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Posts filed under 'Coaches/Managers'
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
I know some of you are sick of all Mets chatter on this site, but there are reasons why they keep coming up for discussion. Among them: No other team wears its designated road cap at home; no other team hardly ever wears its designated home uniform; no other team lets the color of their dugout jacket affect which cap they’ll wear at home; no other team has three different undershirt colors (the orange ones appeared to have been banished, but David Wright has recently revived them); and so on.
One of the more annoying aspects of this is that the team’s two black caps — one has a blue brim, the other is solid black — don’t even have matching “NY” logos. The logo on the blue-brimmed “road” cap (which is also worn for most home games, but whatever) is blue outlined in orange, while the one on the black alternate cap is blue outlined in white with an orange drop shadow. (And that’s not counting yet another version that appears on their color-gradated batting helmets, where the logo is black outlined in white with an orange drop shadow.)
All of which brings us to last night’s Giants/Mets game at Shea. The Mets were wearing the blue-brimmed “road” caps, so their cap logos were blue outlined in orange — except for rookie outfielder Carlos Gomez. He had a blue-brimmed cap, but it featured the white-outlined logo.
What this means, of course, is that New Era attached the wrong brim to the wrong crown. But really, who can blame them? I prefer to blame the team that was stupid enough to come up with two different but very similar logos for its two black-crowned caps. Remember, you can’t have quality control unless there’s actually some quality to be controlled. And in the case of the Mets’ headwear program, the quality has been sorely lacking for some time now.
(Special thanks to and Brian Erni and Neil Bisman, who were the first ones to spot Gomez’s cap snafu.)
Research Project: Speaking of caps, I’m trying to document as many instances as possible of MLB players wearing last year’s caps (easily identifiable by the gray underbrim) and/or not wearing the new BP caps (the Mets, for example, appear to have abandoned the new BP cap design altogether). Some of you have been pointing out examples of this for weeks, and at first I didn’t pay much attention, but now it strikes me that these two trends — not wearing the new 5950s and not wearing the new BP caps — may represent the largest rejection of a new uni element we’ve ever witnessed.
So if you spot good examples of players eschewing this year’s headwear, please let me know.
Membership Update: Several of you have asked why the Uni Watch membership program, which I announced nearly two weeks ago, still isn’t up and running. I was originally going to say, “I’m superstitious — as long as the Yankees keep losing, I don’t want to do anything to upset the cosmic order,” but the fact of the matter is that it’s taking a bit longer than I’d expected to get everything set up (who knew there were so many different sizes of laminating sleeves to choose from?), and I don’t want to take anyone’s money until everything is ready to go. But hang in there — Uni Watch design director Scott M.X. Turner and I are diligently working away (which basically means he’s working his ass off while I keep asking him to make little changes to this or that), and we should be good to go in a few more days. Thanks for your patience.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Stop whatever you’re doing and check out what Frank Mercogliano just found: a mid-1980s video that features umpire Eric Gregg wearing a Cubs windbreaker and struggling to put on some makeshift gear (the umpiring crew’s gear had been lost) and the Expos’ powder blue road uniforms. Plus a double-flap batting helmet, the Cubbies’ old sleeve patch, and strained commentary from Bill Murray. Essential. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: We’ve talked before about the cross pin on Billy Martin’s cap. But I didn’t realize that the pin was also depicted on Martin’s plaque in Monument Park. … Also from yesterday: Great shot I hadn’t seen before of the Sox in shorts. … Josh Fisher notes that the Utah Utes were wearing some totally boss striped hosiery in the recent MWC Baseball Tourney. … Alabama has unveiled a set of coaches’ shirts, rendered in gray, red, and white. “Note the football laces at the base of the placket,” says Doug Simpson, who brought the shirts to my attention. … Uni Watch design director Scott M.X. Turner somehow found time in between membership-related projects (see update above) to note the following: “It’s not just U.S. sports teams that get throwback tributes wrong. How come Celtic couldn’t get this right? They’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Celtic club that won the European Cup in 1967. The striping doesn’t match, they didn’t copy the numbers on the shorts, and the goalies back then wore yellow tops, not the black shirts today’s goalies are sporting. And if they REALLY wanted to pay tribute, they’d eschew the Carling corporate tag on the current shirts, as well as the Celtic chest shield and Nike logo creep.” … Jeremy Brahm sent along some pics from the FIVB World League (that’s volleyball, people). Interesting to see the Argentinean team using a center color gradation, and the Egyptians wearing, as Jeremy put it, “castoffs from the Adidas soccer teams.”
May 30th, 2007
You probably know that the Devil Rays played a few “home” games in Orlando last week at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex, which, despite having only 9000 seats, was no doubt an upgrade over Tropicana Field (and where, as you can see at right, Richard Petty threw out the first ball for one of the games). Reader Andrew Ranck attended one of the games and documented some interesting factoids regarding the 246th stadium to host an MLB game:
The field in front of the dugouts had logos commemorating the 10th anniversary of the complex (who knew). The on deck circles had MLB logos on them, and they seemed pretty worn. I’m guessing they may have been spring training holdovers, but they didn’t seem to get much use anyway.
Left field had a collection of pennants representing some of the Rays’ regular sponsors. Also the area beyond the left field fence was grassy, with families spread out on blankets and kids running around.
Center field was pretty bare, and the scoreboard gave little batter information. Besides the line score and the current count, we only saw the batter’s uniform number and batting average. Right field had a temporary Jumbotron, which only displayed the basic graphics from the player intros and whatnot. In the foreground of that last photo, you can see the soft drink race, which took place after the 4th inning.
The only beers for sale that I could find were 24-ounce cans (for $8.50!). The Anheiser-Busch products had Rays logos on them. This surprised me, because Disney is known for not selling that much in the way of A-B products, because Busch Gardens and Sea World are main competitors.
Thanks to Andrew for the first-hand report. Meanwhile, if anyone wants to give a similar account of the proceedings at the Trop, that might be amusing.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Big kudos and thanks to Trevor Williams of the Brainerd Dispatch, who attended the Uni Watch party in Minneapolis two Saturdays ago and then wrote this very nice article about it. … Lotsa stuff you might have missed over the weekend, beginning with Boise State’s new football jerseys, which were unveiled late on Friday. They’ll look like this, this, this, and this. Further details here. … Also from Friday: Roger Clemens warmed up for his minor league season debut wearing high cuffs and white-striped Adidas cleats but later switched shoes and pant styles. … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Friday’s blog entry about Chris Sampson being told to remove his hospital bracelet (in case you missed it, look here) should have included a reference to Rob Mackowiak, who hit two home runs while still wearing his hospital bracelet on the day his baby was born back in 2004 (full details here). … It was Armed Forces Night in Milwaukee on Saturday, with the Brewers and Twins wearing military-themed caps. … Interesting thread on the Chris Creamer boards regarding the Cincinnati Jungle Kats, an AF2 team with a pretty innovative helmet design. … More arena football news from Michael Alper, who notes that Kenny Higgins of the Nashville Kats (again with the stoopid spelling) is wearing red shoes, even though there’s virtually no red in the team’s uniform. … The Orioles are denying reports that they’ll put “Baltimore” on their road jerseys next year (as forwarded by Jason Reddish). … Antiques Roadshow recently had a nice little segment on this medal. Details here (with thanks to Jeremiah Conway). … Anyone know why a manufacturer would refer to this pant style as a “Clemson Cut”? Also, who knew there was a hidden interior stirrup in there? (Good find by Rick Subrizio.) … Grant Emerson notes that Angel Pagan’s helmet logo appliqué has been crooked lately. … Club Deportivo Chivas USA has a new jersey sponsor. Full details here (with thanks to Jeffrey Israel). … If you’re interested in Tennessee high school uniforms, tons of photos are available here (courtesy of Marc Walls). … Texans cornerback Jason Simmons came up with a novel way to sell his uniform number to new teammate Ahman Green. … Ronnie Poore noticed something interesting in this photo of the 1965 NFL draft: The little figurines on each desk are wearing stirrups, instead of football-style socks. Most NFL players did wear stirrups in those days, but they also wore shin-length white socks over them — odd that the figurines didn’t get that final finishing hosiery touch. … Good story here about this Texas company, which makes varsity/letterman jackets. Further background info here. (With thanks to Matt Mitchell.) … Follow-up report from Jen Muller, who recently provided the photo of Dane Richards with his name misspelled: “At a Red Bulls ‘meet the team’ event on Saturday, I had a chance to ask Richards if he knew his name was spelled incorrectly on his jersey. He said he had no idea until he saw it later on the internet. Maybe he’s a Uni Watch fan.” … Check out the socks on Dong Tam Long An of the Vietnamese soccer league, who’s been playing in the AFC Champions League this year (as spotted by Jeremy Brahm). … Can’t say I thought much of Cory Spinks’s trunks or glove colors during his fight against Jermain Taylor on Saturday night. Weirdest bit: When Spinks’s trunks started slipping down, his corner tried to secure them with tape around the waistband — never seen that maneuver before. Meanwhile, check out the fringe on Taylor’s trunks. … Former Knick John Starks is promoting a new line of basketball warm-up pants, which are supposedly easier to pull off in one motion. Details in the “Starks to NBA” section about two-thirds of the way down this page (with thanks to Eric Stangel). … Lots of great stripes on display in this rugby photo, taken by Rick Collins. … Odd logo/number format being worn by the Texas City Stings (good catch by Seth Harris). … A little birdie tells me that the U. of Texas hoops team will go to Nike’s tight-fit jerseys next season. … Matthew Lepke notes that as of yesterday, Ron Gardenhire was still wearing his Mother’s Day ribbon on his windbreaker. … Matt Meltzer and I both want to know what’s printed on Dice-K’s left undersleeve. … Seth Horowitz forwards the following, from yesterday’s NY Post: “Tom Nieto, the Mets’ catching instructor, now has a tilde over the ‘N’ in ‘ÑIETO’ on the back of his jersey. He didn’t have one in his previous two years with the Mets but had it switched this season so that it would be properly pronounced.” … Nike’s latest brainstorm: a new and “improved” design, featuring a black jersey, for the Miami baseball team. … Awesome stirrup display by Brian Garman of the UC Bearcats (with thanks to Buckeye Mike, who says he’s known Garman since they were both about five years old). … Uni Watch design director Scott M.X. Turner and I attended last night’s Yanks/Mets debacle. The shameful truth: I was cold, tired, and depressed by the game’s proceedings, so I left in the middle of the 8th inning. Let the record show that Scott stayed to the bitter end.
May 21st, 2007
Exactly one year ago today, I uploaded this entry, thereby launching the site you’re now reading. At the time, I had two primary concerns: (1) Would anyone notice? (2) What the hell would I write about the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that? (Confession: I intentionally launched the site on a Wednesday, so I’d only have to come up with three entries for that first week.)
A year later, the site has been a much bigger success than I ever could have imagined. Except for that little server hiccup back in February, we’ve had fresh content every single non-holiday weekday, and on a few weekends to boot. I’m proud of that, and you should be too, because so much of the material comes from, or is inspired by, you. I’ve also had invaluable assistance from webmaster John Ekdahl (who, aside from all the technical help he’s provided, is the one who came up with the idea for this site in the first place), design director Scott M.X. Turner, and intern Vince Grzegorek. In addition to all their behind-the-scenes help, John and Vince have also given me occasional days off by writing blog entries, as has Todd Krevanchi. I’m super-grateful to all of them.
So what’s on tap for Year Two? In my fantasy world, I’d like the site to become less of a blog and more of a magazine, with separate sections devoted to various sports and uniform elements, additional writers (I would love to have a regular column written by someone at Nike or Reebok — a “voice from the corporate side,” as it were, to counter my relentlessly anti-corporate stance), a message board, and so on. That isn’t going to happen without a major sugar daddy, something I’ve so far been unable to attract. A more realistic fantasy, or so I’d like to think, is for Uni Watch to become self-supporting, meaning that I’d be able to focus on it exclusively, without devoting time to non-uni-related writing.
And that leads me to a big announcement: We’re are about to start offering (read: selling) multiple levels of Uni Watch memberships, the most immediate benefit of which will be a super-cool plastic-laminated membership card, designed by our own Scott M.X. Turner. The front will look like this, and the back will be styled like the back of a jersey — you’ll be able to pick a uniform number and your last name will appear in your choice of typography: vertically arched, radially arched, straight, or, for you old-schoolers, no name at all. I’ll add an “Active Roster” page to the site, listing all current members by uniform number and membership level. (Sorry, no duplicate membership uni numbers — if someone else already has the number you want, you’ll have to choose another number, just like on a real team. Update: There’s already been such a scramble by people trying to call dibs on certain numbers that I’ve decided to make the numbers non-exclusive, so you can have whatever number you want, even if someone else already has it.)
So what does membership cost, and what do you get in return? Here’s the breakdown of the various one-year membership levels and their respective benefits:
Level One: Wool Flannel ($25): Benefits are as follows:
- Official Uni Watch Membership Card
- Uni Watch fridge magnet
- Three bonus entries in all Uni Watch raffles
- Your name featured on the Uni Watch “Active Roster” membership listing
Level Two: Vertically Arched ($50): All of the benefits listed above, plus a special Uni Watch T-shirt, available only to members. This design is still in development and should be ready in about a week, but trust me — it’s gonna look great.
Level Three: Chain-Stitched ($100): All the benefits listed above, plus a CD containing the digital art files for three rare, hard-to-find uniform style guides: NFL 1972, XFL 2001, and MLB’s 1999 “Turn Ahead the Clock” series.
Level Four: Leather Helmet ($250): All the benefits listed above, plus Uni Watch design director Scott M.X. Turner will create a logo for your team, fantasy league, company, civic association, church group, or just for you.
Level Five: Satin Piping ($500): All the benefits listed above, plus I will conduct a “Uni Watch Profiles” interview with you, a transcript of which will be posted on the blog. During the interview we will discuss your favorite uniforms, your uni-related pet peeves, your cap collection, or anything else uni-related that you want to talk about. You will be uni-king for a day!
Level Six: Striped Stirrups ($1000): All of the benefits listed above, plus I will fly to your town (or to the nearest city with an airport) and host a Uni Watch party at the local venue of your choosing. Probably your best chance at attending a Uni Watch party if you live in, say, Wichita. Continental U.S. only. If you live within a 100-mile radius of New York City, I will take you and a guest out to dinner either before or after the party. If you and some friends pool your resources to come up with the fee, you will all receive membership cards.
I may come up with other benefits, and I’m also hoping to get some e-merchants to offer some discounts to Uni Watch members, but that’s all still in the “We’re working on it” phase.
So you’re probably thinking, “Is this just a money-making scheme, or a glorified donation program?” To a certain extent, yes. But I’ll be frank with you: I need some more money from this project. The site now eats up a significant amount of my time (easily 25 hours a week, often a lot more), and it’s starting to cut into the time I’d ordinarily devote to “real” work. Obviously, nobody’s forcing me to do this, and I can stop anytime I want. But I don’t want to stop — I love working on the site. I just need to be able to justify the increasing bite it’s taking from my schedule.
That said, I also think the membership program is a fun little sub-project. The benefits ain’t bad, and I’m pretty stoked about the membership card myself. All in all, I think membership at any level is a fair deal.
That said, I’m fully aware that some of you are students, and/or have families to support, loans to pay off, ad bankruptum. I also realize that many of you have already donated and/or bought raffle tickets in the past. Believe me, I know. I’m not trying to put the squeeze on anyone, I’m not trying to lay a guilt trip on you, and I can assure you that access to the site will always be free. I’m just asking for a little help, from those of you who are able to give it, so I can keep doing this thing we all enjoy — a thing that is rapidly approaching the status of a full-time job.
I won’t even accept any membership purchases until the Level Two T-shirt design is finalized. While we’re waiting, I’ll get the ball rolling by raffling off a membership — send a note to uniraffle at earthlink dot net (one per person, please) and I’ll pick a winner when the T-shirt design is ready.
Okay, enough of that. Thanks for a great first year, people — looking forward to more.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Nice note from Greg Evans, who writes: “Anderson, South Carolina, has a new Class A independent team called the Joes, after Shoeless Joe Jackson. Shoeless Joe was an upstate South Carolina native, and supposedly got his nickname while playing semipro ball in Anderson. The team logo is pretty cool, especially compared with the cartoonish logos of most other minor league teams. Also, the inclusion of a pair of spikes on the cap is a nice touch.” … Tuesday’s post mentioned the troubles that the Red Bulls have had fitting Dave van den Bergh’s name on his jersey, but I didn’t have a photo. Now, thanks to Kenn Tomasch, I do. … The Broncos’ memorial helmet decal for Darrent Williams and Damien Nash will look like this (with thanks to Andrew Mason). … Jeff Scott (who has a pretty sharp Cardinals blog) notes that the Majestic logo has been missing from David Eckstein’s road jersey for several days now. … In a related logo-anti-creep item, Kevin Gee reports that the MLB logo has been missing from the back of Carlos Lee’s batting helmet, and “it just doesn’t look right.” … “Hey Paul, a while back you linked to one of my pictures of the Oregon Marching Band, in our numbered, helmet-attired glory,” writes Matt Takimoto. “The helmets have since been retired — apparently we looked like Nazis to some of the older, donor set here in Eugene — and we are now selling them to raise money for the band.” Takimoto said he’d even try to arrange a raffle for us — stay tuned. … A confused and outraged Brandon Hall wonders why Lindy Ruff was wearing a Senators-colored necktie the other day. … Lots of great old West Virginia high school football uniforms on display in this gallery (kudos to Brad DiCola). … You know how a book’s index will have listings formatted like “Stirrups, Uni Watch’s obsession with” and “Purple, utter loathsomeness of”? Check out the jersey insignia for D3 school St. Thomas University (great find by Mike Miller). … According to a small note contained in this article Ted Lilly and Lou Piniella “enjoyed a novel bonding moment recently when Lilly informed Piniella that his fly was unzipped during a conference at the mound” (with thanks to sharp-eyed David Chisholm). … So this horse and this Mexican wrestler walk into a bar… (as spotted by Jeremy Brahm). … Bill Pinsak notes that Ben Roethlisberger was wearing Nike tri-bolt shorts the other day, instead of standard-issue NFL Equipment shorts made by Reebok. … Photos of Miami’s new football jerseys (first discussed here) are starting to circulate — look here, here, and here.
May 17th, 2007
New ESPN column today — here’s the link.
Meanwhile: Got an interesting note the other day from reader Steve Shanabruch: “Check out these football and baseball patches that my digital illustration teacher designed for Upper Deck, the card company. According to his blog, ‘On this project they asked me to create a set of embroidered patch designs they could sew onto uniform swatches they would then use on a special set of trading cards.’”
Leaving aside the question of why anyone would want a uniform swatch with a patch that wasn’t originally part of the uniform, this project interests me because I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the role of digital media in patch design. Take, for example, the 30th-anniversary patch that the Mariners will be wearing this season: It looks really great as digital art, but a lot of the detail (especially the two stadiums in the foreground) is lost in the embroidered version.
I’ve noticed lots of similar examples in recent years. And it seems to me that one reason for this is that digital illustration programs allow a designer to include all sorts of small details that wouldn’t have been possible 20 years ago — and maybe that was for the best, because many of those details don’t translate very well to the finished product. If you look at designs that Shanabruch’s instructor has created for Upper Deck, most of them seem to avoid this problem, because they’re fairly simple and don’t have many teeny-tiny elements. (Most of them are also much too cartoon-ish for my tastes, but that’s a separate issue.)
My go-to guy for patch design questions, as he is for so many other uni-related issues, is Todd Radom, who’s designed loads of MLB and NFL patches over the years. So I gave him a ring to pick his brain about patch design:
Uni Watch: What sorts of things do you have to think about when designing a patch?
Todd Radom: There are always going to be translations to be made between the art and the patch. You’re giving this piece of art to National Emblem, or whoever’s gonna embroider the thing, and the way they interpret it will determine what the final product looks like.
UW: So how can you ensure that the interpretation will be, y’know, accurate?
TR: One thing you always have to keep in mind is that Pantone flat colors do not seamlessly translate to thread colors. Also, I try to keep all of the line weights, if not necessarily simple, then practical. You want to have thick lines that will not disappear when they turn into thread. Also, I keep in mind that in a live environment, like if you go to a ballgame, these patches are tiny little things.
UW: Yeah, but they’re more visible on TV.
TR: And that was my next point. I think the ultimate determining factor is not how it feels in your hand or how it looks in person, but how it translates into broadcast. So you always have to think practically, and you have to think that when it gets translated into patch form, it’s going to take on some dimension that changes things. Now, I’m looking around my office here — you’ve been here, and as you’ll recall, I have a bunch of patches that I’ve created and I have them framed on the wall. And to me, some of them are just an absolute seamless transition from art to patch, and some are not. You constantly learn about the challenges of that transition. Also, keep in mind that, for the most part, sleeve patch designs are utilized in other applications — in print advertising, on little enamel pins, signage, whatever — so you need to think in a very versatile way.
UW: Do you think the flexibility and “You can do anything” factor of digital illustration make it easy to get carried away with things that might not translate as well?
TR: Absolutely. There has to be a certain amount of self-editing.
UW: Did you design any patches in the pre-digital era?
TR: That’s a good question. Hmmm — yes, I did.
UW: And was that a different process, because you didn’t have the technical flexibility or the wide range of options offered by the computer?
TR: Not really. Also, embroidery techniques have changed over the past 15 years, in lockstep with design capabilities.
UW: You mean the creative side and the production side have both gotten more sophisticated at roughly the same rates?
TR: Yeah, it’s sort of a parallel evolution.
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It’s worth noting, incidentally, that the translation from art to patch isn’t always a downgrade. Case in point: the patch that the Brewers will be wearing this season. The digital version looks nice enough, but the actual patch is much better, thanks to all the texture and depth provided by the embroidery.
What We Have Here Is a Failure to Communicate: For reasons that we can’t quite figure out, I’m suddenly receiving a small avalanche of old e-mails, most of them dated in the March 5th-15th range. It’s not clear why I didn’t receive them when you originally sent them, but if you sent me a good photo contribution or asked a good question and I never wrote back or acknowledged your communiqué, this is probably why. Now that I’m receiving them, I’ll try to deal with them as efficiently as I can.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The No Mas blog has a nice little bit here about Antero Nittymaki’s mask. … As an aside, No Mas has become my favorite sports commentary on the web. The blog, most of it written by Dave “Large” Larzelere, just oozes intelligence, plus it’s funny, caustic, and has a voice that’s completely its own. There’s occasionally coverage of stuff I don’t care about, like pro wrestling, but whatever — the rest of the material is as sharp as anything in sports media today. Essential reading. Check it out here. … Amazing archival find by Larry Cauley, who was going through some old family photos and found this. Man, there are so many things to love about this shot — the noseguards, the stripes, the varsity sweaters, the pennants, the coach with the stopwatch. One for the ages! … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Good article here about Barry Zito’s glove, which might be ruled illegal because of the dark leather with contrasting white laces. … Are there any NHL players besides Ryan Smyth who wear blue blade holders? (Good catch by Matthew Guggenheimer.) … Remember Curtis Granderson’s “Don’t Think, Have Fun” underbill inscription from last year? He discusses it briefly in the third item of this Q&A page (with thanks to Laura Koenig). … Latest university to tell a high school team, “Hey, you kids, get off my lawn!”: Wyoming. … More news you may have missed from yesterday’s comments: The Tigers have a kid in camp who has an MLB logo tattoo. … And Tony LaRussa has a tattoo as well, which is sort of a frightening thought. … Score one for the anti-corporatization movement. … “Heres something odd (and, in my opinion, stupid),” writes Michael Alper. “Northern Illinois introduced a new men’s basketball head coach today. At the presser, they had him pose with a jersey. This coach never will wear a NIU jersey in a game. Lame.” … Good exhibit here on the history of ice skates and their impact on Canadian culture (with thanks to Stephen Tod). … Now that David Wells has been diagnosed with diabetes, will he end up wearing an insulin pump on his belt, like Jason Johnson? … At first I thought there was a missing letter, but it turns out that that’s the guy’s actual name (not unlike this).
March 20th, 2007
Last Friday I asked about unusual instances of athletes wearing sunglasses. The very next day — the very next day! — the sunglass gods dumped something into my lap: Yankees pitcher Kei Igawa took the mound wearing shades. According to this article (generously brought to my attention by reader Tessa Trego), Igawa isn’t used to pitching in daylight because he played almost exclusively in domed stadiums in Japan. The sun’s glare had caused problems for him during his previous spring training start, so he opted for the sunglasses this time around.
Igawa isn’t the first pitcher to wear dark glasses, but he’s definitely the first I’ve seen wearing super-dark contemporary shades, which makes for an odd sight, sort of like there’s a blind man pitching. Interestingly, as Jeremy Brahm notes, Igawa’s countryman Daisuke Matsuzaka has been wearing those tinted contact lenses that cut down on UV glare, so maybe he’s having similar problems making the adjustment to daylight baseball.
Incidentally, big thanks for the excellent sunglasses-related factoids that many of you have sent in over the past few days — you people rock and all that. I’ll be incorporating many of your contributions into my next ESPN column (which would normally run this Thursday, but it’s been bumped to next Monday or Tuesday because of all the NCAA tourney coverage), which will feature an in-depth look at the intersection of sunglasses and athletics.
Uni Watch News Ticker: It’s nice that the Phillies held a memorial service for John Vukovich on Friday. But it seems a little odd that they put a black armband on his jersey — it’s like he’s saluting himself. … Good catch by Bryan Redemske, who notes that Louisville’s Terrence Williams had “Money Time” written on his sneaker Friday night. … Fawning article here about N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe’s suits. … Barry Bonds wore a DC United jersey while warming up on Saturday. … Latest member of the do-rag club: Nook Logan. … Phony pit stain; real pit stain. … Two oddities from Saturday’s Klitschko/Austin heavyweight tilt: (1) The canvas was white, and (2) the ropes included ads for Klitschko’s web site, which made the proceedings seem kinda biased. … Good rundown of Minnesota high school hockey tournament jerseys here. … The Manitoba Moose had Military Tribute Night on Saturday. Note the camouflage tape on the shins — an impressive touch. Lots of additional pics at the bottom of this page. … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Good view here of the Hofstra lacrosse team’s memorial patch for Nick Colleluori. … Sure, this is fine, but I liked it better when he did this. … The Delaware State Lady Hornets have some pretty wild uniforms (with thanks to Matthew Wolfram). … Heartwarming sight yesterday, as Jose Cruz Jr. was wearing perfect — I mean perfect — stirrups. … And speaking of stirrups, Jeff Ash notes that Wisconsin girls hoops state champs Milwaukee Vincent has been wearing faux stirrup socks.
March 12th, 2007
The term we all hear tossed around this time of year is “pitchers and catchers,” but let’s be honest: The catchers are mostly incidental. The only reason they’re there is that the pitchers need someone to throw to. Or as Casey Stengel famously put it, “You gotta have a catcher, otherwise you’re gonna have a lot of passed balls.”
So far, though, the catchers are the big spring training story, uni-wise. Yesterday I reported that Ramon Castro had switched from wearing TPX gear to Rawlings (and, as was noted in yesterday’s comments, the Rawlings folks seem to have used the wrong tone of blue). In addition, Jose Molina has switched from All-Star to Nike (check out the relatively restrained swoosh on the chest protector — a big improvement over this model), and Doug Mirabelli appears to have switched from Mizuno to Reebok (note the logo on the back) — first time I’ve ever seen an MLB backstop wearing that brand. Adidas appears to be getting into the act, too (now that’s an unnecessarily large logo).
Ugliest chest protector I’ve seen so far: Javy Lopez’s Easton model. Why couldn’t they have kept him wearing black-on-black, like they did last year?
And I Hear the Diamondbacks Have New Unis, Too: One of the most annoying aspects of spring training this year has been the repetitious cry of alarm as one media outlet after another breaks the news about their team’s new BP caps and jerseys. Of course, all the teams have new BP caps and jerseys, and we’ve known about the new designs for months — just as all these other ignorami could have known, if they simply read Uni Watch.
The latest media geniuses to weigh in on this hot story are New York broadcast bullies Mike Francessa and Chris Russo, who addressed the new BP attire yesterday. I wasn’t listening, but reader Mike from Queens was. Here’s his transcription (with bracketed comments from Mike, not from me):
Francessa: And the Yankees are wearing this weird hat in spring training. Did you notice this? With the white thing on it? It’s driving me crazy.
Russo: I didn’t see it.
Francessa: Why does it have that white line on it in spring Training? They using a spring training hat this year–
Russo: Oh, so now the Yankees have gone the way that everyone else has gone.
Francessa: I don’t like it. I don’t like it. I don’t like it. Why do they have that white thing on the hat?
[After a bit of a break, the commentary continued.]
Francessa: Is this just a spring training hat? It better be. They better have not changed the hat for the regular season. It’s nonsense. It’s a disgrace. The Yankees have never ever bastardized their uniform. Not like these teams with 42 different softball uniforms. Now the Yankees are starting to bail out. … [Having a special hat for spring training] is the Yankees ripping people off, though. They’re just trying to find a way to sell it. The Yankees should be embarrassed to do that. You’re the Yankees. You don’t do that.
[And then, somewhere in the middle of all of this ranting, Russo came out with this gem. I quote directly:]
Russo: Even wearing that apparel for spring training to sell — to sell money is…that’s a Yankees. How could you do that?
Remember, kids, it’s brilliant analysis like this that makes New York the media capital of the world.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Blue Jays gave John Gibbons a one-year contract extension yesterday, which means another year of looking at that lame-ass smock he always wears. … Mitchell & Ness has struck new deals with Nike/Jordan and with the Cowboys. The Reds are supposedly using red undershirts, instead of black, with their home and road uniforms this year — but they’re still using black sleeves in spring training. Speaking of spring training, Eric Gagne has been wearing a regular game cap, instead of the Rangers’ BP cap (presumably part of his “wear one cap all season long” protocol). Good article here about a guy in Idaho who collects hockey jerseys (with thanks to Mark Snider). I was poking around on eBay and stumbled across this. An old Johnny U. helmet is being auctioned off for charity. “I was at the NBA All-Star festivities,” writes Ben Kramer. “There was an exhibit on uniforms at the Jam Session, so I thought I’d send along some photos.” You can access his pics here. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Apparently David Weathers is a NASCAR fan. … Also from yesterday: Oh. My. God. … Remember those Wake Forest throwbacks I wrote about last week? They wore them again on Saturday. …
February 20th, 2007
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