: Here are the uniforms for the Japanese women’s badminton team. And what’s the deal with Turkey’s women’s volleyball team, which has Adidas jerseys and shorts but Nike kneepads? … History mystery, courtesy of Peter Kotas: Tigers wore uni numbers on their right sleeve of their road uni in the late ’60s. But when they closed out the Cardinals to win the 1968 World Series, Bill Freehan’s number was on his left sleeve. Other shots of Freehan from that era show him with the proper right-sleeve number, so was this just a World Series glitch? … Jason Smith notes that Jack Wilson had a torn sleeve patch yesterday. An anonymous source with the Pirates reports that this is nothing new: “I’ve attached a shot of Jack from a photo shoot we did with him during Spring Training this year. While we supplied the vest for the shoot, I believe this was the shirt that he came in wearing. As you can see, the logo is torn here too. I wasn’t present for this shoot, so no one noticed the tear at the time. I had the Photoshop the entire thing out when I used the photo. … Roger Federer will be wearing this design at Wimbledon (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … Chris Flinn got a photo of the Cardinals’ new BP pitcher, Dennis Schutzenhofer, and his lengthy NOB. … My ESPN.com colleague Rob Neyer, who I’d never met in person before, came through NYC over the weekend and convened a get-together in Manhattan. Also on hand was Josh Prager, who wrote that amazing article a few years back about how the 1951 Giants were stealing signs (full text available here — highly recommended). Great guys. … Negro Leagues throwback yesterday in Kansas City (additional pics here and here, plus it looks like Ray Durham suffered a torn stirrup). … Good article here about the Seahawks’ laundry crew.
June 23rd, 2008
The Nats wore green caps (but their regular batting helmets and do-rags) last night against the Giants. The caps, which even had green underbrims, were part of a promotion to mark the launch of a new Discovery Networks cable channel called Planet Green.
Green has been my favorite color since I was about three years old, and I wish more teams would wear it. I have a green car, a green sofa, green sheets on my bed, green towels in my bathroom, and, lest we forget, a green-themed web site. I’m also supportive of the environmentalist movement and applaud teams that are taking eco-friendly steps.
That said, changing your uniform to support a commercial enterprise like a cable TV channel is way out of bounds for a big league team. More to the point, I think wearing green uni elements (additional pics here, here, and here) as a means of promoting the environmental agenda is total bullshit. Yeah, it’s a good cause, anything that raises awareness is a positive thing, blah-blah-blah, but I don’t like uniforms being used for specific issue-oriented purposes. I can kinda deal with the Earth Day patch that the Red Sox wore earlier this year, but a green cap is just too much. Much like all the pink uniforms for breast cancer research, this strikes me as a well-intentioned idea that simply doesn’t belong on the field of play. And every time another one of these issues becomes associated with a particular color, it opens the door for yet another issue to come along in the months and years ahead.
And besides, green caps are such a lip service-y way for something as wasteful as a sports franchise to approach environmental awareness. You really want to help the planet? How about scheduling more day games, so we don’t waste all that electricity running a gazillion stadium lights at night. Or organizing more mass transit options to the stadium (or installing bike lanes, or tripling your parking prices, or anything to discourage people from driving their cars to the game). Or scheduling an entire road trip by train instead of by chartered jet. Or not releasing a couple of thousand balloons into the sky on Opening Day.
But hey, if teams really want to make a uniform-based environmental gesture, here’s something I bet they haven’t thought of: Polyester is a petroleum product. What if, just for one day, all MLB teams ditched the polyester uniforms and wore cotton, a renewable natural fiber? Once the George Costanza jokes died down, you’d actually have a simple, elegant statement of eco-friendliness. And the teams would look way better besides.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Wanna see something great? Like, really great? Behold! Morris Levin picked it up from a street vendor in Philly and presented it to me in Camden last week. … Were old-time jerseys really that much heavier than today’s? Interesting analysis of that question here. … Got a nice note from Mike Bonasia, marketing director of the Greenville Drive (the Red Sox’s single-A affiliate): “One June 21st we’ll be celebrating Mill League baseball, which was a big part of the history of the textiles here in South Carolina and a precursor to the minor league system of today (our ballpark, Fluor Field, includes bricks from former textile mills in its design). We’ll be wearing 1950s-style uniforms — not as exact I would like to be (no stirrups, for one thing), but a very strong rendition when a budget is involved. Each player will have a different mill name on front of there jersey, with 30 different mills represented.” … Good article here about the Yankees’ visiting clubbies (with thanks to Bruce Soltys). … Jared Wheeler sent along the uni-description page from the 1969 American League Red Book. Coupla interesting observations: Jerseys are routinely referred to as “blouses,” and the Pilots’ cap was already being described as having “scrambled eggs” on the the brim right from the start. I thought that term had developed sort of organically, as part of the team’s in-season vernacular — didn’t realize it was part of their official specs! … And here’s the 1979 National League Green Book listing for the Pirates. Note that the pillbox cap is described as “‘Cap’ Anson style.” … Better photos of the St. Paul Saints’ purple/Prince game here and here. “We also had a purple bases with Prince’s logo on them,” says the team’s ticket sales manager, Mike Nachreiner. … Yesterday I linked to this photo, which appeared to show mismatched colors in the Lakers’ uni set. That prompted Brett Baker to send along several similar examples, as seen here, here, and here. “This was actually one of my first uni-watching moments as a young uni freak back in the ’80s,” he writes. “Over time I came to the conclusion that they were ordered from different lots or suppliers and mixed together.” … According to a quip buried in the middle of this story, Nick Swisher credits some of his recent success to the fact that he’s been wearing Toby Hall’s pants (good catch by Greg Sharp). … Cool contribution from Hank Siarczynski, who writes: “Every year the Reading, Pennsylvania, municipal airport has a WW2 weekend with the usual re-enactors, vintage war planes and the like. While touring the uniform exhibit in the main hangar this past Saturday, I came across this baseball uni top worn by the USMC, circa 1944-45.” Hank didn’t notice (or at least he didn’t mention) the most interesting detail: Check out how the second button is colored to match the lettering, so as not to stand out so much. Never seen that before! … According to this story, Jerry Rice offered to let Isaac Bruce wear No. 80 now that he’s with the 49ers, but Bruce declined and will instead wear 88. … Former Mississippi State baseball coach Ron Polk wants his name removed from the school’s stadium (with thanks to Minna H.). … The USA and Argentina played a soccer match at Giants Stadium last night. “Because it was a home game for us at Giants Stadium, we got to wear our home whites,” says Harvey Lee. “Because we were playing fabled Argentina, they got to wear their home sky blue/white kit, so both teams had white jerseys. Because it was an international friendly, concessions were probably made. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to watch the game on TV. At least they made them wear different colored shorts and socks [full photo gallery here]. In the 1986 World Cup Final, they made Germany, who also wears a home white jersey, wear their road greens for the big game; in the 1990 World Cup Final rematch, Germany got to wear the home whites and Argentina wore their away blues.” … Reprinted from last night’s comment: If you skip ahead to the 2:08 mark of this video clip, you’ll see Marcus McCauley of the Vikings explaining why he’s changed numbers from 31 to 21 (somewhat incredibly, it has nothing to do with Sean Taylor).
June 10th, 2008
Sometimes fate lobs you a softball. I was wondering what I’d write for today, especially since my brain’s still kinda in vacation mode, and then there it was: yesterday’s A’s/Rangers throwback game (with the teams dressed as the 1968 A’s and the 1968 Senators, respectively). And this wasn’t just any throwback game — mere hours after Bryan had griped about teams not going the extra mile to wear throwback helmets, the A’s and Rangers went that extra mile. If you look at that last photo, you’ll see that Oakland catcher Kurt Suzuki even had a throwback catcher’s helmet — a nice touch. (And speaking of helmets, Jack Cust’s lid still had a sticker on the underbill.)
Other notes from the game:
• Naturally, I loved the hot stirrup action, complete with yellow sanitaries for the A’s. While I don’t approve of the low-cut variety, it’s hard to argue with those stripes.
• Just once, I’d like to see throwback vests with old-school tailoring. Back in the day, vests were tailored narrow across the shoulders, almost like basketball tank tops; nowadays (and in yesterday’s throwback game), they’re just sleeveless jerseys, with too much shoulder coverage.
• I guess asking the Rangers to wear black cleats, instead of their usual blue, would’ve been too much. Still, the footwear is definitely the fly in this otherwise pleasing ointment.
• Speaking of footwear, this design really doesn’t belong in a throwback game.
• Too bad about the Majestic shoulder logo and rear-collar MLB logo, both of which should have taken a holiday.
• Also too bad about the modern dugout jackets, although it’s nice to see that the A’s coaching staff wore white caps — with white underbills! And the Oakland players had green underbills. The Rangers, however, had black underbills, which brings me to the most interesting element of the game…
• That is not a throwback cap — it’s just a current Nationals cap. But isn’t the Nats’ “W” subtly different from the one the Sens used to wear? That’s what I thought, and the Nats’ own web site seems to confirm this: They sell this as the team’s current cap and this a 1968-71 Sens throwback — note the blunt end on the right tip of the W. Then there’s this, which is also supposedly a Sens throwack cap — the W isn’t blunt-tipped, but it’s more flat-sitting, less italic-ish than the Nats version. But then I did a little photo research and turned up this, this, this, and this. And frankly, those all look more like the Nats’ cap than they do like either of those Sens throwback caps. Todd Radom, if you’re reading this, could you fill me in on the distinctions between the old Sens W and the newer Nats version you rendered? (And if Todd isn’t reading this, I’ll check in with him myself and report back in a day or two.).
OK, that’s enough for the first day back. Mega-thanks to Bryan and Vince for minding the store in my absence — you guys rock. Speaking of Vince, he’ll be in NYC this Wednesday, which means we’ll finally get to meet in person, a mere year and a half after he started working for me. Looking forward to it, bud — travel safe.
Incidentally, I’m well aware that the site has been behaving sluggishly in recent days. We’re working on it. Should be fixed soon. Yes, I know that’s what we always say. We’ll say it next time, too. Patience, please.
Research Request: I’ve always wanted to do an ESPN column about horse racing jockey silks, but it’s a subject I don’t know a whole lot about. If anyone out there could give me a crash course on this topic’s history and current state, please get in touch.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Good times last week in New Orleans, what with all the crawfish, beignets, cool neon signage, evocative graffiti, and awesome music. There was also a great Uni Watch moment on Wednesday afternoon, as I was having drinks on the porch of the Columns Hotel and found myself sharing a table with Cindy Hart, who happens to be Director of Suite Sales for the Saints. If you look closely at that pendant on her necklace, you’ll see that it’s the Saints’ original cartoon logo character. “His official name is Sir Saint,” Cindy explained. “We’re bringing him back into circulation.” Indeed, I saw the Leno-chinned character on a few window decals around town. I always loved Sir Saint (even if I didn’t know his name until now), and it’s great to see him back on active duty. … Also want to thank reader Chris Falvey and his wife Sue for sharing New Orleans drinks and advice. Much obliged. … Someone has put together a site devoted to the Diamondbacks’ uniforms. Among the interesting photos: a prototype sleeve patch (never actually worn on the field) and a great action shot of the 1999 futuristic design. … Robert Steinau notes that Jim Edmonds was up to his old windbreaker tricks in at least two games early last month. Longtime readers will recall that he also did this during the 2006 World Series. … According to this article, Georgia Tech will wear white jerseys at home this fall (with thanks to Jeff Parker). … Shorpy scores again. … This vintage jersey doesn’t look like much — until you take a closer look at the shoulder embroidery. … Expect to see this logo on lots of Wake Forest corporate merch this summer, although it won’t replace the school’s athletic logos (as reported by Dennis Reid). … Looks like we may soon be seeing more MLB mustaches (with thanks to Fred Worth). … Mustaches have also hit the volleyball scene. Photos here (thanks, Bryan). … “As you may have known, the Rockies brass were in a frantic rush after their World Series run to trademark the term ‘Rocktober,’ ” writes Reid Tynan. “Based upon their performance so far this year I’d say this shirt I designed features a much more fitting slogan.” … According to this article, Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne “was offended when [a] Nike official told him, ‘You’re not as good as [Texas] and you’re probably never going to be.’ That blunt assessment, Byrne said, made his move [from Nike] to Adidas easier. The Adidas deal also provides more money for A&M than their Nike offer, Byrne said” (with thanks to Glenn Stern). … Anyone know why the Red Sox have a jolly roger flag hanging in their bullpen? (As spotted by Randy Williams.) … New uni number, of sorts, for John Smoltz. … Ryan Clark wanted to switch uni numbers to honor Sean Taylor, but his request has been disallowed. So he’ll switch numbers for practices, but not for games. Details about halfway down this page (with thanks to Daniel Weimann). … Matt Cain went low-cuffed on Saturday night. “Not sure, but I believe this was the first time a Giants starter didn’t wear stirrups since the staff decided they would do so in spring training.” Might this be related to Barry Zito’s demotion to the bullpen? … Scott Springer notes that Erik Ainge is still wearing his Tennessee Adidas cleats. … Dig this 1962 Wilson uni catalog I won on eBay the other day. … Ryan Howard scored the winning run for the Phillies yesterday. How’d he do it? According to a quote in this story, “I got a good jump, and I think that was because of the shoes. I wore lighter-colored shoes today, and that might have made me look faster” (as reported by Bernie Langer). … Memo to the Yankees: Instead of bringing up Darrell Rasner or Kai Igawa, please promote Chase Wright instead, for obvious reasons (big thanks to Eddie Brewer). … here. … “If you look closely at this photo, you’ll notice a half-inch of dark stitching just outside Anthony Kim’s shoulder blade, in the shadowed area,” writes Fred Haumesser. “It was very noticable on TV that he had pleats stitched into the back of his shirt to help keep it from tugging on his shoulders. Tiger used to have a habit of pulling his shoulders up on each side prior to a shot but doesn’t do it anymore. Must be able to afford a better tailor these days.”
May 5th, 2008
MLB’s continuing drive to mark every single game with some sort of uniform tribute ventured into new territory last night, as a few teams trotted out the first-ever Earth Day treatments. The Red Sox wore a patch with the logo shown at right (unfortunately, this is the best photo I’ve been able to find), plus I hear they renamed their left-field wall “the Green Monster” for a night. Over in Houston, the ’Stros wore green caps (additional views here and here). The message on the side is “Play Green.”
I’d heard that the Phillies were going to wear green BP jerseys during pregame warm-ups, but I haven’t seen any photos — does anyone know if they actually did this? If so, it’s by far the most appropriate Earth Day gesture, since the green BP tops were no doubt the same ones they wore back on St. Paddy’s Day, which is a much more recycling-related move than manufacturing a bunch of new patches or caps. (Update: I’ve now gotten word that the Phils didn’t wear green BP jerseys last night after all.)
Speaking of recycling, you know that familiar tri-arrowed logo that’s the basis for the Red Sox patch? It’s arguably one of the most successful and recognizable logos of the past 40 years, but it has no legal meaning, no legal owner, is not trademarked, and can be used by anyone — for some background, check out this page and this page, both taken from the book Recycled Papers: The Essential Guide by Claudia Thompson.
Perhaps most interesting of all, the symbol’s designer — a 23-year-old USC student named Gary Anderson, who submitted the design as part of a contest held in conjunction with the original Earth Day back in 1970 — was completely off the grid for years. In that last page I linked to, Claudia Thompson writes, “I have tried to locate Mr. Anderson in the hope of recognizing and reproducing his original pen-and-ink drawing, but unfortunately without success.” That was in 1992; five years later, I wrote an article about recycling imagery (for Spin magazine, of all places) and made my own attempt to track down Anderson, but I came up empty.
Ah, but nobody stays hidden in the broadband era. Two excellent articles about Anderson and his symbol (both downloadable as PDFs) are available here and here. When he came up with the Möbius Strip-based symbol back in 1970, I’m fairly certain he had no idea his creation would end up on Dustin Pedroia’s left sleeve (especially since Pedroia hadn’t yet been born), but that’s recycling for ya.
Betcha Thought I’d Put a Photo of a Can of Spam Here: OK, here’s the deal: Our old spam filter — the one that was generally fine until last Friday night — is still going through this bizarre phase in which it insists on treating every single post as spam. That’s obviously unacceptable. We don’t know why it’s behaving this way (it worked fine for so long). Last night we tried re-installing it, using a newer version of it, using an OLDER version of it — no dice.
The filter we used on Monday and Tuesday is better, but not good enough. As many of you discovered, it treats lots of legitimate posts as spam. What’s worse, it doesn’t allow me (or John, or Bryan) to go into the filter and rescue lost/eaten posts.
So for now we’ve gone back to a security system that requires you to enter a computer-generated code word. I know, I know — it’s a major pain. But this system is better than the similar system we used a while back. For example, if you enter the code incorrectly (or click “Say It!” without remembering to enter the code at all), your post won’t simply be rejected and disappear — instead, your comment will be preserved and you’ll be taken to a “try again” page.
We hope this will be just a temporary fix. Our goal is to get our original spam filter working again. Please bear with us while we try to make that happen.
And just to underscore how necessary it is to have some kind of filter: It took John about 30 seconds last night to disable the old filter and install the new security system. In those 30 seconds, two porno spams were posted on the site. It’s like The Matrix — the machines are fucking relentless, man, and they’re coming after us.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Really interesting piece here about some of the Rockets players wearing Chinese-made sneakers (with thanks to Brett Crane). … My thanks to everyone who explained that the bracelet on David Ortiz’s left forearm is a saints bracelet. … Yesterday’s note about the Apollo 11 astronauts have to-do lists sewn into their gloves prompted this from Kevin Friede: “Today’s discussion reminded me of a prank played on the Apollo 12 astronauts. In addition to the quarterback-style wrist checklists, each astronaut had a fairly thick mission checklist booklet, and some NASA people managed to sneak some Playboy centerfolds into the middle of the checklists.” … Here’s a truly amazing conribution from Jared Wheeler: “Ray Dumont was the founder of the National Baseball Congress, which is an organization of semi-pro leagues throughout the U.S. and Canada. It has been up and running since 1935. In 1951 Dumont attached a walkie-talkie device on the umpire, so the fans could hear the conversations between the umpire and the batter.” … Who needs Joba in the rotation? Just put Brian Urlacher in there (with thanks to Brian Russ). … So get this: The Patriots are still trying to trademark the term “19-0.” … While looking for something else, I found this really awesome Cubs training video — don’t miss. … The David Ortiz jersey that was buried in the Yankee Stadium concrete will be on display at the New England Sports Museum. … Another reader has commissioned Rob Ullman to create a jersey-clad pin-up illo. This time it’s Michael DeAloia, who had Rob depict his girlfriend, Rachel, “in the best college jersey of all-time — the Notre Dame green and gold.” Michael reports that Rachel “digs” the results. … Cricket report from Jordan Owen, who writes: “After last year’s success with their pink breast cancer awareness unis, Middlesex County cricket debuted their new One Day unis — spectacular navy and pink quarters — this past Sunday in a victory over trans-Thames rival Surrey.” … Tons of amazing Tiger Stadium photos here (with thanks to Paul Wiederecht). … The new Minnesota football uniforms will be unveiled at 1pm today. … Jeff Barak has found a bunch of really beautiful posters showing the progression of baseball stadiums in various cities, including New York (click on each individual ballpark for a larger image), Boston (ditto), Cleveland (for this one and all the ones that follow, you can see more detail by using the links below the poster), Cincinnati, Detroit, Philly, and St. Louis. The guy behind all this, an Ohio illustrator named Jeff Suntala, has a blog called Historic Ballparks, and has also put the stadium illustrations on a series of T-shirts, coffee mugs, and so on. His illos are gorgeous, and edumacational to boot. Check the full lineup here.
April 23rd, 2008
When you think of Sparky Anderson, you probably picture him being dressed one of two ways: as a Red or a Tiger. But Sparky wore lots of other uniforms prior to assuming the managerial chair. His one season as a big league infielder was spent with the Phillies, he played for lots of minor league teams (including the gorgeously attired Toronto Maple Leafs), and let’s not forget this uniform.
But if you grew up watching Sparky skipper the Reds, as I did, there’s one uniform — that of a certain division rival — that it’s simply impossible to picture him wearing. Or at least that’s what I thought until reader Richard Craig got in touch with me the other day. He attended the recent Dodgers/Bosox exhibition game at the L.A. Coliseum, where he picked up a scorecard that included this photo of the 1958 Dodgers (the franchise’s first squad in L.A. — 50th anniversary and all). I’ll let Richard pick up the story from there:
I didn’t look closely at this team photo until last night, and I noticed some very strange things about it. First, it wasn’t the team photo I’d seen before. … Furthermore, the uniforms seem to have no numbers on the front, unlike those in the [other] team photo or the previous one taken in Brooklyn.
I concluded this must have been some sort of spring training picture where they rounded up everyone they could find and posed them around a “Los Angeles” flag to make a point about the team’s move west.
That’s really interesting to me, though, is something I’d never seen before — what appears to be an image of Sparky Anderson in an L.A. Dodgers cap. He’s on the far right in the third row from the top. Here’s a close-up.
I knew Sparky had been a Brooklyn farmhand, but I also know that he never played for the Dodgers in the big leagues, and I’ve definitely never seen an image of him in an L.A. uniform. For those of us who grew up in the ’70s with the N.L. West being a battleground between the Dodgers and Sparky’s Cincinnati Reds, the sight of him in an L.A. hat is truly bizarre.
Indeed it is. But it turns out that Anderson had already worn an L.A. cap — although not an L.A. Dodgers cap — by the time that 1958 photo was taken. That’s because he had been a member of the minor league Los Angeles Angels. I’m not sure of the date of that photo, but note that the jersey features shoulder gussets, a style that the Angels wore in 1956 and ’57, so that narrows it down.
If you look again at the photo of Sparky as an Angel, you can sort of see in that the Angels’ “LA” cap lettering was white and red, not just white (plus there’s an extra serif at the top of the “A”). But in the ’58 spring training photo, Sparky does indeed appear to be wearing a white-lettered Dodgers cap — a stunner.
Two final thoughts: First, I found one other shot of Sparky as a Toronto Maple Leaf — with eyeglasses! And second, you can hear Sparky’s finest recorded moment (definitely NSFW) here.
Philly Reminder: Uni Watch party tomorrow at Bob & Barbara’s Lounge, Philadelphia, 4:30pm. See you there.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Check out Mickey Mantle’s cuffed sleeve cuff. … Tytus Abrahmason notes that Vlad Guerrero was wearing his usual tar-gunked helmet in the 1st inning of Wednesday night’s Angels/Royals game but wore a clean, shiny helmet for the rest of the game. Vlad hit into a disputed double play in that 1st inning plate appearance and was pretty upset afterward, leading to Tytus to wonder, “Could it be that he bashed his helmet to pieces during a 1st inning tantrum in the dugout?” … Ohio State football note from Matthew Hager: “I was at the Buckeyes’ spring draft Wednesday afternoon and they mentioned they will be wearing a special helmet decal on Saturday. It will be the initals D.S., in honor of elementary school crossing guard Dianna Sharp, who was killed a week ago when she attempted to push an eight-year-old out of the road before a dump truck hit them both. The kid survived, she didn’t.” … Fascinating note from Jeffrey Soderberg, who writes: “On Wednesday night, when Melky Cabrera ended the 7th inning by being thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double, the 2nd base umpire pulled out a stopwatch — I guess to time the TV break — but I had never seen it before and I wasn’t aware that they carried them.” Anyone know more about this? … Logos in public space have officially gotten Orwellian (disturbing find by Mike Cusack). … Here’s a slightly clearer view of those Yankees capes from Opening Day, 1933 (big thanks to Eric Hoey). … Great video clip here about a little kid who’s basically a minature version of Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff (with thanks to Mike McAllister). … Lots of Papal uni-watching currently floating around out there — looks here and here … Hmmm, Black Sox? … The latest installment of “Equipped with Joe Skiba,” featuring newly signed backup QB David Carr, is up on Giants.com, and it’s a doozy, with discussion of Carr’s facemask, sleeves, socks, and, of course, gloves. Recommended viewing. … Check out this amazing Sabres patch that Zac Neubauer found. … Remember the question of whether a pitcher who enters the game as a pinch-hitter would be allowed to wear a jacket on the bases? A source who prefers to remain nameless was so intrigued by that question that he posed it to someone in the MLB office, who responded thusly: “I believe that the pitcher would be permitted to wear a jacket on the bases regardless if he was actively pitching in the game at that point. The Major League Baseball Umpires Manual section 2.15 covers Jackets by stating that, ‘A pitcher may wear a jacket while a baserunner. A pitcher may not wear a jacket while batting. No other player is permitted to wear a jacket while a baserunner, a batter, a defensive player, or a coach on the baselines. If worn (by a pitcher on the bases), the jacket [shall] be buttoned.” … Check out Larry Doby in the striped cap — when did the Tribe wear that? … Chris Mycoskie reports that Louisiana-Lafayette wore 1930s throwbacks on Wednesday night (lots of additional pics here) The “S” dates back to the days when the school was called Southwestern Louisiana Institute, but Chris says the “Ragin Cajuns” lettering on the placket is inaccurate, since the school’s teams were called the Bulldogs until the 1960s. … Kenny Chesney threw out the first pitch in Baltimore last night, and wore a bottom-hemmed Cool Base jersey for the occasion (thanks, Bryan). … “A few weekends ago we went to a park here in Greensboro, North Carolina, where they were staging a reenactment from a Revolutionary War,” writes Jake Keys. “I thought you might enjoy this picture. The kid has style.” … Big surprise.
April 18th, 2008
It’s pretty simple, or at least it should be: You don’t wear an alternate uniform for the first game of the season. And that goes double when you’re playing the very first game at a brand-new ballpark.
But the Braves were more interested in selling a few shirts and caps than in having any respect for the game or for their hosts, so they chose Opening Night to unveil their new blue alternate road jerseys and solid blue caps. Nice going, John Schuerholz. Maybe at your home opener you can announce that you’ve sold the stadium’s naming rights to Coca-Cola.
Such unseemly breaches of protocol notwithstanding, how did the new togs look? Well, they’re waaaaay better than the red alt jersey (which, sadly, will still be worn for Sunday home games). The big problem is that the blue script and, especially, the blue uni numbers look sooooo Little League, like they didn’t have enough $$$ to shell out for an additional color or something. I never thought I’d ever be using a BP jersey to make a favorable comparison, but compare the BP shirt’s red lettering and numbering to the new gamers and it’s no contest. As someone on Chris Creamer’s site pointed out, the blue-on-blue uni numbers are very reminiscent of this and this, neither of which is the kind of thing you’d wanna be associated with. The jersey needs some red.
As for the navy-brimmed cap, I don’t mind that so much, esp. since it harkens back to an earlier era. But a spot of red would’ve been nice, even if only on the top cap button. And hey, how come they didn’t have solid navy batting helmets?
Other notes from the game:
• That little left-sleeve patch says, “Beach,” a memorial tribute to coach Jim Beauchamp.
• I didn’t realize that the Nats’ stadium sleeve patch was gonna be reprised as a cap patch. Let’s hope this is just just for the first game or first series of the season.1
• Odalis Perez had major undershirt-tag problems early in the game.
• Fans of double-flap helmets will be happy to hear that Willie Harris is still wearing one, just as he’s done earlier in his career. In addition, Brayan Pena wore one, something he has not previously done.
• I understand that stuff like this is unavoidable these days. But seriously, I am so sick of these mound logos. The mound is a place for serious work, not a billboard for you to tell people something they already know anyway.
• Speaking of Ws on the mound, we’ll never have to see this again, and that’s more than dandy with me. Go back to sleep, George.
Simple Rule: If someone posts a photo of an attractive female athlete — or just an attractive female, period — and if you respond by posting a dick-for-brains comment like, “Uniform? I don’t see any uniform!” or something of a similar ilk, my new policy as of right now is that you will be blocked from making any further comments on the site. This is not because such comments are offensive, but because they’re so totally lazy, stupid, and depressingly predictable. If you need to convince everyone that you’re heterosexual, at least come up with a more creative way of doing it, like by running for governor of New York or something. Thanks.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I hadn’t spent any time poking around Steve Dewing’s completely addictive photo site for a while, so I checked in the other day and, as usual, got completely sucked into the gorgeous imagery. Among the new finds: Keith Hernandez in white shoes (clearly from the 1987 All-Star Game) and this shot, which appears to show a Dodgers catcher wearing either a front-facing helmet or a brimless helmet. The thing is, this photo is almost certainly from 1969 (as evidenced by the MLB 100th-anniversary patch on Tony Perez’s sleeve), and I wasn’t aware of catchers going front-brimmed or brimless that early. … Chris Burris notes that Orlando Mendez-Valdez has been wearing the Western Kentucky logo on his socks. … Nice historical rundown of Coastal Carolina logos here (with thanks to Greg Sharp). … While looking for something else, I came across this 1988 photo. Check out that amazing American League umpire’s cap! … The Brooklyn Cyclones are planning to wear Hebrew uniforms for Jewish Heritage Night in a few months. Details here (with thanks to Mike Stutzman). … Good Converse article here. … David Stern floated a trial balloon the other day about possible uniform advertising for NBA preseason games overseas (a particularly disappointing prospect when you consider how interesting some of the country-based preseason designs have been over the past two years). If you’d like to help shoot that balloon down, you can contact the NBA here. … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Outstanding article about Rawlings gloves — highly recommended. … Remember Rob Ullman and his uni-themed cheesecake illustrations? Kent Foster certainly does: “Took your advice and had Rob create a hockey pin-up girl for me,” he writes. “The team is the University of Richmond Spiders and the girl is my wife, Monica. I actually got it for her for her birthday, although it was probably more of a present for me.” … “I think this is my favorite picture so far from the SI vault,” writes Jesse Spector. “I think you’ll really enjoy it too, for the little details like the red shoes, the sock stripes, and the Baltimore Clippers championship banner.” Indeed. … Padres news from Brian Hilemon, who writes: “CEO Sandy Alderson stated during his weekly radio chat that next season the Pads will have uniform designs to honor not only the Marines but other branches of the military as well.” Jesus Christ, why don’t they just put mosquito netting over the stadium, make fans salute when they go through the turnstiles, and install David Petraeus in the manager’s office already. … Headband or wannabe-monk? (As forwarded by Greg Riffenburgh.) … “I went to the games in Tokyo last week and got some cool shots of the unis in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and at the game,” writes Mark Bittick. “The Hall is mostly about uniforms (there’s something um, unsettling about the Hiroshima Carp’s sleeve patch), and the beer girls at the stadium are straight out of anime. They even wear stirrups!” … Good close-ups here of David Beckham’s 100th-match golden cleats, jersey, and cap (big thanks to Dana Prey). … Cool video segment about our friends at Distant Replays here. … Thoughts on the Civil Rights Game: Overall, the uniforms were really lame (duh), but the orange trim on the Mets’ attire looked really good (although it would’ve looked a lot better if they’d worn blue sleeves and caps, to match the chest insignia, instead of going with black). Interesting that the Mets had special pants made for the occasion, while the Sox just wore their regular road pants. Also interesting that both teams wore their regular caps (well, except for that little “Civil Rights Game” embroidery on the side), while the Cards and Indians wore specially designed caps (and helmets!) last year. … Strange boxing phenomenon the other night: Arthur Abraham was wearing Adidas gloves, or so it appeared during his bout with Elvin Ayala (in fact, Ayala had Adidas gloves too). But when the tape came off the gloves after the fight, it turned out Abraham’s gloves were also Everlast-branded — what gives? I have a friend at Everlast and hope to have an answer soon (big thanks to Richard Giron for spotting this one). … According to the little “Did You Know?” squib in the right-hand column of this page, the Sean Taylor memorial movement is alive and well (good catch by Daniel Weimann). … Really nice old baseball uniform available here. I’d bid on this one myself, but the seller says the jersey is 22 inches from pit to pit (i.e., a size 44), which means it’s too big for me. Dang. … Really, really good article here about rugby sponsorships, logo creep, and related issues (with thanks to Caleb Borchers). … Great article and audio slide show about some interesting behind-the-scenes details at Yankee Stadium. … Good catch by Brian Russ, who writes: “When CBS showed the brackets after the Memphis/Texas game, they misspelled Xavier on the screen.” … Jeremy Brahm notes that the Romanian women’s handball team has off-center uni numbers. … Jon Chin reports that New Era is now selling fitted MLB caps for women. The sales copy says they’re “fit for a woman!” (not sure if this refers to the cap’s tailoring or if they mean it in the “fit for a king” sense) and adds that the caps have a “re-designed fit with a re-sculpted crown and trimmed visor.” Not sure how this makes them more “woman”-ly. Anyone..? … At first I got all excited when Scott Marcusky sent me these awesome photos of a Pirates farmhand from Saturday’s Bucs/Twins spring training game. “Ah,” I thought, “Nyjer Mogan’s hosiery influence is spreading!” But then I checked the Pittsburgh roster and found that No. 79 is Luis Munoz, who (a) is a pitcher, (b) isn’t listed in Saturday’s box score, and (c) looks like this (tough to say for sure, but that doesn’t look like this fella). Now I’m inclined to think that the player in question might actually be Morgan himself wearing someone else’s jersey, as occasionally happens in spring training. If anyone can help confirm or refute my theory, I’m all ears. … As many readers have noted, the new NFL logo is now being featured on NFL.com. … Contrary to what I wrote a few days ago, the Dodgers never intended to wear throwback flannels for Saturday’s game at the L.A. Colisseum. Instead, a bunch of 1958 old-timers will wear the flannels during today’s Opening Day ceremonies at Dodger Stadium. Sorry to have gotten the two events mixed up. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Vince Young has a nameplate tattoo. … The Hershey Bears wore 1938-39 throwbacks on Saturday night. Additional pics here (courtesy of Mark Coale). … Check this out: baseball stadiums made out of Lego, plus an interview with the guy who designs them.
March 31st, 2008
The Yankees played an exhibition game up at Virginia Tech yesterday, and there were lots of uni-related oddities. Dig:
• Both teams wore their home pinstripes. This reminds me of when the Yankees and Devil Rays opened the 2004 season in Japan and the Yanks wore their home uni for both games even though Tampa was technically the home team, as if the foreign fans somehow “deserved” to see the famous pinstripes. Fuck that — if you’re the road team, even against a college team, show some respect and wear your road uni.
• The Yankees wore “VT”-emblazoned caps, similar to the ones they wore for one game last year after the shootings on the Tech campus.
• In a rather confusing development, Tech returned the favor by wearing “NY” caps rendered in Hokies colors (the Yankees themselves wore them in a pregame press conference; here’s a closer view). Am I the only one who finds this a bit odd? I mean, the home team wearing the opponent’s logo front and center, with their own logo bumped to the side? That’s nuts. It’s so nuts, in fact, that I started wondering if the Hokies normally wear pinstripes, or if that was just another way of honoring the Yankees. And after a quick check, sure enough, it appears that Tech’s normal home uni looks like this, although I suppose it’s possible that they might also have a pinstriped alternate. Anyone know if the pinstripes are one of their regular wardrobe options, or just a one-time thing? (Bizarre aside: While most of the Yankees were in Virginia, Mike Mussina was pitching a minor league game back in Tampa, and his kid — who really needs to ditch the mandals — was carrying one of the Hokie “NY” caps afterward.)
• Was Bobby Abreu was wearing Mariano Rivera’s cleats, or did his cleats just happen to be “42″-imprinted? As Matt Powers noted in last night’s comments, Abreu was wearing a different pair the day before.
• The batboys had special uniforms for the occasion.
And now a word from Intern Emeritus Vince Grzegorek: It’s time for the 2nd Annual Uni Watch March Madness Pool. It’s time for the 2nd Annual Uni Watch March Madness Pool. The pool will work the same way it did last year: Pick any six of the 64 teams in the NCAA tournament. You will receive points correlating to each team’s seed for each game that team wins. For example, a Number 1 seed will receive 1 point for each game it wins, a Number 5 seed will receive 5 points for each game it wins, a Number 12 seed will receive 12 points for each game it wins, and so on. Highest score wins. Please include a total score for the final game as a tiebreaker.
Paul says he’s got a backlog of stuff to give away [I’ll announce what the stuff is tomorrow — need to photograph some of it first. — PL], so we’ll have five winners. First place will get first choice of the prizes, second place will get to choose from the four remaining prizes, and so on.
To enter, e-mail your six teams and your name here (NOT to the usual Uni Watch address) by noon eastern time on Thursday. Only one entry per person, and don’t bother trying to cheat because you know we’ll figure it out. Also, note that this is a contest of skill, not a raffle, so no extra entries for membership program enrollees.
Good luck to all, and to all a happy sick day tomorrow. Here’s Paul again with today’s Ticker.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Classic NOB typo last night in Detroit — check it out. He switched to a proper jersey midway through the first quarter. … This is about the funniest thing I’ve ever seen on eBay. I bid on it but didn’t win — dang (great find by Thomas Langan). … An eBay counterfeiter is amusingly brought to task via some ace typeface detective work here (with thanks to Bill Walsh). … “The Fukuoka Softbank Hawks will be wearing two throwback uniforms this year,” reports Jeremy Brahm. “This one is from the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 2003 season (even though the uniform was used from 1993-2004), when the Hawks won the Japanese title, and this one is from 1964, when the Nankai Hawks were based in Osaka before moving to Fukuoka in 1988.” … Last week I ran some pics of soccer players with unusual tape jobs. As many of you informed me, this is kinesio taping, and now Frank Mercogliano has found an excellent article about the technique. … Gorgeous number typography here. The team is the Staten Island Stapletons, a pro team from the late 1920s and early ’30s (nice find by Marc Rabinowitz). … Remember our recent discussion of hearing-impaired athletes? Good article here on the NBA’s first deaf player, Lance Allred (thanks, Vince). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: One other team wore green jerseys on Monday — the Cardinals. … Ronnie Poore has a friend who was an extra in the upcoming Leatherheads flick and sent along two awesome pics — check ’em out here and here. … Awesome old girls baseball uni here — who knew uni numbers were appearing on pant legs way back when? … About two years ago, my pal Rob Walker wrote this column about a guy who’d created a Nike tribute brand, called Mike — read that column. And then read this follow-up from Rob’s blog. Todd Krevanchi, the follow-up item mentions your web site — care to weigh in on this? … Not uni-related, but there’s a great video clip here showing my Page 2 colleague Jim Caple discussing knuckleballs with Mariners pitcher R.A. Dickey. … Cool old Notre Dame patch here (with thanks to Michael Kimmins). … Good story here about Canadiens goalie Carey Price’s pads. Additional photos here, and there’s a great gallery of Habs netminders through the decades here (courtesy of Casey Barcomb). … Chris Mycoskie reports that LSU will wear these throwback uniforms for today’s game against Tulane. Video clip available here. … Ryan Raburn on Monday; Jacque Jones yesterday. I’d pay money to see Dontrelle Willis do it next. … I didn’t know this, but according to this page, last year the Devil Rays “made professional sports history, becoming the first team to wear less green on St. Patrick’s Day” (note the white cap). Now that’s a great factoid! … The Bucks retired Brian Winters’s number way back in 1983. But for reasons that only the team’s marketing department knows, they “rededicated” his number last night, whatever that means, complete with the whole framed jersey routine. “Problem is, that’s the current jersey and this guy never wore it,” notes Nicole Haase, who attended the game and took that photo. … Love the striped socks (and the height disparity), but c’mon, wear shorts that are at least slightly short (with thanks to Bryan Grupp).
March 18th, 2008
By Vince Grzegorek
About a week ago, I wrote a blog for my humble little alternative weekly in Cleveland about why no reasonable fan should care that LeBron’s new Nike kicks are inspired by the Bronx Bombers. Even after the flak Bron Bron caught for wearing a Yankees cap at Jacobs Progressive Field during the Indians’ divisional series against the Yankees, I didn’t think the new shoes, replete with pinstripes, would be such a big deal. At least, I didn’t think they should be.
Of course, as the days went by and news from the blogs reached those who write for our daily newspapers, and those who produce our local daily news shows, James’s new shoes became quite the story yesterday. Locally, the Plain Dealer dedicated almost a full page of the sports section to comments received about the footwear (check out the full list of the “eloquent” comments here). Nationally, the story got play on SportsCenter, and the boys at PTI debated whether LeBron has taken his love of all things pinstriped too far, ultimately declaring that the King should have reigned in that love a little bit. [Sounds like a slow news day to me. — PL]
My take: Ideally, we’d all like our hometown athletes to be beacons of our city in all regards. So it would be great if LeBron was a rep for the Indians, Browns, Lake Erie Monsters, and even the new Cleveland Gladiators. Hell, he should be out pimping the Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Museum of Art too! Instead, LeBron parties with Jay-Z in Vegas, Tom Brady wears a Yankees hat, and Paul Pierce shows his support for the New York Giants.
Still, I think LeBron’s new shoe is nothing to get upset about. In fact, LeBron and Nike have made many shoes together. There’s an entire site dedicated to his shoes. And that’s where I found that Nike and LeBron have also made an OSU style shoe. As you can read here, that doesn’t mean James is heading off to OSU after this year to play for Thad Matta. It doesn’t mean he’s slighting his hometown Akron Zips in any way. In fact, Nike and LeBron made another shoe that has a map of Akron on the sole!
LeBron is at the point of his career where his role as a Nike-sponsored businessman is fast approaching or surpassing his role as basketball player. He’s made no secret of his desire to be a billionaire, and if he’s going to get there, Nike will play a big role in that, which means this is hardly the last set of sneakers they’ll collaborate on. Would I prefer that LeBron didn’t love the Yankees and instead made a shoe based on the Tribe? Sure. But the sad truth is that our athletes owe us nothing outside of the sports they play. I’m in no mood to watch the Cavs cross their fingers over some ping pong balls in the lottery, so I want LeBron here, no matter whose baseball cap or shoes he’s wearing.
Research Request: Paul here. Many, many people over the years have told me about the time the Patriots held a logo “election” during halftime of a game back around the late ’80s, when Pat Patriot was still the man. They supposedly had one guy dressed up as Pat, someone else dressed up as a proposed newfangled spokescharacter (not Flying Elvis), paraded them both around the field, and had the fans vote by applauding. Or maybe they had giant cardboard cutouts of the two logos, instead of live actors (I’ve heard the story told both ways). Either way, the new logo was booed off the field.
I’ve heard this story enough times to believe that it’s true. Only problem is that nobody has ever provided a photo of the losing logo. If anyone can provide any visuals on this, please get in touch. Thanks.
While we’re at it: Another prototype that I’ve often heard about but never seen is the new Chiefs helmet that a play-by-play man supposedly held up in front the camera during a game about 20 years ago. If you’ve got it, let’s see it!
Uni Watch News Ticker: Good article here about how the Chargers’ equipment manager tried to prepare for the cold weather in Foxboro (with thanks to Eric Stangel). … The Sean Taylor mourn-athon continues. … Check out the third “news” item at Thebrushback.com (good find by Mike Nachreiner). … A set of 1936 White Sox pants — plus the accompanying belt! — were just up for sale on eBay (with thanks to Jason Libes). … Check out the collar on the guy on the right in this shot. “Looks like Count Chocula,” opines Greg Riffenburgh. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The Dallas Stars are wearing an “MM” decal on their helmets and backplates in memory of front office employee Matt McKee, who died of cancer last week. … Marc Rabinowitz was watching a replay of the 1996 NHL All-Star Game and noticed that John Vanbiesbrouck’s mask-mounted camera was actually painted to match his mask. … As many of you are already aware, the NBA All-Star Game uniforms will look like this and this. Definitely looks like one of those designs that can’t be properly assessed via an illustration — I’ll reserve judgment until I see some photographs Ah, screw it, let’s just beat the rush and start hating them now. … Meanwhile, the Chinese Basketball Association recently had its own all-star game (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … This just in: All players in the Pro Bowl will wear Sean Taylor’s No. 21, plus the competition committee will consider a proposal to have the entire league wear No. 21 next season, and the American flag will be redesigned to have 21 stars and 21 stripes. … Speaking of memorial gestures, I know everyone’s upset about Heath Ledger, but these brokeback moments are getting out of hand. … Awesome audio slideshow here about a 1952 game in which the Harlem Globetrotters suffered a rare loss — at the hands of a sleeve-clad Seattle Chieftains team (spectacular find by Sam Wasson). … Speaking of the Chieftains, we’ve all seen football jerseys with crotch extensions, but I’d never seen one on a basketball jersey until Warren Humphrey showed me this page — scroll down to the bottom for the horrible truth, then check out the rest of the pics for lots of sleeve-o-rama action. … Really interesting high schhool football helmet discovered by Jimmy Neilly. “The team is the Mount Diablo Red Devils,” he writes. “Two of the three prongs of a pitchfork are wrapped around the sides of the helmet, and then the middle prong is used as their helmet stripe.”
January 24th, 2008
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