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Posts filed under 'Eyewear'
Back on April 27th, I ran a Ticker item about this page from a 1958 MacGregor catalog. “Dig item G914,” I wrote. “Who’s Ted Sowle?” A reader helped fill in some of the blanks with this comment, but that didn’t address the question of the headgear shown in the old catalog. Had Sowle designed it, or had it been named after him for some other reason?
I got an answer a few days later, when I received an e-mail from one Ted Sowle. But no, not that Ted Sowle. Here’s what the note said:
Ted Sowle was my grandfather. He passed away in 1971, just before I was born. I was researching his past when I came across your question about him. … He holds many patents regarding the safety of, primarily, football athletes. A very creative guy and a hell of a football coach (was asked to coach for Notre Dame but turned it down, or so I’m told).
Ted offered to send me some of his grandfather’s patents — an offer I readily accepted. And sure enough, he designed the eyewear protector shown in the old catalog page (you can see the rest of that patent’s paperwork here). That design was apparently a refinement of a similar contraption he’d patented nine years earlier (full paperwork here).
Ted sent me nine patents in all, and they fell into three broad categories. The two designs I just showed you related to eyewear protection. There were also two harnesses, patented less than a year apart, that were designed to provide hip and body protection for football players, although the gear kinda looks more like S&M fetishwear (full paperwork here and here).
The other five patents were all faceguard-related, and that’s where things got interesting. Remember these photos from the Life archive? That’s the first thing I thought of when I saw this (paperwork), this (paperwork), and this (paperwork). But the Life photo sequence is from 1951, while Sowle’s patents are from several years later (and, as I eventually discovered when I read the fine print, are not based on a plexiglass concept).
Sowle’s other two facemask patents, which he received in the 1960s, featured pivoting action — one for a single pivot-mounted bar (paperwork) and the other for a slightly more elaborate assembly (paperwork).
Looks like ol’ Ted was quite the inventer. Had he been a trained engineer or designer, or did he just link to tinker? “Not an engineer — just a coach who cared, I guess,” said the younger Ted.
Amazing stuff, right? Very DIY, when you think about it. Meanwhile, I had lots of additional questions: Did Sowle patent other inventions? Did any of his designs gain widespread acceptance? Were there any designs that he felt were unjustly ignored or underrated? Did he design any non-sports items?
At this point Ted referred me to his father (the elder Ted’s son), who he said would be better equipped to answer these queries. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard back from him yet, but I’ll post some follow-up material if and when he responds. Until then, enjoy these beautiful patent drawings and be on the lookout for other mentions of Ted Sowle in vintage equipment listings.
The advertiser I’ve always dreamed of: As you may have noticed, we now have a dedicated stirrup and sock vendor selling quality hosiery over in the left rail. That would be the aptly named Socks Rock, and I don’t mind saying this is pretty much my dream come true in terms of site sponsorship. Please welcome them aboard and give them a look. Thanks.
Bobble Shoppe Reminder: In case you missed it last week, the amazing Robert Marshall is now offering hand-casted, custom-painted bobblehead dolls to Uni Watch readers. For details, look here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Our friends at Ebbets Field Flannels have started a new blog devoted to uni-related issues. Best of luck with the new venture, Jerry. … Small item buried within this column: “Man of the Weekend was Red Bulls forward John Wolyniec. As seen on MSG, the Staten Island native and former Fordham star was set to enter as a sub, Friday, when he removed his warm-up jacket to reveal a red jersey. His team, however, was wearing its white jerseys. Wolyniec quickly changed, entered” (with thanks to Joshua Paster). … Reprinted from Monday’s comments: This must have been a very odd ballgame. Additional info here. … Good find by Gabe Butler, who writes: “I was browsing on eBay this morning when I stumbled across this replica jersey for a team that played in my hometown in the late 1960s and ’70s. My dad actually played for their junior team before they folded and still has his jersey hanging up at home! Anyway, I read the thread and the guy said he got the jersey made at this site. I poked around it looks like they have some pretty cool stuff.” Indeed — worth investigating. … Those Yankees, nothing but class. … Interesting background info on the 49ers’ new sleeve stripes here (with thanks to Tim Fesmire). … Ryan Connelly recently realized one of his longtime dreams by playing — and scoring a goal! — on the Mellon Arena ice. Photos here. … And so it has come to this: The swoosh has infiltrated the Presidential sock drawer. … Y’know, there are some problems that even striped stirrups can’t solve (with thanks to Chris Chaussee). … Lots of apostrophe catastrophe action over on NHL.com (as spotted by James Huening). … The IFAF (that’s World Federation of American Football) is will be holding its Junior World Championship tournament in Canton, starting in late June. Lots of not-very-inspiring uni photos here (with thanks to Tom Pachuta). … Menswear designer Paul Smith is a cycling enthusiast, and he L.A. shop now has an exhibition of cycling jerseys. Addition info in the second graf of this story (thanks, Vince). … If you’ve always wanted to see Alex Ovechkin in a football helmet, this is your lucky day (with thanks to Ethan Crooks). … Here’s a major, major find: Over 60 photos from the Expos’ very first game (über-thanks to Jean Gagnier). … Here’s Rob Ullman’s latest, a portrait of Tyler Kulasza’s girlfriend, Emily. Love the low-rise Chucks! … Maybe this is common knowledge, but not to me: For a while, Rick DePietro’s mask featured a depiction of Madison Square Garden (left photo, the ear panel). Apparently the mask was later sent back for a touch-up (good spot by Joe DeAngelis). … Really wonderful slideshow of vintage baseball photos here — highly recommended (big thanks to Mike Couillard). … Pricey, but possibly probably worth it. … Nice mash note to the old Bengals identity program here. … Great article in yesterday’s Ausin American-Statesman about Len Barrell’s 1914 uniform (with thanks to Martin Kohout). … New football uniforms for South Alabama (with thanks to Doug Simpson). … New Celtic International away kit (with thanks to JK Chaney). … What happened to the ball that Bobby Thompson hit for his famous home run in 1951? We’ll never know for sure, but there’s a new book that explores the likely answer, and Ken Davidoff has written a very interesting review of it. … Uni number news for the Patriots (with thanks to Tom Adjemian). … Lots of interesting sock action and the Mid-Penn Conference Track and Field Championships (with thanks to Ryan Farrell). … Hey, guess what, some uniforms are ugly (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … Petersburg, Indiana, is the hometown of Gil Hodges, and now it’s also the home of a big Hodges mural. Those pics were taken by Ryan Bowman, who notes that the mural appears to show Hodges wearing a white Dodgers jersey with blue placket piping, which is a design the Dodgers never wore during Hodges’s tenure, although they did wear a road grays with that design. Further info on the mural here. … Look, it’s a bunch of new Bundesliga kits (with thanks to Alex Peerenboom). … Fun rundown of “mistaken identity” baseball cards here. … Hey, check this out: stirrups vs. stirrups! That’s Cleveland pitcher Jeremy Sowers (whose hosiery heroics were first mentioned here last week) and Corky Miller of the Chisox (whose membership in Stirrup Nation is news to me) facing each other last night. … And if that weren’t enough, Luke Hochevar made his debut with the Royals last night, and look what he was wearing. There’s definitely a little trendlet at work here — I think the hosiery pendulum may finally be ready to start swing back the other way (thanks, Phil). … Also from Phil: Alex Cora played first base in the 10th inning of last night’s Mets/Braves game and apparently didn’t have a first baseman’s glove of his own to wear. Phil breaks down the proceedings: “He warmed up with a light brown mitt, then got handed a darker brown mitt, which he didn’t like and threw back. After that, he motioned to the dugout to look for his glove and then called time as the first batter (Chipper) was stepping in. Then he jogged to the dugout and came back with a regular fielder’s glove, which he wore for the entire inning, including while holding Chipper on at first.”
May 13th, 2009
And I’m back, just in time to get snowed in.
First and foremost: Major, major props to Phil for keeping everything running without a hitch during my absence. You da man, buddy.
Pittsburgh was a hoot. I’ll have more to say about that tomorrow, but today I want to showcase the work of reader Steve K. As you may recall, he’s the guy who provided us with a bunch of amazing 1970s NFL screen grabs back in December. He’s back with more, and there’s some killer stuff in this batch. Dig:
• Check out the directional hashmarks in these shots from Arrowhead Stadium — they’re shaped like little arrowheads. And the sideline yard markers were printed in Chiefs colors! Never seen that before.
• Remember that shot of Mike Williams with the initial at the end of his NOB? That was from 1975, and it turns out they were still using that same format for him in 1977 (good shot of Joe Washington’s double-decker FNOB, too). Even better, here’s a similar NOB treatment for Gary “Big Hands” Johnson in 1975. “Interestingly, he was the only Johnson on the Chargers that season,” says Steve.
• Great view here of Bob Griese as four-eyes. Also, note his orange-filled TV numeral — different than what his teammates were wearing in the same game. Just one of many Miami inconsistencies during that 1970s.
• “There have only been four players in NFL history with the surname ‘Seymour,’ and Paul Seymour was the only one to play for the Bills,” says Steve. “So why did he need an initial for this 1974 game against the Raiders? Interestingly, his white jersey did not have the ‘P.’”
• Speaking of NOB inconsistencies, Mike McCoy’s home NOB in 1975 had a superscript “c” while his road jersey was all-caps with a space
• Here’s a weird one. “That’s Barty Smith from the 1975 Packers,” says Steve. “Green Bay also had a Barry Smith, who wore ‘B. B. Smith,’ but I couldn’t get a clean shot of his NOB.”
• Still more Packers NOB minutiae: Steve thinks John Hadl’s nameplate was very off-center. It’s a little off, but if you measure it, I think you’ll find that it’s not as bad as it looks. I agree that it feels off-center, though, because of the white space in the “L” and unbalanced weight between the “2″ and the “1.” Scott and I wrestle with this sort of issue all the time when working on Uni Watch membership cards.
• The interesting thing about this goalpost shot is that it’s from a 1975 game in Minnesota. I have a vague recollection of home teams putting the visiting club’s name on the goalpost like this back in the day, but I wouldn’t swear as to how common it was. Seems almost quaint by today’s standards, no?
• Who’s even more anonymous than a replacement player during the 1987 strike? A replacement player with no NOB. The other St. Louis players were fully nameplated, including Leonard Smith (who went FNOB because the team also included Lance Smith).
• “That same game was probably Ray Brown’s only FNOB game in his 20-year, 261-game career,” says Steve. “Why the first name? Because the Cardinals also had Ron Brown that day (a replacement player, not the former Rams sprinter). He was released after the game.”
Big thanks again to Steve for taking the time to prepare these screen grabs, and for his eagle-eyed attention to detail.
March Raffle: Our friends at SoccerPro.com are back on board for another raffle. The winner will get his or her choice of any soccer jersey shown here, home or road. 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 this Friday, March 6th, at 10pm eastern. 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 next Monday.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Okay, so I’ve tried to catch up on all the e-mails, comments, and news that went down while I was away, but I’m still catching up on a few things, so forgive me if this Ticker overlooks some obvious stuff and/or repeats some stuff you already know. … The Phillies are going to wear gold-trimmed jerseys on Opening Day (with thanks to Joseph Chiaccio). … Good background info on lots of college mascots here (with thanks to Ryan Connelly). … Check this out: An untucked jersey was up for auction and nobody bid on it (great find by Scott M.X. Turner). … And hmmm, what have we here? Possibly a Royals prototype. … Here’s the first time I’ve ever seen a Revolution helmet used as a windshield decal (good spot by Alan Borock). … Here’s a Blackhawks goalie who doesn’t have thicker sleeve stripes than his teammates (with thanks to John Muir). … Lots of great old Tennessee football pics here. If you check out the links toward the bottom of the page, you’ll find lots of program covers, ticket stubs, and so on (great find by Luke Pellegra). … Aaron Stilley has created a Kansas City Scouts blog. Among his finds is this passage from the 1/27/75 edition of the Kansas City Star: “The Scouts will wear players’ names on the back of the home uniforms for the rest of the season. The road uniforms will remain nameless. The home team, for reasons of program sales, has the option of forbidding them.” … Aaron also turned up this photo of Gary Bergman. Look closely at that helmet decal — is that a men’s room symbol? … Jason Terry wore a protective glove on his non-shooting hand on Sunday (with thanks to Michael Korczynski). … I recently asked if anyone could get pics of the Pacers prototype jerseys rumored to be displayed at Conseco Fieldhouse. “That didn’t sound right to me, as I have spent HOURS perusing the cases at Conseco, and would have been struck by something so awesome,” says Tim Lofton. “But I checked it out anyway. There are a few pieces that look like prototypes, and a couple more things that might have fallen under that category. Anyway, I took about 45 pics and I’ve got a GREAT gallery of vintage barnstorming and pro jerseys from the ’20s to today.” You can see his tremendous photo gallery here. … “I went to Phillies Phantasy Camp last month,” writes Rob Riegert. “Prior to the trip, all the campers go to Citizens Bank Park to be fitted for uniforms. I overheard someone ask about stirrups, only to be told, ‘No, we only give you redsocks. No one wears stirrups anymore, except maybe Moyer.’ Now that I knew the trip was BYO-stirrups, I bought some online. I didn’t wear them the first day — I was afraid of being brought up on charges in Kangaroo Court for the non-standard uniform. But I was feeling more sure of myself on days two and three, so I busted them out and got nothing but compliments. I did bungle it somewhat with the black cleats, but I still thought the look was pretty sharp. One of my teammates followed my lead on the last day. You can see him in the background. I think we were the only two out of 140 campers.” … Paul Kalomiris says he was recently at a hockey game and saw someone wearing a Blackhawks jersey with Homer Simpson’s face in place of the Indian’s profile. No photo, alas, but I think he’s referring to this. … Glossary question: Someone suggested that I add the term “squatchee,” which supposedly refers to the little button on top of a baseball cap. Two thoughts here: (1) I could find only one mention of this term on the web, and (2) I once asked a New Era exec if there was any special term for the button on the cap, and he said, “No, it’s just the button.” I’d be willing to add “squatchee” if a decent number of people use it, but I don’t want to use it just because Bob Brenley once used the term on a broadcast. Anyone out there familiar with this term? … Gumball helmet king Bill Jones has started a gumball blog, which looks really good. … Also from Bill: The new Ottawa entry in the Can-Am Baseball League is conducting a logo-design contest. … South Carolina has a new baseball uni set, which can be seen in the background here. They also have a new stadium, which is showcased in this photo album. … Remember how Southern Miss added logos and stripes to their facemasks last year? Here’s the company that came up with that concept. … The Chiefs will supposedly wear a Dallas Texans throwback next season. … There’s a new independent baseball league in Japan. The uniforms are nothing special, but I really like the league logo (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … New crest for English soccer here (with thanks to Mark Coale). … Martin St. Pierre of the Providence Bruins has his nickname — Saintsy — embroidered onto his gloves (with thanks to Tris Wykes). … Justin Bowers and his wife were recently in Ireland and visited Croke Park, the national stadium for Gaelic games (Gaelic football and hurling) and headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association. “The stadium is incredible,” he writes. “An 82,300-capacity stadium set right in suburban Dublin, bordered on all sides by houses, not parking lots. They have an excellent museum that details the history of Gaelic Games and their importance in Irish culture, plus we also toured Croke Park itself. One very cool area we got to see was, of course, the dressing rooms. In Gaelic games, the teams that compete are divided up by county, so the dressing room had jerseys from all the counties. I also bought myself a County Kerry jersey [here's the rear view].” … Chris Edwards notes that the Stetson hoops team has an interesting NOB format: white lettering on a colored nameplate. … Hosiery observation from the Rev. Nørb, who recently had a very good seat for a Bucks/Wizards game and noticed that Nick Young of the Wizards had two NBA logos on the outside of his black road socks — an upper one and a lower one. “Now you’re saying, ‘Well, geez, Nørb, he was probably just double-bagging his socks for some reason, which is curious, but not necessarily newsworthy,’” says Nørb, “to which i respond, HA! I don’t believe this is the case! Nick Young has only got the ONE logo on the INSIDE of his socks, which would not be the case if he were wearing two pairs of socks!” Hmmmmm. … Mike Chamernik reports that one of Comiskey Park’s old pinwheels is at the Sports Authority on La Salle Drive in Chicago. … Bryan Duklewski notes that Cool-Flo helmets are nowhere to be seen at Orioles camp this spring. “Even players who used Coolflo last year have been using the normal helmets in spring training this year,” he writes. … The Nats’ new mascot is wearing the team’s “DC” sleeve patch on the wrong sleeve (with thanks to William Yurasko). … “How many games did Kevin Durant play as a Texas Longhorn?” asks Matt Mitchell. “It’s easy to remember since it’s the same as his jersey number, which was retired prior to last Wednesday night’s win over Texas Tech. Current Longhorns wore T-shirts emblazoned with the number 35 on the back and the initials ‘KD’ on the front during warm-ups.” And then there were these sneakers. … Bit of a typo on Roque Santa Cruz’s NOB (with thanks to Marcio Kogut). … The NBA’s annual Noche Latina promotion kicks off tonight, with Los Lakers hosting the Grizzlies (who’ll just be wearing their regular road jerseys). The full Noche Latina schedule can be found on this page. … I’m sure you’ve all weighed in on this. My take: Thanks to the patch design, it makes the cap look like an adjusta-strap model. … “We got this mailer from a politician who’s running for Rahm Emmanuel’s vacated seat in the House,” says James Huening. “The rip across the infield dirt is courtesy of Erin, my wife. She took one look at that pink Cubs cap, declared that she will not be voting for this candidate and started to tear up the leaflet. I managed to get it away from her before she could do any more damage.” … Last week I linked to photos showing LSU baseball’s new chest patch, commemorating their new stadium. But now Chris Mycoskie reports that the patch has moved to the right sleeve and has been replaced on the chest area by an SEC patch. This change appears to hold true throughout their uni set. … Tough to see in these pics, but Spencer Pierce says Betis goalkeeper Ricardo’s NOB is actually R1CARDO. … Two accused bank robbers tried to use uni-numeric code while communicating with each other, but it backfired. … Very odd to see Nate Odoms wearing a wristwatch during practice (good spot by Greg Riffenburgh). … You like risky sports? Try auto polo (big thanks to Jay Winkler). … Okay, this Reebok wordmark thing has officially gotten out of hand (disturbing find by Brooks Simpson). … Remember how LaTroy Hawkins initially wore No. 21 with the Yanks last season, as a tribute to Roberto Clemente (before Paul O’Neill fans hounded him to change it)? Obviously, he can’t wear No. 42 while playing for an MLB team, but he can — and is — for the WBC (with thanks to Dan Cichalski). … Good article here about Indiana’s basketball uniforms (courtesy of Dan Netser).
March 3rd, 2009
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
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