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Posts filed under 'Eyewear'
Back in March I wrote an ESPN column about athletes wearing sunglasses. At the time I wasn’t aware of any football players who’d worn shades on the field, but readers provided several examples that I later listed in a follow-up item: Mark Clayton (who wore sunglasses with the Dolphins and the Packers), Derrick Mayes, and Vai Sikahema. The most intriguing tidbit, though, was that Raymond Berry of the Colts had worn a set of homemade sun goggles during the ’50s and ’60s. But although several people told me about Berry’s eyewear, none of them provided a photo, and my own research efforts came up empty. But now, thanks to reader Jason Taylor, we’ve got a photo — and more.
Let’s start with the photo itself, which is a doozy. Eat your heart out, LaDainian Tomlinson — your tinted visor’s got nothing on this!
But here’s the kicker: The actual goggles recently sold on eBay for about $155. According to the auction listing, “With no commercially available product to address or correct his vision and sun-sensitivity problems, Berry took the initiative to make his own. Utilizing Bausch & Lomb swim goggles as frames, he inserted heavy shaded lenses supported by trainer’s tape and a primitive headstrap.”
How did the Hall of Fame miss out on this?
The Issue That Just Won’t Die: In case you were too busy scarfing down leftovers to read Friday’s comments, it’s now clear that Dallas Clark’s American flag decal has been missing for quite some time — not just on Thanksgiving or the week before that, but all the way back to Week 8.
In an incredible stroke of luck, it turns out that bench coach Bryan Redemske actually knows Dallas Clark, because Bryan’s wife and Clark went to high school together. So we’ve got an inside line on this one — stay tuned.
Austin Reminder: Uni Watch gathering tomorrow night, 7:30 p.m., at the Salt Lick. BYOB (not to be confused with FNOB).
Uni Watch News Ticker: While researching something else, I noticed that you can see the brand on Tony Romo’s flak jacket right through his jersey. … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Note the inconsistent 7s here. … Speaking of numbers and typography, remember a few months back when we discussed the differing treatments of the 5 on the sleeve and chest of the Packers’ jerseys? Adam Seabury was just at the Packers Hall of Fame, where he discovered yet another version of the 5. He also snapped great pics of jerseys, helmets (check out the odd facemask here), pants, socks (someone please break into that display and steal those for me, pronto), cheerleaders’ outfits, programs, and a lot more. There’s a slideshow of all his pics here. … Great historical slideshow here of the Turkey Day Game between Kirkwood and Webster Groves, a centurty-long St. Louis Thanksgiving tradition. Some of the older pics are amazing — worth clicking through. … “I was at the Oregon/UCLA game at the Rose Bowl on Saturday,” writes Ryan Whitacre, “and at least one member of the Oregon fan base was exhibiting some classy dress. We can only hope this will filter down to the athletes themselves.” … Virginia retired Tiki Barber’s number on Saturday. … “These pics are of a few old mining company baseball and basketball teams from the 1910-1930,” writes longtime Uni Watch pal Doug Kalemba. “According to my grandfather (who is 96!), each mine had its own team, many filled with ringers who got cushy jobs in return for playing. The competition between these teams was serious business, with games often ending in brawls (or worse). My grandfather was a catcher and played for a few different teams. He claims a lot of the players were good enough for the bigs but never caught a break.” … While researching something else, I came across this photo from the 1959 NFL title game. Take a look at Jim Patton (No. 20) — the “2″ on his helmet appears to be backwards. … Aaron Levine notes that in this fight between Stan Jonathan and Paul Stewart, Stewart has NNOB and really big uni numbers, while the rest of the Nords have NOBs. … Man, those Browns throwbacks looked my-t-fine (additional pics here, here, and here). But John Ryder notes that the “c” on Willie McGinest’s jersey was almost as big as the other letters on his nameplate, while the “c” on Brandon McDonald’s jersey was teeny-tiny. … Jeremy Brahm, ever alert to unusual uniforms in far-off parts of the world, notes that the Singapore Slingers of the National Basketball League of Australia have an interesting design for their shorts and rear jersey. … Has anyone else noticed that Sheldon Brown practically wears a towel on his chinstrap? … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Adrian Peterson is the latest Bear to have suffered a torn helmet decal.
November 26th, 2007
Got an interesting note a few days ago from reader Jim Borwick, as follows:
I was watching the Blue Jays play the Sox in Chicago a couple of weeks ago and saw something I found odd on the White Sox home unis. Even though their logo is only on one side of the shirt, the second button from the top is positioned higher than it should be. Other teams obviously do this to accommodate the insignia running across the chest area, but with the Sox there is no need for that. I did a bit more research and discovered that most of the other teams with “one-sided” jersey logos also do this, including the Tigers, Reds, and Cubs — but not the Yankees. Their buttons are evenly spaced.
Have you ever noticed this ? What am I saying, of course you have.
Coupla things here. First, yes, I have noticed that even teams with simple chest logos, as opposed to full-chest insignia, use the unevenly spaced buttons (another team that does so: the Rockies), which has always struck me as a lazy move by Majestic. I’d never noticed that the Yankees were bucking this trend, however, so I was feeling pretty unobservant after reading Borwick’s note (especially after he showed so much faith in me at the end of his communiqué).
But then I discovered that he appears to have gotten some of his research mixed up: Contrary to what he wrote, the Yankees do indeed have the uneven spacing (here’s another example). And although he cited the Cubs among the unevenly button-spaced contingent, it appears that the Cubbies actually have nice, even button spacing on their home jersey (but, as you’d expect, uneven spacing to clear a path for their road jersey insignia).
Are the Cubs the only ones with evenly spaced buttons? Not sure — I haven’t yet had time to check the status of every left-chest-logo’d team, but I hope to get moving on that soon. (Translation: Vince, can you please look into this?)
A more serious research project would be to investigate the history of button placement. Did all teams use evenly spaced buttons years ago, and did this lead to buttonholes in the middle of chest lettering? If so, when did that second button migrate upward, creating the open real estate for the insignia? Is the uneven spacing just a Majestic thing, or were Russell, Rawlings, and other recently MLB uni manufacturers also doing it? I hope to look into all of these questions soon. If anyone has info or wants to contribute any research or their own, you know what to do.
Rocket Science: New York Times Yankees beat reporter Tyler Kepner wrote a little item about Roger Clemens last week, but it only made the early edition of the paper and doesn’t appear to be linked on the paper’s web site. Fortunately, he passed it along for me to reprint here:
There is a strategic reason, Roger Clemens explained, that he carries a black, hard-shell equipment trunk with him at home and on the road. Clemens insists on putting his gloves in the trunk so they do not get banged up during travel. He wants the leather to be stiff so hitters can not see the movement of his hand as he grips the ball.
Early in his career, Clemens noticed how veteran teammates like Marty Barrett and Dwight Evans could tell what a pitcher was going to throw by reading the subtle movements of his fingers and wrist. Clemens is careful to conceal his intentions, using a glove with no openings that would show any part of his hand or fingers.
Clemens said he tries to never wear long sleeves for the same reason. He might reach deeper into his glove to grip a certain pitch, and he figures that if the hitter sees only skin — not the end of a sleeve — he might be unable to tell when Clemens is changing his grip.
Clemens said he wants the leather in his glove to be soft enough to catch a grounder or a flip from the first baseman, but essentially he wants it firm. If a glove gets even the slightest bit floppy, he said, he will give it to his agent, Randy Hendricks, an accomplished softball player who can use a deep pocket in his glove.
Good Things Happen to Good People Dept.: I don’t know how I ever got by without an intern. More specifically, I don’t know how I got by without Vince Grzegorek, who’s become an indispensable member of the Uni Watch team and a good friend besides. Incredible as this may seem, Vince’s sportswriting aspirations go beyond the realm of uniforms, and lately he’s been trying his hand at non-uni pieces, one of which has just been published by Cleveland Scene (the Forest City’s alterna-weekly). Enjoy it here, and please join me in congratulating Vince.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: There’s an amazing old Montana football jersey being sold on eBay. … That same seller is also auctioning off a bunch of 1930s Montana game programs, many of which have really gorgeous cover art, as seen here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. … Interesting article about the use of the Cubs trademark here (with thanks to Laura Koenig). … Boston College is slated to unveil new uniforms today. … Here’s a minor league promotion I hadn’t seen before: Backwards Night. Details here (with thanks to Jason Adkins). … A few days ago I linked to this article, which reputedly showed all sorts of reasons why Barry Bonds’s swing is improved by his elbow armor (and not just because it allows him to sit on the inside part of the plate). That article has been widely ridiculed in baseball circles over the past few days. But the author isn’t giving up — he answers his critics here. … Someone’s put together a nice little gallery of bespectacled ballplayers (thanks, Vince). … Thanks to Barry Bonds, Mike Bacsik is now wearing MLB’s most famous stirrups. They’re even mentioned in this article about Bacsik, which includes the following passage: “Bacsik is not your typical major leaguer. He wears old-fashioned stirrups. He studies baseball lore.” But Bacsik’s not the only stirrups-clad hurler out there. Check out, for example, last night’s starter for the Rockies, Ubaldo Jimenez (additional views here, here, and here).
August 10th, 2007
Several people have contributed good info about the College World Series, but I’m gonna save that until tomorrow or Thursday. Today we’re going to look back a bit further than college baseball — all the way back to Little League.
That topic was inspired by a note I got last week from reader Wally Steidley, who said he coached Little League in Wylie, Texas. “My assistant coach and I are huge fans of Uni Watch,” he wrote, “so we took it upon ourselves to spend a little extra and get our boys outfitted like real baseball players. We have some limitations from the league but put together a pretty nice combo, including stirrups and sanitary socks. All the other teams went with the one-color soccer sock, so we really stood out as the finest uni’ed team in the entire league.”
Cool, I thought — teach ‘em young and all that. So when Steidley offered to send me some photos, I said, “Sure, let’s have ‘em.” That’s when I discovered that he’d left out one pertinent detail. He hadn’t just dressed up his team like real ballplayers — he’d dressed them as one of history’s most idiosyncratic teams: the A’s. Here’s Steidley‘s rundown:
We had some challenges getting the kids to wear everything correctly, but it was worth it, as everyone in the league noticed our classic stirrups and gold sanitary socks. We did have to explain the stirrup and how to wear them to the kids, but the parents thought it was a cool look, so they helped us out by requiring that they wear them correctly. You will also note the white cleats, which were difficult to find, but we talked the parents into them.
The gold belts were used because last year we were the Pirates, and the parents didn’t want to have to buy more belts. I gave in because my assistant coach and I had already purchased helmets, with MLB sticker packs, and fronted the money for the socks and stirrups. This is something we’ll be able to fix with next year’s team.
Amazing. So now there’s a bunch of nine-year-olds in Texas who think “real” ballplayers wear yellow sanitaries and white cleats. That should warp their little minds quite nicely. Still, Steidley’s devotion to uniform protocol is admirable. After Jason Giambi arranges to have Bud Selig bumped off, could we maybe get Steidley in line to take over the Commissioner’s chair?
Research Project — Last Call: If anyone wants to tip me wise to any bizarro minor league uniforms, I’m still taking submissions — hit me.
Membership Update: I’ve added about two dozen more rear-card designs to the membership roster and to the card gallery (including, as you can see at right, our first referee-based design). My continued thanks to all who’ve joined.
Remember that members get three bonus entries in this week’s raffle, which is for a copy of the 2001 MLB Style Guide. If you haven’t already entered, send an e-mail to uniraffle at earthlink dot net.
Uni Watch News Ticker: One of the San Diego Union-Tribune columnists wrote a bit of a Padres uniform manifesto yesterday (with thanks to Josh Berliner). … And a St. Looie columnist has weighed in on the suits-on-the-sidelines situation (with thanks to Luke Pellegra). … Good photo here (helpfully provided by Tom Konecny of the Toledo Mud Hens’ uni-laundering scene. The accompanying article isn’t really about uniforms, though. … One last Father’s Day oddity: Ray Durham wore one of those light blue wristbands on his head during BP (with thanks to Bosox blogger Jere). … Ehan Lewis notes that the NFL recently held its annual NFL Softball Challenge event. If you’ve always wanted to see Jeff Lurie swinging a bat (among other sights), a full gallery of pics is available here. … Nice find by Ethan Rowley, who came up with this portrait of Cardinals greats, which functions as a de facto timeline of the team’s uniform. According to … this article (forwarded by Wes Johnson), “[Minnesota] Gophers football coach Tim Brewster made it clear that there will be only one change in the team’s uniforms this fall: the letter ‘M’ on the helmets will be much bigger.” Which means it’ll look even more like an upside-down W than it already does. … Excellent slide-show essay on the history of — and problems with — U.S. soccer uniforms here. … Latest player spotted wearing Oakley Thumps during BP: Bartolo Colon (great shot by Zach Gibson). … Member Eric Bonus has scanned and uploaded an excellent 1987 article about hockey uniform numbers. … More really disturbing Chris Cooley hot pants pics here. … Carlos Delgado went high-cuffed last night, and it was a thing of beauty. Take note, class: His pants didn’t break right at the knees but, rather, just slightly down the shins. This is exactly — exactly — how it should be done. Such a splendid example of the form that I’m willing to overlook the lack of stirrups. … Pitt’s new secondary logo has been leaked. … Michael Maurino works for the single-A Dunedin Blue Jays and recently attended the Florida State League All-Star Game, where the teams wore East and West jerseys that almost make the Pro Bowl look good by comparison — especially when you factor in the number font — yeesh. The guy wearing double-zero in that last photo is Francisco Cervelli of the Tampa Yankees, who normally wears 34, but that was taken by Omar Malave, who managed the West team. Anyone know which other minor leagues use generic all-star unis instead of letting the players wear their regular team attire? … The Angels are giving away an item I’ve never seen before: wristbands with a built-in watch. If you haven’t seen it already, check out the super-cool animated Watch Your Back ad, now running near the top of the right column.
June 19th, 2007
I had a houseguest over the weekend and barely touched my computer, so I’m a day late in covering the details of the weekend’s big uni-related story. With apologies to those for whom this is already old news, here’s the scoop:
During Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals on Saturday night, Ottawa’s Jason Spezza, who normally wears No. 19, had his jersey badly torn during a tussle with Anaheim’s Sammy Pahlsson (you can see part of the rip here). Both players were penalized for roughing, but Spezza immediately removed his torn jersey and scampered off to the locker room to get a new jersey while another Ottawa player sat in the penalty box in his stead.
Nothing so unusual there — it happens. The weird part was when Spezza returned a minute or two later: Instead of wearing a new No. 19 jersey or a repaired version of his original jersey, he was wearing No. 44. That number is usually worn by Patrick Eaves, who was a healthy scratch for the game. The penalty hadn’t yet expired, so Spezza took his place in the sin bin wearing Eaves’s jersey. When the penalty expired, Spezza skated onto the ice and played until the next whistle, at which point he skated to the bench and switched to a proper 19 jersey.
A few of the details are still fuzzy. Some reports said that Spezza’s original torn jersey was repaired while he was in the penalty box, and that he eventually put it back on; others said that the equipment staff eventually found a new 19 jersey for him to wear. And according to the fourth paragraph of this article (alertly forwarded by Brent Bollmeier), “[S]ince the Sens equipment staff quickly stapled Spezza’s name on the back of Eaves’ jersey, it would not have been illegal for him to go on the ice wearing a different number, in this case 44 rather than his own 19″ — an interesting factoid, except for the fact that the Sens staff didn’t staple Spezza’s name onto the 44 jersey. Anyone know more about that?
The announcers had plenty of fun with all this, which you can hear for yourself, because whole thing has already been immortalized in two short YouTube videos, available here and here.
Blowout Chatter: The Cubs had a rare laugher on Saturday, which gave announcers Len Kasper and Bob Brenly a chance to ignore the play-by-play proceedings and concentrate on more important matters, like uniforms. The discussion began when they noted that one of the Cubbies’ clubhouse managers was in uniform and serving as a batboy (apparently one of the team’s standard methods of trying to break a losing streak, something I guess the Cubs have had lots of opportunities to perfect over the years). That led Kasper to wax expansive about a recent chat he’d had with one of the other clubhouse guys:
Kasper: I had a great talk with Tim Hellmann, who works in the home clubhouse, and was talking about the jerseys and taking care of the uniforms and the new synthetic polyester-blend caps. He was telling me that most dirt and grass stains require hand-washing, to keep them nice and clean. And the pants get replaced much more often, for obvious reasons. If you’re wondering, the uniforms are made out of polyester, and they’re washed in warm water. Are you writing this down?
Brenly: No.
Kasper: See, I’ve been saving this story for a long time. Just felt like today was the day. [Camera shows Felix Pie in the Cubs dugout with a lot of dirt on his jersey.] Felix Pie’s uniform might require a bit of hand-washing. I asked Tim if they ever iron the uniforms — sometimes you see a bit of a wrinkle. I guess it’s rare that they have to iron. He said at one time the uniforms were washed in hot water and quickly packed — sometimes had to be touched up with an iron. So it does happen on occasion. Now, as a catcher, you probably went through more pairs of pants than any other position. Do you have any idea how many pairs of trousers you averaged in a big league season?
Brenly: Well, y’know, back in the day we were on a strict budget there in San Francisco. We used to patch our uniforms frequently. It wasn’t unusual to see a guy with three or four layers of patching, especially on your sliding knee, and for me that was my left knee. They just continued to patch ’em until they couldn’t patch them anymore, at which point they were put in a box and sent to the minor leagues for those guys to deal with. You don’t see a lot of patching going on nowadays — if a guy tears his pants or slides so many times that he gets a bare spot on the knee of his pants, they just get him a new pair.
(Special thanks to AJ Favorite for tipping me wise to this highly riveting bit of uni banter.)
Membership Update: Continued thanks to the very enthusiastic and generous folks who’ve signed up for a Uni Watch membership. Everyone who signed up through yesterday is now listed on the membership roster, where, in most cases, you can see the name/number style that everyone’s chosen for the backs of their cards (which, I think you’ll agree, looks pretty damn cool). Have fun checking out the roster — it’s worth reading it just to see why Mark Emge chose No. 12.
If you signed up prior to yesterday and don’t see your name on the roster, or if there’s an error in your roster listing, let me know and we’ll make things right. If you’re on the roster and want to send me a photo of yourself that can be linked to your name, go ahead and e-mail it to me (or, if you want to link to a photo that’s already no the web, just send me the URL). Also, if you’d rather have your name linked to your e-mail address, so other readers can get in touch with you, let me know and I’ll set up the link.
The actual laminated cards, along with other membership benefits, will start shipping out later this week. It’ll probably take me a few weeks before I get fully caught up — thanks in advance for your patience.
Meanwhile: Terry Mark, I have a question regarding your membership order and am having trouble e-mailing you — please shoot me a note.
Uni Watch News Ticker: An inside MLB source reports the following: “Next year MLB is getting new dugout gear. The jackets will be made of new fabric — think North Face material, but not the fleece kind. The half-zip pullovers will also be kinda weird — more windbreaker-like, but with zip-off sleeves. Also, looks like the negative feedback on this year’s BP gear is falling on deaf ears. The jerseys, at least, will be used again next year.” … Dynamite article here about the uniforms used in the Ernie Davis movie (with thanks to Mike Alper). … More minor league shenanigans, this time from the Frederick Keys, who wore NASCAR jerseys on Saturday night (as forwarded by Tim Phelps). … Succinct analysis by Morris Bird, who says, Let’s hope this logo evolves quickly.” Details here. … Peter Angelos briefly addresses the situation regarding the Orioles’ road jersey insignia in the middle of this interview (just do a search on “uniform”). … Kurt Hiester notes that Dustin Pedroia wears his shin guard unusually high while batting. … Good note from Scott Merzbach, who writes: ” When I was in Lynchburg, Virginia, last weekend for a minor league baseball game, I recalled that the last time I attended a Hillcats baseball game in 1999, the opponents had left their caps at home and were forced to wear generic hats when they took the field. I found a newspaper clip that confirmed my recollection: ‘The (Kinston) Indians were forced to play the game in all-blue adjustable hats they bought at High Peak Sportswear because their regular caps were accidentally left in Kinston.’ ” … Several readers noted that after Michael Barrett’s scuffle with Carlos Zambrano (which resulted in some nasty-looking stitches), he has switched from wearing a conventional mask to a hockey-style model. … Remember Manny Ramirez wearing Oakley Thumps? He was wearing them again last night (with thanks to Michael Milici). … I could do a whole column on Don Cherry’s suits, but for now I’ll just pass along Dustin Pomprowitz’s observation that Cherry was wearing little Canadian flag cufflinks last night.
June 5th, 2007
Last Tuesday I had a small Ticker item about how the old Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA used to put first intials. in addition to last names, on the back of every player’s uniform (as you can see in this video clip). That prompted an interesting reply from Bob Halfacre of AIS uniforms, who happens to have some very strong thoughts on the matter:
First initials on jerseys may be my greatest professional pet peeve. My disdain for them rivals your distaste for purple. I have always hated them and will fight clubs from placing them on their jerseys to the bitter end. Clubs that we provide lettering for who don’t use them include the Anahiem Ducks (Niedermayers) and the LA Kings. You also won’t see them on the Mets. To quote the great longtime equipment manger/traveling secretary Charlie Samuels [we’re gonna have to agree to disagree on that assessment of Charlie. — PL], “What the fuck are they wearing numbers for?” I couldn’t agree more. It eventually leads to one of players being out of the lineup or off the club and the other one sporting an initial for no reason.
A few specific experiences:
• The San Francisco Spiders of the old IHL had every player’s first initial on their jerseys. It was at the insistence of the owner’s wife.
• When Reggie Smith was with the Dodgers, he was adamant that his jersey have “R. Smith” on the back. He didn’t care if the Dodgers had another Smith or not.
• Tim Brown of the Oakland Raiders always wore “T. Brown” on the back of his jersey, whether or not the Raiders had another Brown. His first NFL jersey was that way and I think he was superstitious about it.
A specific instance that I remember is when Howard Johnson joined the Mets in 1985: His jersey read “H. Johnson,” but manager Davey Johnson just kept wearing “Johnson” — no initial — which I always interpreted to mean, “I’m the main Johnson around here.” (And please, let’s not have a slew of johnson jokes in the comments section.)
As for the “They’ve got uniform numbers, so why bother with the initial?” gripe, it’s fine as far as it goes, but it’s a bit of a straw man argument. If you take that line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, it becomes, “They’ve got uniform numbers, so why bother putting names on the jerseys in the first place?” I still haven’t heard a completely satisfying answer to that one.
Membership Update: Preparations continue for the launch of the Uni Watch membership program (if you missed the initial announcement, look here), including a new twist regarding the membership card: As I mentioned last week, you can choose your own uniform number for the back of the card, along with your choice of lettering styles for your name (vertically arched, radially arched, NFL-style, subscript [a new offering!], or no name at all). HOWEVER, if the Uni Watch colors aren’t good enough for you, you can instead choose to have your name and number rendered in the style of your favorite team (but we’ll remove the border and bunting around the edge, so the colors won’t clash). There are a few gaps in our typeface collection, but we can do most MLB, NFL, or NHL teams. Unfortunately, no NBA teams for now. And to nobody’s surprise, I will not permit anything involving the Vikings, Ravens, Rockies, or any other purple-inclusive team. Also, please don’t ask for minor league or old historical teams, since we don’t want to drive poor Scott Turner crazy as he prepares the cards.
Personally, I’m kinda hoping you’ll all choose to stick with the Uni Watch colors for your name and number (as I’ll be doing on my own card) — Uni Watch is our team here, after all. But at least now you have some additional options.
And if you want your name to include your initial, that’s okay with me. But we won’t tell Bob Halfacre about it.
Meanwhile, don’t forget that I’m raffling off a free membership as we speak. If you haven’t already done so, go ahead and send an e-mail to uniraffle at earthlink dot net (one per person, please), and I’ll announce the winner when the entire membership program is ready to go, which I hope will be within a few days. Be patient, people — it’s gonna be worth the wait, I promise. (Extra-special thanks to Ben Thoma, who whipped up the super-cool raffle ticket graphic.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Cinematic report from Jared Peterson, who writes: “The Syracuse Athletic department has put up a gallery of pictures from the set of the upcoming Ernie Davis biopic, with 1959 Syracuse uniforms.” … Greg Evans reports that the Anderson Joes, whose logo was the subject of much discussion here last week, had their home debut over the weekend. Additional photos of their retro-style uniforms are available here. … Brilliant catch by Ferdinand Cesarano, who writes: “I was watching a little of the LSU/Stanford college softball game on ESPN on Saturday and noticed that LSU’s jerseys buttoned in the direction of men’s baseball jerseys [i.e. buttons on the right, buttonholes on the left], but Stanford’s jerseys buttoned the opposite way, like a women’s coat. I watch very little women’s softball, but it seems that most college softball jerseys that I’ve seen button in the same direction as men’s baseball jerseys.” … Rugby update from Caleb Borchers, as follows: “The American tradition of wearing patches to commemorate appearances in championship games is certainly preferable to what went on in rugby this weekend. The Bulls, who won the Super 14 final, wore this jersey. Note that to commemorate the occasion they added the verbose ‘Finaal Bulls v. Sharks Durban 19 MEI 2007.’ (I don’t believe that the Final of May are misspelled. Instead they are in Afrikaans, even though the Super 14 is a primarily English-speaking league.) They also have put each player’s first name on both the front and back of the jersey near the top, something they had not done all season.” … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Nice video report here on ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte and his special lefty/righty glove. … I loooooove this guy’s baseball uniform drawings. … Anthony Memme has come up with a rare sight: Blue Jays skipper John Gibbons in an actual jersey (instead of that annoying smock he usually wears)! … Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek notes that Fausto Carmona tends to leave the MLB hologram sticker on his underbill (additional pics here and here). … Also from Vince: Bernie Williams got an honorary degree from Iona College the other day, leading at least one graduate to wear the Yankees logo on his mortarboard. … “The Capitals signed and introduced 2006 No. 1 pick Nicklas Backstrom on Monday,” writes Michael Alper. “It’s interesting that they had him pose with the current jersey, since the Caps are introducing new ones in a few weeks. It’s also interesting (and pretty sad) that it was a cheap replica jersey, not even a game-issued or authentic one — note the CCM logo on the left sleeve. It’s also dumb that he posed in an empty locker room!” … Interesting documentation of game-used Roger Clemens jersey here — among other things, he likes to have the front shirttail tags removed (courtesy of Kevin Gee). … Tough to see in this screen grab (snapped by Tom Mowbray), but pitcher Winston Abreu was wearing shades during a night game yesterday. … My vote for the Miss Universe pageant is going to the Canadian entrant, Inga Skaya, for obvious reasons (with thanks to Nick Vossbrink). … The double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats wore a Manchester Police Dept. patch last night in honor of a slain officer, and are also retiring his badge number (with thanks to Eric Martin and Mike Hennessy). … Don Whelan notes that uniform designer and longtime Uni Watch pal Todd Radom designed this really nifty clock as part of a fundraiser for the American Institute of Graphic Arts (you can see the rest of the clocks here).
May 22nd, 2007
Like a lot of Americans, I don’t really follow horse racing but still get a kick out of the Kentucky Derby, mainly because it’s a good excuse for a party. So on Saturday I baked a derby pie, put Uni Watch designated raceday tomato Amanda Madden on my arm, and headed over to Watch Your Back impresario Brian Corrigan’s pad, where a TV/BBQ party was in full swing. In between bites of grilled chicken and swigs of beer (no mint juleps for me this year), I made the following observations:
- Winning jockey Calvin Borel looked fairly sharp, bow tie and all. I kept wondering what happened to the propeller on his beanie, though. Also: I know it was muddy out there, but why did he have four pairs of goggles (here’s another view)? Was he switching them on the fly during the race? If anyone knows more about how this works, fill us in.
- I liked how the tape on some of the horses’ ankles created the equine equivalent of striped socks.
From there I headed over to the Mendez Boxing Club in Manhattan, where I joined No Mas principals Dave Larzelere and Chris Isenberg to watch the Mayweather/De La Hoya bout. It was a pretty raucous scene, never more so than when Floyd donned that big-ass sombrero for his ring entrance. He also wore the Mexican colors on his robe, trunks, and shoes, plus his cornermen were wearing “Mexico Loves Mayweather” T-shirts, all of which seemed like an obvious ploy to steal De La Hoya’s Mexican-identified mojo. Since turnabout is fair play, I was hoping Oscar would come out in blackface and some gangsta tattoos, but wit has never been the Golden Boy’s strong suit. Anyway, it was way too loud at the Mendez for me to hear any explanation that Jim Lampley or Larry Merchant might have offered for Mayweather’s Mexican-themed attire. Did they discuss it?
Meanwhile, anyone know the story behind the little portraits appearing on Mayweather’s WBC belts? Like, are they the faces of the current champions in the various weight divisions? The faces of fighters Mayweather beat to win his titles? If anyone knows, kindly fill us in.
Missing Persons Dept.: Hey, Ben Nickerson, if you’re reading this, please get in touch asap. Thanks.
Uni Watch Midwestern Road Trip Update: I’m happy to announce that the venue for this Saturday’s Uni Watch Chicagoland party will be the Montrose Saloon. So the weekend party itinerary is now set: We’ll be convening in Minneapolis this Friday evening, 7:30pm, at the very wonderful Nye’s Polonaise Room. And then, precisely 24 hours later, I’ll see all you Chi-town folks at the Montrose. Looking forward to it.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Not sure how we all missed this until now, but someone on the Chris Creamer boards alertly noticed that the Mariners have switched from using nameplates (that photo is from last season, and so are this, this, and this) to direct-sewn lettering (as additionally seen here, here, here, and here) — a major improvement. … Good slide show here on the history of sponsorship in the German Bundesliga soccer league (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Interesting eBay items here, here, here, and here. … The Giants did the Gigantes thing for Cinco de Mayo. … Interesting note from Kel Hinkle, who writes, “I was at my daughter’s softball game on Saturday and the opposing team’s pitcher wore a mask.” Yikes — looks like Hannibal Lechter on the mound! … Bit of golf attire commentary here (as spotted by Seth Horowitz).
May 7th, 2007
There’s nothing new about a tragedy from the “real world” being commemorated on a sports uniform. Sometimes the gesture is confined to one team, like the Rockies wearing a “CHS” sleeve patch after the Columbine High School shootings, or the Astros wearing a space shuttle patch following the Columbia disaster. But sometimes the response is more widespread — after Hurricane Katrina, for example, all MLB teams wore Red Cross helmet decals, and several college football teams wore a Gulf states decal.
But I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like the uni-based response to the Virginia Tech shootings. It began with the Nationals wearing VT caps on Tuesday night and has really snowballed from there. Here’s what I’ve seen so far (and I bet there’s plenty more that I’ve missed):
• College Baseball: The most obvious response has come from Virginia Tech itself, where all of the school’s teams will wear a memorial patch for the rest of this year. The first team to wear it has been the Hokie baseball team. Meanwhile, Auburn and Alabama wore VT colors on Friday.
• College Football: It isn’t football season, but several schools are holding their spring scrimmages right about now. Ohio State wore the VT logo for their game on Saturday. Kentucky did the same thing, and Michigan State wore a red VT helmet decal (here’s a closer look). Meanwhile, over at Penn State, Joe Paterno had a VT cap, and Penn State’s student cheering section even formed the VT logo. (Special thanks to Jesse Gavin for letting me know about a couple of these that I hadn’t been aware of.)
• MLB: On Friday, Paul Bako wore a VT wristband and Kevin Youkilis donned a VT cap during batting practice. On Friday night, the Red Sox wore the VT logo on their sleeves and caps. And on Saturday night, Angels pitcher Joe Saunders — MLB’s only Virginia Tech alum — got special permission from the Commissioner’s office to wear a VT cap.
• NBA: Allen Iverson wore a memorial patch on his protective sleeve last night.
• Golf: Several PGA players have been sporting the VT logo, including Charley Hoffman, Jason Dufner, Mark Calcavecchia, and Johnson Wagner (a VT grad).
• NASCAR: The VT logo was displayed on lots of cars over the weekend, including those driven by Ward Burton, Eric McClure, Ricky Rudd, Tristan Gommendy, Katherine Legge, and Kyle Busch (who also wore a VT cap, as did Denny Hamlin and a member of Clint Bowyer’s crew). The logo also appeared on the helmet of a Champ Car official.
• MLS: The Houston Dynamo will wear VT tribute uniforms this Sunday.
And there’s probably more where that came from — stay tuned.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Last week I noted that Chase Wright was wearing Sean Henn’s glove. New York Times Yankees beat reporter Tyler Kepner has provided the background on that: “Wright and Henn are close friends — both are from Texas — and Wright wears Henn’s glove when he pitches. Wright said that he believed the glove brought him luck; he had not one, but two Henn models on the top shelf of his locker Thursday. ‘I used it a couple of years ago, and it’s worked for me,’ Wright said. ‘So I’ve used his glove ever since.’ ” … Interesting article here about names on MLS jerseys (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … About time. … Eli Manning is now shilling for Schutt (as spotted by Matt Olson). … Very entertaining rundown of bespectacled ballplayers here (with thanks to Watch Your Back impresario Brian Corrigan). … Why was David Wright going high-cuffed over the weekend? Maybe to show off his new cleats, which are his own signature model. … The University of Portland is getting a new logo (with thanks to Portland’s own Jeremy Brahm). … Can anyone explain why the Red Sox wore their Jackie Robinson tribute patches on their caps, instead of on their helmets like everyone else? … This photo, provided by Josh Yetmar, supposedly shows the 1911 Brooklyn Dodgers. But note the different jersey, cap, and hosiery styles — do these guys really play for the same team? Additional info welcome. … I was at yesterday’s Mets/Braves game — my first game of the season — and was disappointed to see that the on-deck circles, had become giant New Era ads. Is this an MLB-wide thing, or just at Shea? … Please, no more uni cameo contributions — my in box overfloweth!
April 23rd, 2007
Yesterday’s post about baseball captains and “C” designations got me thinking about football. As most of you know, the C often shows up in college football but it’s rarely seen in the the pros. The only NFL example I’m aware of is the 1983 Cowboys, where the C was worn by Danny White, Bob Breunig, Drew Pearson, and Ron Fellows.
And that’s usually where the discussion stops. But in a timely coincidence, reader Erik Little sent me something the other day that I don’t recall having seen before. It’s a 1993 football card that shows Junior Seau of the Chargers with “Captain” spelled out on his chest.
I did a bit of photo research and found that the Chargers had at least three “Captain”-emblazoned players in 1992: Seau, Marion Butts, and Stan Humphries. It appears to have been a one-season thing (the “Captain” patch doesn’t appear in photos from ’91 or ’93), but I’m surprised I don’t remember it, because 1992 was a good year for the Chargers: It was the season they began 0-4 and then won 11 of their final 12 to win the AFC West, which was a big story at the time. Then they won one playoff game. So I probably saw my share of Chargers game action that year. But somehow I have no recollection of this particular captaincy designation.
Little discovered several other interesting football cards, incidentally:
• Remember our discussion of football players wearing sunglasses? Here’s another one: Mel Gray.
• Check out Ernest Givins’s personalized towel.
• Terance Mathis had only one sleeve stripe, while the rest of the Jets had two (and note the placement of the Champion logo, which makes it clear that this was a designed as a one-stripe sleeve, not a two-striper that was cut short).
Uni Watch Midwestern Road Trip Update: Last week I said I was tentatively planning to convene Uni Watch parties in Minneapolis on May 11th and Chicago on May 12th. Those dates are now solid — mark your calendars and all that. The Minneapolis shindig will take place at Nye’s at 7:30pm on the 11th; details on the Chicago party to follow shortly (please, no more venue suggestions — I have more than enough to choose from). Looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Remember when Brian Urlacher wore this cap during Super Bowl Media Day? Turns out it was one expensive cap. … Speaking of uni-related disciplinary actions, MLB appears to be cracking down on inside-out pockets (a topic explored in depth here). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Shawn Green’s superscript Y has reappeared. … But that’s nothing compared to the typographic alignment problems on the back of Bill Hall’s jersey (with thanks to Milwaukee’s finest, Nicole Haase). … The National League’s BP jersey for the All-Star Game was unveiled yesterday. … More Virginia Tech caps on display yesterday, first on Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel and then on Mark Buehrle and Ozzie Guillen during the news conference after Buehrle’s no-hitter (with thanks to Chris Ashworth and Tim Donovan, respectively, for the screen grabs). … Anthony Memme notes that Jonathan Papelbon had something — maybe “LOL”? — written on his underbrim last night. … Yesterday I asked for action shots of bowlers wearing ties, and Scott Johnson came through with several.
April 19th, 2007
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