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Posts filed under 'Collectibles/Memorabilia'
Back in April I ran an interview with reader Karen Hibbitt. At one point she asked me, “What’s the etiquette for [fans] wearing jerseys?” and then offered her own thoughts on the subject before I could respond.
As someone immediately pointed out in the comments that day, I never did address the issue myself. True enough. I was happy to let Karen answer her own question, because I don’t have strong feelings on the matter. Fact is, I don’t much care what fans wear, what fans buy, or any of that, mainly because I’m not a jersey collector myself.
This came up again a few weeks ago, when Brinke Guthrie — a longtime reader whose name is probably familiar to many of you from his frequent Ticker contributions — sent me an e-mail asking, “Which would you get: no number on back or choose a number (can’t say I have a favorite player)? Which is cooler to wear?” He seemed mildly stunned when I told him I had no opinion on the matter because I don’t own any current or contemporary jerseys.
And why is that, anyway? People always expect me to have a huge jersey collection, which I agree seems like a reasonable supposition (especially since I collect lots of other things — always have). These interactions with Karen and Brinke got me thinking about this, so I started asking myself why I write about uniforms but have never gotten into collecting them. Here are the answers I found:
• I’m not a big fella — 5′8″, 150 lbs. — and I like my clothing to be fairly close-fitting. In numbered sizes, I wear a 38; for unnumbered, a small or a medium. Most of today’s authentic and replica jerseys are waaaaaay too big for me.
• Even if I could get custom-fitted jerseys, all of today’s jerseys are polyester, and I hate synthetic fabrics. (I’ve often joked that if I ever became a pro ballplayer when I become a pro ballplayer, I’ll have to fake a skin allergy to polyester and insist on a flannel uniform.)
• When I was growing up, the licensed apparel market didn’t exist yet — people couldn’t buy jerseys even if they wanted to. So I never got in the habit.
• Aside from socks, underwear, footwear, and the occasional T-shirt, almost all my clothing is vintage. While I’ll occasionally spend more than $100 on something, that’s pretty rare — most of my shirts, sweaters, jeans, jackets, etc. cost me somewhere in the $15-$75 range. So the idea of spending $230, $245, or more on a shirt just doesn’t compute for me. I realize a jersey is much more than just “a shirt” for many people, and I’ve certainly spent much more than $250 on things that other people would consider frivolous, so I’m not passing judgment on anyone else’s expenditures. I’m just saying merchandised jerseys don’t push my buttons in that particular way.
• One reason I like vintage clothing is that it has a sense of history. I am, at heart, a storyteller, and each used garment is a story. Who wore this before? Where was it first purchased? How did it end up here? How does it reflect the style of its era? So the handful of jerseys I do own are mostly old flannel models from decades past. They appeal to me on a vintage-clothing level as well as a uniform level (plus they’re made of natural fibers, they’re small enough to fit me, etc.). I have about half a dozen of these — all from high school teams, factory teams, and so on — and they’re much more exciting to me than a current Mets jersey could ever be. Frankly, I’ve never much understood the appeal of collecting things that are new (except maybe baseball cards when I was a kid); I’ve always preferred collecting things that are old. That’s why throwback jerseys, like the ones made by Mitchell & Ness or Ebbets Field Flannels, don’t appeal to me either (plus there’s still the sizing problem, the price problem, etc.). I’d even take my vintage obscurities over, say, a game-used Ed Kranepool jersey from 1969, because I already know where that’s been — there’s no mystery about it, no untold story.
• I don’t like what merchandising has done to uniforms. Jersey sales have become the revenue tail that wags the on-field dog, and I prefer not to participate in that system, which I think has been very bad for uni design.
And so on. When I came up with the concept for Uni Watch, it never even occurred to me that people would be interested in what fans wear — the idea, for me, had always been to examine obsess over what the players wear. And that’s still the idea, at least from my perspective. Of course, there are other folks who feel differently, and that’s fine.
Anyway, while I don’t much care about fans wearing jerseys, I know many of you do. So today I’m gonna step back and let you discuss that topic in the comments — knock yourselves out.
(And if you happen to be in a jersey-buying mood, please remember to patronize Uni Watch’s sponsors, Jersey-Joe and Distant Replays. Thanks.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Ben Curtis wore Giants gear at the Barclays the other day (thanks, Vince). … The Canadiens have unveiled their 100th-anniversary logo. … Division I-AA Delaware has new uniforms. … Jim Tressel’s sweater vest is being merchandised in some interesting ways. … If you go to this page, you’ll find an interview with Nats prexy Stan Kasten. Search on the word “uniform” to get his take on upcoming “tweaks” to the team’s uniform set (with thanks to Mark Wolven). … According to this small item, there’s a “great debate” about the color of Arizona State’s road pants (with thanks to Alex Benezra). … More ASU news from Alex: There’s a 50th-anniversary logo for Sun Devil Stadium and for ASU itself (it was a teacher’s college prior to 1958), but it will not be worn on the team’s jerseys. … Oglethorpe University, a D-3 school in Atlanta, recently posted a bunch of archival photos, and there are some real doozies in there. See, for example, this, or this, or this (logo and uni number combined!). You can search by sport within the archives here and here (big thanks to Oglethorpe alum Austin Gillis). … Got a note yesterday from John Hartman, with the subject line “A father’s dream crushed.” It read as follows: “It’s always been my dream to see my twin sons play football — until I saw the uniforms they have to wear (thankfully, their coach told them they could switch the purple socks for black). Sorry for the Nike socks, but their mom bought them, not me! Also notice the Rawlings logo creep on the upper front of the jersey. Sheesh.” Note that the Hartman twins have first initials on their NOBs. … I’m not gonna bid on these, but I hope one of you will. … Interesting piece here on Mets outfielder Nick Evans’s sunglasses. Interestingly, it says minor leaguers in the Mets system aren’t allowed to wear Oakleys, although it doesn’t explain why. … The Blue Jackets will be wearing a memorial patch in honor of team founder John H. McConnell this season. Details here (with thanks to Matt Lesser). … Jason Kidd is leaving Nike (with thanks to Chris Littmann). … Alex Shuman was recently in Europe, where he saw this 1966 sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in Vienna. In a more disturbing discovery, he also visited the Dachau concentration camp and photographed this chart of the patches that “undesirables” were required to wear. … The Pedro porthole was back in effect last night, plus it apparently spread to Aaron Heilman. … Latest MLBer to be wearing those incredibly annoying Phiten socks: Nick Swisher (as pointed out by Steve Johnston). … Yesterday I passed along some rumors regarding possible uni changes next year for the Texas Rangers. Now another source — one who’s passed along solid Rangers-related info in the past — has confirmed those rumors. “I’m not privy to final designs but I do know a red alternate jersey is in the works,” he says. “We’re going to scrap both sleeveless jerseys, and a new cap is in the works — most likely going back to a red T (the design remains the same) with a red bill. Apparently [marketing VP] Dale Petroskey is one of the main men working on this, especially re-branding the jerseys as ‘Texas’ rather than ‘Rangers.’ The team is trying to go back to more red, as many fans want, but they’re not going back completely to red because it would be too similar to the Angels.” … The mighty Fleer Sticker Project site has just posted an entry devoted to the 1985 Fleer Baseball Sticker set, which is unique because, as editor JC Helf explains, “it was the only time Fleer included stickers of each team’s jersey.” Full details here. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: The CFL is having a retro week promotion.
August 27th, 2008
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before… Four or five years ago I was bidding on these two uniform swatch books on eBay. I didn’t win, but I had a hunch that the winner might be a dealer, so I e-mailed him and asked if he was looking to sell them. “I’m a collector, not a dealer,” replied the guy, whose name was Mike Hersh. He explained that he worked in the design department for Ralph Lauren/Polo and used old sports catalogs for research, reference, and inspiration. Although he didn’t specify, I got the impression that he had quite a few of these catalogs — a lot more than I did.
Mike lived here in NYC, so I suggested that we get together for a little show-and-tell with our catalog collections. As I recall, he was a bit stand-offish, saying something like, “I’m a little busy right now — maybe later on.” He gave me his phone number, so I called him a month or two later. Got his voicemail, left a message, but never heard back from him. I figured it just wasn’t in the cards, but I kept his phone number on a Post-it stuck to my computer monitor for at least the next two years, maybe three (I even got a new computer during this period and actually transferred the Post-it from the old monitor to the new one), just to remind myself that there was a guy out there with a way better uniform catalog collection than mine.
When I wrote this entry about my uni catalogs in July of 2006, I included a little shout-out to Mike (see the third-to-last graf before the Ticker), hoping it might draw him out of the woodwork. Never heard from him, though. A few weeks after that, I regretfully discarded the Post-it with his phone number, which had morphed from motivational to just annoying.
Now fast-forward to last month — a full two years after that entry about my catalogs. Out of the blue I get a note from Mike Hersh, inviting me to come over and see his stash. Amazing! Had he been following Uni Watch all this time and finally decided it was worth his while?
Actually, no. In fact, Mike says he didn’t even know Uni Watch existed until a month or so ago (when we first corresponded several years back, I apparently told him I was obsessed with uniforms but didn’t mention that I wrote about them). So why’d he decide to get in touch? Turns out a friend of his was googling Mike’s name and stumbled across the little shout-out I had put in that 2006 entry. The friend told Mike, who realized the author of the entry was the same guy who’d been bugging him years earlier (i.e., me). He began reading some material on the site, liked it, and decided it was finally time for us to have a sit-down.
So I recently went over to Mike’s apartment, and lemme tell ya, it was worth the wait — he’s got some seriously amazing stuff. In addition to hundreds of uniform catalogs (we’ll get to those in a sec), he has some great vintage jerseys (I’ve gathered some of the nicest ones into a slideshow here), a super-cool price tag printer (inner view, front plate), a nifty little letterpress (note to Joe Hilseberg: Look what it’s called), tons of old block prints (see also here, here, and here), one of those totally boss Blatz displays (always wanted one of those myself), and a shitload of other stuff. Basically, if it’s related to sports and/or design, he collects it. He’s even got a bunch of Aussie rules football scarves (additional examples here, here, and here).
Some quick background on Mike: He’s 40 years old and grew up in Philly, where his parents were sports fans (”My father had all these old autographed leather chinstraps from the Eagles,” he says). They eventually got into the memorabilia biz, so Mike has spent plenty of time setting up tables and booths at collectibles shows, where he’s developed a good eye and a good feel for prices, appraisals, and so on. It’s also where he developed the collecting bug.
Mike studied design and illustration in school and has worked for a variety of clothing companies, including Polo, Abercrombie, and Hilfiger (at the moment he’s the director of men’s and women’s graphics for Polo’s rugby brand). All of those lines are fairly sporty, and Mike has specialized in coming up with graphics for T-shirts, hats, labels, hang tags, etc. — that’s where the old catalogs come in.
“If I want to design something, I’ll look at these old catalogs for inspiration,” he explains. “So if we want to do something based on, say, a 1930s football jersey, it’ll look authentic, instead of just mixing together various ‘retro’ elements from different eras. And if someone else at the company needs some visual reference, I’ll bring in one of my catalogs and charge them a usage fee.” (Man, I gotta get in on that racket.)
I don’t have the time or space to give the full scope of Mike’s knowledge and expertise, but trust me, this is all just a snapshot of the Mike Hersh Experience. His various collections offer a nearly inexhaustible supply of potential Uni Watch content (he’s like Ricko, only about 1200 miles closer to my house), but for now we’ll just stick to those catalogs, several of which he let me take home so I could scan and photograph them.
I’d love to give you a page-by-page breakdown of these gorgeous publications, but that would be too involved. Instead, I’ve chosen six catalogs and created a slideshow for each one. Here they are in chronological order: Wilson, 1939-40 (slideshow here, or you click on these thumbnails and then click on “All Sizes” to see super-sized versions); Lowe & Campbell, 1952-53 (slideshow, thumbnails); Southern, 1959 (slideshow, thumbnails); Wilson, 1960-61 (slideshow, thumbnails); Sand-Knit, 1972 (slideshow, thumbnails); and Champion, circa 1980 (slideshow, thumbnails). In addition, I scanned a bunch of pages from this old Rawlings fitting guide (slideshow, thumbnails), which isn’t really a catalog, but it’s certainly related. And how can you resist illustrations like this?
As for the catalogs that first led me to cross paths with Mike — the ones he outbid me on years ago — they’re nice but not particularly amazing. Good thing I didn’t win that auction — if I had, Mike and I would probably never have met.
Raffle Reminder: Today’s the last day to enter the raffle for 1996 Atlanta Olympics banner. For details, look here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Spent last weekend in and around Binghamton. Amidst all the spiedies, shuffle-bowl, diners with great signs, amazing bars with friendly dogs, time-warped department stores, ice cream stands, state border markers (that’s the Pennsylvania side; here’s the New York side), and town line markers, I was very happy to find an entire wall of old baseball photos from the region. The Binghamton-Endicott-Johnson City area used to be home to the Triple Cities Triplets, a Yankees farm team, so many of the pics were of players who eventually made it to the Bronx, like Clete Boyer. There were also older shots from the pre-Triplets days, and this one, from the days when Johnson City was known as Lestershire. (All pics by Collateral Gammage, who saved the day when my camera went on the fritz.) … Tony DeLaTorre — whose name presents endless NOB possibilities, no? — notes that Orioles rookie Lou Montanez’s NOB is rather straight (”and no, it’s not because his arms are raised,” he adds). … Yesterday I asked if anyone knew more about this sleeve patch, which prompted a near-immediate response from Todd Radom: “The patch celebrates Detroit’s 250 anniversary. It’s the same one that the Tigers wore in 1951.” … Speaking of Todd, there’s a good interview with him here. … Tons of Nike art files available for download here, and Nike’s autumn catalogs can be accessed here (with thanks to Joe Hilseberg, who also pointed me toward the latest dispatch from the Color Mafia). … Here’s a 1980 Inside Sports article about the Durham Bulls’ uniforms (with thanks to Mike Pinkowski). … More uni-numbered Red Sox stirrups here and here (with thanks to Gabe Butler). … This photo from Houston’s Fan Day was posted in yesterday’s comments. Note that Johnson (second row from the back, far right) has a different nameplate typeface than everyone else. … As many of you know, the California Seals debuted in 1967 with a “C”-based logo and then became the Oakland Seals in December of that year, switching to an “O”-based logo. All of that is explained here. What’s not explained, however, and what I’ve never seen before, is the road jersey shown here (taken from this eBay listing), with the big “Seals” lettering. “I’m guessing that picture was taken before the season started,” says Teebz. “As far as I can tell, that road jersey was never actually worn in an NHL game. If it was, I’ve never seen a picture of it.” Must have been a prototype. … Insta-photoshopping in response to breaking news is fine, but not if you’re putting a defunct cap design on a traded player (good catch by Michael Miller). … Next year’s All-Star Game logo has already been turned into a patch. No stupid “TM” or “®” marks, either (with thanks to Jonathan Chin). … Oh man, this is soooooo gorgeous. … This one isn’t quite as nice but is still interesting. … Jeffrey Moulden notes that Brady Quinn has been practicing in a Schutt helmet, instead of his usual Riddell Revolution. … New helmet for Carson Palmer, too (compare to his old model). … I’d give anything for one of these (circa-1910 photo courtesy of Antonio Bradley). … Eric Longenhagen is a sophomore at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, an intern with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, and an avid Uni Watch reader. He checks in with the following story: “Phillies reliever Rudy Seanez was scheduled to make a rehab appearance for us on Monday. He needed a size 7-1/4 home hat, but the merch. dept. was out of it. We called all over the Lehigh Valley, looking for a sporting goods store that had the right hat in the right size. No dice. So we tried to give him a flex-fit hat that looks exactly like the home hat — almost (the New Era logo is white instead of red, and the MiLB logo is all blue instead of red/blue). Seanez noticed these differences and refused to wear the hat. I have been openly nerdy when it comes to uniform-related topics, so I was told to ‘fix it.’ I took the flex-fit hat and Sharpied the white New Era flag red — simple enough. The problem was the blue embroidery on the MiLB logo. I eventually ook a small tack from an office bulletin board and used it to spread red tempera paint over the blue area. As far as I know, Mr. Seanez had no clue I had doctored his hat, and he pitched a perfect 8th inning.” … Best example ever of a two-part insignia creating the illusion of a typo (with thanks to Mike Petriello). … SI has five different covers for its college football preview issue, all viewable here. As Brent Hardman points out, all five covers feature teams sponsored by the same sportswear maker. Coincidence? … Mike Kemezis notes that Chinese Taipei’s batting helmets appear to have a raised logo patch (additional views here and here), similar to what the Cubs wear. … The Braves unveiled their Skip Caray memorial patch yesterday. It didn’t get to make its on-field debut, however, because the Braves/Cubs game was rained out. … Tom Farley sent along some absolutely incredible color football photos from the 1930s. This one is from the Marquette/Wisconsin game on 10/1/32 and shows that monochromatic uniforms go back further than we think. Can anyone tell me more about what the ref is holding? The next one shows a Packers/Cardinals game from either 1935 or ’36. And here’s the most astonishing one of the bunch: a Milwaukee high school team, circa mid-1930s. Great stuff.
August 13th, 2008
I recently scored another vintage uniform catalog. It features some particularly vibrant examples of things we’ve seen before, plus a few things I’ve never seen before. Here are the highlights:
• Good assortment of football jerseys here (the one at upper-right is unusual — you don’t normally see a raglan-sleeved football shirt) and here (love the repeating stripes on the green and black models). As usual, though, my favorite page is the listing of optional details. Interesting to see that the yellow sleeve-number panel (labeled “E26″) was already being referred to as a “TV Insert” in 1963.
• Here’s a standard assortment of football pants. What interests me is the listing of extras. First, note option K14L — I’ve never that type of harness-style color paneling before. And just above it, look at option K7L, which is described as, “Back of knee. Triangle.” Seems like something Nike or Reebok would do today, no?
• Good assortment of old-school hoops jerseys here (note that two of them are sleeved) and here. But once again, the listing of options is where the action is. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crotch extension on a basketball jersey before. And look at item SKB — rib-knit trim at the hemline! I’d give anything to see a team actually wearing that.
• Basketball shorts are here and here, and warm-ups are here, here, and here. But here’s something that just blew me away: Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the warm-up basketball cape!
• No surprise that I like this page. But you don’t normally see socks listed by knit pattern — amazing stuff.
Cap-ital Punishment: So I attended yesterday’s press conference about MLB’s “Welcome Back Veterans” program. They had most of the star-spangled caps on display (for some reason I was really fixated on the treatment of the Angels’ halo), along with the special ball and base that will be used during this promotion. There were lots of big shots on hand, including David Wright (whose presence was disturbing for me — shouldn’t he have been taking a pregame nap or something?) and Fred Wilpon (whose presence was disturbing for other reasons), plus about half a dozen Iraq and Afghanistan vets.
I don’t like the caps at all, but the charity initiative, at least as described, is clearly a good one, with lots of organizations participating on a pro bono basis (for further details, look here). After a presentation that lasted a little over a half-hour, the floor was opened for questions. The first two of these were total softballs — a guy from MLB.com, for example, asked Wilpon, “Fred, could you tell us a little more about why this is so important to you?” Someone else asked something of a similar tenor.
There’s nothing wrong with those types of questions, of course. There’s also nothing wrong with the kind of question I then asked, which went like this:
All the materials related to this promotion say that “a portion of the proceeds” from the cap sales will go to the charity program [look at the last bullet point here, for example]. Can you tell us what percentage that portion is?
The reason I ask is that some fans — including many who have already expressed their opinions to me as news of this initiative leaked out over the weekend — may view this program as just another merchandising program to move product and generate revenue. So what portion of the cap proceeds will go to the charity? And if it’s not 100%, why not?
And man, you could practically hear them crossing my name off their Christmas card lists. MLB PR czar Rich Levin glared at me like I’d just hocked a loogie in his cappuccino or something. “The answer is that that hasn’t been determined yet,” he growled. “But this is a charity initiative — it isn’t about generating revenue.”
“I’m not suggesting otherwise,” I responded. “But there’s a certain level of cynicism out there among some fans, so I was giving you a chance to clarify…”
“We reject that,” he snapped. “We reject the cynicism.”
And that, my friends, was the end of that. No more questions, cue the photographers for glad-handing pics. Afterward, two gentlemen who were involved with the vets’ program (i.e., not MLB employees) approached me and said, “I thought it was a very good question, and I don’t think you got much of an answer.”
When I got home, I found an e-mail from a local newspaper columnist of my acquaintance. “Loved your question at the news conference,” he wrote. “Then you vanished seconds after. Did security haul you away?” Actually, I’d hung around for about 10 minutes afterward. Anyway, I wrote back, “Heaven forbid anyone should ask a non-softball question, right?” To which he responded, “The reason that he got all offended was because you nailed him! Of course it’s just another marketing initiative! LOL.”
Actually, I’m a little less cynical than that. I think it’s more that Levin, and a lot of the other MLB suits, are completely out of touch with the way fans think. And if I told him that, he’d probably say, “Oh no, that’s not true — we do all sorts of focus groups to keep us in touch with fans’ opinions,” without realizing that that’s part of the problem. These guys are so corporate, so expense account, so executive suite and boardroom, they have no freakin’ clue what it’s like to be an average baseball fan, and even less clue as to how their machinations are perceived by the rest of us. They live in a hermetically sealed bubble, sort of like a permanent luxury box. So when they come up with a nice idea — and that’s certainly what the Welcome Back Veterans program is, stupid caps or no stupid caps — they pat themselves on the back and are genuinely surprised when someone (me, in this case) has the temerity to ask a real question that requires a real answer.
Footnote: An MLB spokesman later said he’d try to find an answer to my question.
Meanwhile: About seven hours later, David Wright made an error that led to four unearned runs. He later booted another ball (initially scored an error, then changed to a base hit) and went 0-for-3 at the plate. I rest my case.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Cool-looking vintage uniform catalog – which, unfortunately, I was outbid on — jersey. … Jeffrey Moulden was watching a broadcast of Vinny Testaverde’s first game at Miami (9/7/85) and was surprised to see that the ’Canes wore solid orange (additional pics here and here. … More Textile Mill League throwbacks from the Greenville Drive — I’ve set up a small slide show here (with thanks to Michael Bonasia and Billy Crowe). … “Went to an American Legion baseball game on Friday,” writes Michael Orr. “The West Columbia (SC) team does not have a uniform helmet design for their players, so the guys just wear their regular high school team helmets. This player goes to Airport High School in West Columbia, whose batting helmets apparently have side decals instead of having the logo on the front. I’ve never seen this before.” … The Cubs may be the only MLB team to use an embroidered appliqué on their batting helmets, but there’s at least one minor league team that does it: the Iowa Cubs. And look, they’ve even got the trademark symbol on there (big thanks to Dave Dolmage). … Ever since this site’s very first entry, I’ve been saying that athletes, and their uniforms, have been looking more and more like superheroes. Oregon’s football uniforms are an obvious example, but I didn’t realize Oregon had actually created little comic books for recruiting their top prospects. Unbelievable (with thanks to Greg Riffenburgh). … “The CSC cycling team has picked up a new co-sponsor, Saxo Bank,” reports Benjamin Graff. “Here’s the new jersey.” … Two promising-looking baseball exhibits currently underway at the Bennington Museum in Vermont (as forwarded by Erik Little). … “Mike Stein, a local Philly designer, was hanging outside my local coffee shop, and his tat stood out,” writes Morris Levin. “I’d know that design from the Phils’ 1976 jersey sleeve anywhere.” … Awesome article here about the organist at the College World Series. “Note the fried cheese curds on the organ,” points out Bryan. “Everything for the CWS is either fried, cheese, fried cheese, or beer.” Depressing excerpt from the article: “[Organs at ballparks] peaked in the 1960s and 1970s. Their numbers have dwindled since. The Hall of Fame’s research director, Tim Wiles, traced at least part of the beginning of the end to a change in ownership for the Mets after the 1979 season. The longtime organist Jane Jarvis was nudged out at Shea Stadium in favor of canned music. Teams wanted their music to rock, not reverberate.” … Not uni-related, but interesting nonetheless, from yesterday’s Times: “For the third consecutive game, [Mets manager Jerry] Manuel removed his starting pitcher in the middle of an inning. For the third consecutive game, the starter — this time, Mike Pelfrey — remained on the mound until the reliever arrived.” Seems to me that this used to be common years ago, but at some point pitchers began walking to the dugout as soon as the skipper arrived on the mound. Can anyone confirm or refute? Any idea when the changeover took place? … “It appears that Chris Sabo was way ahead of the Jamie Moyer curve when it comes to having a team logo on low-riding stirrups,” writes Robert Eden. “What’s all the more remarkable is that for years, Sabo had cultivated the fake stirrups look that we all know and loathe.” … Remember yesterday’s Ticker item about Bill Freehan wearing his uni number on his left sleeve during the ’68 World Series, while the other Tigers wore it on the right? Don Montgomery found another left-numbered Tiger from that same World Series: Willie Horton (who had the number on the proper sleeve earlier that year). … An injured hiker who was stranded in the Bavarian Alps was rescued after using her sports bra to signal local lumberjacks (it’s not clear whether the lumberjacks were attracted by the bra or by her bralessness), which I’m sure will lead to a new ad slogan: “Just Undo It.” … As many of you are already aware, this Virginia Tech jersey is up for sale on the web, although the Hokies haven’t yet confirmed that this will be the school’s new design. The full ensemble will apparently look like this, at least according to this blog entry (courtesy of Ryan McGhee). … “You may have heard that NY Ranger Sean Avery was an intern at Vogue,” writes Dan McCue. “He’s offered up his list of the worst sports uniforms ever. He also explains why he wanted to intern at Vogue. Best line: ‘If you feel like teasing this hockey player about an obsession of his that you might think is a little unusual, go right ahead. Just know that you may get your ass kicked by a very expensive pair of shoes — and that they’ll probably match both my belt and my shirt.’” … I’ve occasionally mentioned the Midnight Sun Game, which takes place every year in Alaska. But here’s something I hadn’t seen before: Players wearing Native Athabascan clothing prior to the 1964 game (great find by Mike Caulfield). … Speaking of finds, Jim Pericotti has discovered something I don’t think anyone else has brought up before: Maryland wears white uni numbers on their white helmets. What’s that about? … Yesterday I mentioned that Roger Federer would be wearing this logo on his sneakers. Turns out he’s also got it on his belt (good spot by Brinke Guthrie). … Jason Giambi’s mustache is getting lots of attention. … Mike Fiala just checked in from Vienna, where the European Soccer Championships have been taking place. “Adidas obviously made it their goal to win the advertising title, as they put a giant shoe for every participating country in front of Vienna’s Museumsquartier,” he writes. “Each shoe is as big as a compact car. Another annoying thing, although i haven’t seen it in person yet, is a 33m-tall Petr Čech in front of one of Vienna’s best known and beloved landmarks, the Riesenrad.” But hey, when I complain about the encroachment of advertising in public spaces, I’m just being an alarmist, right?
June 24th, 2008
Yesterday I highlighted a bunch of uni-related items currently being auctioned off by Leland’s. As I mentioned at the time, they have a separate auction catalog just for old photos, many of which are doozies. Here’s a rundown of some that caught my eye:
• You’ve heard of a player winning “the batting crown,” but how often have you seen him wearing an actual crown to mark the occasion? That’s Dixie Walker, who led the National League with a .357 average in 1944.
• Here’s something I’ve never seen before: Ralph Kiner going totally bare-armed (à la Big Klu).
• We’ve all seen old baseball jerseys with lace-up closures. But I’ve never seen the laces look as, well, lace-y as they do here.
• You all know how I’m fond of old-school baseball sweaters, so you can imagine how much I love this shot of Christy Mathewson.
• Great cross-sport photo here: Ty Cobb in golf attire.
• Although I’ve seen it before, it’s always hard to accept that old-time ballplayers kept their fielding gloves tucked in their back pockets. (Also: Lots of dead-ball players looked sort of stiff and unathletic, at least by contemporary standards, but this shot — which is of Larry Doyle, circa 1910s — looks unusually supple and fluid for a hitter from that era.)
• We’re so used to the Yankees wearing “NY” at home and “New York” on the road that it’s easy to forget that they wore “Yankees” — on the road — from 1927 through 1930.
• Here’s future American League prexy Joe Cronin wearing a very unusual uniform. The shot — which is one of the nicer baseball portraits I’ve ever seen — was taken in 1922, when Cronin was only 16 years old and playing for the Columbia Park Boys Club team. Look closely at the chest logo and you’ll see that it repeats the “CPBC” lettering on the placket — unusual case of an acronym appearing twice on the front of a jersey.
• Major find here: a bunch of old San Francisco 49ers publicity pics. These were shot in 1946, when the team was about to begin its inaugural season in the All American Football Conference. Not sure if they didn’t have real uniforms yet or if the stenciled jerseys were their regular practice attire. Either way, very cool.
• Speaking of the Niners, did you know that they originally wore red helmets? Check out these shots of them playing the Browns in 1954. Not sure who the other team is in this shot, but that’s the Niners trying to block the punt, and they’re running the ball here. (And as long as we’re talking about the Niners, check out this interview shot — are those old mics and logos totally hot or what?)
• Check this out: some pics from the Baltimore Colts’ first season, 1953. No shoulder stripes!
• Sixty-eight years after the fact, the Chicago Bears’ sleeve striping is instantly recognizable, even in black-and-white.
• Awesome Uni Watch fodder here, as Blackhawks coach Paul Thompson is shown inspecting the team’s new 1944 uniforms.
• I guess they needed an XXXXL jersey for this guy. That’s Leo Durocher being a good sport.
Raffle Reminder: Today’s the last day to enter the NameFrame raffle. If you haven’t already entered, send a blank e-mail with your name in the subject line to uniraffle at earthlink dot net (not to the regular Uni Watch e-mail address, please) by 10pm eastern tonight. One e-mail per person, but membership program enrollees will automatically get three bonus entries.
I originally said I’d announce the winner next Monday, but I’d forgotten about the long weekend, so instead I’ll reveal the winner on Tuesday. And that brings us to…
Holiday Schedule: We’ll have a weekend-style entry on Monday. Back to regular office hours on Tuesday.
Research Project: Shea Stadium has Cow-Bell Man (who’s a fan), and PNC Park has Camera Guy (a working photographer, who actually has his own MySpace page). Do other stadiums have folks who regularly roam the stands wearing a uniform with an entrenched NOB persona? I’m not talking about some yayhoo who shows up every now and then, or about a team-employed mascot — I mean a regular person who everyone knows because he’s always at the game, and who happens to wear some sort of specialized “fan name” on his back. If you know of any, please get in touch.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Clever jersey display at PNC Park (with thanks to Ryan Connelly, who also provided that Camera Guy photo). … I’m sure the NFL was pleased to see Rocky Mountain News cartoonist Drew Litton using the league’s new logo. … Hanif Johnson, a high school track-and-fielder in Pennsylvania, apparently favors some seriously rad socks (with thanks to Rich Canulli). … This is hilarious (and for those who want more coverage, I believe my ESPN colleague Jim Caple will have something on it today on Page 2). … Very cool Coca-Cola uniform catalog available here. … UAB has unveiled its new football uniforms. Details here (with thanks to Shane Maddox). … Shane also got access to some screen grabs from an upcoming NCAA video game. “Looks like Sryacuse went back to a little of McNabb’s era on the helmet. The S on the side is outlined in white now, too.” … I’m going to be out and about for most of today, so Bryan will be minding the store, and I’ve entrusted him with the site’s top-secret self-destruct sequence, so play nice or else. Happy Memorial Day Weekend to one and all — see you next week.
May 23rd, 2008
It’s been a while since I’ve run a selection of uni-related items up for auction at Leland’s. Their current auction, which runs through June 6th, is divided up into two separate catalogs — one devoted to objects and another devoted to photographs — and there’s a ton of great stuff in both categories, so I’m going to divide my coverage into two entries. Today I’ll look at physical objects; a subsequent entry (maybe as soon as tomorrow, maybe next week) will look at the photos. I assure you both entries will feature enough material to stand on their own.
Off we go:
• Here’s another one of those experimental satin uniforms, which several teams used for night games. Details and additional photos here.
• I never saw a game at Three Rivers Stadium, so I never saw this sign (details here). You know what part of the illustration I like best.
• I’ve written before about World Series press pins. Here are some gorgeous examples from the 1920s (details here). And there’s a whole separate category: World Series clubhouse passes — hadn’t seen those before. Love the die-cut shape (details here).
• Love this beautiful batch of 1933 hockey cards (details here). And these 1961 basketball cards are even nicer (details here).
• I’ve always loved the simplicity of this NHL All-Star Game uniform. Look at those grommets! (Details and additional pics here.)
• Really interesting batch of European and Russian hockey jerseys here (with details and additional pics here).
• It’s always weird to see cowboy imagery mixed with hockey. Cases in point: the Calgary Cowboys (details here) and the Denver Spurs (details here, and here’s the road version).
• Check out this old Montreal Canadiens portrait (details here). I especially like the coaches’ sweaters.
• This painting of Jack Dempsey (details here) is interesting. Instead of the usual elasticized waistband on the trunks, it appears that he had a belt or sash running through real belt loops.
• Speaking of boxing, remember when fighters wore tights, instead of trunks? Then check out these figurines (details here).
• Lots to like in this 1938 Detroit Lions jersey: the long sleeves, the huge uni number, and check out all those buttons on the crotch tab. Great label, too. Details here.
• You have got to be kidding me.
More to come soon.
Wanna Be a Designer?: Reader T.J. Leibowitz has an interesting proposition for you all:
My high school is getting new lacrosse uniforms next year, and our coach has asked the players to design the uniforms. This should really be a dream come true for me. Frankly, though, I’m tapped for ideas, so I thought I’d throw it out here and see if any Uni Watch readers can contribute a good design for us. This would be good for me (hopefully a good enough design from the Uni Watch faithful will mean no “mustang” design; I really would rather not be the Denver Broncos of high school lacrosse) and good for Uni Watch (the site would be having an actual impact on uniform design, if only at the high school level).
Here’s the web site for Z-Wear, our uniform supplier, and their lacrosse uniform creator. However, a sales rep for Z-Wear told us that they can also use the football patterns and scale them for lacrosse jerseys, so you can play around with the football uni creator if you prefer the styles there.
I’m trying to find exactly what our league uniform rules are (I’ve downloaded every PDF on the THSLL site, but to no avail), but I’m pretty sure most number/font choices can be scaled to fit.
I originally posted all of this in the comments, and I got some great suggestions, but many of them involved trim colors that our athletic department simply will not allow. So please note that our school colors are green and white, and that they can NOT be tinkered with. Additionally, we have an athletic department standard for font (it’s not available on the uni creator and I’m not quite sure what it is, but I’ll deal with it later). Aside from that, you’re free to roam.
If you come up with something, please e-mail me. Either a screen shot or plain text listing of what your choices are is fine.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Interesting note from Pat Duffy, who writes: “A site I write for will be running a contest over the next two weeks to find people who have rare Buffalo Bills jerseys, stories, and weird memorabilia. We’re going to display the pictures of the coolest stuff we get all week, including things from other teams, and there will be a Bills-themed prize (looks like a either a jersey, or a pair of tickets to the VIP night practice at Bills training camp). We have some photos of rare Bills jerseys and memorabilia posted now, which might interest Uni Watch readers.” … Speaking of contests, the University of Florida is holding a competition for students to design next season’s student section T-shirt. Details here (with thanks to Evan Goldfarb). … Add the 1980 Tacoma Tigers to the list of all-time ugly uniforms (with thanks to John English). … AS Saint Etienne is outfitted by Adidas. And, as Jeremy Brahm notes, their logo has three stripes. Coincidence? … The Orioles stirrups that I wore the other day reminded Paul Wiederecht of another set of orange-based hose: the set worn by the Colt .45s. … Here’s a rarity: an Expos pillbox cap (with thanks to Scott Schul). … A few days ago I mentioned that the Lions will be wearing a “75 Seasons” patch this year. Now comes word that they’ll be wearing throwbacks for two days (with thanks to Doug Mooney and Yakki Cohen). … Here’s a better shot of Eric Gagne’s high-pants look. … Joseph Chiaccio reports that the Rays will be wearing St. Petersburg Pelicans throwbacks on June 21st. … Did you know Mike Piazza once wore No. 25 with the Dodgers? I didn’t, until Paul Kamras sent me this. … Chris Dias notes that NBA tights appear to be making a comeback. … “Tuesday night’s game between the Greenville Drive (Red Sox affiliate) and the Charleston River Dogs (Yankees farm club) featured both teams wearing the uniforms of their MLB parent clubs,” writes Ronnie Poore. “Of course, no retired numbers were allowed, so several guys had to have new numbers.” Dozens of additional photos here. … The logo for the 2010 Men’s World Volleyball Championship in Italy will look like this (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Also from Jeremy: Logo trouble at the Olympics. … John Muir reports that British Airways held a fashion show of its past and present uniforms on Wednesday in Tokyo, to mark the 60th anniversary celebration of the launch of the company’s service to Japan. … Notes from yesterday’s Chelsea/ManU match in Moscow, courtesy of Morris Levin: “Chelsea wore lower-case NOBs; because it wasn’t a Premier League match, the teams could do what they wanted with number and name fonts, so both teams used different ones than normal; both teams wore the Euro equivalent of championship game patches with multi-line embroidery on the front of the kits; and the Chelsea goalkeeper was not only wearing a road-crew bright-orange uniform but also full padded headgear. He played well but looked terrible.” All of these details are on display in this gallery. … Many of you have expressed doubt that the Tigers ever wore this jersey, but look — proof! … Anyone who thinks I get too much positive feedback (or who just wants a good laugh) should read the comments at the end of this piece. … Looks like they needed a blood jersey — and also some blood pants — last night in San Diego. … Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich appear to have a very special relationship (big thanks to Ronald Covert). … Big Klu’s daughter? Nope, it’s a member of the Wilson Memorial High School softball team in Virginia (nice find by Steve Hicks). … For those of you who remember my old zine: Beer Frame may be dead, but the T-shirt lives again. … And speaking of T-shirts, if you missed yesterday’s entry, check out all the cool new Uni Watch tees for sale here.
May 22nd, 2008
As many of you know, I collect uniform catalogs. I usually prefer the ones that include fabric swatches, but a few weeks ago I scored a 1962 Wilson catalog with an unusually large amount of great material. No swatches? No problem. Here’s a peek at some of the stuff that had me oohing and ahhing as I flipped through the pages:
• Gotta love a company that refers to its uniforms as “Coloramic.” But that does seem to be the appropriate term for these designs (dig those vertically striped socks, too — remember, this was 1962, when the Broncos were wearing their vertically striped hose).
• I don’t know what to make of a term like “Action Fitted Pants.” Like, as opposed to sitting-on-the-bench-fitted?
• What’s better than a page of jackets and capes? Two pages of jackets and capes.
• I think you all know how much I love striping option pages.
• Here’s another one of those helmets with a padded crown. Wilson called theirs a “shock absorbing panel” — pretty bland compared to the “Absorblo” found in that 1969 MacGregor catalog that Jeff Fedenko let me look at a few weeks back.
• These shoes look so totally bitchin’. No swooshes, no doodads, just black leather, white laces, and stitching. The stitching around the toe area almost looks like a cap-toe dress shoe — nice.
• I’ve seen square-toed kicking shoes before (they’re now banned), but until now I’d never seen a kicking toe attachment that could be added to a conventional-toe shoe.
• Most of my uniform catalogs don’t include officials’ gear, but this one does. And hey, don’t you miss the days when the end of the quarter was marked by a pistol shot?
• Lots of hoops unis here as well, and I’d say coloramic is once again the operative term (all kidding aside, I love that design shown at far right).
• Pages like this send me into a total swoon. I mean, look at some of those designs! Love the super-precise descriptions, too: “One row 3/8 inch and one row 7/8 inch rayon braid 7/8 inch apart around bottoms and pyramids.”
• I’d shove my own grandma out of the way to get my hands on any of the garments shown on this page. Actually, I don’t have any living grandparents, but you get the idea. This page is almost as good. And check out the sleeve options shown at the bottom of this page.
• Women’s hoops, alas, gets a rather cursory treatment.
• You knew this was coming — the hosiery pages. Coloramics strikes again, as this page various stitch options (never seen that choice offered before) and this one sets me into a fit of Homer Simpson-esque drooling. Love how the uni-numbered hose are described as being “for the well dressed team!”
Raffle Reminder: Remember, I’m raffling off a free two-color NameFrame — perfect for Father’s Day. If you haven’t already entered, send a blank e-mail with your name in the subject line to uniraffle at earthlink dot net (please note that this is not the regular Uni Watch e-mail address) by this Friday at 10pm eastern. One e-mail per person, but membership program enrollees will automatically get three bonus entries. I’ll announce the winner next Monday.
Anniversary Celebration, Continued: On Monday I announced that Nina Dubin had designed a new Uni Watch T-shirt (available here). Not to be outdone, Scott M.X. Turner has designed four new T-shirts. And I’ve gotta say, they are totally the bomb.
The first three shirts are based on a circular design that Scott has rendered in each of the three Uni Watch colors — gold, green, and burgundy. And for people who prefer a non-circular graphic, there’s also this version. I hope you’ll agree that Scott has hit a home run with these — I’m really proud to see the Uni Watch name on them.
Here are the actual shirts: gold circle, green circle, burgundy circle, no circle (plus they’re all shown in the Uni Watch store). And of course you can choose to have these graphics on a black tee, a brown tee, or whatever, so there’s a near-limitless supply of mix-and-match possibilities. Well, almost limitless — for reasons not worth explaining, the three circular designs can only be printed on dark-colored tees. But most people prefer dark tees anyway, right? Click through all the shirt style and color options and I’m sure you’ll find something that floats your boat.
Uni Watch News Ticker: While searching for something else, I came across this 1969 photo of Jerry Grote. Look at that white outline on the NY logo — never never never seen that before on a Mets batting helmet. … And while search for a different something else, I found this awesome shot of the 1940 Pirates. … Matthew Lepke reports that Craig Monroe was getting a bit creative with the eye black over the weekend. … Dave Kendrick sent along word that there’s a hockey team in Atlanta whose players all have “Ramone” NOBs. And what is this team called? Take a look. … Wil Ledezma was showing some Philly tag on Monday. … Hope for America’s youth: This is a player from the Leroy High Bears in Leroy, Alabama, who recently won their second consecutive 2A state championship (with thanks to Jonathon Binet). … My recent column on racing silks led Amanda Gustin to point me toward this site, which is all about the proper attire for fox hunting. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Interesting batting helmet being worn by the Chinese national team. … The biggest design story of the day — and probably the decade — was this. … Dan Alexander of the AFL’s Chicago Rush taped a cross onto his facemask on Monday. Doug Steffenson, who was the first of several readers who forwarded that photo to me, says he hears through the grapevine that Alexander may receive a reprimand from the league. … Someone needs to button up (with thanks to Brent Hardman). … Check this out: Garry Maddox in spring training, early 1980s, wearing sanitaries but no stirrups! … I’ve been convinced for a while now that nobody could look worse in a baseball uniform than Eric Gagne. But it turns out that someone can. And that someone is Eric Gagne (big thanks to Nicole Haase).
May 21st, 2008
As many of you know, I often play softball on Sunday afternoons, and I practice what I preach by wearing stirrups. For years I’ve been going with basic navy, because I always wear navy sweatpants. But as you may recall from a few weeks ago, the folks at Mitchell & Ness recently sent me a box filled with hose-a-plenty, so I’ve decided to inaugurate a new project: the Uni Watch Stirrups of the Week. Yesterday was my first game of the year (we’ve had shitty Sunday weather up until now), so here’s our first installment:
This week’s design: navy with red stripes, medium-cut.
Ideal for feeling like a member of: the 1950s Cubs.
Color-coordination factor: Easy.
How they looked: Totally bitchin’ (further evidence here, here, here, here, and here).
How I felt: Totally bitchin’.
How I played: Rusty day at the plate — F7, GIDP (ugh), and 5-3. Saw a lot of action in left field, most of which I ran down, although I’m still pissed about one shot over my head that I couldn’t quite corral (it glanced off my glove, which prolonged what turned out to be a damaging inning for my team). All in all: lots of room for improvement. But godDAMN did my stripes look good!
I’ll continue to wear a different set of hose each time I play. There were 11 pairs in the box from Mitchell & Ness, plus I have those genuine Mets stirrups that Paul Wiederecht recently gave me, so that should get me through most of the season (I don’t play every week).
And hey, speaking of Mitchell & Ness, I had a blast on Saturday at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, where the M&N folks had set up a display devoted to Philly’s uniform history. This was my first time meeting M&N prexy Peter Capolino, who turned out to be a really sweet guy and a great storyteller. Also on hand were M&N researcher and longtime Uni Watch contributor Jared Wheeler (my first time meeting him, too — great, great guy) and Victory Pennants honcho Morris Levin, plus some Uni Watch readers stopped by as well.
Peter had set up a few racks of old Philly A’s jerseys (plus he included that black New York Giants design, cuz that’s what the Giants wore against the A’s in the 1911 World Series), and a similar display for the Phillies (thanks for the prop assistance, Kirsten). Plus there were lots of patches, pennants (this one was my favorite), caps, and related ephemera. And check this out: a few items from the Phils’ short-lived Blue Jays period.
But my favorite item on display had nothing to do with Philadelphia: these pants, which had an incredible blue/gold pinstripe pattern (additional views here and here). Is that gorgeous or what? Peter says he isn’t sure what team wore this — someone gave him the pants, but no corresponding jersey, a few years back.
The Philadelphia A’s Historical Society had a table too, stocked with assorted photos, yearbooks, programs, and so on. Interestingly, they also had a team portrait of the 1955 Kansas City A’s (that was the franchise’s first year after leaving Philly) — I love that map that shows all the radio affiliates.
After a checking out the Reading Terminal Market and getting a pork sandwich at DiNic’s, it was off to Bob & Barbara’s for the latest Uni Watch gathering. Great time (esp. seeing all the locals slowly going out of their minds as the Mets beat the Phils on the bar’s TV), but I just wasn’t in the mood to take photos. Sorry ’bout that. Big thanks to everyone who came out, and bonus thanks for all the drinks, gifts, and kind words — Philly fans may have legendarily tough exteriors, but I can now attest that they’ve also got soft, friendly hearts.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Cool vintage Celtics sweaters here and here (as discovered by Mike Cooperman). … Attention everyone who’s been asking me where to buy stirrups — look! … NHL note from Al Stone: “Very early on in Thursday night’s Flyers/Caps game, Ovechkin had his facemask cracked and had to very quickly grab Boyd Gordon’s visor-less helmet off the bench. It was very unusual to see him finish the shift without a visor — didn’t look like the usual Ovie at all. The very next shift, however, he was back out on the ice with a repaired helmet with visor.” … Here’s another Sparky Anderson shot, this time from his days with the Fort Worth Cats (with thanks to Jeff Meyers). … James Maino reports that Virginia Tech will have a “whiteout” game on September 6th, with 1970s throwbacks. … See any glaring similarities here? I don’t, but some idiots in Miami do (with thanks to Greg Mays). … We all know about sponsor-driven team uniforms, but how about sponsor-designed umpire uniforms? (Nice find by Steven Wyder) … Speaking of sponsorship logos, check this out (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Have bat weights been logo-emblazoned all along? That photo is the first time I’ve noticed it. … The KC T-Bones have backed off their idea of wearing prison-striped uniforms in “honor” of local prisoner Michael Vick. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Habs goalie Carey Price is my kinda fella. … Also from yesterday: Check out this huge NOB lettering (taken from this cricket highlight vid). … Scroll down to the “Around Baseball” section of this page for news about Bobby Abreu’s cleats and his plans to become a sporting goods mogul (with thanks to Matt Powers). … Weren’t the new 5950s supposed to eliminate this problem? … Bit of a Mets jersey mystery over on Jon Springer’s site — look here. … “Nebraska football has worn black shoes for a number of seasons, maybe the duration of their contract with Adidas,” writes Bryan Hansen. “But in Saturday’s spring game, it looked like they may be in transition to a white/red shoe. There were several players in the (presumably old) black shoes and others wearing a new white/red shoe.” … Here’s the latest story on the tensions between teams, leagues, and media in the new-media era — recommended reading. … If the Blue Jays can make throwback powder blue uniforms, can’t they make a throwback smock for Joihn Gibbons? (Screen grab courtesy of Michael Moss.) … Speaking of managerial attire, what’s up with Terry Francona’s collar? Like, is it tucked under, or did he have it removed? (With thanks to Mark Shipman.) … Holy-moly (courtesy of David Soline). … Jeremy Brahm reports that the 2011 Women’s World Cup logo will look like this. … Cool old photo of Lou Gehrig here (rare non-Wisconsin contribution from Nicole Haase). … Speaking of Gehrig, did you know he’s the only Yankee ever to have worn No. 4? Or that the other players wore Joe D.’s No. 5 while he was in the military? You would if you’d read this excellent piece about Yankees uni numbers (with thanks to Alan Kreit). … Adidas can’t be happy about Shaq wearing a Nike compression shirt (good spot by Brett Crane). … “Looks like the Raptors are rolling out a new logo for the playoffs,” writes Sean, who didn’t give his last name. “Basically just the original dino logo but de-purple-ized.” … The Fresno Grizzlies wore autism-awareness jerseys on Friday (with thanks to Aaron Wiens, who also sent along some pics of the most disturbingly purple car I’ve ever had the displeasure of seeing). … “Lance Armstrong was at Fenway on Saturday (because he’s running the Boston Marathon on Monday), and some players on both the Red Sox and the Rangers wore yellow wristbands (not to be confused with the Livestrong bracelets) to support his charity,” writes Mark Mihalik. “Unfortunately the only picture I could find was this one. I also noticed that Jacoby Ellsbury went a step further by wearing a yellow arm band and yellow shoelaces.” … Another Rangers/Bosox report, this time from Nick Freeman: “I was at Friday’s game and noticed in the 1st inning that the Rangers’ bat boy was wearing their gray away uniform even though the team was wearing the blue alternates.We all sat there making fun of the Rangers for being too cheap to buy the bat boys proper jerseys. But then in the 4th, the bat boy had switched and was now in blue. Throw this in with all their other jersey issues and this is a team in trouble.” … “The Ravens, now under John Harbaugh, have stepped up their practice unis,” reports Joe Hilseberg, “going from Brian Billick’s high school rejects look to pretty darn close to the game-day jersey, even with names on the back. … Good interview here with the Sneaker Wars author, although the accompanying photo gallery has several caption errors (with thanks to Chris LaHaye). … My browser refuses to play this video, but David Sonny says the last 20 seconds or so show a sneak preview of the U. of Cincinnati’s new football uniforms. … Personal Foul, Abusing the Uniform, Part 1: Will someone please get these guys a box of Kleenex? … Personal Foul, Abusing the Uniform, Part 2: And while you’re at it, get this guy a snack. … The official wire service caption for that last photo, by the way, begins like so: “Rodney Stuckey #3 of the Detroit Pistons looks on while playing the Philadelphia 76ers…” That brings up a pet peeve: What’s the deal with the term “looks on”? I’ve been seeing it in sports photo captions since I was a kid, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it used in any non-sports context. It’s such a lame-o cop-out of a term — says nothing, means nothing. And yet a quick check of Yahoo! Sports (who I could never work for, if only because that exclamation point would drive me out of my fucking mind) reveals that there are currently 793 “looks on”-inclusive photos out there, which means there are some seriously lazy caption writers. I mean, whatever else Rodney Stuckey is doing, he’s not looking on. Please join me in campaigning to eradicate this annoying term from the sports lexicon. … Remember, Roberto Clemente documentary tonight on PBS.
No comment? No — comment!: As many of you are aware, our spam filter got all bitchy on Friday night and started grabbing every single reader comment. This forced Bryan, John, and me (well, mostly Bryan and John) to spend the weekend going into the filter and manually approving every pearl of wisdom you chose to share with us. Now, don’t get me wrong — it’s not that we don’t enjoy wading through hundreds of porno-spambot posts just to find the one legitimate reader comment that consists of a quotation from a Seinfeld episode — but we wouldn’t want you to think we were having too much fun, so John installed a new spam filter late last night. It appears to be working properly so far, but we’re still learning its quirks (and it’s still learning that terms like “stirrups fetish” are not cause for alarm), so it’s possible that some of your comments may still get waylaid, and/or that some spam will find its way onto the site. I trust you’ll bear with us as you continue to share your photos of USC cheerleaders (and high-minded reactions thereto), references to Major League, and all the other insights that make the comments section such a vibrant, stimulating forum. Thanks.
April 21st, 2008
I generally don’t like the term mashup, which has become so ridiculously overused that it’s been rendered almost meaningless. But it occurred to me the other day when I received the following note from Michael Princip:
I love clear shell-type football helmets, the Seattle Seahawks, and Joe Washington’s style (running and uniform). So what did I do about it? I developed the Joe Washington tribute Seahawks clear-shell helmet. The notion of this project was so eccentric, I had to see it through to fruition.
For those who aren’t aware of the uniqueness of a Macgregor/Kelley clear-shell helmet: All of the decals, as well as the paint, were applied from the inside (note the rivets on top of the decal). These helmets were truly unique because logo and paint were permanently protected by the outside surface of the clear plastic shell.
For this custom project, I got the clear-shell helmet through a Yahoo helmet collectors group, where I sent out an e-mail request. I got one reply from someone who had two shells, which he sold me. Only thing is, one shell had paint still applied on both sides, and the other had paint recently removed, leaving cloudiness from the paint remover. So I had to put a lot of work into sanding/polishing and taking the cloudiness out of that shell. Never really got it crystal clear, just good enough.
I developed the Seahawks logo decal using clear waterslide paper (think model kit decals). White paint was applied on the back (non-adhesive) side of the decals, to fill out and solidify the colors. Also, I used clear acrylic paint for added strength on the very delicate waterslide paper. I then applied the silver paint from the inside of the shell and finished with a nice gray flexible primer.
Other notable players who wore clear-shell helmets: Billy Sims, Roger Staubach, Charlie Waters, Archie Manning, and various Steelers players back in the 1970s. One of the most interesting clear shell helmets I’ve ever seen would have to be John Simmons’s Bengals helmet.
Thanks, Michael, for the excellent primer on clear-shell helmets, and kudos on your cool art project. At the risk of opening a Pandora’s Box of major silliness, are there other good uni mashups (for lack of a better term) waiting to happen? I’ll set one basic rule: Keep all the elements within a given sport, as Michael did (i.e., don’t propose a Brett Favre Dodgers jersey with a fight strap). Or if you insist on mixing sports, keep them all within a given city, as Roger Faso has done with his all-purpose Oakland sports logo (see comment No. 7 for details). OK? Let’s hear — or, better yet, see — whatcha got.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Faaaascinating article here about Japanese school uniforms (courtesy of, of course, Jeremy Brahm). … Also from Jeremy: The Seibu Lions will wear this design for their Japanese interleague games this season. The wording on the back of the jersey reads, “No Limit 2008, Aim for the Championship Again.” … Check out this video clip of Roger Goodell, and note the difference between the NFL logos in the background and the one on his microphone (good catch by Brian Corbett). … More on the Twins’ base coaches wearing the 1970s helmets: First read this, then read the first graf of this, and then the third graf of this (great work by Karl G. Anderson). … Last Friday I asked why the Rangers never wear their official road cap. Got the following response from someone connected to the team (who prefers to remain nameless): “We haven’t worn that cap since I started working for the team in 2003. I’m not sure |
