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Posts filed under 'Coaches/Managers'
My college football preview column will be up later today on ESPN. I’m gonna be traveling (more on that in a sec), so Vince will add the link when it goes live. Drum roll please… here it is.
The Canucks unveiled their new uniforms yesterday, and everything you need to know about them can be found in this photo.
Looks pretty good as a T-shirt, right? But when you add sleeve stripes, sleeve numbers, shoulder patches, and waist striping, the total effect is way too busy. Throw in a captain’s “C” and you’ve reached critical mass.
Personally, I have no problem with the city name on the front (at the very least, it’s certainly not part of any other template we’ve seen, right?), and I give them credit for rendering it in a simple typeface with no drop shadow, no outlining, no bells or whistles. But why pair it with the orca, which nobody ever liked to begin with? Feels like a shotgun wedding. And why make the orca so big? If you combine the logo and the wordmark, the combined acreage takes up much more of the jersey than a typical NHL crest — it’s too much.
Other notes:
• The rear typography is fine.
• As much as I love lower-jersey stripes, I’m starting to think they just don’t work with Reebok’s rounded hemline.
• Nice to see the stick/rink logo on the pants.
Personally, I’m still hoping they’ll eventually use this.
Membership News: As you can see at right, Scott really outdid himself with the Colorado Caribous treatment for Matt Thompson’s card. My original plan was to glue some real fringe to Matt’s laminated card, but I’ve tabled that idea, since it would obscure Scott’s excellent work.
Yesterday’s batch of new designs (which, like all the membership designs, are on display in the card gallery) had two other notable entries: First, there’s our first playing surface-based design. True, it’s not a uniform, but I’ve occasionally written about field design, and that Robert Indiana-designed court was definitely part of the Bucks’ graphic identity in the 1990s, so why not? Looks pretty swank when cloaked in the Uni Watch border, too.
And then there’s this, based on the WFL’s old Southern California Sun. Scott thinks this one’s gonna be controversial because you’re all gonna start screaming, “Hey, that’s purple, what gives?” I say you’re all smart enough to recognize the difference between purple and fuschia. And yeah, fuschia is arguably the more offensive of the two, but it almost never comes up in the uni world, so I can’t get too worked up about it. More of a kitschy indulgence than a loathsome plague.
Weekday Road Trip: Just in case the purple fuschia card design sparks an uprising, Scott and I are high-tailing it upstate today to catch a Binghamton Mets game. If any Bingotown-area readers want to join us for beer and spiedies, we’ll be at the always-wonderful Sharkey’s from about 5:00 to 6:15.
Sorry for the super-short notice. And if you can’t make it to Sharkey’s but want to join us at the game, e-mail your name and cell number to Vince. He’ll get the info to me later in the day, and then I’ll call you from the stadium to let you know where we’re sitting.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Here’s a doozy: MLB exec Bob Watson actually entered the Red Sox dugout during last night’s game to tell Bosox skipper Terry Francona to wear a jersey instead of his usual fleece pullover. Details here. … According to the last item on this page, the 49ers are thinking about wearing Montana-era throwbacks all season long, as a tribute to Bill Walsh (good find by Chris Rogers). … “I happened to stumble across a hurling match on one of the more obscure Dish channels,” writes Craig Ward. “I found it odd that the players wore all sorts of different colored helmets — there doesn’t appear to be any rhyme or reason to it, just personal preference.” Anyone know more about this? … Several readers noted that the MLB logo was missing from Robinson Cano’s jersey on Tuesday night. … “Tuesday night, Comcast ran a special piece about Ryne Sandberg and his life as the manager of the Peoria Chiefs, the Cubs’ single-A affiliate,” writes Pat Ratliff. “Ryne said that when some of his players saw old pictures of him rocking the high stirrups back in his playing days, they were blown away, as if they hadn’t seen stirrups in their lives. Ryne proceeded to order a supply of stirrups from the Cubs for his team to wear on the field. Looks like he needs to take his own advice and show some sock. Also looks like none of his players in the pic are actually wearing stirrups — just socks.” … A source in the Rangers’ clubhouse reports that skipper Ron Washington does not wear a cup. The source also offers this bit of news: “A promising development for next season — we’re most likely going to use the Cool Base material for our sleeveless jerseys, which would provide the benefits of the cooler material without the weird underarm gussets.” … Penn State is pulling a Wisconsin (with thanks to William F. Yurasko). … Vince will be minding the store today while I’m road-tripping. So if you have spam-filter problems or other site-related issues, contact him. Ticker tips can still come to me.
August 30th, 2007
Ten years ago, in the middle of a month-long cross-country road trip, I stopped in Shelby, Montana, where I checked out the Marias Museum — a tiny facility devoted to local history. Shelby had been the site of Jack Dempsey’s heavyweight title defense against Tommy Gibbons back in 1923 (it was supposed to put the town on the map but almost bankrupted it instead), and a good chunk of the museum was devoted to artifacts from the bout. It was a great little exhibit on a little-noted chapter in sports history.
Local history museums like the Marias are among my favorite travel attractions — the smaller, the better. Sometimes amateurish but always lovingly assembled, these informal little reliquaries are often filled with amazing photos and other artifacts you’d never find at “real” museums. Two readers have made this same discovery lately — both in Iowa, oddly. The first is Jesse Gavin, who recently sent the following communiqué:
I would probably have been the last one to imagine that there’d be any vintage uni finds in my hometown of Cascade, Iowa (pop. 2000). But when I was home over the weekend, I stopped by a new exhibit at the hometown Historical Museum. They just opened up a new exhibit on Urban “Red” Faber, a Cascade native who went on to play for the White Sox for 19 years and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1964. They had plenty of good stuff there, so here’s a bit of a recap.
First off, they had a pretty cool locker reproduction, including an authentic jersey, cap, pants, and socks. They also had an original seat from old Comiskey Park and a couple of other caps. I’m not sure which team the first of those caps was from, but I’m pretty sure the latter was from an off-season when Faber was loaned to the New York Giants for a world tour.
In addition to the Faber stuff, they also had a few old pictures and uniforms from Cascade-area town teams from back in the day. This Pleasant Grove jersey is from the late ’40s, as are this catcher’s mitt, chest protector, and shin guards.
About a week after I heard from Jesse, I got a note from Neil Berger, who had discovered two more Iowa treasure troves:
A recent family wedding took me to Iowa City, where I visited the University of Iowa Sports Hall of Fame, and Cedar Rapids, where we took in a Cedar Rapids Kernels game and checked out their Hall of Fame, which had uniform samples from the long history of Cedar Rapids baseball.
Neil didn’t fully describe all his photos, but there’s some killer stuff, ranging from the obvious (baseball, football, men’s and women’s hoops) to the not-so-obvious (marching band, letterman sweaters). Treat yourself to a slideshow of his photos here.
Membership News: Two dozen membership kits went out in yesterday’s mail, which means we’re finally caught up. With one exception (sorry, Bobby Hill, your card got botched during trimming and will have to be done over next week), every card that was ordered through last Sunday has now been printed, laminated, and shipped. If you’ve been holding off to give Scott and me a chance to catch up after the flood of orders from late July, now’s the time to sign up — we’re ready for you. And that goes double for the guy who inquired about having us do a Colorado Caribous design treatment.
Uni Watch News Ticker: DeAngelo Hall had a message for Chad Johnson on Monday night (thanks, Vince). … Map manufacturers sometimes put small, phony streets onto their maps, as a way to catch people who are stealing and republishing their maps. Stuart Greenlee reports a similar example from the logo world: “A student from Clemson University once told me that the Clemson ‘paw print’ logo had a notch cut into the bottom of the paw to prevent copyright. Ever since then, I have looked for the notch in other paw-print logos (believe me, there are a lot of them here in the South). Occasionally I’ll see some other school using the logo with the ‘Clemson Notch’ and I wonder if they have permission.” … The DE ROSA-vs.-DEROSA issue is addressed in the next-to-last entry on this Q&A page (with thanks to Jon Aubry). … Cathy Reeder caught an interesting exchange during a Cubs game the other day: “During a discussion of catcher’s gear, color guy Bob Brenly said, ‘Of course there is one piece of protection you ALWAYS wear. In fact, I even wore IT when I was a manager and a coach in the dugout too. I just always felt IT was part of the uniform.’ Now, I’m a girl and I’ve never played baseball, but isn’t it odd that a coach or manager would wear a protective cup? I mean, do you really need one to sit on the bench? Does anyone find this odd but me? Do any other MLB managers do this?” I know there are at least three people reading this who work in MLB clubhouses — what’s the word, people? Do coaches and managers wear the cup? … Entertaining story of possibly dubious veracity from David C. Murphy, who passed along this note that he received from a friend: “When I worked at Airborne Express (’90-’97), occasionally we would see packages go through from whoever made the MLB jerseys at that time. If someone got called up, traded, or needed a new jersey, there would be one shipped out. On more than one occasion, I would get the jersey out and try it on. I think I worked one whole shift wearing a Dwayne Henry Astros jersey. That falls under the ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time’ stories.” … The NFL season is time to start, which means it’s time to make fun of the Bengals’ nameplate/yoke/sleeve inconsistencies. Here’s how it’s supposed to look: Nameplate complete on the orange yoke, which curves down to meets the sleeve stripes. (Note that we matched this style when designing Uni Watch membership cards.) But some players don’t have curved yokes (here’s another example), and sometimes the nameplate extends down into the white area. Yo, where’s the quality control? (Thanks to David Sonny for those pics.) … Separated at birth: Wallace Spearmon and Jeff Weaver. … Here’s something you don’t see very often: a tilde over an A (good spot by Jeremy Brahm). … Follow-up to my recent report on NFL captains probably wearing a “C” designation this season: According to this article (forwarded by Steven Wyder), the Bengals’ captains “will wear the NFL’s new captains’ patch on their uniform jerseys.” Not sure if this patch is simply a C or something more involved, but I’ve got a call in to the NFL and hope to have an answer tomorrow. … These trademark-infringement cases are getting seriously out of hand (with thanks to Caleb Borchers). … Perfect marriage of product and marketing campaign, as Old Spice is now sponsoring Tony Stewart’s armpits (as reported by my new neighbor and longtime Uni Watch pal Doug Kalemba — welcome to Brooklyn, buddy).
August 29th, 2007
Look closely at the photo shown above and you’ll notice something odd: The player (who happens to be Titans linebacker Ryan Fowler) has cut holes in the tips of his shoes, and his sock-covered big toes are poking out.
Football players are known for modifying their equipment, but I’d never heard of this one before. And it turns out that it’s actually quite common, at least according to a faaaaaaascinating article that ran in yesterday’s Nashville Tennessean (helpfully brought to my attention by reader Wade Harder), which explains that many players cut holes in their cleats — sometimes for performance-related reasons, sometimes to avoid damaged toenails. Here are some of the choicer bits:
It’s an NFL equipment oddity and something most fans would never notice. But in a locker room where players pay attention to every last uniform detail, at least a dozen Titans lace their cleats and then cut slits or even gaping holes over the big toes.
Some players believe it might make them better because it helps them feel lighter, faster, able to change direction more quickly. If nothing else, they at least feel more comfortable.
“I like tight shoes, and it kind of makes you feel like you’re out there with no shoes on at all,'’ said cornerback Kelly Herndon, who cut slits that make an X at the tips of both his cleats. “You want something light, and as tight as possible so you can move around better. If that means cutting them to make them tighter, that’s what you do.'’
Linebacker Ryan Fowler has gone to the extreme. Both of his entire big toes hang out through man-made holes cut in his cleats.
Fowler said he’s not worried about someone stepping on his exposed toes. He’s more worried about moving around effectively. … “Also, a lot of times when you change directions and you stop, your toe hits the front of your shoe and toenails crack and you get an in-grown toenails. … It’s for comfort as well.'’
[…]
Cornerback Eric King said he feels a little faster with the tight shoe, so he doesn’t mind breaking out the scalpel.
Cornerback Michael Waddell started experimenting after seeing some of his teammates perform shoe surgery. After he puts on two pair of socks and has his ankles taped, sometimes a little relief at the front end is nice, he said.
This probably qualifies as the coolest, most Getting It™ article of the year so far, so let’s give credit to Tennessean reporter Jim Wyatt, who wrote it (and to his editor, for not saying, “What the hell is this? An article about shoe surgery? We’re not running that!”). You can read the full article here.
And the Titans aren’t the only ones with one little piggy sticking out of their shoes. When the Tennessean article was briefly discussed in yesterday’s comments section, Mike from Queens pointed to this short item about Jets safety Kerry Rhodes, and a few other readers offered enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that cleat-cutting is a fairly standard practice.
Who knew? Not me. Do Reebok, Nike, and all the other shoe companies realize that the players are cutting up their footwear? How long before these companies start manufacturing cleats with pre-cut toe holes?
And it’s a shame that the late artist Don Martin Don Martin didn’t live long enough to be aware of this phenomenon. The guy was obsessed with toes (like, really obsessed), whether barefoot or shoe-clad. He would’ve had a field day with this.
August Raffle Announcement: With college football just around the corner, our good friends at Helmet Hut and Gridiron Memories have generously volunteered to raffle off one of their NCAA helmets — a selection that includes over 500 designs — to a lucky Uni Watch reader.
To enter, send an e-mail to uniraffle at earthlink dot net (please note that this is not the usual Uni Watch e-mail address) by next Thursday, August 23rd, at 10 p.m. eastern. I won’t actually be reading these e-mails, so don’t bother including any messages or questions. One entry per person, but anyone enrolled in the Uni Watch Membership Program by the time of the drawing will automatically get three bonus entries (i.e., members will get their names put in the hat three times even if they don’t send an e-mail entry, or four times if they do).
I’ll announce the winner a week from today.
Speaking of the membership program, I believe we’re now completely caught up on card designs (including the one shown at right, which is based on Belmont Park jockeys’ silks). If you’ve signed up and don’t see your card in the design gallery, and/or if you don’t see your name listed on the active roster, please let me know.
For the roughly four dozen of you who haven’t yet received your membership kits, you’ll be happy to hear that I plan to get your cards printed today. Figure another week for trimming, laminating and envelope-stuffing. Thanks for your patience.
Uni Watch News Ticker: If you click here and scroll up to the 12-minute mark, you’ll find a not-too-bad interview I recently did with the MLB Video guys (with thanks to Todd Krevanchi for reminding me to post the link). … Spectacular work by Richard Craig, who checks in with the following report: “At the beginning of last night’s Braves/Giants game, Jeff Francoeur’s name was misspelled on his jersey. He must have been clued in and switched jerseys later on, because suddenly his name was correct again. I know his name is easily misspelled, but wouldn’t you think he’d notice while suiting up?” … Major NBA hairstyling story here (with thanks to Vince, who also notes that there’s been some hair-related rookie hazing at Patriots camp). … A year ago I did an entry about the Oldtime Baseball Game, an annual charity event in which the players wear flannel throwbacks. This year’s installment of the event just took place, and there’s a great photo gallery here. … More amateurs. … Todd Krevanchi notes that Shanna Zolman-Crossley was wearing a full-length Under Armour-ish undershirt the other day. … Matt Craig wonders why Darrell Royal had No. 20 on his jacket sleeve during the 1970 Cotton Bowl. Anyone..? … Decent breakdown of all the current and pending NHL uni changes here (with thanks to Kim Kolb). … Oliver Perez fell victim to the classic bubble gum prank last night (as captured by James Fleming). … Great contribution from Jared Wheeler, who writes: “The Houston Colt .45s had a minor league team named the .22s — check out the caps on John Hoffman and Dave Adlesh.”
August 17th, 2007
Now that the first slate of NFL preseason games has been played, a few new developments have come to light (aside from those green dots on QBs’ helmets, which we’ve already discussed at length). Let’s take a look:
• At first glance, it appears that the Chiefs are wearing an AFL logo patch. But upon closer inspection, it turns out that the patch includes little “LH” initials at the bottom, in memory of Lamar Hunt. Personally, I’ve always loved the AFL logo and am happy to see it in just about any context, and I realize Hunt was a prime mover behind the AFL’s inception, but this still seems like an odd memorial choice, especially since it’s so hard to see the “L.H.” initials. Maybe if all the original AFL teams were wearing the patch..? Visually pleasing conceptually puzzling.
• Great to see the Browns wearing their old striped socks again, instead of what they were wearing last season. Additional views here and here, just cuz it looks so damn good.
• Nice catch by Chad Wilcox, who notes that many of the Redskins with non-Riddell helmets are wearing the team’s stylized “R” secondary logo (the one usually seen on Joe Gibbs’s cap) on their nose bumpers Here’s another view. I like. Meanwhile, we’d all seen the team’s 75th-anniversary patch before, but it’s worth noting that it looks plenty sharp on the field.
• Speaking of anniversary patches, the one being worn by the Steelers doesn’t look as good. And although this is still appearing on the Bengals’ home page, it’s not on their jerseys, at least for now.
• There’s something weird about opening your season — even your exhibition season — in your alternate jersey.
• I wish the Chargers’ pants bolts had a few more jags in them. Otherwise, I think their new design looks sharp.
• Subtlest change of the year: Motorola has outfitted the coaches with new headsets this year. The microphone bar is much thicker and clunkier-looking than last season — apparently so the Motorola wordmark can be printed on it as much as possible. Just in case anyone’s missing the point, the wordmark is also now appearing on both sides of the upper strap. (Note, incidentally, that while Joe Gibbs wears earphones on both ears, most other coaches only have an earpiece on the mic side.
That’s enough for now. Look for further developments in the Ticker as more games are played (like tonight’s Eagles/Ravens and Niners/Broncos tilts).
Charge It: The story behind this commercial and its inconsistent lightning bolt designs (compare this view of LaDanian Tomlinson, in which the upper-front point of his shoulder bolt is pointing forward, to this one, in which it’s pointing backward) continues to evolve. Last week I posted a note from Steve Due of AIS Uniforms — the company that made the unis — which didn’t fully explain the inconsistencies. Now I’ve received a dispatch from Due’s AIS colleague Bob Halfacre (who, as elephant-memoried readers may recall, had some very strong opinions a while back on the subject of nameplate initials), which I think finally closes the book on this story:
We made the bulk of the uniforms in a week with no help with patterns from the NFL. All we had was a replica-style jersey from Reebok. So the jersey itself isn’t perfect. … When the commercial was filmed, the Chargers sent Antonio Gates, Philip Rivers, and LaDanian Tomlinson with their actual tailored game jerseys. The shots of those three players are a mix of footage of those players in their actual uniforms along with footage of actors in the jerseys made by AIS, edited into what looks like continuous football action. I noticed the problem when I saw the commercial the first time also.
This shot is actually LT in his real jersey. Now that I have studied it a little more, I can see the problem. We put the bolts on backwards. If you look, the actual pictures of Gates and Tomlinson have the bolt with the first jag inside low and outside high. The AIS jerseys have the bolts the other way.
This explanation matches up with yesterday’s Chargers/Seahawks preseason game, where all of the Chargers’ shoulder bolts had the upper-front point facing forward (additional views here, here, and here). So there you have it: an all-too-rare case of someone taking responsibility and admitting his mistake. Thanks, Bob.
Membership News: We’re almost caught up on membership designs. Lots of good new stuff in the design gallery, including, as you can see at right, our first Bad News Bears treatment. Also newly added: a San Diego Chicken design. (I confess that I had never noticed the Chicken’s jersey logo until member Michael Rawson asked for it on his card.)
The next batch of designs, which Scott should have ready in a day or two, includes a really brilliant request that’s gonna look sooooooo cool — stay tuned. Meanwhile, new members are still welcome, so keep those orders coming.
Uni Watch News Ticker: No photo yet, but David Conley reports that Tiger Woods’s baby girl, Sam, “was actually wearing a red jumper with a large Nike swoosh on it when they showed her on TV yesterday after Tiger won the PGA.” And if you’ll excuse me for a second, I need to go throw up. … Okay, I’m back: The Celtics have announced that Scot Pollard and Eddie House will be wearing Nos. 66 and 50, respectively. Why? According to Friday’s Boston Herald: “‘Because all the other (expletive) numbers were taken here,’ Pollard said, looking around a conference room that had the numbers of Bill Russell (6), Tom Heinsohn (15), John Havlicek (17), Robert Parish (00), Larry Bird (33) and Kevin McHale (32) hanging on the wall.” (With thanks to Matt Englander.) … If you’re into modifying the uniforms on your video games (as discussed in detail here), you’ll want to check out the customization videos on this page (with thanks to Trev Ulmer). … Shorpy continues to be a great source of old uni photos, including this shot, captioned as follows: “Opening Day at Hilltop Park, April 4, 1908. New York Highlanders and Philadelphia Athletics” (as forwarded by Bob Andrews). … Brilliant catch by Peter Fahey who notes that Red Sox uniforms often have an upside-down 8 (the bigger opening should be on the bottom). … Elena Elms reports that the Durham Bulls will be wearing Livestrong jerseys, to benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation, on August 19th. … While doing a bit of membership-related research, Scott Turner came across this photo, taken in 1984. “How come Dorsett’s got a big star on his chest?” he asks. Good question. Anyone..? … If you haven’t read Game of Shadows, some of its most damning evidence about Bonds concerns his uniform: “[Giants equipment mananager Mike] Murphy could document Bonds’s physical changes via the changes in his uniform size. Since joining the Giants, Bonds has gone from a size 42 to a size 52 jersey; from size 10 1/2 to size 13 cleats; and from a size 7 1/8 to size 7 1/4 cap, even though he had taken to shaving his head” (with thanks to Matt Schudel for forwarding that quote). … Bryan Redemske notes that Chris Duncan, like all the other Cardinals, wore red shoes on Friday but switched to black on Saturday. … Matt Algeo reports that the Russian national baseball team wore throwbacks the other day. “Who knew there was a Russian national baseball team, or that they were around long enough to wear throwbacks?” he writes. Details and additional pics here. … Not often that you see “Sr.” on a nameplate. The player in question is Nebraska wide receiver Chris Brooks, whose young son is Chris Brooks Jr. (nice find by Brian Hansen). … Small item about Rick Ankiel’s uni number history about halfway down this page (with thanks to Tom Chalifour). … Dave Gardner sent along a few hockey-related links I hadn’t seen before, including a discussion forum for vintage goalie masks and a gallery of Russian jerseys. … “Found a cool gallery of lacrosse photos from the Victoria Shamrocks of the Western Lacrosse Association, a semi-pro summer box lacrosse league in Canada,” writes Thomas Langan. “Looks like some of the jerseys get recycled, as evidenced by the tape over the name. Some nice retro-looking jerseys too.” … “This blog entry has two uni-related tidbits,” writes Kim Kolb. “One is about a United midfielder trading jerseys with Beckham, the other is about some guys trying to steal the Galaxy’s laundry, leading to a chase through the bowels of RFK Stadium.” … The Twins’ recent I-35W memorial decal provides a uni-related connection for this excellent story about how a new signage typeface is being used on American highways. … Soccer note from Jeremy Brahm, who reports that Montreal Impact goalie Matt Jordan was injured with a broken jaw a month ago but is now playing with a mask. … My worst nightmare recently came true down in Virginia, where the Richmond Braves had a purple jersey promotion (with “thanks” to David Rosenthal). … Latest MLB team to pull the totally bush move of wearing their BP jerseys for a regular-season game: the Mariners, who did it yesterday, apparently because it was so hot and muggy and they don’t have a Cool Base road jersey option. … Speaking of the M’s, many of them are wearing a custom-designed undershirt. Details here (with thanks to Jerry Gardner). … Amusing column here about the PGA’s no-shorts rule (good spot by Alan Kreit). … Eyebrow-raising note buried in Phil Mushnick’s Sunday New York Post column (as spotted by Seth Horowitz): “The University of Utah’s new basketball coach, Jim Boylen, could be the guy we’ve been looking for. At Boylen’s urging, black has been eliminated from the team’s uniforms. ‘Our [school] colors are red and white,’ he explained. ‘Black is not one of our colors.’” … The Texans are the latest team to publish their jersey schedule for the upcoming season (good find by Seth Harris). … No photo, but Morris Levin reports that Bruce Froemming is still wearing his All-Star Game cap. … “Adam Gaylord plays his college baseball at Stanford, but this summer he’s been playing for the Waterloo Bucks of the Northwoods League,” writes Matt Nelson. Sunday he sported these nice stirrups.”
August 13th, 2007
New ESPN column today — here’s the link. Plus I also have a review of last night’s No Mas event on today’s Page 2 index page.
Meanwhile: Great little uniform-related episode in the 4th inning of Tuesday night’s Cubs/Rockies game, when Chicago pitcher Ted Lilly was due to bat but was momentarily AWOL, leading to some good uni-centric chatter from Cubbies announcers Bob Brenly and Len Kasper:
Brenly: Because Felix Pie [the previous batter] swung at the first pitch, Ted Lilly’s not ready to take his at-bat right here. Takin’ care of some business up the tunnel there, in the Cubs’ clubhouse. [Lilly emerges from the dugout and hustles up to the plate.] Now he’s gonna sprint up there.
Kasper: Y’know, I wonder if he changed his jersey, which I know Carlos Zambrano does. [Lilly fidgets with his uniform as he steps into the batter’s box.] Kinda grabbin’ his top button there. We only know about Carlos because of the brawl against the Padres — he came out and didn’t have his belt buckled.
Brenly: We were probably fortunate the brawl didn’t happen, say, five minutes sooner. No telling what Carlos would’ve been wearing as he came out of the tunnel. Or not wearing. [Camera offers a close-up of Lilly’s midsection.]
Kasper [chuckling]: Belt buckle’s fine. Does Ted normally wear batting gloves? [Yes. — PL] For some reason he just looks different than I’m used to seeing him at the plate.
Brenly: I’m not so sure he has any undershirt on at this point. [Camera shows that Lilly, who’d been wearing a white undershirt in the top of the inning, now appears to be undershirt-free. He continues to fidget and fuss with his jersey.] Usually you can see the collar of the undershirt right there in the nape of the neck, but it doesn’t look like he has an undershirt on right now. May have been interrupted in mid-change. You know, it’s not unusual for starting pitcher, Len, to change undershirts three or four times in the course of a ballgame. You start to perspire out there on the mound, as hard as you’re working. The undershirt gets heavy and wet, restricts your movements a little bit. [Lilly grounds out and fidgets with his jersey one last time.]
Kasper: Well, Ted Lilly might go back and get dressed again.
This reminds me of Game 5 of the 1969 World Series, which featured a slight delay when Frank Robinson was due to bat (I’m fairly certain it was the 6th inning) but was nowhere to be found. He eventually popped out of the dugout while still tucking in his jersey, with his shirttail tag clearly visible. This game shows up on TV from time to time. Anyone got it on video?
(Special thanks to John Lanctot, who brought the Lilly sequence to my attention.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: The President isn’t the only one who gets free uni-related swag — Chief Justice John Roberts got an MSU hockey jersey during the team’s recent visit to DC, which I guess means he has to recuse himself from any college hockey-related cases that reach the Supreme Court (with thanks to Christopher Drouin). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Buddy Bell and the rest of the Royals coaching staff will wear No. 22 on Sunday, as a tribute to Negro Leagues stalwart Buck O’Neil. … Check out the gorgeous ribbed collar and cuffs in this shot of Ernie Banks. No wonder he wanted to play two! … I swear, is there something in the Shea Stadium water or what? From yesterday’s New York Times: “Several players wore orange T-shirts beneath their jerseys [Tuesday] night that featured a likeness of Bozo the Clown and the words, ‘Enough!’ on the front and ‘There ain’t a big top big enough for this circus’ on the back.” As I’ve said too many times before, why not just dress the team like clowns and get it over with already? … Brinke Guthrie notes that Roger Federer is wearing signature sneakers at Wimbledon. The four Swiss emblems represent Federer’s four staight Wimbledon titles. … I get my health insurance through these guys. As you can see, their web site is very plain-looking, as are all their mailings and other graphics. So I was surprised to see them running this ad on the subway yesterday. I mean, geez, does it remind you of anything? … Great article here about managers’ and coaches’ attire (with special get-well thanks to Tessa, who sent in this contribution from her hospital bed). … From yesterday’s comments: Bill Belichick appears to have initial-inscribed shorts. … Aqua Paradiso is an Italian mineral water with a winged-angel design motif. They also sponsor a volleyball team, whose players are forced to wear the wings in an unfortunate location (nice find by Jeremy Brahm). … Manny’s latest stunt (as reported by Jere): wristbands in honor of hs hairdresser (yes, the numbers don’t match, but the name does — maybe they couldn’t make a three-digit wristband). … Interesting, if somewhat outdated, find by Ethan Rowley: Some teams in the IWFL — that’s Independent Women’s Football League, dummy — have used old uniforms donated by NFL teams. And if you think NFL uniforms are too big to be worn by women, think again.
June 28th, 2007
New ESPN column today — here’s the link.
Meanwhile: In Monday’s Ticker I mentioned the Florida State League All-Star Game, where players wore generic all-star unis instead of their regular team designs. That led to a note from Doug TKTK, who informed me that the single-A Carolina and California Leagues have their respective all-stars play each other, with league uniforms. That discovery in turn led me to this page, which has a surprising amount of info about the past few years’ worth of minor league all-star games — and that’s where things got interesting.
For starters, I learned that although the Florida State League wore those awful East and West unis this year (there’s a full gallery here), the FSL stars wore their regular team unis last year and the year before that (which means some idiot had to go out of his way to create those East and West disasters they wore this time around).
That got me curious about some of the other low-level minor league all-star games, so I started combing through the archives. For the most part, the leagues have their players wear their regular team designs, but there were some exceptions and inconsistencies, as follows:
• NY-Penn League (short-season A): Standard team uniforms in 2005. Odd move last year, however, as players wore the jerseys of their parent clubs (this was actually discussed here on the blog at the time, but I’d forgotten about it). This year’s game isn’t until August, so we’ll have to wait and see how they handle it.
• California and Carolina Leagues (A): 2007: As noted above, these leagues had their players wear league-branded uniforms this year (check out the awesome star-patterned uni numbers on the California jerseys, shown at the top of this page and visible at full size in this gallery). It’s not clear what the players wore last year, but in 2005 they had regular team uniforms, so the league unis are apparently a fairly new thing.
It’s worth remembering, incidentally, that the “real” All-Star Game hasn’t always featured regular team uni designs. For the inaugural mid-season classic in 1933, the American League stars wore their regular uniforms, but the National Leaguers wore special all-star attire.
Incidentally, in the course of my research I discovered a historical all-star oddity that I’m currently trying to figure out. More details, I hope, tomorrow.
Raffle Reminder: The drawing for the free copy of the 2001 MLB Style Guide will take place tonight (after I get back from seeing this guy). Entries — one per person, please — can be e-mailed here and will be accepted until 10 pm eastern. I’ll announce the winner tomorrow. And remember, everyone who’s signed up for membership automatically gets three bonus entries.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Give ‘Em an Inch Dept.: First NFL coaches get the right to wear suits, and the next thing you know Rams coach Scott Linehan is walking around in a Russell polo shirt (nice catch by Mike Korczynski). … Haven’t oohed and ahhed about this guy in a while. … A little birdie tells me the 49ers will probably be switching to black shoes this season. … The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yanks will wear Pocono Raceway jerseys next month. … This smeared eye black thing — as shown in these pics of Alfredo Amezaga, both taken yesterday — is getting seriously out of hand (with thanks to Perry Gattegno). … Reprinted from last night’s comments: In response to yesterday’s Ticker item about Reggie Jackson wearing a Mariners uni for the AL team portrait prior to the 1979 All-Star Game, Steve J. Rogers came up with the portrait, and sure enough, there’s Reggie. … Greg Hanson and his buddies play a video game called Forza Motorsport, and some of them have created some pretty cool team-based car designs. As usual, I know zero about video games, but I like the designs, so I’ve put a bunch of them in this gallery. … Lucas Burdick provided these shots of Scott Eyre and Willie Eyre wearing odd Cubs/Rangers combo jerseys, apparently as part of an Illinois Sate Lottery commercial. No script, unfortunately — anyone know the supposedly storyline here? … Jeremy Brahm reports that Brazil’s teams will wear these uniforms in the Pan Am Games. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: The NHL has officially decided to stick with dark at home, white on the road (scroll down to the last graf of this page). … Kevin Gee says that when Reggie Willits came to bat left-handed in the bottom of the 7th in last night’s Angels/Astros game, he was initially wearing a right-handed batting helmet (he’d been hitting right-handed all game up to that point, but the ‘Stros had just brought in a righty pitcher). “Brad Ausmus [the Houston catcher] patted him on the head and reminded him he was wearing the wrong helmet, prompting him to go back to the dugout and get another one,” says Kevin. Unfortunately, the Anaheim broadcast, which is the only one I have access to, cut away to an aerial shot while this was happening. Did anyone in Houston happen to Tivo the game?
June 21st, 2007
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
I’ve developed a soft spot for the Royals and their fans in recent years. The team’s home whites and road grays are among the best in the game (especially now that they’ve ditched the black) — plus Mike Sweeney’s captain’s C is smaller and more tasteful than Jason Varitek’s — but they’ve been so bad for so long that it seems like nobody ever pays any attention to them. I get the feeling that a KC pitcher could toss a perfect game nobody would even notice.
So maybe it’s not surprising that I (and apparently everyone else) completely missed a bit of uni-related Royals news from last Sunday — until Erik Wilhelmi brought it to my attention yesterday, that is. To wit: The team wore thin, light blue ribbons on their wrists (additional views here, here, and here) in memory of Kelsey Smith, the local teen who’d recently been kidnapped and murdered. According to this blog entry, “The decision to wear the ribbons was made after Manager Buddy Bell met with Kelsey’s relatives Sunday morning.”
Coupla thoughts here: First, I love the simplicity and subtlety of this tribute. No logos or inscriptions on the cap, no sleeve patch, not even a black armband — just a small, tasteful gesture. I realize this is at least partially due to the fact that the whole thing was done on very short notice (and some might also view it as a reflection of the Royals’ low-budget approach to everything), but I think it’s gorgeously understated.
Secondly, in an era when ribbons have become all-purpose symbols of anything and everything — and are usually represented by embroidered “ribbons” (which aren’t actually ribbons) and magnetic “ribbons” (which aren’t actually ribbons) — it’s a pleasure to see someone using ribbons that are actual, bona fide ribbons.
Only question now is why the Royals had a spool of light-blue ribbon floating around their clubhouse to begin with. Was somebody wrapping a birthday present? Or did they have to send out one of the clubbies to K-Mart?
Research Project: I’m compiling a list of unusual minor league uniforms — the wackier, the better. If you’ve got links or photos, let’s have ‘em.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Hot off the presses: Reader J.J. Carton was at the UCF merch unveiling this morning and got these pics of the new helmets. … Just when Mike Nolan was about to tie his necktie into a noose, the clue train finally made a stop at the NFL’s offices yesterday, where it was announced that coaches will be allowed to wear suits for all home games. This landmark in sports decision making was achieved after several Reebok execs and NFL commish Roger Goodell locked themselves in a room with nothing but a case of Diet Coke and a 10-pack of Twinkies and vowed not to come out “until we’ve settled this, by god!” They were thisclose to hammering out language that would also have allowed coaches to wear suits during road games, but that part of the deal collapsed when they ran out of Twinkies.
June 14th, 2007
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