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Posts filed under 'DIY Projects'
[Editor's Note: Today we have an excellent guest entry by Ryan Connelly, who tells the tale of a DIY project gone horribly awry. -- PL]
By Ryan Connelly
My buddies and I started an ice hockey team and named it the Invaders. Just a low-C, high-B level team that plays other local adult/beer league teams. So of course this gave me the opportunity to design a uniform.
I was playing in a tournament in Mississauga, Ontario, when I saw one of the players wearing this jersey and immediately fell in love with it, for obvious reasons. When I found the blank jersey online, I thought it was black/yellow, but when I got it in the mail I was surprised to find it was brown/yellow.
Before I go on, I should explain that I’m color-deficient, so one of the things you’ll notice is the jersey and socks being brown/yellow and the logo being black/yellow. It just adds to the “charm” of the uniform, trust me. But really, it kind of works out nicely with our black pants, gloves, and skates.
Next step — my favorite step — design a logo or two in AutoCAD. We decided on a “space invaders” theme. Here’s the game play that most of us remember, and I found this helpful image online too.
Then I started to goof around in AutoCAD. I traced the game’s wordmark, teamed it up with an invader guy, and resized the wordmark. Then I prettied it up a bit and put a spaceship-like boarder around it, to create the finished logo.
The next task: uni numbers. I played the game online for a bit until I could get to the “High Scores” screen at the end of the game because I knew it would rank at least 10 names. That way I would have every numeral to work with.
Then I did my CAD thing, outlined the numerals, and finished them.
With the logos and numbers now designed, it was time to create physical versions of them for the jerseys. I printed four or five copies of the logo outline on a plotter to scale. Then I
cut out the spaceship-like border, invader (body, arms, antennae separate), and each letter, pasted all of that onto cheap yellow construction paper you can buy anywhere, traced each element, and then cut again. Now I had logo templates to trace onto fabric.
As for the numbers: For this step I printed all the numbers to scale then cut. I wanted to use two-tone numbers (yellow with a black border), so this had to be done in two steps. The first set of cut-outs was the black outline of the number; when cut, it was obvious which number was which. But the second set was the yellow inner part of the number, and they were just basically blocks. so I assigned a letter to each shape.
Take the number 8 for example: The number 8 uses blocks “i” and “H” to make up the yellow parts. The yellow “i” block is also used in the numbers 6, 9, and 0, so no sense cutting out nine different stencils. I just cut one block and reused it for tracing. I also printed out a smaller version of the stencils and used them as a key when putting together the fabric.
After doing all of that, I had this group of stencils for the black part of the numbers, and this group of stencils for the yellow part of the numbers.
With the stencils made, it was time to trace everything onto fabric, beginning with the logo. First I traced the logo outline and cut out the logo shapes. Then I traced the invader guy, cut the invader guy into little rectangles, cut all of them out into their finished shapes (with a little “B” on one side for “back”), and organized them for gluing.
I used a template guide to line up all the yellow invaders with the black outline and glued. I followed basically the same steps for the letters. After gluing. I later stitched. When the logos were done, I followed basically the same steps for the numbers.
Now it was time to put everything onto the jerseys. I lined and centered the stitched-up logos and numbers on the jerseys, then glued them onto the jerseys, and then stitched. The front looked like this, and you can see a bunch of the backs here.
The first five were finished and look great! Then I washed one of them and … DISASTER.
I had used a heavy twill-like fabric called duck cloth — the same kind of cloth used for bean bags in games like cornhole. And to hold the numbers, logos, and letters in place (both to themselves and to the jersey), I’d used a glue that, unbeknownst to me, pretty much dissolves when washed. As the glue wore off in the wash, the stitching cut right through the material.
What a mess. And we had a game coming up real soon! So after all that time, money, and energy, I gave in. I sent the logo and the jerseys out to a local screen-printing business, picked out some old-school block numbers, and ta-da. Here’s a close-up of the front, and here’s how they looked from the back.
I think the block numbers add a certain charm to the whole jersey. Also, I’ve told the team that I’m going to make logos the correct way over the winter. It really wont take much to place the sewn logos over top of the screened logos.
This project was started around mid-April and finished up in mid-July. Looking back, I can be 110% honest when I say that I was NEVER mad when the material got destroyed in the wash. A touch let down, but never pissed off at all. Also, I had an absolute blast working on this project from start to finish! Working on the logo, finding the materials, working with the team. Nothing was ever a burden on this project, and I loved every minute of it.
Last but certainly not least, I got this completely awesome DIY of my DIY by the great artist himself, Mr. Robert Marshall. You can see it bobbling [along with some trenchant Uni Watch commentary and a perfect example of the conflicting urges to create and destroy -- PL] here.
And speaking of DIY: Paul here. Wouldn’t you like to own one of these sweaters? You can, if you have a knitting machine, because Rick Fleck recently mailed me this officially licensed 1990 knitting guide, which provides sweater patterns for all 14 NFC teams at the time. I’ve scanned the entire guide and put the page scans here. I know exactly zero about intarsia knitting, but I would love it if someone could make a sweater based on one of these patterns.
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say most of you reading this probably don’t know how to knit. But maybe your significant other does, hmmm? Get crackin’, guys.
College Hoops Reminder: I’m continuing to work on my college hoops season-preview column for ESPN. So if you know of teams with new uniforms, new patches, new court designs, etc., let’s have ’em. Thanks.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Really interesting article about a new skate sharpening method here. … Dozens of tremendous old Iowa football pics available in this gallery (with thanks to Rob Leavell). … Rob Nanovic notes that Maine’s football team is wearing Adidas jerseys and Nike pants. … Hmmm, White Sox hockey jerseys — interesting (with thanks to Zach Nesler). … Fascinating info from George Tvardy, who writes: “Very interesting story that has been on the sports shows here in Knoxville: Although Adidas is Tennessee’s supplier, the black alternates worn Saturday night were not actually Adidas jerseys. Story is that Mike Hamilton, UT athletic director, only agreed to the wearing of the black jerseys late Friday afternoon and UT then got a local printer to make the alternate jerseys. Since UT has the Adidas contract, they had to put Adidas logos on these jerseys so that they would not be in violation of their contract.” … Stop what you’re doing and read this absolutely essential article about flannel jersey fabric. Highly recommended reading (great find by Dave Grob). … Brian Brown has made himself a coffee table based on the old Mecca Arena court design. … Oopsie. … Latest reason to hate jersey sponsorships: If two soccer teams show up wearing the same sponsor, one of them has to change (with thanks to Terence Kearns). … Paul Wiederecht sent along a great SI spread from the 1963 Army/Navy game, with Navy wearing SOB (slogan on back). The story behind the slogan is explained here. … Speaking of old SI material, Ricko pointed me toward this great 1954 item about heavyweight sweaters. Here’s the second page of the spread, and a close-up of the short text. … The London Daily Telegraph is the latest media outlet to publish a rundown of history’s worst uniforms, except their survey consists primarily of soccer and rugby kits (with thanks to Craig Ackers). … Totally awesome vintage Chinese Taipei warm-up jacket available here. … Late-breaking Halloween submission from Mike Miller, who got a photo of a friend dressed up as Dave Dravecky. … Even better, Joe Rosenbaum dressed up as Billy Ripken. … Cleveland textiles maven Steven Tatar tipped me wise to this letterman jacket operation. “They’re the real deal,” he says. “Leather sleeves, melton wool bodies, chenille hooked tip-on letters, and chain-stitching to boot.” … A French soccer player wore the wrong jersey the other day (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Anyone know why the Coyotes wore white at home last night? … Mark Windle notes that Coy Wire appears to be missing some jersey piping. Yes, the nameplate could be covering up some of it, but not all of it. Hmmmm. … Steve Garvey + Dwight Gooden + and Super Dave + a blindfold = a really cheesy old video clip (big thanks to Steve Mandich). … Aaron Stilley has been doing some Negro Leagues research and came across an interesting item in the Chicago Defender. “I can’t tell if there was something specifically humorous about the Chicago American Giants numbers on backs, or if it was just strange that they had numbers at all,” he writes. “Would numbers on backs have been a unique sight in 1938?” I don’t think so, but I know very little about Negro Leagues uni history. Anyone..? … Kobe appears to have put on just a bit of weight (with thanks to Dwayne White).
November 3rd, 2009
[Editor's Note: A year ago, Chris Markham showed everyone how to make a helmet cup holder. Today he's back with his latest DIY project.]
By Chris Markham
Here in Rochester, we don’t really have a hometown MLB team root for. While most people generally root for the Yankees or Mets, we’re actually situated much closer to the Blue Jays, Indians, and Pirates. So while growing up in the early 1990s, I had my football and hockey teams — the Bills and Sabres — but I didn’t a baseball team. Then came the 1993 expansion Rockies and Marlins. Long story short, I ended up picking the Rockies.
Fast forward to today: After 15 years of watching baseball, I have discovered that I enjoy the distinctive elements of a team’s scoreboard. The arches at Yankee Stadium, the NYC skyline at Shea, the pinwheels at Comi-, uh Cellular Field, the Royals’ crown, the prowling tigers at Comerica Park, the birds in St. Louis, etc.
But since I’m a Rockies fan, my favorite is the mountains at Coors Field. I’ve always liked the mountain logo separated from the arch. I don’t know why they don’t use that in more places. Plus the baseball is also a clock — clever. Anyway, one day I decided I was going to make a replica of it for my “man cave” basement.
First, I imported the Rockies logo into Illustrator and started from there. I removed the Colorado arch, arched the Rockies text and recolored it. I picked up two 30″ x 20″, 1/2″-thick pieces of poster board (seemed like the easiest and cheapest option) and the necessary paints. Then I used Illustrator to size the mountains at 28″ x 14″ and set it to an X,Y coordinate of 0,0. This made it possible for me to get the X,Y coordinates of each line, map it on the poster board, play connect the dots, and cut out the finished shape.
For the letters, I printed out an outline of each letterform, traced it onto the other piece of poster board, and cut out each letter individually.
Since the mountains are the biggest part of this project, I put painter’s tape over all of the parts that are not purple and used a small paint roller to paint over the entire mountain range. After removing the tape, I had to accurately get the stitching of the ball on the mountain, I printed out a to-scale outline of the ball, cut out the stitching on the piece of paper, and traced it on the poster board. Then I painted the rest of the mountain and letters.
Last but not least, the clock. I went out to my local Wal*Mart and picked up some cheap clock for $4. I took off the face of clock and was left with the battery pack and hands. In Illustrator, I found the exact center of the ball was made a hole all the way through the poster board. I then traced around the battery pack, dug a hole in the poster board, and dropped the clock in.
So here is the finished product (plus a side view). It wasn’t very expensive to create and it makes a great addition to my room. Maybe my next project will be getting it to light up.
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Paul here. Pretty cool stuff, right? And as long as we’re talking DIY, James Huening reports that he took a cheap Chisox replica jersey and turned it into a 1950s/’60s version (”complete with yellowed fabric aging effect,” he notes), plus he turned some gym shorts into Bears pants. “These are more ‘entry-level’ or ‘remedial’ than some of the masterpieces you’ve featured in the past,” he says, “but I’m pretty proud of them, especially since I have virtually zero artistic talent.” Lots of additional photos here.
Why yes, I am a bit cranky today, why do you ask?: Major e-mail problems here at Uni Watch HQ. I’ll spare you the details and just say this: (a) If you happen to see an Earthlink executive walking by, please apprehend him as violently as possible and then give me a call. (b) If you’ve sent me some good material within the past 36 hours and haven’t seen it in the Ticker, it’s not because I’m ignoring you. Probably. And (c) Until further notice, please use this address for all Uni Watch communiqués: beerframeguy@yahoo.com.
Uni Watch Stirrup Club Update: Comrade Robert Marshall has returned from the front lines of the hosiery wars with a stirring report. I hereby surrender the floor to him and urge you to pay close heed to his words:
Fearless leader preaches the gospel of toeless hosiery in the daily Watcher, and I believe we, as cadre in colouful strype, have furthered the cause on ball fields throughout the land. Let us continue with four new choices to further the tapestry of the movement.
Now the bad news. Unfortunately, I not only have the writing style of a lunatic but the fiscal sense of an artist. The short version: I have lost a dollar-plus per pair for the last couple hundred pair. Please do not try to make anything up to me — the people who will want to do that are exactly the type of people to whom I am happy to say this: It was a necessary evil within the revolution, so let us continue to look forward in this fight. From each according to his styrrup, to each according to his strype.
However, the directions/prices for ordering have changed slightly — please check out the new procedures here.
I’m going to overrule Robert on his “Don’t bother to throw in a few extra bucks” admonition. In other words, please do throw in a few extra bucks for him. His envelope-stuffing and post office-schlepping alone are worth it, to say nothing of his hot new teevee commercial.
Last chance to make me proud: Couldn’t believe nobody responded to this on Wednesday, and I figure you can’t all be Dave Matthews fans, so let’s try this again: One of history’s most entertainingly sociopathic bands is playing at Southpaw tomorrow night, and I have two extra tickets that I’d be happy to sell at a discount. Remember, my regular e-mail’s all messed up, so use this address if you’re interested in the tix.
Uni Watch News Ticker: You may have noticed that Oregon’s offense and defense trotted onto the field last week in uni-numerical order (and yes, they have multiple players with the same number, but that’s nothing new). What’s more interesting is that they also went in numerical order when leaving the field after the first half (as spotted and photographed by Mike Kingery). … Holy NASCAR — literally (with thanks to Ryan Connelly). … The Dolphins have signed up for Club Douchebag. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Yesterday’s Ticker mention of Shoelace Robinson, who never ties his cleats, reminded Graham Bakay of former NHL linesman Ray Scapinello, who often didn’t tie his skates. Bizarre. … So here’s the latest design revision of that stupid-ass basketball arena they’re trying to build down the road from my house. Nice to see that the architects are taking inspiration from such highbrow sources. … Exactly one entertaining thing has happened at Shea all season long, but what’s even more entertaining is the guy’s “punishment”: He’s banned from the stadium for a year. Doesn’t this seem more like a gift than a sanction? … Some examples of logo creep are even stupider than others (thanks, Kirsten). … Kyle Hinstorff notes that Georgia Stech’s single-digit TV numbers are off-center, almost as if they were two-digit numbers with the first numeral removed. … I collect salesman sample catalogs and love neon signage, so it’d be nice if one of y’all could get me this for Xmas (Kirsten already did her part by bringing it to my attention). … Neckwear note from Matthew Porges, who points out that Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth’s neckties matched the Titans’ and Steelers’ team colors, respectively, last night. … Here’s a great little item: When the Falcons wear their throwbacks on September 20th, they’ll also have a throwback ticket design. That news comes from Todd Vaught, who came up with the idea and whose design firm, Sky Design, executed it. “The tickets will show the old uniforms, explain the reason for the gold stripe on the helmet, etc.,” he writes. “We’re doing it die-cut with scalloped corners like old-school tickets. They’re being printed now.” … Florida A&M has some seriously weird pants. … The mighty Fleer Sticker Project has a great post about the cloth MLB team logo patches that were packaged in boxes of Sugar Crisp in 1955. Details here.
September 11th, 2009
Way back in March, I conducted an interview with David Frost, who’s one of the more accomplished DIYers out there. Then I was lazy about transcribing the tape, and then David sent me a bunch of additional material that was sort of overwhelming, and then, as many of you know, my life got very complicated in May and June. So the whole thing got back-burnered, which was embarrassing for me and no doubt very frustrating for David. Now I’ve finally put the whole package together, and I think you’ll agree that it was worth the wait.
You can see a bunch of David’s jerseys here, here, here, and here. And he’s provided some tips and step-by-step insights into his DIY process here.
Here we go:
Uni Watch: How old are you, where do you live, and what do you do for a living?
David Frost: I’m 35. I’m originally from Milwaukee, but now I live in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. What brought me here is that I worked in minor league baseball for 13 years. I was lucky enough to build a couple of different ballparks and be part of a front-office staff. Basically, if a town was building a new ballpark, I was on the list of “Guys who can help you get your franchise started.”
UW: So are you a minor league executive, or a consultant..?
DF: I was until about four years ago. But then I got married and had a family, and working minor league baseball hours wasn’t going to cut it in terms of having a family. So I got out, and now I’m in real estate property management.
UW: Now tell me about all these jerseys you’ve made. As I’m sure you’re aware, yours are much more professional-looking than some of the other DIYs we’ve featured on the site. That doesn’t mean they’re better, but they do have a more polished look.
DF: Thanks, I appreciate that — that’s what I strive for. In college I worked as a buyer at a sports store, so I knew a little bit about uniforms and manufacturers, and that helped me get into working in minor league baseball, where I really cut my teeth in merchandising. I also have background in art, so I’ve also designed some minor league and college logos. But when I say, “designed,” I was more of the drawing guy, and then I had a friend who could put the drawing on the computer and make it look better.
Anyway, as a jersey collector, one of my biggest frustrations is that I always wanted one of the early Milwaukee Brewers jerseys. So about five years ago, I asked my mother-in-law to teach me how to sew. She’s a quilter, and at that time I just wanted to sew a patch on a jersey. So she showed me how to do that, and then I started looking at the jerseys in my collection, and I’m thinking, “OK, that’s a zigzag stitch, this is this stitch…”
UW: Oh, so she showed you on a machine, not just by hand?
DF: Right.
UW: Do you have a machine of your own now?
DF: Well, my wife has a machine that had never been used. So I’m looking at all my jerseys and now the wheels are really turning. I’m thinking to myself that if I can just get my hands on some twill and some piping, I might be able to make the Brewers jersey myself. So that was the very first jersey I tried, and man, it was a grease fire. I should have been practicing more on other materials first.
UW: You were like the guy who runs a marathon without stretching first.
DF: Exactly. So I really practiced a lot. Believe it a not, I was stitching underwear.
UW: I believe we’re veering into the realm of too much information, David.
DF: Right. Anyway, I got a bit more confident, and I started calling up some of my old friends in the [sportswear] manufacturing world — places like Rawlings, AIS, or what have you — and said, “Hey, I’m just looking for scraps.” So I might get a box that had a piece of twill, and I’d start pinning it up the way I wanted it. The heat press I’d bought for the local minor league park 10 years earlier was still there, and they let me use it. So using that method, I was able to complete my collection, and I’ve also been able to create new jerseys that I put up on eBay. And I’ll say in my listing, “If you have a jersey you want me to make, shoot me an e-mail.” And I thought I’d get people asking for their old high school jersey. And I did get some of that, but what I really got a lot of was, “Hey, Mitchell & Ness doesn’t make this specific year of Padres jersey — can you do that?”
UW: So you just get jersey blanks?
DF: Yes. I used to spend a lot of time looking for blanks on eBay, but then I realized I could call upon my old relationships with vendors and salespeople. And they provide me with the blanks. So if I need, say, a white jersey with navy pinstripes, I can just call up this one guy, and I’m basically like one of his regular accounts. I get a great rate, I know it’s going to be a quality jersey, and that’s basically my canvas.
UW: What about logos and patches and things?
DF: Anything tackle twill, I cut by hand.
UW: I’m looking at a photo of a Braves jersey that you did, and the Braves script almost looks embroidered.
DF: I made that by hand. What I do is, I get the logos from Chris Creamer’s site. And all I know how to use is Adobe Illustrator — I don’t know CAD or anything like that. So I tweak the logos as needed and then I print them on card stock to make a stencil.
UW: And what about sleeve patches?
DF: Some I make, some I do the Willabee & Ward thing. See that gray jersey that has “Socks” on it? That pair of socks is basically a logo that I ripped from Creamer and then I cut all the pieces individually.
UW: So that’s not a stitched patch — it’s pieces of tackle twill?
DF: Exactly. Like on that Braves jersey we were just talking about, the tomahawk is all twill. I went in there and added all the little red pieces, all the gold pieces. And then for some of the border, I set the sewing machine for a really thin setting, almost like a chain stitch, and went from there.
UW: And what about heavy-duty things, like this Milwaukee script baseball jacket?
DF: That’s tackle twill as well. The jacket itself is something I found on eBay for $11. It was some kid’s high school letterman jacket — it had a swimming patch on it and all this other crap, which I removed. But it fit me perfect. I mean, that’s a jacket I wear every day. I just went home to Milwaukee, and people were stopping me, saying, “Where did you get that jacket?” And I’m like, “Well, if I told you I made it, would you believe me?” and they just laugh. And I say, “If you want, look me up on Facebook or eBay.”
UW: OK, so now I’m looking at this early Astros jersey, with the shooting star. Now, on the original version that the team wore back in the 1960s, the tails or streamers on the star were all chain-stitched, which I gather is something you were not able to do.
DF: That is correct. About 99% of what I do is tackle twill. I have dabbled with felt a little bit lately, but I’m very upfront in saying I use today’s materials. So sometimes I’ll get someone who says, “I want an old White Sox jersey with a zipper,” and I’ll say, “Well, I don’t know how to do zippers — yet.” For some people, that’s a dealbreaker; for others, they don’t care as long as you can give them the basic look. And the look is definitely something I can do.
UW: What about something like the captain’s stripes on the Pilots and Brewers jerseys?
DF: Oh, that’s actually a good story. To make those, I take a gold piece of twill, and then the blue is a piece of 3/8″ braid. I have a stencil that I use for this, to make guide marks on the twill, and then I use Liquid Stitch to glue the braid onto the twill nice and straight. It dries overnight, and then I stitch it to the twill. And then the twill has the heat-adhesive bottom, so I can position it how I want it and then stitch it onto the sleeve.
UW: So you started doing this about five years ago. How many jerseys would you say you’ve done in that time?
DF: Probably 80 or 90.
UW: Do you wear these around, or keep them in the closet, or what?
DF: My personal collection is about 50 jerseys, and I made about half of those. I’ll wear them when I’m playing cards with the guys on a Saturday night or something like that.
UW: And mot of the others you made either in response to specific customer requests, or just to put up on eBay?
DF: Right.
UW: What do you charge?
DF: It depends on the jersey. I just got an inquiry from a guy who wants a 1943 Senators jersey. And that’s basically just putting one row of horseshoe piping or braid around the collar, a navy “W,” and the “Health” patch, which I can find on eBay for maybe $7. So a jersey like that, I’d say maybe $85. Now something like that Braves jersey, that’s much more intricate. That would be $260, which is the most I’ve ever charged.
But the main thing is that I enjoy it. It’s turned into my late-night hobby, which I like. My wife will be sitting on the couch watching The Bachelor, and I’ll be next to here cutting out letters. So that’s gonna be a big part of our quality time together. Wait, don’t write that, Paul. Seriously, though, I watched the World Series last year, but I didn’t actually watch much of it — I mostly just listened to it.
UW: A lot of Uni Watch is written under similar circumstances. You’re taking it to a different level than most of the other DIYers, because you’re using real blank jerseys instead of a long-sleeve tee from Wal-Mart, plus you’re using real braid, and so on.
DF: I have some customers who’ll send me their old shirts, and I’ll reproduce them. Being from Wisconsin, for instance, I’ve made a lot of older Green Bay Packers jerseys.
UW: Right, with the padded elbows and all.
DF: Right, and that guy sent me a J. Peterman sweatshirt — you know, Peterman, the guy Elaine worked for on Seinfeld — and he dyed it himself, because he was really anal about the color. And he said, “If I dye it, will you do the rest?” And I said, “I’d be honored.” I’ve now done five more jerseys for him, for his kids.
UW: Were you surprised to see other people making their own jerseys?
DF: Very much so. But the thing is, I’m not just making them for myself or even for my customers. With my kids playing travel ball, I’m kind of like the team mom. There was this tournament a year or two ago where they had to have a sleeve patch, and the coach said, “OK, we need to have this patch on all the jerseys by tomorrow — who can do it?” And he’s looking at all the moms. And I just raised my hand and said, “Give ’em to me.” And he says, “Does your wife sew?” And I say, “Just give ’em to me.”
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Thanks for all the info and photos, David — and thanks also for your patience. Sorry it took so long to get your story out there. And again, if you missed the link near the top of the entry, there’s a step-by-step example of how David creates a jersey here.
Research Request: My Page 2 colleague Patrick Hruby is going to be spending a day with one of the Smithsonian’s curators and checking out their sports collection. “I’m going to focus on strange and unusual stuff, and also the stories around and behind acquiring and preserving items,” he tells me. “For instance: they have a condom with Mickey Mantle’s picture on it (reason #1,021 why the Mick was fortunate Deadspin did not exist in his era). I’m just wondering if you have suggestions of things to look for or ask about.”
I’m not all that familiar with the Smithsonian’s collection, but maybe some of you folks are. If so, please feel free to contact Patrick directly. Thanks!
Uni Watch News Ticker: FSN Florida was in such a hurry to salute Mark Buehrle’s performance yesterday that they made a rather unfortunate typo when describing his accomplishment (brilliant screen capture by S. Finch). … Speaking of yesterday’s perfecto, this article includes the nugget that Buehrle and the home plate ump in yesterday’s game, Eric Cooper, both wear No. 56 (with thanks to James Huening). … Big kudos to Brandon Davis, who pointed out something I’d forgotten about: Rajai Davis wasn’t the first one to wear those A’s logo stirrups. Esteban Loaiza wore them back in 2007. … Meanwhile, I heard from A’s equipment manager Steve Vucinich, who explains the situation as follows: “Rajai needed a new pair of stirrups and saw the logoed stirrups and decided to try them. He had four RBIs — a Rajai record! — which cemented the thought of wearing them daily the rest of the year. Loaiza might have been the first to wear the logo stirrups.” … And sure enough, Davis was wearing the logo-emblazoned hose again last night (screen shot courtesy of Chris Gordon, who also notes that Mark Ellis was wearing a gray-underbrimmed cap). … Bryan’s latest cycling crash? Nope, it’s a shot from the 1930 Tour de France. Lots of additional pics here (nice find by Vince LoBosco). … I may have linked to this in the past, but just in case: Here’s a nice site devoted to Phil Neel, the artist who drew all of Auburn’s program covers from the 1950s through the ’80s, along with ticket art and other graphics. Great, great stuff (big thanks to Jeff Hunter). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: According to this game report, Manny wore civvies under his uniform on Wednesday. Key passage: “‘I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit,’ said Ramirez, who arrived at his locker and peeled off his Dodgers shirt and white pants to reveal street clothes.” … Very cool NFL lunchbox available here (with thanks to Marc Swanson). … Jesse Gavin checks in with lots of observations from the Iowa State Softball Tourney, including teams wearing basketball-style tank tops, tie-dye-ish jerseys, pinstriped shorts (ugh), bizarro piping with a sublimated clipper ship, and odd helmet striping, plus a player wearing No. 02 and a facemasked pitcher. Also, Jesse didn’t mention this, but it looks to me like the baserunner’s helmet in this photo has a molded ponytail channel. I’ve seen ponytail holes before, but never a separate channel like that. … Good article on the Vikings’ equipment manager here (with thanks to Brian Schulz). … Remember, Doug Keklak is putting together a western PA Uni Watch outing to a minor league ballgame. If you want in, contact Kek pronto. … Speaking of Kek, he was watching a documentary about Barrett Robbins and noticed that Robbins and his TCU teammates all had first initials on their NOBs in the early 1990s. … Shortest hockey pants ever? Could be, could be (with thanks to Gabriel Manga). … “Green is the new pink,” says Kenn Tomasch, who reports that the Chicago Red Stars will go green this Sunday. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Next year’s MLB All-Star Game logo has been released. … Tons of awesome baseball photos in the University of California archives (with thanks to Mike Hersh). … With AC Milan and Chelsea set to play a match in Baltimore, The Baltimore Sun has posted a tremendous slideshow of Baltimore soccer history (with thanks to Coachie Ballgames). … My Page 2 buddy Jim Caple muscled in on my act yesterday by writing a story about Ebbets Field Flannels outfitting the Iraqi baseball team. … The Mets announced that they’ll deny press-box access to New York Post reporters in retaliation for the Post having published nude photos of Tony Bernazard. As soon as this news came over the wire, all the other NYC papers promptly published the photos too so they could avoid having to cover the Mets anymore this season.
July 24th, 2009
Back in April, I included a Ticker mention of reader Jim Vilk and two of his DIY projects: a Lego version of the 1976 Cavs/Bullets playoff matchup and a soccer game made from elecric football figurines. Now he’s back with several more projects to share. Here’s the first one:
Smmer just started, but with the Winter Olympics coming next year, I wanted to you my DIY curling game. It’s a white particle board with the designs drawn in permanent marker, covered with furniture polish for a smooth glide.
I haven’t figured out how to incorporate the sweeping technique in this game, but I included a toy farmer with a hoe because he looks as if he’s sweeping.
The stones are wooden buttons painted gray, then glued to bottle caps. I went with a U.S. vs. Canada theme, so I used the most appropriate American beer I could think of (Rolling Rock) and a Canadian beer with a cool maple leaf design (I think it’s Molson Canadian). I glued some red and yellow circles to the tops of the stones so you could tell them apart without turning them over to see the bottle caps.
Anyway, it’s an entertaining game. Only have a few months to work on my DIY ski jump now.
Jim also described a DIY apparel project from 15 years ago:
Back in 1994 my wife Liz made me a Steelers jersey out of a hooded sweatshirt (my son is wearing it in these pictures). We took the sleeve stripes off an old jersey, then she sewed them onto the sweatshirt, along with some homemade numbers. She sewed the gold stripe on the hood and painted the Steelers logo with fabric paint. I’m surprised the NFL hasn’t done this themselves, using the hood as a helmet.
Jim’s right about the hoodie/helmet thing. Remember Matt Powers’s Princeton DIY sweatshirt? This seems like a gimme, no? How come the NFL has never come out with this kind of product line?
Jim also sent one non-DIY contribution: an unusual bottle cap. “I’ve had it for years,” he says. “I love the old Pitt design (although it’s not 100% accurate because there are no helmet stripes).” I’ve never seen a bottle cap like this — anyone else?
A few days after Jim e-mailed all that stuff to me, a package showed up at my house. Inside were three vintage publications that Jim was donating to the Uni Watch library: the 1970 Punt Pass & Kick tips booklet (I’ve scanned the whole thing here; as you may recall from a while back, I also have scans of the entire 1969 booklet), a CFL magazine, and the Super Bowl XVI program. Pretty nice, right? Jim directed my attention to this page in the program, which he’d bookmarked with this photo. “That’s me wearing one of the HelmetHats (while playing ‘drivewayball’ with my neighbor),” he wrote.
Big thanks for all the great contributions, Jim — much obliged.
July Raffle: As if all the preceding material weren’t enough, Jim has also provided an authentic Man City jersey to raffle off. It’s size 2XL. To enter, send a blank e-mail with your name in the subject line to the raffle address (not to the usual Uni Watch e-mail address, please) by next Tuesday, July 14th. One entry per person, but anyone enrolled in the Uni Watch membership program at the time of the drawing can send four entries. I’ll announce the winner on Wednesday.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Spent yesterday afternoon out at Giants Stadium, where Jints equipment director Joe Skiba had some veeerrry interesting things to show me. Details next week-ish. … Dallas Hicks has created tons of vintage hockey DIY jerseys. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Dodgers pitcher Hiroki Kuroda is wearing a specially padded shoe because the mounds in America are firmer than those in Japan. … Yesterday I ran video game screen shots of Miami University’s new football uniforms. Here’s a photo gallery of the real things. Additional details here (with thanks to Peter Schinkai). … “I’m all for fitted caps, but this is going too far,” says Michael Kearney. … Here’s a really fascinating design-related lawsuit: Bounty is suing Brawny (big thanks to Jason Hillyer). … The single-A Peoria Chiefs will wear special jerseys to honor Illinois State University on August 14th (with thanks to Mickey Seward). … Info on LeBron’s latest sneakers here and here. … The A’s are preparing to retire Rickey’s number (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … HHH, inspired by this old Steelers jersey, has come up with a bunch of jersey concepts based on city flags and crests. … Randy Wolfe has changed uni numbers, going from 21 to 43. Mike Petriello notes that this means Wolf has now worn four different numbers with the Dodgers — well, if you count his introductory press conference. Of course, that’s not the single-team record. … Today is the 35th anniversary of the first World Football League game, and gumball king Bill Jones has marked the occasion by creating this helmet set. … Paul Mazzarella spotted this authentic Jay Cutler jersey at a mall near Chicago. “Pretty sure that’s an upside-down 9, not a 6,” he says. … Here’s a sneakers blog I hadn’t previously been aware of. … Been a while since I caught up with some of Rob Ullman’s pin-up illustrations, so check out his awesome renderings of the Nordiques, Cubs, Brew Crew, Packers, Auburn, Pens, Cards, Whalers, Kings, Stanley Cup Final, and a special design he whipped up for Independence Day. Killer stuff, one and all. … Andrew Hartzell has tried his hand at designing a few Tecmo Bowl T-shirts. Check them out here.
July 10th, 2009
[Editor's Note: Paul here. Got home from Baltimore very late last night -- more on that tomorrow. Today's post is from Ben Traxel (shown at right), who was inspired by a random post in the comments section. Phil compiled today's Ticker. I'll have a few words at the end. Enjoy. -- PL]
By Ben Traxel
A while back I sent Paul pictures of the quilt my Mom and I made back in the ’80s. I’ve been wanting to take on another DIY project after seeing all the cool ones on the site in the past year, but I didn’t have any ideas that really materialized until Memorial Day weekend.
It started back on May 21st, when there was some talk in the comments about this super-cool St. Louis Browns logo. One person commented that the logo, or a portion of it, would look great on a hat as a DIY project. I responded that I thought it would look quite dapper on a hockey sweater. Something about how hockey puts the logo front and center has always led me to like that jersey style the best.
Anyway, I used AutoCAD to make a mock-up of what the Browns logo might look like on an old-time hockey jersey. It turned out really well, so I sent it to Paul, who put it in the Ticker [along with a Cubs concept that Ben also sent along -- PL]. Then I remembered I had an old brown sweater in my closet that was a little too big. I dug it out and decided that this was the project I’d been waiting for.
First I went to Wal-Mart and stood like a real manly stud in the sewing aisle trying to figure out what I needed. Ended up with three sheets each of brown, orange, and white felt for 32 cents apiece. I also bought a bottle of fabric glue for $4.99, a beginner sewing kit for about $8, and a spool of brown thread.
Chris Creamer’s site had several additional Browns logos that I simply had to include — they were too good to leave off. Once I settled on which logo should should go where, I needed a uniform number. I didn’t know much about the Browns other than Eddie Gaedel so I did some research. I needed a number that was pretty blocky, not slender — something that would fill some space on the back. Then I came across Bobo Hollowman, whose entire career consisted of a two-month span in 1953 (the last year before the team moved). Might not sound like much, but he pitched a no-hitter in his MLB debut! Since his uniform number was a nice, wide 24 (and I have a son named Beau, close enough to Bobo), I thought it was perfect.
Next was printing the logos at the right size to use as templates, cutting out the felt, gluing the pieces together, and then gluing all the logos and numerals onto the sweater. The only thing that wasn’t felt and glue is the stitching on the baseball. That part could have been better, as it was my first time with a needle and thread, but overall, not bad. I haven’t sewn all the elements down yet, but I’ll get around to that when I have more time. (There are some additional photos here.)
I know some of the elements don’t match the Browns uniforms of the day (the number font, for example, is a slightly taller version of what the Red Sox use), but I made it look like I wanted and I like it! My wife said, “I think it’s really neat, hon, but please don’t wear it out in public.” Just for that, I think I’ll wear it to work tomorrow!
So that’s how I spent my Memorial Day holiday. And I did it without wearing a red hat.
Uni Watch News Ticker, courtesy of Phil: “This is not going to go over well on Uni Watch,” writes David McGee, as described in this article on the pants stylings of Southern Miss … More National disgrace? Steven Olsen found this picture of Ryan Zimmerman, (found on SI.com — scroll down). Steven asks, “It totally looks like the ’s’ in Washington is missing. How ironic is it that one of the teams with the most uniform troubles had a uniform screw-up in front of one of the greatest uniforms in sports history? Anyway, just thought I’d send it your way in case you haven’t seen it yet.” … A followup: in Wednesday’s ticker, Doug Keklak noticed this Apostrophe Catastrophe. Tyler Maun writes: “I stumbled across a picture that nearly made me spit my beverage out slapstick comedy-style all over my computer screen. Today’s “apostrophe catastraphe [sic]” comes from the ballpark of my employer, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, an affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. I’m one of the radio broadcasters for the club, and I handle the bulk of our media notes/game recaps/press releases, etc. (Don’t worry, I was never in charge of signage.) While in my baffled stupor that our humble abode would have ended up on Uni Watch, I took the elevator ride down from the press box to check out our concession stands which, indeed, do have a bizarrely and incorrectly shaped and placed apostrophe in front of “Dogs.” On all four of them. As a member of the grammar gestapo, I’m a little mortified that this has happened on my watch, but I’ve only worked here for a few months. I’ve mentioned it to the (hopefully) proper authorities, and it will (possibly) be corrected at some point. Apparently the logic was because there’s no “hot” in front of “dogs,” the apostrophe was warranted. Seeing as how “hot dogs” isn’t one word, I’m not buying it. This blemish is made all the more embarrassing when you consider that we hosted this a couple of weeks ago (three entries down). Whoops. That was to make fun of the Winston-Salem Dash. All night, we referred to them as the “Winston Hyphen Salem Dash” or the “Winston-Salem Hyphens” and tried our best to educate the masses in the ways of proper punctuation. Somebody here must be busting open a nice batch of crow to eat this morning. We’re actually a very Uni Watch-friendly franchise, with our team required to rock “Pelican blue” (read: powder blue) stirrups for every game. In fact, we were the featured team in the Wall Street Journal story about stirrups a month or two ago in which Paul was quoted. I’m proud that my first job as a Minor League Baseball broadcaster has come with a team that “Gets It (TM).” … Christopher Falvey was watching a few days ago and noticed some guy had “NOLA” (my first thought is the abbreviation for New Orleans, LA) on the back of his jersey. He thought for a second that somehow they were doing a tribute to the city of New Orleans, which would have been strange. Turns out there’s a guy on the team with the last name of Nola. … With details now emerging on the upcoming Civil Rights Game, Joe Owen found this from the Cincinnati Enquirer: “On Saturday, the Reds and White Sox will wear uniform jerseys circa 1964, the year the Civil Rights Act was passed to outlaw racial segregation in schools, public places and employment.” He’s not sure what exactly they mean by “circa”, but he’s guessing we’ll see “fauxbacks” of these for the White Sox (Powder blues!) and these for the Reds (Ice Cream man) … John English has never seen this logo before (the description reads: “This celebrates the New York Islanders winning the Stanley Cup. Says Islanders in the middle. Stanley cup on top and 2 hockey sticks. It is very high quality”). He asks, “Have you?” … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Brinke Guthrie noticed that the New York Giants & Timex have inked a sponsorship deal, with the watch logos to go on the jerseys … Rob McGill found a beauty, and would be remiss in his duties as a Uni Watcher if he didn’t direct a spotlight on the esteemed Alex Trebek, rocking a Habs jersey as a guest panelist on this 1980 episode of Card Sharks (If you’re impatient, you can simply scroll to the 1:20 mark) … Dan Auricchio notes that JC Romero has been kicking it old-school on the road so far this year (assuming 2007 is old school). He noticed this during the Mets/Phils game on June 9th, with Romero rocking the pre-2008 100% wool New-Era caps with the grey underbrim. This picture is from his first game back from suspension, but the same hat (writing and all) was worn for the Met game. Second picture is the now-official New Era cap, with the black underbrim. … The Hungry Hungry Hipster has some information of interest on the Stillers “Batman” jerseys: “I found some really interesting info on the 1967 Steelers jerseys, which were unique because of their yellow shoulders. Before reading the story of these jerseys, here’s what they looked like: Front, Back, and in a Team photo. And here’s the story behind these jerseys. … Finally, Teebz received an email from a friend who suggested he check out The Phoenix Pub blog. The author, under the pseudonym First Derivative, is proposing a Sabremetric system in which NHL defencemen can be ranked. It’s a pretty cool idea, but it’s sitting in the “theory” stage right now as he works through the finer points. If you have a suggestion, make sure you throw your idea in his comment section!
And a quick word from Paul: Good to be home. Big thanks to everyone who showed up last night in Baltimore — great people, great time. I’ll have a full report either tomorrow or early next week, depending on how quickly I sort through all the photos and such.
Super-duper thanks to Phil for steering the ship so expertly in my absence, and to everyone who helped things run smoothly when I was dealing with, well, you know. What with my travels and the nasty case of Real Life that I’ve had to deal with lately, my presence on the site has been diminished, but I look forward to getting back to full Uni Watch throttle next week. Thanks again for your patience, understanding, and support — like I’ve said before, a writer couldn’t hope for a better group of readers than you folks.
June 18th, 2009
[Editor's Note: DIYer Ryan Connelly returns today with a pair of excellent Pittsburgh-themed projects. Enjoy. -- PL]
By Ryan Connelly
This is the pride and joy of all of my DIY projects: the white Steelers helmet.
I created this helmet back in august of 2007. It was a very tough time for me because my dad had just lost his fight against cancer, and I needed to find projects to take my mind off things. I had just finished painting my family’s shed to look like an old Mail Pouch barn (my dad drove a truck and would point out Mail Pouch barns to us on family trips), and I wanted to move on to a new, totally different project.
So i went out and bought a Steelers mini-helmet. I removed the facemask, chinstrap, and yellow stripe decal, and tucked the Riddell helmet bumper to the inside of the helmet. I took measurements of the helmet and also took measurements of the Steelers’ Northwestern sleeve stripes from an authentic jersey I have. Using AutoCAD, I scaled the sleeve stripe down to an appropriate size for the helmet.
I took the final measurements applied tape to the center area on the helmet. I did this process twice — once for the black stripes and once for yellow. The black is actually the black of the original helmet, as I taped over that to spray the rest of the helmet white. Then I taped the whole helmet except for where the yellow stripes would go… and sprayed yellow.
The outer edge of the helmet logo had about a 1/16″ clear edge, so I had to cut that off with an Xacto knife so that no black would show around the edge of the logo.
I taped over the logo with masking tape when i painted the whole helmet white. As a finishing touch I added my initials and the date. You can see the final results, which turned out quite well — enjoy!
Moving on to a more recent project, I wanted to design and create a Pittsburgh sports mash-up, but i didn’t want to do a “cartoony” mascot-type thing. I wanted it to look more like a logo of some sort itself.
So I started my research with our city flag/crest. I really love the castle, the light-blue checkerboard pattern, and the three coins, so I ran with that and incorporated into my AutoCAD design. So at this point, it was about the city itself, not just about Pittsburgh sports. After adding a little color, it looked like this.
I printed, cut, traced, and glued the logo onto felt. Here’s the castle, and the team logos, and the whole thing turned out like this. Here’s another view. It’s all glued together, but I’m still waiting to sew it. Overall dimensions are about 10″ x 13″.
And in case you’re wondering, here’s what my AutoCAD screen looks like at any given moment during a design process — a cluttered mess!
Uni Watch News Ticker: Paul here. Several readers sent me notes regarding the “3″ having fallen off of Melky Cabrera’s helmet brim, but only Dave Berry provided visual evidence. … Not sure I’d ever seen this particular bumblebee combo before. Doug Keklak scanned that page from the 1978 Pirates Yearbook. He also dug out his Surf/Topps book of Pirates baseball cards and scanned the entire thing. Plus he was doing some microfilm research and came across shots of the 1973 ABA All-Star Game, the 1973 Pro Bowl, and a batboy with a fractional uni number. … And hey, who’s that? That’s Kek himself, at age seven. Let’s hope Coach didn’t fine him for that bit of stripe peeking out on his sannies. … Check it out: Bengals-themed beer! Details here. … Cool breakdown of the Philly Union’s new brand identity here (with thanks to Stephen Wong). … Many of you know about this already, but this year’s star/stripes caps will be red. Well, that should look just dandy on teams like the Mets, Rockies, Tigers, White Sox, Marlins, Yankees, A’s, et al. … A day in a life, as told via logos (with thanks to Chad Todd). … The Phillies did what championship teams always do (thanks, Vince). … Jared Weaver is still marking his cap with a Nick Adenhart memorial inscription (with thanks to David Martin). … Uni typo discovery by Jared Wheeler, who says Steve Bedrosian wore this jersey for one game in 1988, complete with his name misspelled inside and out. “I am searching for a picture of him in it,” he says. “Tough find, though.” … Check out these photos of the Spectrum floor being dismantled (with thanks to Robert Ruszczyk). … The Nats-related jokes just write themselves. … For those of you who get a blood rush from this sort of thing, here’s a buncha photos of the new Paul Pierce Nike Zoom Sharkley Premium PE. … What’s worse than a Yankees jersey with an NOB? A Yankees jersey with a misspelled NOB (with thanks to Jennifer Muller). … Check out Joe Namath’s old restaurant — and the uniforms worn by the employees (nice find by Ted Kerwin). … Those high-tech swimsuits that have rewritten the record book may be banned. … Someone at Auburn is wearing a faceguard on his batting helmet (with thanks to Chris Wright).
May 19th, 2009
Last Wednesday I spent the day out on Long Island, where my father has been recovering from a three-week hospital stay (he’s almost back to normal, thanks). This is what’s known as Very, Very Bad, because I wasn’t home when the FedEx guy showed up. You may have gotten a hint of this, even though you know nothing about my father or my FedEx shipments, at 4:13pm, when Robert Marshall posted the following message in that day’s comments: “aaargh!! paul, you were not home to accept the package?! that tears it, i’m getting drunk.”
Marshall, as you may recall, is the OCD-DIY (his description) genius (my description) who created that amazing Big Ten bowling set, among many other sensational projects. I was pretty sure I knew what was in the package he had sent me, because he’d been hinting about it for months, and I was plenty eager to see it. But I figured one more day of waiting wouldn’t hurt.
Next day: It’s late afternoon and I’m about to go out for a social obligation that will take several hours. Dammit, where’s that FedEx guy? Just as I’m about to give up and head out, the doorbell rings. I dash downstairs, grab the package, run back upstairs, toss the package on my sofa, and head off for what turns out to be an excruciatingly bad evening. By the time I get home, it’s about 11pm and I’m exhausted. Also crabby. I figure I’ll just feed the cats and crash.
But wait, what’s that on the sofa? I’d forgotten all about Robert’s package. It’s tagged with a fun illustration, which provides a further hint as to its contents. I open the outer wrapping and find a box. I open that and am greeted with some fabric. This turns out to be some sort of tunic, with a uni number on one side and a boozing bird on the other. The bird seems like an obvious reference to Drinky Crow, the lead character in Tony Millionaire’s long-running comic strip “Maakies.” Hmmm, I think, is Robert a fellow “Maakies” enthusiast? Is he aware that I have an original signed/framed “Maakies” strip hanging in my dining room? I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this to him, so maybe the bird on the tunic is just a coincidence. Still, it’s a pretty big coincidence. Which makes me think of that Seinfeld bit where the annoying (but kinda hot [but mostly annoying]) Russian chick says, “That’s what a coincidence is! There are no small coincidences or big coincidences. There are only coincidences.”
This is the part where I say, “But I digress.”
Squirreled away inside the tunic are three bubble-wrapped treasures. By now you should have figured out what they are, but I suppose a few of you might have bet on Mine That Bird at 50-1 and spent the rest of the weekend partying so hard that your logic circuits aren’t firing at peak efficiency today, so here’s a hint:
Rhymes with “bobbleheads.”
And not just any bobbleheads, mind you. We’re talking Uni Watch bobbleheads, handmade by Marshall himself. He’d first proposed this project to me a few months ago, and he’d been giving me small, tantalizing updates on his progress along the way. I was pretty damn excited to liberate them from that bubble-wrap.
The photo at the top of this entry gives you an idea of what the bobbles look like, but that’s all I’m gonna show you for now. Because to fully appreciate the bobbles, you need to know how they were made. So I’m now going to surrender the floor to Marshall. Open this page in a new window, read it all the way through, and then meet me back here. Don’t cheat by skipping ahead on this page!
=============
Hello again. Pretty great stuff, am I right? I am very, very humbled by the thought that Uni Watch helped inspire these amazing creations.Incredible as it may sound, however, Marshall actually short-changed his own work in that essay of his, because he didn’t go into most of the little details that make these bobbles so wonderful. Por ejemplo:• I love the little logo labels on the baseball player’s glove.
• Also love the raised button on the baseball player’s cap.
• Check out the little notations Robert painted onto the base of each figurine (and dig that red inlining on the gold lettering — can’t even imagine how painstaking that must have been to execute).
• Robert mentioned this in his step-by-step rundown, but it bears repeating: It’s so cool that the hockey player is all cherubic and fresh-faced yet he’s also dropped one glove already. Don’t fuck with him!
• Best detail of all: Marshall took this T-shirt logo and used it as the basis of the football player’s helmet logo+number.
• And of course I appreciate that Marshall used Uni Watch colors, that he used the uni number I use on my Uni Watch membership card, and that he went old-school NNOB for all three figurines.
I didn’t know anything about those particular details until I received the package. I did have a little advance notice of what was in the works, however, because at one point Marshall asked me to choose my favorite uni options from this roster of choices. He also teased me with the occasional progress-update photo.
Incidentally, Marshall ain’t no bobblehead rookie. Here, I’ll let him explain:
When i was in school at Ohio State I did whatever I could to make money, just like any college student. Having just hand-sculpted a “History of the Big Ten” set of bobbles (it had all the trophies, a beat-up U. of Chicago bobble on a stretcher, all as part of a singularly pedestaled piece, it was fantastic), it occurred to me that I could do something similar to sell at football games. So I did that. I made a set of generic scarlet and gray bobbles (I was being careful), put them on a tray, walked around the stadium with them in full bobbling glory, and sold them before the games. They went over swimmingly. “Oh Fred, we need one of those for the camper” was heard often.
I can’t recall which game it was when i finally got snuffed out. But suffice it to say, that some gassed-up sorority gal suggested in a very obnoxious fashion that I would make a lot more money, including money from a purchase she would make herself (yeah right), if I made her favorite player. I decided not to take her advice and more or less told her to go plant some flowers. Two seconds later I was in the clutches of the coppers, who promptly grabbed my individually handmade sculptures and threw them in a trash bag.
I would have been fine, except I was a couple feet too close to the stadium, on university property (I hadn’t violated any school trademarks). I was later offered my bobbles back but they were all broken, so I didn’t bother. Ass-clowns. That “Please donate money” mail I get every year right after the bowl season goes right in the trash, just to say thanks.
With your help, I’d like to get Robert back into the bobblehead biz — in part so he can make some $$$ (or at least recoup his costs from this project), and in part so other people can enjoy his amazing art. We haven’t worked out all the details yet, but the idea is that you’ll be able to order a custom-painted bobble, sort of like you can order a custom-designed Uni Watch membership card.
These plans, of course, are based on the assumption that there will be some demand for the bobbles. I’m fairly certain there will be (did we mention that the heads move?), but hey, I’ve been wrong about that kind of thing in the past. So if you think you might be in the market for this type of product, speak up in today’s comments.
Oh, and about the tunic: “It’s my my alt alt, or altar boy alternate, from the softball team,” says Robert. “I think I told you I had made one but didn’t have photos. I don’t need it anymore, so I thought it would make good packing material and maybe give you a laugh to boot.” And the bird had nothing to do with “Maakies.”
And as if you didn’t already have enough to read today, here’s a really long Ticker: Lots more NFL rookie numbers, this time for the Titans, Cowboys, Colts, Steelers (the guys at the top of the list), and Pats (but what’s with the two different guys wearing No. 91?). … Mike Green’s right glove looks a bit threadbare, no? (As spotted by Kevin Maresca.) … Here’s a Rawlings logo I’d never seen before. Comes from this item. … Friday’s DIY goalie mask entry reminded Matthew Fedorka of a guy in his town who made Dwayne Roloson’s masks. “He has a site where he talks about the inspirations for Roli’s masks and also has a ‘mask museum’ where he showcases all the DIY masks he has made over the years,” says Matthew. … Friday’s Chicago Tribune had a feature that listed the best White Sox and Cubs by uni number. Lots of great old photos (with thanks to Larry Kurtze). … Great find by Scott M.X. Turner, who writes: “If you love baseball, baseball card graphics and typefaces, smart humor, and ‘Casey at the Bat,’ this is the mother lode.” … When you get right down to it, nothing defines the words “under armour” more than an athletic cup. Which is why this story is so funny. … Check out Cal State Stanislaus, looking all fancy in their Bosox-style stirrups (big thanks to John Moist). … Gorgeous old Colts/Packers photo here (great find by Zac Neubauer). … Mike Pelfrey’s Mets logo left-sleeve patch has been missing from his road jersey all season (with thanks to Terence Kearns). … Here’s what Pirates prospects wear at the team’s new academy in the Dominican. Why do teams keep insisting on this bi-level chest logo/number treatment? Looks like shite (with thanks to Doug Keklak). … Bronson Arroyo’s been wearing a double-flapped helmet for years now, but this one looks particularly huge (with thanks to Chris Hilf). … “Was looking at some photos of the Rams minicamp this season,” writes Ricky Foley, “and it appears that the Spagnuolo administration has switched the quarterback ‘no contact’ jersey back to red. Under Linehan, they wore gold. Under Martz, QBs wore red, and Marshall Faulk and Steven Jackson wore gold.” … Kyle Pineda says this photo, apparently showing an early-’90s Tigers/Jays game, is the source of much confusion on a Tigers discussion board. What’s with the orange jersey? Could the Tigers have played a game in this BP jersey? … Japanese baseball news from Jeremy Brahm: The Hanshin Tigers are wearing 1985 throwbacks for their interleague games; the Yokohama Bay Stars wore this patch on their pantson April 7th (”part of their pink ribbon campaign that goes with their dance team, yes baseball dance team, for breast cancer awareness”); on Mother’s Day, the Tigers and Bay Stars will wear pink wristbands; and here’s Hello Kitty dressed up in some baseball uniforms, just because. … “I found these jersey pictures in one of my Flickr groups,” says Jennifer Muller. Turns out the guy is called Flagman — he has a web site, but it has really annoying sound, plus it’s a Geocities site, so mute your keyboard and be prepared for an error message. … Major eBay find here by Scott M.X. Turner. Untucked, drop-down school name on the front, drop-down team name on the back, “Crusaders” — it’s all so great, I don’t even mind the purple. … The Rays debuted their boring new navy alts on Friday. I was hoping the Bosox would stick to their stated “We wear our own boring navy alts on Friday road games” so we could have navy vs. navy, but they Sox pussied out and went with their road grays instead. This also means we still don’t know whether the Sox plan to wear red socks/sleeves with the navy alts or if they’ll still with the blue socks/sleeves. … The great thing about college football is how it inspires such intelligent, rational debate to me. … Eyewear observation from Tris Wykes, who writes: “I’ve noticed lately that when high school softball players wear sunglasses in the field, they’re going with trendy styles that make them resemble Paris Hilton. That player is from King’s Fork in Suffolk, Virginia.” … Chris LaHaye was covering the Louisiana high school softball tourney and saw this weird glove, which looks like it might have been designed for Aquaman or something. … In case you missed it in Phil’s post from Saturday, the Pats may wear their throwbacks five times this season! … The Jags’ color-shift helmet looks a lot more green and a lot less black out in the sunlight. … Darrent Williams’s number is back in circulation (with thanks to Chris Flinn). … Small rant about something that bugs the shit out of me: Why do people insist on using the term “Brand Jordan” (as in “Derek Jeter wears Brand Jordan wristbands“)? We don’t say “Brand Nike” or “Brand Puma” — why the fuck should we say “Brand Jordan”? Marketing newspeak like this is just repellant, and I refus to go along with it. Let’s just call it Brand Douchebag and get it over with. … And so it has come to this: a high school team wear caps that are clearly modeled after MLB batting practice caps. Very sad (with thanks to Dominick Carfello). … Coupla interesting things about Manny Pacquaio’s trunks on Saturday night: (1) Very unusual “Q” on his waitband. And (2) He had a swoosh on both legs, which seems like a bit much, even for Nike. And hey, speaking of a bit much, nice to see that the ring ropes were sponsored. … Lots of pics from Saturday’s great Mariners/A’s throwback game here. … Chuck Nolan Jr. was doing some research and came across a couple of interesting high school football and basketball uniforms in the Cleveland Plain Dealer archives. … Alyssa Miller reports that the Geelong Cats (that’s an Aussie-rules football team, mate) are wearing 150th-anniversary uniforms. “They normally wear a uniform (a guernsey, it’s called) with alternating blue and white stripes,” she says, “but starting July 18th they will wear these, with the solid blue stripes being replaced by stripes consisting of tiny text that lists the names of every player ever to represent the Cats.” … Latest Wilponian fiasco: players can’t see the game from Shea’s visiting bullpen. For details, scroll down to the “Mets bullpen alterations” section of Ken Davidoff’s Sunday column. … Incidentally, that portion of Ken’s column included a note that I found interesting: “MLB prefers that the bullpens have no televisions at all.” I assume this has something to do with sign-stealing, but Ken didn’t elaborate in print, so I sent him a note asking if he could explain. He said he’d check. Will advise. … John Muir says he saw this “in a section of DC where hockey players would not regularly be found. Not sure if it’s actually the Plymouth Whalers (OHL) or just an ad. Out of place, to say the least.” … Check out this shot of Jack Kemp. The TV number is 15, but his chest number is either 5 or else a really off-center 15 (good spot by Joel D. Ford). … Randy Brown is being forced to sell his NBA championship rings (with thanks to James Huening). … Beware the pig AIDS, or you could end up like this! Actually, that’s Poró, the official mascot of the FIBA under-19 basketball tourney (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Also from Jeremy: he Perth Glory of the A-League in Australia changed their logo from this to this. Details here. … Nice 1971 shot of Danny Murtaugh and his grandson Timmy. “Poor Timmy didn’t get the memo about the switch to double-knits the previous season,” notes Morris Levin. … Interesting item regarding Todd Helton’s uni number here (with thanks to Bo Baize, who also sent along scans of an article about the Mt Rushmore construction crew baseball team). … For reasons not worth getting into, I was lucky enough to spend Friday night at Per Se, where I was part of a group of food writers who’d been invited to sample a seven-course tasting menu with Armagnac pairings (yes, it was very, very good). As we all exchanged pleasantries throughout the evening, several people asked me, “So do you write exclusively about food and drink?,” which led to some very entertaining facial expressions when I replied, “Actually, I write primarily about sports uniform design. Could you pass the baguette?” … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Adam Dunn’s typo jersey was auctioned off for charity. It went for $8,500. … My Sunday newspaper’s coupon supplement included this. Looks like the kid’s actually wearing long pants with the stirrups pulled up over them. … Jeremy Brahm liked yesterday’s entry so much that he found some cool stuff in the Life archives, including this great girls’ basketball shot (is that Ricky Ricardo coaching the team?). Love the uni numbers on the warm-up togs. And look at those little shoulder pleat/panel thingies! Looks like they had an inverted pleat on the back, too (additional pics here and here; home uni with similar design here). … Jeremy also found several shots that show the old-fashioned narrow lane. … Last graf of this story mentions that Kansas State used an older uni design for their spring scrimmage. Not sure what this portends, if anything, for their fall uniforms (with thanks to Ben Traxel). … Last week’s ESPN column, in which I trashed the Jaguars’ new uniforms, has apparently been making the rounds among Jags-centric message boards, because I’ve been getting lots of e-mails like this one: “The jaguars new jerseys own, if you think otherwise go fist yourself, fucking moron.” Stay classy, dude. The funniest missives have been the ones accusing me of perpetuating ESPN’s “bias against small-market teams.” So true — that’s why ESPN never covers the Packers. … Interesting shot here of Al Rollins. What’s with all that ruffled fringe on the sleeves — is that what passed for padding back in 1954? (As forwarded by Tris Wykes.) … Hey, what’s this? Houston’s long-lost road grays, which they dusted off yesterday cuz the Braves already had dibs on wearing dumb-ass red jerseys. … No photos, but last night’s episode of King de la Hill, which was all about Bobby being in Little League, was a veritable stirrup-fest. Naturally, most of today’s Little Leaguers don’t wear stirrups, but this just accentuates the fact that when graphic artists depict baseball players, they almost always include stirrups, because they instinctively understand that that’s what baseball players are supposed to look like. … Oh wait, Doug Keklak got a screen grab from last night’s episode after all. … Not uni-related, but this video makes spectacular use of little aspects of urban design (awesome find, Kirsten). … Outmania! … Carlos Ruiz appears to have a new uni number (with thanks to Mike Meech). … Williams and Amherst marked the 150th anniversary of the first college baseball game with some not-very-convincing throwbacks. Further details here (with thanks to Colin Morton).
May 4th, 2009
[Editor's Note: Today's entry has been guest-written by Les Holmlund, whose childhood DIY project went above and beyond the call of duty. -- PL]
By Les Holmlund
Way back around 1971, when I was a young lad of 14, I read about Detroit Red Wings trainer Lefty Wilson and others creating face-formed masks for NHL goalies. The process involved smearing Vaseline on the goalie’s face, inserting breathing straws, and layering a slab of plaster of Paris directly onto the face. After it set, the plaster was removed to harden, and then this negative form was filled with more plaster, creating a positive mold. Fibreglass was layered over this, and after some cutting, drilling, and painting, a mask was born.
I got my Dad to help by putting the plaster on my face, much to my Mom’s horror. What my research didn’t tell me was that the darn plaster gets hot as it sets! Also, no amount of Vaseline could prevent some unintended eyelash removal when the plaster was removed.
My first try was a small mask I used for a few games at the end of my last season of bantam hockey (14 years old). As you can see, there’s not much there — safety standards were obviously lower back then, and somehow they let me wear this on the ice. I knew, however, that I could do better.
The next summer I came up with this, based on the masks produced by Jacques Plante’s company, Fibrosport. Jacques wore this style, as did Bernie Parent and others. I used this for half a season while I worked on the next mask.
Mask number three was patterned after masks made by Ernie Higgins. NHL wearers of Higgins’ work included Ed Johnston and Gerry Desjardins. I cut the chin too short, so it was back to the drawing board.
This was the last homemade mask I made. It was as good as I could do, and I wore it for a number of years from age 16 to about 20. It still has the awesome 1973 paint job I applied to (sort of) match the Islanders-based uniforms my team wore. Here is how these four DIY efforts now spend their days, on the wall of the ManPit.
After discovering punk rock, I retired for a few years, and when I returned, went to a Jofa helmet/cage combination. I still play hockey, and am still using a Jofa, but this one is a rare helmet/cage/mask hybrid, which I like a lot.
I sometimes think about trying to design a new kind of mask, and building it from scratch, but the current popular design seems pretty hard to improve upon.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Paul here. Speaking of masks, I was sitting around Uni Watch HQ yesterday, and of course I was wearing my official white surgical mask, what with the pig anthrax or the cat scurvy or whatever the hell it is that the the president’s trying to poison us with. And I suddenly got this feeling of deja vu, which I initially attributed to the goat rickets, but then I realized I was having a flashback to this photo, which originally ran in the Ticker in the fall of 2007. It shows a batter, catcher, and ump all wearing surgical masks during the famous muskrat fever outbreak of 1918. Isn’t it amazing that a public health emergency can’t stop baseball, but a little bit of rain can? … An MLS ref who accepted a jersey from a player has been reprimanded (with thanks to Jason Hillyer). … New uni numbers for the Iggles, Panthers, Rams, and Bears. … Meanwhile, the Pats presented their top draft pick and dressed him up in a Pat Patriot cap. … Cycling news from Sean Clancy, who writes: “Because of weird pro cycling rules that aren’t worth getting into, Astana team members Lance Armstrong (front), Levi Leipheimer (second), and Chris Horner are racing the Tour of the Gila in New Mexico wearing a kit from Armstrong’s Mellow Johnny’s bike shop.” … A little birdie passed along something interesting: MLB’s “Opening Day/Week/Series” style guide. … Latest catcher to wear a front-facing brim: Robinzon Diaz of the Pirates (with thanks to Doug Keklak). … Totally forgot to link to last Sunday’s article about Nyjer Morgan’s stirrups. Too bad about the word “hoses” in the lede graf, though — ugh. … Faaaascinating site here devoted to women wearing military uniforms (with thanks to my buddy Shane Arbogast). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: A-Rod went double-flapped in yesterday’s rehab game. … Dig the subscript NOBs on the 1980-81 KC Kings. … Second item on this page shows just how low the Lions have sunk. … Cincinnati has a bunch of amusing new nerd-ish vigilante crackpots uniformed crime-fighters (with thanks to David Sonny). … Latest genius move by the Wilpons: The “Bottled Beer” vendors at Shea are selling canned beer (as spotted by Mat Orefice). … A bunch of NYC police uniforms were seized in a raid. … This week’s New Yorker points out that if Texas makes good on Gov. Rick Perry’s “threat” to secede (highly unlikely yet oh so tantalizing), there’d be a nice side benefit: The Cowboys would no longer be able to call themselves America’s Team. … Rugby note from Caleb Borchers, who writes: “After much political wrangling, the South Africans finally have a new jersey. The traditionalists have ‘lost,’ in that the new jersey has moved the Springbok and the Protea flower is in its place. Given what the old design looked like, this really has been a lot of debate about nothing.” … Hey look, it’s a bunch of stupidly dressed golfers (as forwarded by Johnny Flanagan). … Go to this page and scroll down to “Rosenfels’ new number” to learn about, um, Rosenfels’s new number (with thanks to Jeff Barak). … Awesome home movie footage of a 1929 hockey game here (with thanks to Alan Kreit). … Taylor Looney says this guy was standing in front of him at a store in Midland, Texas. From the front, he says, it was a perfectly normal Tony Romo jersey. Was the back a manufacturer’s defect, or is this some sort of new “edgy” design trend we can all look forward to hating in the weeks and months to come? … Remember this? I don’t, thankfully, but it’s apparently what the Minnesota football team wore in 1994. “For me, it’s a case of ’so bad it’s good,’” says Tris Wykes. … With Triple Crown season upon us, Jeremy Brahm found some good blinker designs. Here’s a Hello Kitty-themed example, and I like this simple strawberry logo. … Happy May Day to the seven or eight of you who still have jobs. Enjoy the Derby, Hatton vs. Pacquiao, and whatever else you’ve got planned for the weekend.
May 1st, 2009
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