I hate the DH — hate it — but even I think it should always be used in the All-Star Game, regardless of where the game is played. Who wants to see a pitcher hit in an All-Star Game?

But Bud Selig and Co. don’t see it that way. Good thing, too, because pitchers’ at-bats are the best bets for all-star uni anomalies. Sure enough, when Roy Halladay came up to bat last night, he wore a blank navy blue helmet instead of Toronto’s usual black lid. The rear view revealed that it was Evan Longoria’s helmet with the Rays logo decal removed (note the MLB logo rendered in Rays colors). And look the announcers actually picked up on it. I’m tellin’ ya, everyone’s a uni watcher these days. Now we just have to teach Buck and McCarver the difference between a sticker and a decal.

Meanwhile, now that base coaches have to wear helmets, that provides a new avenue for helmet oddities — especially since managers often serve as coaches in the All-Star Game. Joe Torre, for example, didn’t bring a Dodgers helmet to St. Looey, but it was kinda cool to see him in a Cards helmet again.

In more mundane developments:

• Ichiro was wearing some nifty silver cleats. Here’s a closer view.

• Lots of players in white shoes, including David Wright, Albert Pujols, and Dan Haren.

• The scoreboard showed Jason Bay of the Red Sox in a Pirates cap. It also misspelled George Hendrick’s name (particularly unforgivable when you consider Hendrick used to play for the Cardinals).

• The Prez wore a Chisox jacket and Levi’s for throwing out the first pitch. (Unfortunately, Fox showed him throwing the ball but didn’t show where it went, presumably because they didn’t want to let anyone see in case the President tossed a two-hopper, or hit Keith Olbermann’s mom in the face, or whatever. Total chickenshit move on the part of Fox and/or the White House staff. As it turned out, his pitch made it on the fly, just barely, as you can see toward the end of this video clip. )

• It’s great that Willie Mays wore a Giants cap with his suit, but couldn’t they have gotten him a 5950 instead of a BP model?

• A bunch of Cardinals greats, all of them wearing red blazers, were introduced before the game. It wasn’t until I checked the photo wire that I realized the blazers weren’t identical. That’s Lou Brock with the bird on the bat.

One footnote to the game: Tim Wakefield brought along a special catcher’s mitt but didn’t get into the game. Too bad.

(Thanks to everyone who contributed screen shots and other info, especially Luis Roldan, Maks Skuz, Bryan Heaton, Jeremy Brahm, Mark Haarmann, and of course Phil.)

Raffle Results: The winner of the Man City jersey is Matt Argo. Matt, if you haven’t already done so, please give me a shout. Thanks.

Uni Watch Rust Belt Tour: I’ll be in Cleveland later this month to cover the National Sports Collectors Convention for Page 2, so let’s have a Uni Watch gathering on the evening of Thursday, July 30th. Figure 7pm, probably at the Prosperity Social Club, but I’ll confirm the time and place in a day or two. Naturally, Uni Watch intern emeritus Vince Grzegorek will be on hand, which will mark only the second time he and I have been in the same room, whoop-whoop. See you there.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Check out this awesome durene shirt I recently scored on eBay. Love the stripes, natch, and the felt lettering is hot-cha-cha. … Brian Harkness is a national semifinalist in KFC’s charity T-shirt design contest. Please vote for his entry (No. 6, “Stand with the Colonel”) so he can get a lifetime supply of really bad fried chicken. … In a vaguely related item, Justin Rectenwald, knowing my fondness for chicken tails, sent me some pics of his wife’s Brazilian cousin Eduardo, aka Master of the Fried Chicken Tail. “Seriously, this guy cooked non-stop,” writes Justin. “These were like little crunchy chicken candy, filled with gooey, chicken fatty goodness.” Let’s see the Colonel top that! … Here’s an excellent site devoted to Super Bowl tickets (with thanks to HHH). … Wilco’s summer tour program includes this nifty little scorecard. Love the note at the top. … I know we’ve covered this before, but please remind me: What’s the handwritten “63″ for? … Comi-tragic story here of how MLB design honcho Anne Occi convinced the Devil Rays to wear the worst uni design in baseball history. Highly recommended reading (with thanks to Ken Guckenberger). … Color change for Stockton, a D3 school (with thanks to Tim Smith). … Rob Ullman was nice enough to send me a copy of his new hardcover sketchbook, Atom Bomb Bikini, which includes lots of his cheesecake uni portraits. You can buy it here. … Best view yet of Carlos Peña’s upside-down sleeve patch. … Regarding yesterday’s ESPN column, Craig Ramirez notes that the guy sitting on the right end of the front row, I.D’d as trainer Bill Zeigler, looks exactly like Rafael Palmeiro (who, just for the record, was 12 yrs old when that photo was taken). … The Lakewood BlueClaws are dusting off their BruceClaws promotion. Assuming they use the same jersey design from last year, the uni will look like this. … Here’s a site devoted to Kansas high school football helmets (with thanks to Patrick Chippeaux). … Looks like the Steelers’ old golden triangle design is a bit hit with Bud Selig. … How come nobody had told me about Batting Stance Guy? … In the spirit of last week’s Tecmo Bowl entry, Eric Trager has written a piece about the logos and graphics used in the baseball video game Hardball 5. Check it out here. … HHH has created still more city flag jerseys. … Brinke Guthrie scanned two ads from the 1990 World Series program. As you can see, the idea that you could buy the same gear that the pros wear was still quite a novelty at that point. And speaking of novelties, dig those Angels logo stirrups!

By Phil Hecken, back again with SQL

Here we are back in the colored sani wonderland with an in-depth look at the teams of the Senior Circuit. In case you missed the first part, there’s the linky. Let’s get right into things:

Mets: I know I’m treading on thin ice, tinkering with yours and Paul’s favorite team’s uni and quite frankly I can understand that many may cringe at the sight of this. Even I, with my orange bias in full throttle mode, cannot fully get over the ‘bullfighter” effect of this one (especially blatant in the Keith Hernandez pictures) Grade: B- (Didn’t I tell you I loooved orange?)

Braves: Time to take on my own favourite team. I came up with two looks here: blue on red and red on blue and both end up being equal letdowns. The red stirrups fit the pant piping better but I like the red socks more… In the end, I think the nerdy way Smoltzie wears his pants doesn’t really help my case here… Grade: D-

Marlins: Holy Guacamole! I absolutely adore this one. I think it looks way better with the road grays than plain white sanis would do. The sweet bicolour shoes displayed by the D-Train also help a lot by providing a nice counterpoint to the black stirrups. Grade: A+

Phillies: Another bicolour conundrum, the reigning Champs never the less leave an escape route with the oh-so subtle touch of blue on their current unis. All in all, I probably should have abstained from this one and concentrated my work on one of the all time great looks: the Mike Schmidt era pinstriped maroon beauties. The colored socks work quite well here but with the move to white we lose the stirrup/piping coordination which contributed to make the look so good in the first place. Grade: F (Actual) C- (Retro)

Nationals: It’s actually quite hard to keep track of the Nats uniform changes from France (except of course for their regular miscues) since they’re, for the most part, pretty irrelevant and I realized too late that I had used a no longer worn version of their road uniform for this mock up. Too bad because both versions look quite nice even though the burgundy one takes the cake IMHO. The home duds look pretty neat too, when paired with the gold socks, but I assume it’s all about the stirrups here, as white sanis would also do the trick. Grade: B (Road) C (Home)

Brewers: One of the teams that actually sported the colored sani look before, the Brewers fail to recapture the magic of the good old days here. As always the stirruped look looks mighty fine but the gold socks aren’t that much of an improvement over traditional white ones. Maybe a little bit more with the road version. Grade: D (Home) D+ (Road)

Cubs: As bad as it looks when associated with the home uniform (and bad it is), the look almost manages to make it with the solid blue away jersey. In the end its demise comes from the overall clutter of the whole and the fact that this blue jersey just sucks to begin with. Grade: F (Home) C- (Road)

Astros: With their unwavering decision to stick to the solid brick top on the road, the Astros are a prime candidate for the colored sani program. Just looking at the Hunter Pence pictures is enough to realize that brick red socks are a much better fit than white ones for this team. The Lance Berkman shot is just here to make the point more obvious. Just for kicks, I tried my hand at the infamous tequila sunrise duds and was happy to discover that not even striped socks could alter their unmitigated awesomeness. Grade: A+ (Road) C (Retro)

Pirates: So this is why they’re calling it striking gold! If this one isn’t a home run, it’s at the very least a 3 RBI triple. Why haven’t the Buccos (who spent the last few seasons wearing a red vest and the best part of the 70’s dressed as bumblebees on acid) ever tried this one? Doesn’t it seem completely natural for them? Has Oakland copyrighted the look? Anyway this is one of my favourites and I think the Pirates should make the switch right away. Grade: A++

Cardinals: Tinkering with such a classic look as the Cards’ almost feel sacrilegious, especially when it involves their unearthly beautiful striped stirrups. Fortunately their despicable road caps give us an excuse to try it anyway and for the record navy doesn’t look better down there than it does up here. Grade: F–

Reds: Why would a team called the Reds would ever consider wearing any color outside of crimson, scarlet or gore is beyond the reach of my feeble mind. But anyway, since this black eye of a uni gives us an opportunity to work with, that the classic two-tone look would have precluded, I suppose we should all be thankful…Not. The bitter lesson as always: you can’t polish a turd. And putting a cherry on top of it won’t turn it into a birthday cake. Grade: D

Rockies: Saddled with the worst look in all the majors the poor Rockies are in dire need of a sartorial overhaul (And I’m not even a purple hater). The purple socks do just that, working well with both versions of the uniform, particularly with the solid jersey. All in all, a solid improvement (which may not mean a lot considering the pits we’re starting from). Grade: A

Diamondbacks: The D-Backs have so many different uniform combinations that maybe one of the lot would look right with colored socks. This one sure isn’t. Grade: D-

Padres: The off-gold sanis look good with the solid blue top but would probably make your eyes bleed if paired with ‘urine’ toned away uniform. The throwback look is so good to begin with, that the gold socks only make it more cluttered. Sometimes, less is more. Grade: B (Current) B- (Throwback)

Giants: The Jints are a tricky case because of their wearing of an off-white cream home uni. Basically there’s no white whatsoever in their uniform and you could say the white sanis almost clash with it. In a perfect world that would make them the poster child of the colored sani movement. The cold reality is a bit harsher. With White shoes perhaps? Grade: F

Dodgers: This one is more of a stylistic exercise as it’s quite clear from the start that the blue stirrups/white sock combo is by far the best for this team (even though all current members of the roster somehow fail to grasp that basic fact). The Uni is so good anyway that it almost pulls the red socks look. Almost. Grade: D

Thus endeth the colored sani project of SQL. Quite an impressive job, even if we don’t agree on the finished product. SQL has a few of his own post-mortems on the project, so here he is again:

Now that we’ve cornered all the individual teams and clearly establish that not all uniforms are tailored to fit the colored sanis variation, I think we may try to single out a few ground rules about what makes the look work or not:

1. Solid colored jerseys help. Like a lot. Just look back at the Rockies and Astros for visual confirmation.

2. As do two-toned caps. In this case the stirrups matches the crown while the sock matches the lid (See Orioles and Indians).

3. Road Unis are a better fit. Actually, it’s because road grays aren’t that great a fit for the white sanis because, wait for it … they hardly contain any white.

4. Low cut stirrups are probably the way to go. Too much color exposed, especially for the pastel tones, may provoke the now dreaded ‘Bullfighter’ effect.

5. Some teams are better suited than others. Be it because they’ve been mired in uni limbo for so long (Twins, Nationals, Rangers, Rockies ) that any move would be a good one at this point or because it just look good for them (Jays, Marlins, Pirates). Not all teams are created equal when it comes to colored hosiery.

6. Dark on top makes you hop, light on top makes you throw up. The stirrups have to be darker than the sanis. It’s not even negociable (see A’s or Giants).

7. Stay away from the classics. Adding a mustache to Mona Lisa can be fun but it’s hardly an improvement.

Well, here we are I hope you’ve enjoyed the ride and I can’t wait to hear your take on some of these.

Many thanks to Phil for lending me is soapbox for a while. Now, if you don’t mind I must go back to work: I have a big project centred around what MLB teams would look if they had all tried white sox style short pants. Just kidding.

Wow. Again, many thanks to SQL for undertaking this visual cornucopia. I don’t have a lot to add to his six points above, as they are quite excellent (and I gave you my thoughts on this in “Part the First”). I will say that I really like the look for the Pirates, and especially for the San Diego Padres throwback. Unfortunately, they didn’t wear colored sanis when they wore that uni, and it’s basically a one-off and not a regular uniform choice. I think a couple of the others were interesting possibilities, but like SQL said, most of the colored sanis work better with the alternate tops, I’m not really going to be advocating for that anytime soon.

So, give a big hearty thanks to SQL for this undertaking, and let us know, Uni Watchers, what you think of the “colored sani project.” Anything strike your fancy? Anything worth pursuing? Surely there is something here you like (and probably some things you don’t). Talk about it below.

Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: This one shouldn’t be too difficult, since there are plenty of clues right there on the scoreboard. The pic comes courtesy of Tom Farley. Remember, don’t post the result, just put the linky in the comments. Ready? Guess The Game.

If you guys have any scoreboard pics (the date of which you can identify, or at least have an idea), please send ‘em my way. Thanks!

And we don’t just track MLB teams here, we even have guys who do it for the Minor Leagues. Tyler Maun who is employed by, and tracks, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, checks in with this report:

We’ve got three different jerseys and another one that has found its way into the mix this year (I’ll explain later). The Pelicans’ color scheme is a cross somewhere between the Tampa Bay Rays and the throwback San Diego Chargers/UCLA Bruins look. We have three primary colors: navy and powder blue (officially known as Midnight and Pelicans Blue) and yellow (Sun Gold). The standard home and road look is a vest for each; white home and gray road per usual. The piping around the sleeves and down the pants on each is supposed to echo nautical/dock rope and tie into the dock rope surrounding the circular backdrop to the team’s primary logo. The franchise’s official history says, “the Pelicans are the first professional sports team to use the unique shade of Pelicans Blue,” but team management has said it was inspired at least in part by the Chargers and Bruins. Both vests are worn over powder blue sleeves with powder blue caps to match, one with the team’s interlocking “MB” logo and one with the Pelican head. The color scheme and new uni set was adopted when the franchise was bought by Greenberg Sports Group in 2006. A third Pelicans Blue alternate is mixed in a lot, equally at home and on the road. The alternates are mesh, so the guys like to wear them on hot nights. However, they show sweat considerably more than the vests which is an unfortunate side effect in a place that regularly has humidity somewhere in the quadruple digits on summer nights. With a 24-39 overall record (a rough year for a team that won more games than any team in Minor League Baseball last year), here’s our record breakdown as it stands after a June 16th doubleheader:

Home white: 5-11
Pelicans Blue alternate: 10-12
Road gray: 8-14
Batting practice jerseys: 1-2

Obviously that last one stands out. I don’t travel with the team on every road trip, but as the story goes, earlier this year on the road, the guys were mired in a seven-game losing streak and decided something needed to change. So they went with the club’s navy blue BP two-button pullovers but apparently tried wearing them with the powder blue Pelican head cap instead of their matching navy blue BP hat. Manager Rocket Wheeler, as the story goes, saw the first few guys come out of the clubhouse and said, “Absolutely not. Get back inside and change those hats.”

The Pelicans wear powder blue stirrups with pant legs hiked up night in and night out, as required by a Braves’ organizational rule for minor league affiliates. In fact, the team was featured in an April 21 Wall Street Journal story about stirrups in the minors (in which Paul was quoted). By and large, the guys don’t like them much, but nobody complains. I know the powder blue stirrups probably didn’t look great on the day they went with the navy blue BP jerseys and caps because that’s the look we see the team rock for batting practice everyday. The team embraces its identity, though. A lot of the guys have commented on how nice it is to play on the only team in the organization with a unique moniker. The Pelicans are the only Braves’ affiliate not named the Braves. (AAA Gwinnett, AA Mississippi, A Rome, rookie-level Danville and the rookie-level Gulf Coast League squad all sport the name of the parent club.)

Thanks Tyler!

Couple of things: First, I want to pass along my well-wishes to John Okray (”Johnny O”) who was going to be joining with me this weekend on a US Open-inspired article, but he had a bit of a personal matter and that is going to have to wait. In addition, I went to the US Open practice round Tuesday (took the camera, still haven’t had time to see if anything good came out), and slogged through the still-soaked course yesterday (although the weather was beautiful). It was great following Mr. Michelson around for half his round and having the gallery absolutely worshiping me everywhere I walked. All those screams of “You da man, Phil” really made me feel welcome. But I was going to incorporate all that into the post with Johnny O, so that’s going to be postponed.

And I wanted to thank everyone for being on your best behavior and being extremely supportive of my efforts while I filled in for Paul this past week. You guys are great. And to all of my co-collaborators, I thank you all for your suggestions and your efforts!

I have a couple of things I can run for tomorrow, so we can have a full column if you’d like. Or, we can have kind of a “Father’s Day Open Thread” and open the board up to you all. I know I’ll be spending a majority of the day away from the board, and I imagine a number of you have plans as well. But I’ll leave it up to you: if you want a full column, that’s cool, or if you think maybe an Open Thread is the way to go, we can do that as well. If you care, or have a preference, maybe post it in the comments.

Other than that, everyone have a great Saturday. No matter where you live, I hope the weather is great, your health is good, and your spirits are up. Peace.

By Phil Hecken, with Don Cristobal del Pastillo (a/k/a “SQL”)

Today I am joined by longtime reader Don Cristobal del Pastillo, who occasionally posts as “SQL,” and who approached me with an interesting uniform suggestion. After several back and forth E-mails, what started as a small, casual undertaking morphed into a full-blown project. I’ll let you meet “SQL” and have him explain:

A devout uniwatcher for years I decided, a short while ago, to make the jump from simple reader to would-be contributor and contacted Phil with the following message:

Hello Phil,

I’ve been a fan of your W-E columns for a while and I think i might have something you might be interested in. A while back I was reflecting on my uniforms tastes and I realized that one of the reasons why the oakland A’s are my favorite MLB team uni-wise is their colored hosiery and particularly the gold sanis.

Being french, I’m not that well versed in the aesthetic history of the major league, but I think that except for a few team wearing black sanis, no other team has ever worn colored socks with stirrups [At which point I referred SQL to Paul's column which covered the subject in detail--PH].

Then a crazy thought entered my mind: what if other ballclubs went the colored sanis route ? I had to give this a shot and spent the next hour working on visual exemples to back up my technicolor visions. The first bump on the road was finding pictures of current era players wearing stirrups, which proved quite more difficult than I had anticipated. For most teams, I had to settle on 80’s and 70’s photos and unis, which is a sad reminder of the dire situation of the league hosiery state (even though things have been getting brighter lately).

Attached to the message I sent to Phil were a few pics of very debatable quality.

When Phil showed interest in the project and intimated that it could end up being featured in a Weekend column, I decided to go the full monty and create mock up looks for each and every team in the league. Again, finding pictures of stirrup-clad players amounted to looking for a hot date at a mother superior’s funeral (not entirely impossible but incredibly frustrating).

Hell-bent on bringing this thing to fruition I realized that I had no choice but to work from what the Gods of the Internet had sent my way and settled on creating the stirruped look from scratch using an image editing software. After enough photoshopping to kill a medium-to-large forest animal, the easy part was done and so were my retinas.

You’ll find the results of my efforts below. I hope you’ll find it interesting, provoking and in a few cases maybe, even eye-pleasing.

Thanks, SQL. What follows, then, are his efforts. For the presentation of the different teams he went with a simple grade system along the lines of the Good/Stupid litmus we’re all used to round here.

Orioles: I may be partial here because of my love for anything orange and my dislike of the solid sock look but I really like it, even though I think that it would probably work better with lower cut stirrups. The Two tone cap is a major facilitator in this case as is the fact that the O’s have sported many crazy looks along the years. Grade: A-

Red Sox: I thought this would be one quick way to settle the blue socks/red socks conundrum that followed the adoption of the new roadies but it ended up being a bit of a disappointment. It’s a moot point anyway because nothing will ever look better than the striped stirrups of the Lynn/Yastrzemski era. Grade: C (because it still beats wearing blue socks or those awful santa’s little helper solid red leggings worn by Varitek)

Blue Jays: I think the colored socks work very well here, at the very least because they put a much welcome touch of blue in the Jays uniforms. As with most bright colored socks the low stirrup route is probably the best way to go with these ones. Grade: A

Yankees: The Yankees are a tricky team to mess up with. First their uni is one of the all time classics and second, they only don two colors which makes it quite difficult to mix and match accessories. I decided to give the white-stirrups/navy socks a shot for the hell of it. In the end it doesn’t look THAT bad but it strays to far away from an iconic template to be fully comfortable around it. Grade: D

Rays: The Rays are a challenge of their own because of the overall blandess of their unis. I went with some kind of grayish blue socks here to match the drop shadow on their wordmark before falling asleep on my keyboard. The verdict: ZZZZZZ… Grade: D

Royals: Being a sucker for anything powder or baby blue, I devoted the bulk of my efforts to the current Royals alternate and I don’t regret a single minute of my ‘hard’ work. This feels so right that I can’t fathom why the team never gave it a shot (actually I can : ballplayers want to look manly. They want black in their unis not pastel tones. The point has been made quite clearly for years now). The look doesn’t work that well with the all white uni tough, so it would be an alternate only thing. Grade: A+ (Alternate) C- (Regular)

Twins: I know such drastic a change would probably ruffle the feathers of many but I like the red socks look here (way better than on the actual Red Sox, strangely). I think it brings spazz to a uni that’s been clearly lacking in this department for years. I know baseball is a conservative world were old habits die hard if they die at all, but I‘m convinced that such a uni move would put the Twins back in the public eye in a way they can’t hope to achieve through their on-field perfoprmances. Grade: A

Tigers: When it comes to unis, the Tigers are basically ‘Yankees Light’: their home look, as great as it is, doesn’t allow for much variation. I then focused my attention on their road slacks and must sadly admit that even my unconditional love for orange can’t bring me to give the result anything but a thumb down. Grade: D

Indians: Another team whose look seems to change every odd year, the tribe has been clearly at the bottom of the uniform pecking order since the long lost days of Rick Vaughn. I love the move to colored socks for them as it would singularized them among the slew of teams claiming red, white and blue as their colors. Plus, it looks really sweet, ain’t it? Grade: A+

White Sox: Since I can’t even begin to comprehend why a team called the White Sox would insist on wearing black hosiery day in and day out (perhaps as a reminder of their finest hour) I decided to adopt their twisted logic and rig them out with white stirrups. Let’s just say that this look won’t probably be leaving the shelves anytime soon. Grade: F (It would make so much sense if they wore black stirrups over WHITE socks to begin with).

Mariners: The colored socks look just as bad with the navy top and road grays as white ones would do. I’ts just a poor look to begin with. Coincidently they look just as good as white ones with the home kit. All in all, any kind of stirrups / socks combination would be a good move for the M’s (or nay other MLB team for that matter). Grade: C- (Road) B+ (Home)

Angels: As with all the franchises that went the (basically) bicolour route, fitting the halos with colored sanis amounts to letting a color blind chimp picking your shirt and tie before a job interview. Both yellow and black (which are present in very limited quantities in their logo and wordmark) fail epically here. To be honest I also happen to think that the solid socks paired with the black shoes look equally bad here (call it the Varitek effect). Grade: F-

Athletics: The team that started it all (and would probably have ended it all if I had started my project with this eyesore). Grade: F–

Rangers: Like the Indians, the Lone Star StateTeam has had trouble to make its sartorial mark for years. Are they blue? Are they Red? Are They Bled? Who Knows?
The red socks/blue stirrups combo would be a way to spruce their visual identity up without having to chose between the two colors (something they seem incapable to do, anyway). And you have to admit the look does wonders when paired with their now defunct vest unis. Grade: A (Plus it would look awesome with those to tone helmets…)

Wow. Thanks SQL. Obviously a tremendous amount of work has gone into this project (and we haven’t even seen what you have cooked up for the National League yet!). I have to say, I think a number of your creations are very interesting. I’d even say a couple of them are worth trying — ok, maybe not, especially since getting 25 guys to wear properly cuffed pants, much less stirrups, isn’t going to be happening anytime soon. I do like the ideas, even if they would probably fail miserably in the actual execution. But the Oakland A’s do it now (when, of course, they actually wear stirrups), and it’s been done in the past (Giants, Brewers, White Sox, Padres, among others).

I personally would disagree with some of SQL’s grades, but that’s OK, because they are only opinions. I have to say, I do like the Orioles look. The problem, to my mind, is that some of these colored sanis only look good with the softball alternate top, and, well … that’s just not something I’d ever advocate. I also like the White Sox pursuing some form of colored sani (as they had in their past — just so long as they never pursue this or this again), and at some point, I will be doing a column addressing this (and other uni suggestions for the Chisox). But back to the colored sanis –

Would this be something we could ever see in the future? Would we even want to? Those of us in Stirrup Nation (TM) will continue to yen for a return of 25 properly stirruped individuals, while we ponder some of the possibilities SQL has created above. What say you Uni Watchers? What do you think?

IMPORTANT REMINDER regarding the Baltimore party: Remember, tonight’s Uni Watch party in Baltimore will NOT be at Hillendale Lanes. Instead, we’ll be meeting at Racers, tonight from 7pm-9:30pm.

This is what happens when I try to do too many things at once. If you recall yesterday’s column, in which Lance Smith ably detailed the Braves move to Milwaukee, he had provided me with a LOT more information, which I neglected to include in the post. It’s so good, I’m including it now (sorry, Lance).

By 1956. the boosters would be ready to travel to away games in Brooklyn, bringing the cowbell and Hilda.

While Hank Aaron didn’t play in the inauguarl season, he may be the best known Brave. By 1957 he was beginning to lead the leagues in home runs and Life sent a photographer. While Life’s action shots of the period are often sketchy, the more controlled shots of batting practice provide some uni details.

Joe Adcock, Aaron and Eddie Matthews watch Bill Bruton take batting practice. Remember how big those rear pockets are on the old time unis. Adcock has his gloved tucked away in his.

Here are Braves contemplating their bats.

In 1957, the Braves had gone with the Screaming Brave shoulder patch. This had replaced the old Chief patch that had been a part of the uni since Boston.

Nice pic of the back of Aaron’s jersey.

Close up shot of Aaron batting shows details of the Braves jersey. Top half and bottom half. That undershirt looks especially fuzzy. Compare to the one worn by Andy Pafko. (Note that Pafko’s number is just under the placket.)

As a last note, the Wisconsin Historical Society had a Braves exhibit in 2003 to mark the 50th anniversary of the move. This page has photos of the exhibit which includes such paraphernalia as unis, pennants and bobble heads. Check it out.

Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: I’m ready to give you trying to stump you guys. So I’m bringing in reinforcements. Today’s first scoreboard comes from Pacific Rim Correspondent Jeremy Brahm, who has a scoreboard which just may stump you. Guess The Game, part I. And here’s one you will no doubt get…or maybe, you won’t: Guess The Game, part II

Remember, location, date and final score.

Uni Tracking, MLS Style: Many of you, myself included, have been tracking Major League Baseball uniforms. Well, reader Lee Stokes has been tracking soccer uniforms, or at least those of the MLS. Lee explains:
* MLS teams don’t have “home” and “road” uniforms sets, more like “primary” & “secondary”, so games often feature both teams “in color”.

* Many times teams will mix & match shirt, short & sock combination’s.

* FC Dallas actually feature ‘hoops’ (horizontal white stripes) in both their primary & secondary kits. I couldn’t represent that on my sheet.

* Likewise Chivas USA has white vertical stripes on the primary shirt, but their secondary shirt is solid blue.

* I am only tracking MLS regular season games, not games involving MLS teams in other competitions (Open Cup, Champions League, etc…)

Here is a link to his work (you may need an account to view it, but it’s free to sign up). Thanks Lee!

Uni Watch Ticker: The HHoF Stanley Cup “mystery” has been conclusively solved, as John Muir has found a pic which clearly shows the Hockey Hall of Fame logo. Also from John: “The Isles, not content with just a logo for the “we may fuck this up” party, have made draft party shirts (Like many of us Islander fans, John feels they’d better draft Tavares) … Jake Kubuske climbed on his twitter Wednesday morning, to find the most interesting of promotions is coming up at a Seattle Mariners game. Jake’s not sure if we’re familiar with icanhascheezburger.com but its one of the foremost websites for what are known as LOLCATS. A LOLCAT being a picture of a cat, with a funny caption added onto it. You can see many of them on the icanhascheezburger website. Well apparently if you go to mariners.com/cheezburger and purchase a ticket for the July 9th game, not only is it a special price, but you will get a free icanhascheezburger T-Shirt. The possible designs are available here. Jake thought this promotion was too good to go unmentioned. … Doug Stringham thinks it’s time for UW to do a column on Aussie Rules football unis, writing, “you’ve done columns on Japanese basubol unis and Euro soccer kits, and didn’t you do columns on cycling jerseys and cricket unis too? So I’m thinking it’s time to throw the proverbial shrimp on the bah-bie and skewer—or laud—the unis of the great AFL. And Paul: the socks! The socks!” … Josh Fisher wasn’t sure if we saw this but the Cowboys have an official logo for training camp … Speaking of readers who weren’t sure if we say something, Stan Olechowski feels this is HORRIBLE! The Nashua Pride had one of the more clever logos. Then some people bought them one of them started the US Armed Forces baseball team and “holy fucking shit we have the American Defenders of New Hampshire who play in the Canadian American Association.” Nokona executives are also part of the mangement team so their company name is in the logo. … John Morgan has an observation: “Tuesday, June 16th, at around 5:40 PM, Randy Karraker, Bob Ramsey and D’Marco Farr discussed the practice patches that many NFL teams plan to wear this season — and agreed that they are not worth the investment because no one opens practices.” … Brian Sandalow thought we might be interested in how EA Sports is promoting NCAA Football ‘10. On their Web site is a full re-creation of the uniform and program builder that will be in the game — It is very detailed and highly addicting — Says Brian, “This also shows that EA Sports is finally starting to listen to the uni-philes out there, as Madden will also have interchangeable uniform parts. For example, one can wear the Patriots’ Pat Patriot helmet with their current jerset and 1990s pants.” … Inspired by Ryan Connelly’s DIY Steelers helmet, Roberto Santiago has created an A’s “cool flo” two-tone helmet. He explains, “Now I ‘m not as advanced as Ryan and some of the others who have submitted Uni designs in the past. This was my first attempt at this kind of project. The final look of the yellow stripes basically came from letting the lines of the helmet guide the tape to a natural meeting point. I’m pretty happy with the result though I imagine I may get some more paint and touch it up a little at some point. However, in case I get distracted and the touch up never happens I figured I’d send in the pics now. As you can see the tape job wasn’t perfect and I didn’t have a decal required to make a decent stencil so I drew the logo on by hand. All in all not a bad first effort if I’m allowed to say so.” … Trevor Botting asks, “So why no in-depth uni breakdown on the lingerie football league?” I’m not sure if that’s a rhetorical question … Steven Wong notes that the New York Times gets in on the wii tennis uni action … Pittsburgh City of Champions Correspondent Doug Keklak asks, “Oh no. Is this an apostrophe catastraphe?” — Not sure, but it’s a spelling catastrophe … Add another Yankee to the patchless: several readers have noticed that Brian Bruney is the latest in the seemingly-growing number of Bombers who are lacking the Yankee Stadium (and also the MLB logo) patch. I could only find this photo from the game, but it doesn’t show the back of his cap — anyone have a photo or screen grab of the patchless cap? … Two down, 102 to go — anyone think Jeter (or someone else ‘beyond reproach’) is on this list? … Bit of a caption error on Reuters last night — I was at the Open yesterday, and I’m pretty sure that was Sergio … West Coast UW Correspondent Brinke Guthrie checks in with this bit of serendipity: seems as though Nike did a Van Halen cover and the boys didn’t like someone ripping off their work … Finally, ASU alum Mark Altieri checks in with this: “My Sun Devils wore 1981 (the last year that ASU won the College World Series) throwback uniforms last night. Unfortunately they blew a big lead and lost to Texas. You have got to love the gold sanitaries with the maroon stirrups. A thing of beauty.”

What sort of uniform does a snowshoe racer wear?

I confess that I had never considered that question — or even realized there was such a thing as snowshoe racing — until reader Lance Smith recently sent me a bunch of old Life photos documenting a foot race on showshoes, which included hurdles (which apparently caused some wipeouts) and a bit of a pile-up at the finish. Note that several of the runners had matching sweaters, including at least one design that was my-t-fine (are all those medals for winning the race or just for having the best outfit?). And look, the racers even had expert medical care and, uh, high-tech facilities.

All those photos carry the same somewhat unsatisfying caption: “Showshoe Convention, February 02, 1950″ (no location is listed, but Lance thinks it’s in Lewiston, Maine). What goes on at a snowshoe convention? A whole lot of fun stuff, at least judging by this remarkable photo (let all the details sink in — there’s a lot going on there). And a most of the officials seem to have worn cool uniforms of their own. trés romantique!

What’s this all about? According to this page, Lewiston used to be “the undisputed snowshoe capital of the United States.” It’s not clear if any other places actually tried to dispute it, but whatever. The article continues:

Many local people still recall the international and national [snowshoe] conventions held here through the years since 1925.

They featured large parades, with dozens of drum and bugle corps, an elaborate centrally located ice palace, snowshoe competitions and a coronation ball and an awards ceremony. The local population, not to mention the merchants, hotels and restaurants, looked forward to these festivities, which brought life to the darkest part of winter. Extra cars were charted on the Grand Trunk Railroad for the hundreds of conventioneers who came from Canada.

But I don’t mean to engage in an empty nostalgia exercise about an obscure fringe sport. No, I mean to examine the current state of an obscure fringe sport! Because it turns out that snowshoe racing is alive and well today, with its own national organization, national team, and national championship race, all of which was news to me. Judging by the photos I’ve found, it’s not the most visually compelling sport, although you occasionally get some comic relief. I think it’s fair to say that none of these outfits comes close to matching the sweaters in those 1950s photos.

Have you ever snowshowed? I did once, about five years ago, in Alaska. I was on a press junket and got to do all sorts of stuff I’d never done before, like ice-fishing (fun until the whisky ran out), snowmobiling (a blast), dog sledding (very cool, and we were right on the actual Iditarod Trail!), and, yes, snowshoeing. I’d seen all those cartoons where people tie tennis rackets to their feet to form ersatz snowshoes, but I’d never seen the real thing. Frankly, it didn’t seem particularly appealing, but I thought, “Give it a try — you never know.” In the back of mind, I envisioned something like this.

It was exactly zero fun. Brutally hard work, and I couldn’t even enjoy the gorgeous surroundings because I had to keep looking down at the snowshoes to make sure I didn’t trip or slip. I’m sure some of you Canuck types are gonna tell me I wasn’t doing it right or the shoes were the wrong size or whatever, but save it — I won’t be trying that again.

And you’re telling me people actually race in these things? Maybe they just want to scurry to the end as quickly as possible so they can take the damn things off.

Poster Children, Continued: Yesterday’s post about NFL posters prompted Jim Mellett to grab his copy of the book The Professionals: Portraits of NFL Stars by America’s Most Prominent Illustrators and take photos of a bunch of the pages. “The book contains 72 color portraits of NFL greats like Earl Campbell, Joe Greene, Frank Gifford, Bob Lilly, and Jack Ham,” writes Jim. “The illustrators are just as great, with the likes of Merv Corning, David Grove, Bart Forbes, Chuck Ren, and my friend George Gaadt, who’s done artwork and photographed games for the NFL for many years.” Jim, who’s a fine illustrator himself, has generously offered to document the rest of the book’s pages — I’ll let you know when he send along the additional material.

Meanwhile, yesterday’s post also inspired Jim Lonetti to share a bunch of MLB posters from the same era. “It’s interesting that the background of the Twins poster includes the Washington monument, as a nod to where the team came from,” he notes. “I know I’m missing some. Does anyone know a website that has them all collected?” Good question. Anyone..?

A few extra-curricular notes: Some quick updates on a coupla items of interest:

• The Baltimore Uni Watch party will take place on June 17th, 7pm, at the Hillendale Bowling Center. No need to bowl if you don’t want to, and it’s BYOB. I have to leave at 9:30pm sharp, so get there on time, etc., etc.

• The “Naming Wrongs” T-shirt series is about to swing into full gear. We should have the Comiskey and Joe Robbie shirts up for sale momentarily, with the Jake and Mile High designs ready soon thereafter.

• For those who want to see the Candela Structures exhibit, the City Reliquary will be open tomorrow and Sunday from noon-6pm.

• Kirsten and I will be appearing on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show next Thursday, June 11th, from 11:40am to noon. We’ll mostly be discussing the Candela exhibit, but I believe Brian also plans to ask me some questions about Uni Watch and “I’m Calling It Shea.” You can stream the broadcast live using the tabs on the left side of that last link.

• And as you may have noticed, we have a new advertiser: Farkas Eye Black. Please give them a look, and continue to support all our sponsors. Thanks.

Uni Watch News Ticker: What happens to all the hats that get tossed onto the ice after a hat trick? Answer here (with thanks to Jake Reed). … Another ace panoramic team portrait from Bruce Menard, this time of the 1913 Philadelphia A’s. … Anyone know the story behind this cap that Ozzie Guillen was wearing the other day? (With thanks to Paul Mazzarella). … Tons of amazing early-1900s baseball photos in this Flickr set (great find by Mike Hersh). … The Islanders plan to introduce their top draft pick with their throwback alternate jersey. … Rugby snafu report from Eric Bangeman, who writes: “The British & Irish Lions have played their first two matches on their tour of South Africa, and each one has seen a uniform gaffe by the home side. In the first game against the Royal Bafokeng XV, the Royals had a problem with mismatched fonts that affected eight of the team’s 22 players. And in Wednesday’s match against a South African team also called the Lions, home team flanker Todd Clever had his jersey pulled off during play at the very end of the first half and had to carry it until a break in the action.” … Almost had a heart attack when Roberto Pacheco sent me this photo, which appeared to show Wade Boggs wearing a Cubs batting glove — shades of the Buckner double-curse! (If you’re not familiar with that epochal Uni Watch moment, look here.) But then I went to the SI Vault and zoomed in on the Boggs photo, which revealed that the logo on his glove was not a Cubs logo after all. Phew. … Quite the numerical odyssey for Ramon Castro, as reported by Steve Johnston: “With the Mets, Castro wore No. 11. When he joined the White Sox in KC after being traded, the Sox were wearing a throwback uniform against the Royals, so I’m guessing that’s why he had to wear No. 44, which was Corky Miller’s number — the player he was replacing. Then he was going to wear No. 55. That has changed again because Wednesday night he decided to wear No. 27. This has to be some sort of record for uniform numbers in six days.” … Footwear news regarding the NBA Finals (with thanks to Greg Riffenburgh). … Brandon Merchant sent some pics chronicling the evolution of on Little League team over several decades. “We’re part of a league in Charlotte that has a ton of history and tradition,” he says. “My team is one of the originals — Al Browne’s Service Station (now just ‘Al Browne’). We go back to 1952 and I have a scrapbook that has most of the team pics and other snapshots, etc. from our history.” … Here’s a new kind of apostrophe catastrophe. Explanation, courtesy of Ferdinand Cesarano: “English footballer Gareth Barry, who had played for Aston Villa for 12 years, has recently moved to Manchester City, causing quite a stir amongst the Villa fans. Last season, Barry was rumoured to be moving to Liverpool, which also got the fans a bit riled — so much so that they produced this sign.” … Ewwwwww. … Well I’m glad that got that sorted out. … Several readers have noticed the MLB logo appearing on the front of Mark Teixeira’s undershirt collar. Now Tyler Kepner has gotten the scoop: “Yanks have a new Nike prototype shorts-sleeve undershirt with the MLB logo on the collar. You see it here and there in the clubhouse, but as far as I know Teixeira is the only one who wears it. MLB wants to see how well their logo shows up when players wear it on the field, and evidently they’re very happy with how it looks on Teixeira.” Yes, I’m sure they are. … Lots of interesting jerseys available here (with thanks to Franklin Freytag). … Now that the NFL has opened the door to ad patches on practice jerseys, everyone’s getting in on it. … Tangled up in blue last night in Tampa — even the ump’s in on it (screen shot courtesy of Ben Teaford). … “I was watching my high school’s softball team playing and noticed they had a lot of helmet decals for all sorts of accomplishments,” writes Andrew W. Greenwood. “You can tell what most of them are for, but others — like the old Atlanta Falcons logo — are harder to gauge.” … So was that a kenesio tape sleeve Dwight Howard was wearing last night, or were the stripes just ornamental? I didn’t actually watch the game, sorry, so forgive me if this was discussed during the broadcast. … Howard also had white sneakers, while the rest of the Magic wore black. … And pretty amazing to see that they came up with an O’Brien Trophy headband. Was anyone wearing it besides Courtney Lee? … Nathan Lynes reports that the USA soccer team wore gray socks with their home kit two nights ago, instead of their usual white. … Here’s Randy Johnson wearing No. 26 with the Expos — but not the Montreal Expos. As you can see, it’s actually the double-A Jacksonville ’Spos (good find by Doug Brei). … Day game for the Mets yesterday, so David Wright went high-cuffed, but he was back to wearing solid socks instead of stirrups. Dang. … Melissa, who didn’t give her last name, notes that Kevin Youkilis has “ENY” on his batting glove. “I’m guessing maybe it refers to his new wife, Enza,” she writes. “Still, not sure what the N would stand for — her maiden name is Sambataro, and her son’s name is Michael.” … UConn is getting some no-frills football uniforms (with thanks to Stefan Schubert). … The U. of Floriday has severed its relationship with Russell Athletic.

Quite a few of you have been sending me notes saying, more or less, “What’s with all the attention to Josh Outman and Corey Wimberly? Where’s the love for Brendan Ryan? His stirrups are striped, y’know!” Really? I hadn’t noticed!

As I’ve patiently explained to these people, I haven’t mentioned Ryan so much this season because (a) I’ve given him plenty of attention in past seasons, and (b) I wish he’d show more of his white sanitaries. But Mets announcers Gary Cohen and Ron Darling apparently had no such compunctions yesterday, as they used a Ryan at-bat in the bottom of the 7th as the launching point for a wide-ranging, often awkward discussion of lower-leg stylings. Here’s a transcript:

Ron Darling: This kid brings some nice energy to the ballclub, doesn’t he? Old-timer with those socks pulled up. I think those socks by the Cardinals have to be one of the best in baseball, don’t they?

Gary Cohen [apparently unaware of current uni specs in Boston]: Those and the Red Sox.

Darling [equally clueless]: Red Sox are good. Trying to think, who else..?

Cohen: Did you see, by the way, I was watching, uh, uh, I was watching part of the Yankees/Oakland game yesterday, and one of the kids for Oakland, I think it was Outman, was wearing the stirrups — the green with the gold? Oh my! It looked like a picture out of the ’60s!

Darling: That’s right. I, I, they’re great, because they have the sanitary socks for, I mean… Guys don’t wear it now. They more wear the kind of soccer kind of sock, which is all one color. You see Delgado has it on, Reyes have [sic] them on. But it is, I, I used to wear that, that green and gold, and it’s pretty funny. See look, they’re more like soccer socks now. Just one full sock that they wear under their uniform.

Cohen: Right, but generally, when guys wear stirrups, they’ve got white socks, white sanitary socks underneath the stirrups. But this is the gold sanitary sock under the green stirrup. I, I, I, I’ve never seen look. Not for a long time anyway.

Darling: I tell, I tell you the hardest thing about getting used to in going to Oakland was not only that, the gold sanitary sock, was the white shoe.

Cohen: Mmm, the white shoes, yeah. Well, you felt like Joe Namath.

Darling: Exac… [Chuckles so hard he can't complete the word.] By the way, when I was playing football, everyone had to get those Riddells that Joe Namath had.

Cohen: Joe Willie White Shoes. [Long pause; one can almost hear both men's brains recalibrating.] And then there was Billy White Shoes Johnson.

Darling [clearly relieved to have something to respond to]: There you go.

Cohen [wandering far off the reservation now]: Everyone wanted to spike the ball like Billy White Shoes Johnson.

Darling: You know what’s pretty funny is, is that, you know, the NFL has stopped all the, uh, uh celebrating, or tried to stop all the celebrating. I couldn’t wait for Billy White Shoes Johnson to score a touchdown.

Cohen: Well, that’s because it was unique. I think, you know, when it starts to become a little over the top, they had to rein it in.

Darling: You weren’t an Ickey Shuffle fan? [Chuckles heartily at this reference.]

Cohen: You know, but even that was cute at the time. But you know, when guys are retrieving cell phones from goalposts, it’s, y’know, it starts to get a little out of hand.

Darling: Signing the football?

Cohen: Yeah, exactly. [Both men snicker to themselves, very satisfied to have identified this cultural microtrend and established their superiority to it. A long pause ensues.]

Darling: My favorite, and I won’t remember his name, it’s too bad. He played for the Philadelphia Eagles, and he scored a touchdown, and he used the goalpost as a heavy bag. [Chuckles. Cohen chuckles back.] He just stood there and uppercutted the heavy bag. It was great.

Cohen: That’s great as long as you don’t break your hand. [Both men chuckle. Discussion moves on to other matters for about 70 seconds.]

Darling: I was given the name of the Eagle. It was Vai Sikahema.

Cohen [clearly nonplussed to be back on this topic]: Ah. I would’ve had trouble just pronouncing that name. [Darling laughs heartily. Discussion mercifully moves on to other topics.]

Uni Watch News Ticker: Remember Ozzie Guillen’s “OPD” cap from spring training? It sold for $400. … “Just wanted to let you in on the stupid way our baseball team at Marksville High (Marksville, La.) wears/ secures their pants,” writes Chris LaHaye. “Most started doing this last season and, sadly, it carried over to this year. No one can give me a good reason for wearing them like this except it looks ‘tight.’” Of course, once you see the team’s full uniforms, you realize that the pants are the least of their problems. … Oh. My. God. Details here (with thanks to Jim Ransdell). … “Versus did a piece about the Sutter brothers in between periods on Wednesday night, and they showed them in these Rawlings jerseys,” says Doug Keklak. “I hadn’t known that Rawlings actually made any hockey gear.” … Also from Doug: Check out this 1972 shot. “That’s the pee wee team that won the Greater Johnstown School District elementary school league. Apparently, uniforms weren’t a priority, as I’m pretty sure those numbers are made with tape!” says Doug. … The Oilers are redesignating their classic throwbacks as their primary home uni for next season. … A few days ago there was some chatter in the comments about the common use of red and blue on the electoral map, which is interesting in light of this photo — why are so many people wearing red? There was no mention of it in the article, so I did a bit of googling and learned that red is the color of the same-sex marriage movement in Maine. I am not trying to start a debate on the merits of same-sex marriage, so let’s not go there, thanks, but I do think it’s interesting that they’re using what’s usually thought of as the right-wing color to advocate what’s usually thought of as a left-wing cause. … John Grupp of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review interviewed me yesterday on the topic of Nyjer Morgan’s stirrups (I resisted the urge to suggest that he talk to Gary Cohen and Ron Darling). Article will run on Sunday, I’m told. … It’s that time of year again (courtesy of Matt Sajina). … Okay, I think the human race — or at least the advertising/marketing community — has now officially hit rock bottom (with thanks to Jim Roddy). … Lenny Dykstra, classy as always. Note the flapless Darren Daulton catcher’s helmet. Caption says the photo is from 1990, which was before the Daulton/Dykstra car crash, so it’s not like this was a “Sorry, dude” move or anything like that. Hmmmm (with thanks to Andrew Dixon). … Nicole Haase thinks she’s found the secret to Manny Parra’s problems. … Yesterday’s Jags coverage prompted this from Jared Pike: “I’ve been a Jaguars fan ever since they were announced in 1993, when family members bought season tickets right off the bat. As a result, they got insider newsletters, detailing the team’s early history (with interesting headlines like, ‘Jaguars Soon to Have Players’). Here’s one when they unveiled their new non-automotive logo and uniforms. The article claims that the uni is distinctive because it is the first ever to feature three-color numbers. Interesting, huh? Verifiable, maybe — but moot, since they’ve taken a step backwards with their new two-color numbers. I’ve also attached some promotional artwork, showing a prototype Jaguars helmet being raised in hypothetical victory, and a Sporting News cover showing the original uni design that was later scrapped.” … Ben Fortney sent me this shot from the 1981 World Series and asked if I knew what the patch was for. Answer: That’s the Los Angeles bicentennial patch that the Dodgers wore that season. … Joe Alvaro tried his hand at a NYC logo mash-up. Here’s a version in which he swapped out the Knicks in favor of the Giants. … Now that’s a program cover. Lots of similarly wonderful CFL programs displayed here and here (big thanks to Terry Paffenroth). … In a remarkable feat of glandular control, Ex-Phillie Kevin Millwood has managed to create a Harry Kalas memorial sweatstain on his cap.

[Editor's Note: Jim Ransdell, editor of the excellent Sports Design Blog has found some good stuff lurking in his childhood notebooks. Enjoy. -- PL]

By Jim Ransdell

In 1985, when I was in high school, I set out to design my own shoe line, complete with apparel, equipment, sporting goods, celebrity clients, and NBA uniform affiliations.

I called the project Pegasus Shoes. I designed several lines of shoes (I know, they look like the Air Jordan 1s, but hey…) and matched them up with some good but not A-list NBA players. I designed a shoe for each player, with product names and even retail prices. I even went as far as designing the tread.

In addition to the shoe designs, I created a unique apparel line for each player. The gear was made to pair up with the shoes and create an entire look for the player represented. I even gave each player his own personal basketball design!

Not to be outdone by Nike or Reebok, the Pegasus line was also going to provide the uniforms for several NBA teams, so I did six uniform concepts for the Sonics, Warriors, Nets, Suns, Spurs, and Kings. Why I chose these teams, I have no idea.

My high school notebooks were full of stuff like this. As it turns out, it was a good indicator as to what my future was going to be, because somehow I’ve managed to stay in the sports design field for nearly 25 years. This was one of my earliest, most formative works.

Extracurricular News, Part 2: “I’m Calling It Shea” doesn’t yet have its own web site (it will soon), but response to the T-shirt has been huge — we’ve already sold out of the first batch and ordered a bunch more.

Meanwhile, the Rev. Vince Anderson, who’s the guiding spirit behind this whole project, has written a new song called, of course, “I’m Calling It Shea,” which he’ll be debuting tonight, 10pm, at Black Betty in Williamsburg. I’ll be there, and hopefully some of you will attend as well. The proceedings will be videotaped, so we should have the song up on YouTube shortly.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Good work by David Teigland, who writes: “I flipped on the TV before the Bulls/Celts game on ESPN on Saturday and caught the obligatory pregame ‘Get on Your Boots’ montage. It seemed to feature most of the playoff teams, but I noticed something very wrong when the Jazz image came up. It looks like a Jerry Sloan clone talking to actors (wearing passes around their necks) who are wearing cut-rate replica purple musical note jerseys, without ‘Utah’ on them. I don’t know what this could be from — maybe it’s an inside joke from an ESPN staffer or something.” … Could Logan Paulsen’s foot injury be due to Adidas’s unusually narrow cleats? Rick Neuheisel thinks so (with thanks to Seth Fisher). … FIFA has introduced a new badge for the women’s world champions. Details here (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Ed Hickox, working the plate during Saturday’s Yanks/Tribe game, had his mask damaged by a foul tip plus he was laughing so fucking hard over the Yanks getting slaughtered, so he disappeared into the clubhouse and came back wearing a spare Yankees mask (screen grabs courtesy of Becky Taylor). … Here’s Salty’s NOB on the red jersey. … Jay Danbom notes that some Oklahoma State players have solid-black hose, while others are wearing stripes. … The Twins’ throwback alts have uni numbers on the front, but Delmon Young’s number was missing on Saturday night (good spot by Jesse Larson). … If you go here and click on “2009 Clemson Series Game Two,” you’ll see lots of pics of Virginia Tech’s tequila sunrise throwbacks. … Good gallery of atypical NHL jerseys, including an excellent old Cali Seals shot, here (with thanks to Skott Daltonic). … Saw Sugar over the weekend. Really good, on many levels. But as you can see on the movie’s home page, they used old Quad Cities Swing uniforms, which have those bizarro mismatched numeral sizes. … Runners in today’s Boston Marathon will, for the first time, have their names printed on their bibs (with thanks to Anil Adyanthaya). … Speaking of Boston, the Red Sox will be playing their annual Patriots’ Day game at Fenway today. One of my favorite sports-related moments of my life was attending the 2001 Pats’ Day game and hearing the P.A. announcer say, “Here are the starting lineups for this morning’s game.” … And another favorite moment came a few hours later, when the Boston Marathon crowd cheered the runners on by with chants of “Yankees suck!!” (which really seemed to confused the Kenyans at the front of the pack). … Kirsten and I were thrift-sopping on Friday and found something really funny: softball uniform sponsored by a uniform company. Unfortunately, it was way too big for me, so I didn’t buy it. … Sean Wilson got this shot of the Pirates bullpen buggy from the 1971 World Series. Note the incorrect cap logo. Then again, it’s impressive that the Orioles had a Pittsburgh “cap” for their visiting-team cart, since they normally wouldn’t have stocked N.L. teams’ caps. … For reasons that we can only guess at, the four male finalists for the Australian version of So You Think You Can Dance wore Red Sox uniforms. … Good spot by Jeff Sak, who noticed that the little compass icon on the Mariners’ jersey insignia is missing from Ichiro’s uni. … Killer auction discovery by Bruce Menard: a Milwaukee Braves usher’s jacket. … Josh Skattum notes that Angels pitcher Shane Loux appeared to have a guardian angel pin on his cap yesterday. After some quick photo research, I found that Loux had worn a Nick Adenhart patch or pin on his cap in his previous start, so he probably leads the league in headwear adornments. … Interesting softball shot here. Note how the helmet has FiNOB (first name on back) and merit decals (with thanks to Vince LoBosco). … What was that lapel pin being worn by NBA coaches during the playoffs? Answer here (with thanks to Eddie Brewer). … Wouldn’t it be nice if hospital gowns didn’t leave everyone’s ass hanging out? Why yes, it would (with thanks to John Muir). … If you scroll down to the last letter on this page, you’ll see a very interesting anti-douchebag proposal directed toward Tiger Woods. … Interesting TV number alignment here. I believe we’ve seen this before on an old CFL jersey, no? If anyone remembers the specifics, please post them in the comments (with thanks to Ben Traxel). … Personally, I don’t really care about what brand of cleats Vicente Padilla is wearing, but Brinke Guthrie wants to know. Anyone..? … Chris Oxford says he had — get this — a uni-related dream the other night: “I was watching the University of Miami (Florida, not Ohio) football team, which I despise, playing a game in which I got increasingly frustrated at the fact that, although they were wearing their white jerseys, their lineman were wearing green pants, while the other players were wearing orange pants. The part where the character John Carter of ER fame was sitting next to me, telling me in confidence that he was to be selected the next Secretary of Defense, is irrelevant, but I thought you might like to know.” … When Adam Cohen graduated from high school in 1998, a friend’s mom made him a quilt made from T-shirts, many of them sports-related. Check out his full set of quilt photos here. … You know how advertisers aren’t allowed to say the words “Super Bowl” unless they pay a licensing fee? That same “logic” now appears to have been applied to the MLB All-Star Game. This is so completely asinine, I think I’ll convene a tea party full of boorish losers to protest just start calling it the Midsummer Douchebag Classic, so as not to run afoul of MLB’s licensing guidelines (with thanks to Don Sherman).

As you no doubt recall, I spent most of last Friday’s entry gushing of the hosiery stylings of A’s prospect Corey Wimberly. After a bit of phone tag, yesterday I finally caught up with Oakland equipment manager Steve Vucinich (that’s him in the background of this shot), who was happy to chat about Wimberly, among several other pressing issues.

Uni Watch: So I’m very curious about Corey Wimberly.

Steve Vucinich: He just came up to me at the start of spring training and said, “Do you have any stirrups?” And believe it or not, I always carry ’em with me, even on the road, just in case. And I carry two sizes — the four-inch [opening] and the seven-inch.

UW [laughing]: You are a man prepared! So when you said, “I just happen to have some right here,” was he surprised?

SV: Well, what he actually said was, “Can you get me something?,” as if he figured I wouldn’t have ’em. And I said, “I got ’em here, no problem.” So he was kinda surprised. He was probably expecting to wait a day or two.

UW: And did you have the yellow sanitaries as well?

SV: I always carry those too. A lot of guys still wear those underneath the thicker sock.

UW: Now, Wimberly’s a pretty young guy. By the time he was growing up and watching baseball, stirrups were already on the decline. Do you know why he chooses to wear them?

SV: You know, I’ve been meaning to ask him and haven’t had a chance. He’s gotten pretty good coverage on it — I was listening to a game broadcast in the car the other day and the announcers were talking about it on the air, and they wrote about it in the papers in the Bay Area, so he’s really getting noticed for it. Where’d you pick it up?

UW: One of my readers pointed him out to me.

SV: And he wears them real long, like Vida and Reggie and those guys. In the past few years, anyone who wears stirrups has pretty much worn the four- or six-inch.

UW: Is he the only guy in camp wearing them?

SV: Actually, Rajai Davis just asked for them too, but I haven’t seen him wear ’em yet.

UW: Did he do it because he liked Wimberly’s look?

SV: I don’t know. In spring training I’m not down in the dugout as much as I am during the regular season. And one of our rookie pitchers just asked for ’em too. The thing I love about stirrups is, last year we had a turn back the clock game — we went back to 1968, which was our sleeveless uniform, and I made everyone wear stirrups. And guys did not know how to wear ’em. “Is the big opening on the back or the front?” Honest to god. They had noooo clue.

UW: So did you have to give everyone a little tutorial?

SV: It didn’t take long.

UW: Do you like the look yourself?

SV: Sure, I grew up with that. But if you go back 100 years, they were all wearing the solid sock. We’re doing a throwback game in August — we’ll be the 1929 Philadelphia A’s against the White Sox, and we’ll be wearing solid-white socks, or maybe off-white, with stripes on ’em [presumably like this -- PL]. I’ve got Twin City Knitting making those for us right now. And I know we’re gonna take some hits because we’re not doing black shoes. I talked to Nike about that, and they said it would just be cost-prohibitive in this economic climate. Plus the guys would have to break ’em in for two or three days beforehand. And I said, “OK, but I know the Uni Watch blog’s gonna get on us for that.” And believe me that did enter into the conversation!

UW: I’ll cut you some slack on that one.

SV: Well, you like to get it right. We’re doing a turn back game in Seattle in May, and it’s gonna be the 1939 Oakland Oaks against the Seattle Rainiers. And this uniform is pretty neat — it’s got like a built-in green sleeve with some piping, and a patch, and “Oakland” across the chest in plain block two-color lettering, with a line underneath it. And the hats have the shorter rise in the front, the lower profile.

UW: When these throwback games come up and you make everyone wear the stirrups, do the players complain?

SV: You can get away with that for one day. They’ll be saying, “Hey, these pants aren’t as long as before.” That’s right, because I ordered ’em six inches shorter and you gotta live with it. But they get into it for that day — they really do.

UW: So now that you’ve got two or three players in camp wearing stirrups, did you have to go out and get more?

SV: I’ve got plenty in Oakland. Down here I just bring my road trunk, which normally has three pairs of the seven-inch and three pairs of the four-inch, so I may have to have some flown down from Oakland.

UW: Emergency stirrup shipment!

SV: Exactly.

UW: Now what about the kind with the stripes, which you guys used to wear? Maybe you should get some of those.

SV: You know, I was looking into that, and it looks like we stopped wearing those around 1970 or ’71, when guys were wearing their stirrups higher, so you didn’t really have the area that showed the stripe.

UW: You should show a striped pair to Wimberly, see if he wants to wear those.

SV: I don’t know if that’s part of our official uniform ensemble with MLB anymore. You know, the sample player they show getting dressed [he's referring to the uniform guide posted in each MLB clubhouse -- PL], he doesn’t have stripes.

UW: He doesn’t have any socks at all! His pants are down at his ankles! Anyway, is Wimberly gonna make the team?

SV: I think he’s ticketed for triple-A right now, because we’ve also got Rajai Davis, who does most of the same things and already has big league experience. But hey, Rajai might be donning the stirrups as well, so there you go.

And here’s a late-breaking item of related interest: According to this story, the Rangers wore stirrups yesterday against the Giants. Unfortunately, I can’t find a single photo or video clip from that game. Anyone..?

Burying the Lede: For those of you who care about that college basketball thingie that’s about to get underway, here are the special rear-jersey designs and sneakers that will be worn by Duke, Michigan State, Memphis (is that jersey embarrassing or what?), Gonzaga (wait, suddenly the Memphis design doesn’t look so bad), and Oregon (sorry, no sneaker photos available for them). Plus here’s the UConn sneaker design. Further details here.

And as long as I’m posting stuff for you sneaker-porn addicts, here are some snuff films of Nike’s Zoom LeBron VI Superman, the Zoom LeBron VI Hardwood Classic, and the Zoom LeBron James VI SVSM Saint Vincent Saint Mary’s (in Uni Watch colors, how quaint). I don’t know who this LeBron guy is, but he can’t design a sneaker for shit.

The Proctor Chronicles, Continued: Yesterday I linked to this photo of the Lakers wearing mismatched shades of purple. That prompted sporting goods scholar Terry Proctor to check in with an explanation:

Back when teams were responsible for actually buying their own uniforms, the Lakers’ duds were made by Galbraith and Tiernan of Inglewood, Calif. Galbraith and Tienan was a small cut-and-sew operation that made custom uniforms.

G&T bought their fabrics and braid trim from Yarrington Mills of Hatboro, Penna. The Lakers’ jerseys were made from Yarrington’s Stretch Nylon Eyelet Mesh, and their shorts were made from Yarrington’s #157 Medium-Weight Double-knit Stretch Nylon smooth-knit fabric.

Unfortunately the mesh was not as colorfast as the double-knit. It had a tendency to “bleed” after a few washings. I know this to be true because we used that Yarrington mesh for two sets of basketball uniforms back in the late 1970s. One set was white, the other was purple, and the school’s laundry person decided to wash both sets together. Big mistake! When she took them out of the dryer, one set was a light grape color while the formerly White uniforms had turned a lovely shade of lilac. The company did replace the uniforms- in double-knit.

So the Lakers’ garments were from two different fabrics.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Tim Thomas’s mask was damaged during last night’s Bruins/Blue Jackets game. When it became apparent that it couldn’t be repaired quickly, he wore teammate Manny Fernandez’s mask, which led to some rear-view uni number dissonance. … Hmmm, new ventilation system or wardrobe malfunction? (Screen grab courtesy of Bill Blevins.) … New uniforms for the Lotte Giants (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Ryan Villopoto had some good luck wishes written on his helmet at Saturday’s Daytona Supercross (with thanks to Sean Clancy). … Chris Canty, who recently signed with the Giants, has a fairly unique facemask design, so Greg Riffenburgh suggested that I ask Joe Skiba if he’s making any special arrangements. I did just that, to which Joe replied: “Dallas actually sent over their stock of facemasks.” Cowboys and Giants staffers cooperating and helping each other out? Scandalous! … Erkki Corpuz notes that the UCLA basketball cheerleaders have worn at least 11 different outfits this season. … Nice gallery of Iditarod photos here. … Having just typed that last item, I’m struck by how frighteningly close “Iditarod” is to “Idiot A-Rod,” which just goes to show that everything leads back to that guy. … Coupla weird things about this, which is from the 1999 NLCS: First, that’s the smallest superscript “c” I’ve ever seen on a McNOB. And what’s with the radial arching? I know the Braves occasionally used radial arching for call-ups during their vertically arched era, but this was the NLCS — he’d been on the team throughout September and in the NLDS. Couldn’t they have given him a proper nameplate at some point during that span? (Thanks to Vincent Vincenzo for the screen shot.) … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Here are some screen shots showing the Rangers’ two-tone batting helmet in MLB 09. … Nice story on the Mariners’ uniforms here. You’ll have to click on the “magnify” tab to get it at a legible size. … “Player exclusive shoes in soccer are extremely rare to non-existent,” says Greg Riffenbrugh. “The only real examples are Nike’s custom design for Ronaldinho and David Beckham’s exclusive colorway of the Adidas Predator (note the Beckham logo on the tongue). So I was surprised to see Fernando Torres of Liverpool wearing the Nike Total 90 Laser 2 in a new colorway in the Champions League game against Real Madrid on Tuesday. Is it a player exclusive? It’s possible, because it’s obviously in the Liverpool white and red and Torres is a relatively high-profile player. Or is it something he’s just previewing before it hits the mass market? That’s possible as well, because he and Wayne Rooney did similar with the original Total 90 Laser a few years ago. I’ll keep my eye out to see what happens.” … Jake Melbye was checking out Rangers camp yesterday and spotted country singer Charley Pride warming up in the bullpen. … New uniforms for Davidson. Very SoD-ish jerseys, but the shorts aren’t that billowy. … The stimulus logo is the subject of a good analysis here and a radio story here. … Jay Shive thinks he’s found the hockey equivalent of an underbrim inscription. That’s Flyers goalie Martin Biron, during last night’s game against the Sabres. Can’t make out the handwriting, unfortunately. … Great uni concept! Greg Cotharn’s nephew drew that. Several more of his and his sister’s designs are displayed here. … A German soccer player is in trouble for pantomiming an ad, or something like that (with thanks to Nicole Haase).

By Phil Hecken, aided and abetted by UW Sneakerhead Matt Powers

The 2009 NBA All-Star Game is upon us this evening, and the this is what the West will wear, while the East will feature this. As Paul has explained, since the game is being played in Phoenix, the player shorts will feature a design evocative of a rising phoenix.

But, this is one of those rare instances where the players’ footwear (it’s all new and especially made for the event) trumps their uniforms, so I’ve asked Uni Watch sneakerhead emeritus Matt Powers to assist in a rundown of all the ASG kicks. I asked him to capture the sights, the sounds, the smells of a sneakerhead’s greatest wet dream event. And I got that; I got more … a lot more. But hey, enough of my yakkin’ — whaddaya say? Let’s boogie!

According to Websters’, an epiphany can be defined as: a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

Throughout my almost 32 years, I have had many minor epiphanies;

1. Watching Eric Dickerson for the first time and LOVING the Rams uni and how he wore it.

2. Joe Morris: The first and only NFL game that I’ve been to was against the Eagles in 1986. Joe Morris ripped his jersey and I scoured every garbage can at the Meadowlands searching for it.

3. Air Jordan VI: Entering ninth grade, my father was laid off. When I asked him for help buying the AJ VI for school, all he said was, “Junior, go get a job.”. That I did. I worked for two weeks at an awful gas station fixing flats and cleaning carburetors. I hated it so much that at lunch, I went out job searching around the way. Soon after, I got a new job, and a fresh pair of kicks that I treated like my first born.

4. Fab Five: Webber, Rose, Smith, Howard, Jackson, Black Barkleys, (Air Force Max B), Black socks, Maize shorts below the knee. My favorite ever!

5. No Basement in the Alamo: What can I say?: “It’s not for sale, Francis!”.

6. High School Helmet: I fell in love with Schutt helmets my sophomore year of HS. They gave me a Riddell junior year. I had to sneak into the equipment room my senior year to pilfer my old AiR helmet because it had failed inspection by the reconditioner.

7. Foam 1: Like a Sharpei, so ugly that they’re beautiful.

8. Sole Provider: My bible.

9. Oh yeah, my wedding and the homebirths of my two daughters.

These all pale in comparison to what occurred on a fall day two years ago. I took a leap of faith and followed a link regarding Todd Helton and his uni-shenanigans. The truth that a professional athlete would go to such lengths not only to modify his gear but hide those modifications didn’t faze me, Hell, I had even tried to do it. I couldn’t fathom that there were people out there chronicling such events.

I had found my calling, my sneaker and cleat interest was part of what can be called an Obsessive Study of Athletic Aesthetics. Upon receiving a second opinion from Dr. Lukas, I realized that it was incurable. My only question is, and was; “What epiphany had driven everyone else here?” and what was their Todd Helton or Air Jordan VI?”

Today, I hope you catch a bit of my disease!

And so, without further ado, we bring you the players and their kicks:

Eastern Conference All-Stars

Allan Iverson: Reebok Answer 12 All Star PE: AI will be wearing a special makeup of the 12th edition of his signature shoe. Of all the versions to have followed the original Question by Reebok, a pun based on Iverson’s nickname of “The Answer”, the 12 most resembles the first of the line. Whether it is the solid colored toe box, the clear iced sole, or even the higher-than average cut of the shoe, Matt can’t help but be reminded of this fresh-faced and nearly ink-free, NBA rookie, wearing the Sixers two best uni-ideations. (The only time Reebok ever beat out Nike/Jordan at anything.) Matt’s favorite look of Iverson’s will always be from his days at Georgetown, when he attempted to share the ball with Victor Page and Jerome “Junkyard Dog” Williams,because he was wearing the Air Jordan XI. The first color way of the 12 was first worn by Iverson on November 14th of this season in a 106-95 win against Kobe’s Lakers. The shoe features Iverson’s initials on the tongue as well as his jersey number near the laces. Perhaps the most interesting trait of the shoes is the inclusion of the poem “Invictus” by British poet William Ernest Henley, sublimated on the TPU heel plate. The toughest small man to ever play in the NBA has been wearing many different versions of the shoe since November, this being Matt’s favorite. If you so choose, you can mosey on down to your local sneaker emporium this weekend and purchase the general released version of the Answer 12 for an MSRP of $100.

Paul Pierce: Nike Air Max P2: Matt doesn’t like bringing this shoe up in conversation because it’s story is that incredibly frustrating to the sneaker buying community. For the past few years, The Pierce’s signature shoes have only been retailed in kid’s sizes and he cannot fathom why! If the Vince Carter signature line is any indication, then Nike has decided to cut their losses because of declining sales in the sig line market. While he’s debuting the P2, he’s been wearing the IV. It’s an absolute shame because Matt simply adores this shoe. “Simple, clean design and velcro. Velcro is that magic ingredient that I cannot stay away from” Matt opines.

Dwayne Wade: Converse Wade 4: There hasn’t been much attention towards what D. Wade will be wearing in Sunday’s game however, the current edition of his signature line is The 4, which he also wore during this past year’s Olympics.

LeBron James: Nike Zoom Lebron IV: With so many make ups of this shoe being created by Nike, it is amazing that even King James remembers what he’s supposed to be wearing at any given time. The special All-Star make-up of the shoe features a gradient color scheme of navy, aqua and white coordinating nicely with the uniforms of the East squad. The shoe also prominently features the All Star ‘09 design that all of the game specific Nikes will be adorned with. Other than the colors and ASG branding, this version does not differ very much from the various Special Edition and general release pairs that he has worn throughout the season, most recently being these. Matt states, “On a personal note, these are the first shoes within the Lebron lineage that I have liked the looks of. Although at times confusing, I think that Nike has done a fine job of marketing and promoting the shoe, thus creating interest. My favorites being these and these.”

Kevin Garnett and Dwight Howard: Adidas TS Bounce Commander: Much like what Nike has done for years with their Force and Flight lines, Adidas has been and will be outfitting their frontcourt and backcourt players differently. Instead of Charles Barkley and David Robinson opposing Michael Jordan, Ron Harper, and Scottie Pippen, this time it is players like Garnett, Howard, and Tim Duncan versus Chauncey Billups and Devin Harris. Both Garnett and Howard have been wearing many different colorways of The Commander. Matt tends to steer clear of big man shoes, mainly because at 5’10”, “I am NOT a big man.” These traditionally have more cushioning than the lighter, sleeker guard based shoes. Adidas has begun incorporating their Bounce technology into their hoops shoes, with great success. “I am actually a big fan of the Bounce system,” Matt continues. “Perhaps, some of you might have seen this on the boards as proof positive.”

Jameer Nelson: Converse Assist: Nelson will not be playing. He most likely would have been wearing the Converse Assist, the pre-eminent team shoe from Nike-owned Converse that has been made into PE’s for most of their players this season, including Udonis Haslem, Acie Law IV, Kirk Heinrich, and Mike Sweetney.

Danny Granger: Nike Zoom Phenom: This shoe is an update to last year’s Sharkley that was very popular. The Phenom is a combination of the Nike Ndestrukt and the Air Max Sensation, Chris Webber’s sig shoe. The zoom air and overall aesthetic of the shoe are what make th shoe atractive to 30 year olds being reminded of the great Nike Hoops shoes of the late 90’s. Retailing at 90$, they are unlike other Player Exlusive models in that you can purchase those of Rudy Gay, Brandon Roy, and Deron Williams for but a few dollars more.

Rashard Lewis: Nike Hyperdunk: Lewis has always worn very cool PEs. Lately, he has been wearing the Foamposite Lites, but is choosing to wear the ASG Hyperdunks. As far as PE’s go, these are rather bland other than the blue color blocking. They feature some of Nike’s most innovative technology combining their flywire structural support with the lunarlite foam cushioning in the forefoot and zoom air in the heel. At 13 ounces, they weigh three ounces less than the average basketball shoe. An excellent guard shoe and the most popular shoe in the NBA, the NCAA and the Olympic games.

Chris Bosh: Nike Huarache 2K9: Bosh is playing it safe and will continue to wear what he has worn for most of the season, albeit in Nike’s stock ASG makeup. This is the latest version of the classic Huarache line, first worn by the Fab Five at Michigan. Unfortunately for Nike the Huarache 08 was seriously overshadowed by the introduction of the Hyperdunk and has not fared very well.

Ray Allen: Air Jordan 2009: Jesus Shuttlesworth has been wearing different Jordan Brand styles all season: There is very little difference between Allen’s kicks and those that Joe Johnson will be wearing. A bit of color blocking is about the only major difference. The entire side panel and heel is draped in blue.

Joe Johnson: Air Jordan 2009: The latest edition of the Air Jordan line will be worn by three of this years’ All Stars. Johnson, a member of Jordan Brand, never disappoints with his choice of shoes, however Matt is not a huge fan of these kicks because they are too similar to the Air Jordan XIV for his taste however component wise, they are top of the line. Their cushioning is beyond outstanding as is the traction control of the sole. What is not outstanding is the $190 price tag.

Mo Williams: Nike Hyperdunk: A welcome addition to the ASG, Williams will continue to wear the Hyperdunk, a masterful combination of lightweight cushioning and support.

Devin Harris: Adidas TS Lightning Creator: Harris, like Billups will be wearing the guard based shoe. An Adidas man since his days at ‘Sconsin, he seems to have found his comfort zone in the swamps of dirty Jersey. These shoes are chock full of technological advances included Clima-Cool vents and the Torsion structural component. Response across the web has been negative but Matt, personally, likes them a lot.

Chris Paul: Air Jordan 09: Paul, almost more than anyone within the Jordan Brand stable, has become the face of the brand. He has worn the largest amount of JB PE’s this season and is planning on wearing the latest edition of the Air Jordan 09’s. Much like the PE’s that Allen and Johnson will be wearing for the East, Paul’s will feature red accents instead of the West’s blue. The accents will be on the tongue, midsole, and ankle area.

David West: Nike Foamposite Lite: For most of this season, West has been wearing the blue collar Nike Powermax. Only recently has D.West started wearing the Foamposite Lites in game situations.

Yao Ming: Reebok Pump Omni Hex Ride: Yao will be wearing a more tame version of the Pumps that he wore during the Olympics. Reebok stands behind their hex-Ride technology in addition to their Pump P105 inflation system. Personally, Matt prefers the original Dee Brown version.

Amare Stoudamire: Nike Foamposite Lite: If there really is a home court advantage, then STAT will be the main recipient. As far as Matt is concerned, Nike has thrown all of their design know-how into his PE, the Foamposite Lite. Not only do they feature an interesting shade of red, they are adorned with some great graphics. Matt elaborates, “This past week, I literally spied them on a strangers feet at a range of about 300 yards and was drawn to them like moth to a flame. I literally walked into the store where he was shopping and started a conversation with him, and yes he spoke too! Turns out, he too was an EKIN and sneakerhead, whose mecca is the House of Hoops on 125th Street in the Bronx. This is the spot where anyone willing to drop 225 dollars can have their very own pair of ASG kicks.” Stoudamire has been wearing these, in various color combinations, over the past month.

Chauncey Billups: Adidas TS Lightning Creator: At Colorado, Billups wore Nikes, however since entering the league, he has strayed from the path, first with the Vector, and then the three stripes. Matt has shunned non-Nike hoops shoes but his bias is decreasing. “Not only is Adidas designing better looking shoes, they are incredibly comfortable. I would definitely consider wearing the guard-based Creators.”

Kobe Bryant: Nike Air Zoom Kobe IV: When these kicks first hit the web, sneakerheads were up in arms about the ankle coverage of the shoe. A return to low tops would not be tolerated. People though that Gilbert Arenas was crazy when he started wearing lows, but the trend is spreading. What the shoe lacks in height, it more than makes up for in technological innovation. Flywire, zoom air, lunar foam, icy soles for some break-neck looks. These shoes are beautiful.

Dirk Nowitzki: Nike Air MAX Spot Up: Dirk has always been a bit of a mystery to me. The simple fact that Nike markets signature shoes for him proves that Beaverton considers him to be one of their marquee athletes, however, Matt is frequently underwhelmed by his kicks. The same trend was true of Dirk during the ’08 Olympics when he wore a very bland make-up of the Zoom BB2. Not to be all bad, Matt did like his Germany themed Hyperdunks. The Air Max Spot Up has comes in a gradient red make-up matching the Western All-Star uniforms. The sneaker is highlighted by white accents not unlike other Air Max shoes features a large visible Air bubble and an embossed Air Max logo wrapping the heel, similar to that of the Air Max Brazen running shoe. Designed mainly for big men, this too, is a blue-collar shoe.

Brandon Roy: Nike Air Zoom Phenom: Much like Danny Granger on the East side, Roy will be wearing the Phenom, departure from what he has been wearing all season, .

Tony Parker: Nike Huarache 2K9: Matt states, “I have to say that I’m a bit disappointed with our friend from over yonder. His choice of 2k9’s leaves a little to be desired, from a shoe-heads’ perspective. Sure they perform well, but give us some flare, some bells and whistles. I guess he has enough of that in his life.” And…it seems that the basketball bug is spreading to Mrs. parker’s co-workers.

Tim Duncan: Adidas TS Bounce Commander: Like his game, his shoes are nothing flashy yet extremely, fundamentally sound. I have expressed my love for the Bounce system but would hesitate in purchasing said shoes because of their weight and a physical inability to buy anything other than Nike for basketball. Blame Wieden and Kennedy for that one. In a strange turn of events, Nike is placing a lot of their hopes in the resurgence of the Foam and Flightposite lines. It was the defection of players like Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett that slowed the progress of those classic shoes including the Flightposite 1 and the Foamposite Max.

Steve Nash: Nike Air Zoom MVP: Perhaps the most interesting of the new kicks being rolled out for the 09 ASG. The Nash MVP is based on the Canuck’s favorite Nike, the Air Max ’90. They are an extremely well performing shoe with excellent traction and zoom air cushioning. Many players across the NBA are already wearing them including Bobby Jackson and Ben Wallace. He is also a disciple of the low top trend and has been for some time now. This years edition will also be a “considered” trash talk version made from recycled materials similar to last years.

Pau Gasol: Nike Hyperdunk: Gasol is a member of the Kobe cult in LA. Most of the lakers either wear Kobe’s sig shoes or variations of them. Gasol has stuck with the Powermatic as well as the Hyperdunk this season and has chosen to wear the stock version of the HD for the ASG. Nike is unveiling their Hypermax this coming spring. I guess I could hope against hope that I would actually see someone wearing them as opposed to the vastly over-extended Hyperdunk.

AND Finally…Pretty Boy Paulie sent me the following E-Mail and pics late last night. Highlights from the NBA dunk contest:

Not sure if ya caught some of this and/or if others have hit you up with all of the info and pics but Nate Robinson broke out “Kryptonite” Nike Foamposite Lites and the Knicks St. Patty’s day uniforms. One pic looks like his sneakers are literally illuminating. Plus a shot of Dwight Howard and his UTRA tight aerodynamic jersey.

Enjoy the sneakers game!

By Phil Hecken (with a big assist from Ricko)

There are certain things certain athletes always do (or did) — or almost always do (or did) — in the way they wore their uniforms, or the way they dressed for their sport. In some cases, they were the first to do what they did. In others, it was just them, and their way.

Beyond that, there isn’t much need for introduction, so here we go. We’ve numbered the athletes, and included a picture of their ‘trademark.’ The hint and the picture will hopefully lead you to guess at the star. Keep track, and the answers will be at the end. Good luck!

1. He spatted his shoes (as if didn’t look quick enough?).

2. He cut off his sleeves, super short, showing those guns.

3. He was the first to wear white cleats in pro football (well, Fred Williamson of the Raiders wore ‘em, too, in ‘64).

4. Wore knee pads (or were they huge elbow pads?) around his shins.

5. One of the first to have his pants tapered, and pull his stirrups up high.

6. Before George Scott and John Olerud, he wore his batting helmet playing defense.

7. First to wear a batting glove during regular season (a golf glove, actually).

8. The first great big man wore some great big knee pads.

9. Cut those sleeves off super short (Tommy McDonald did earlier, though).

10. White tape on baseball cleats, football-style, inspired by his facemask, evidently.

11. That one wristband, way up high. And he did rise above things.

12. In the 60’s, was totally color-coordinated, even his spikes.

13. Oh, them golden slippers.

14. Combined two pair of stirrups, leading the way to the high-stirrup era.

15. Short pants and stickum-covered socks. Stickum-covered everything, actually.

16. A houndstooth hat while prowling and growling the sidelines.

17. Just how much pine tar can one helmet handle, anyway?

18. This was the Afro of Afros, or probably the most remembered.

19. Oh, that’s just a doo-rag being…

20. Now, this mustache was a real “Schwinner”. Or did he sing barbershop on the side?

21. Somehow, he seemed bjorn to wear this headband.

22. “Well, sometimes it really hurts when the center snaps that pigskin.”

23. “Afterward, let’s, like, hang out at the beach and dig for, like, clams or something.”

24. Appropriately for the classic imagery of his “plus-fours”, at his funeral the bagpiper disappeared into the early morning mist.

25. Before his big NBA contract, he couldn’t afford new socks.

26. Two words: Sunday. Red.

27. Always hit the links in all-black or black & white.

28. Playing with her, you should never be so stupid as to ask, “You’re pink, right?

29. He liked white trim: kneehighs, wristbands and a drawstring on the fly…so to speak.

30. Old lady Voorhees’ kid musta been a fan of the guy who marked the stitches he woulda had.

So, how did you do? Some of them were, admittedly, quite tough, others were easy. Here’s the answers, by picture:

Answer 1.
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And now a quick word from Paul: Anyone out there ever submit an unsolicited uniform or logo proposal to a team? If so, did you ever hear back from the team’s front office (even if only via a “No thanks” form letter), or did you get no response at all? If you’ve any sort of experience of this nature, I want to hear from you. Thanks.

I’m sure something stupider than the following statement will be uttered at some point this year. I just can’t imagine what it could be. Check this out:

[T]he decision to go back to a jersey with sleeves was again part of the effort to identify with the uniform style of the most successful Pirates teams in the organization’s history. Four of the five world championships won by the Pirates were won by players that had sleeved jerseys.

Yeah, and all of the Pirates’ championship teams wore stirrups, so I suppose you’re gonna go back to those too, right? While you’re at it, go back and see what brand of jockstrap all the players on the ’71 and ’79 World Series teams were wearing.

And people wonder why fans get cynical. I don’t have much of a problem with the Pirates ditching their vests and going back to sleeves (except for the pinstriped vest, which will still be worn for Sunday home games), but c’mon, stop coming up with asinine rationales and just say that you did it change things up a bit and increase merch sales. I’m sure most fans would rather buy a sleeved jersey instead of a vest, so you could say, “We doing it for our fans” and you wouldn’t even be lying.

Anyway, my take on the Buccos’ new uni set breaks down like this:

• New home and road jerseys: Personally, I always liked the Pirates in vests and wish they’d stuck with them, but the addition of sleeves still looks fine, and now at least we won’t have the problems with some players wearing the official patch-inclusive undersleeves and others wearing unofficial patch-free sleeves. (One tangential point of concern: Very disturbing to see Nyjer Morgan wearing solid black socks instead of stirrups. Let’s hope this was just a photo-op shortcut and not a harbinger of a change in Morgan’s hosiery habits.) Good or stupid? Good enough.

• New black alternate jersey and cap: Hate it. If you must have a black jersey, and if you really want to hearken back to your championship heritage, why not go with something like this? Plus I can’t stand that format where the insignia and the uni number don’t vertically align. Plus-plus the new alt cap so similar to the regular cap as to make no difference. Stupid.

• Keeping the pinstriped vest for Sundays: Wait, I thought the whole point of this new set was that sleeves = championships. Whatever — vests and pinstripes are a bad mix. I have a feeling this jersey will be gone for good by 2010, and they should have just gone ahead and retired it now. Stupid.

• Ditching the red vest: Addition by subtraction. Very, very good.

A team source who was present for Friday’s unveiling festivities relayed the following info to me:

Most players I spoke with liked the idea of having sleeves and said with the way each uniform can be tailored to fit, there is no loss of mobility as opposed to the free range of motion associated with the sleeveless design.

The fabric is interesting. It has a mesh texture not unlike your old-school football jerseys. It’s very stretchable and looks like it’ll breath much better than the traditional poly fabric. By the way, the fabric did not match the pants, which were traditional poly. Strange when viewed up close.

Team President Frank Connelly was very tongue-in-cheek with his introductory comments regarding the uniform change, saying (I’m paraphrasing here) “While our red vest design was extremely popular with our fans and players …” That comment got a laugh out of closer Matt Capps and others.

As you can see, there’s gonna be a lot more Cool Base fabrications this season. We’ll address the full implications of that at another time. (Additional Pirates uni info here, and there’s video of the unveiling here.)

Meanwhile, while the Pirates were unveiling their new uniforms, the Rangers were showcasing their new set (full info here, video here): One at a time:

• New letters and numbers: Overlooked in all the hubbub about the new jerseys and caps (which I’ll get to in a sec), the Rangers have introduced a new custom font that’s total shite. NOBs are gonna be illegible on the home and road jerseys, and the numerals look like they’ve got warts. All the jerseys will now use this typography. Seriously stupid.

• New home jersey: Do these Texans have an inferiority complex or what? OK, we get it, you’re from Lone Star country. Jeez. Seriously, a home jersey that doesn’t include the team name or logo is pretty weak. Stupid.

• New road jersey: Fine from the front, but you’ve got that nasty font on the back. Good tempered with a side of stupid.

• New blue alt jersey: Looks just like last year’s blue alt, right? Almost: Last year’s chest insignia had silver-gray outlining, while the new version has MLB’s favorite new design effect, beveling. Plus it’s got the same crummy typography on the back. Stupid.

• New red alt jersey and cap: Jesus H. Christ, would you people please PICK A COLOR AND STICK WITH IT?! Either your primary team color is blue or else it’s red, but it can’t be both. Just start over and use chartreuse or orange or mustard or something. Stupid.

• Ditching the alt home vest and alt road vest: Never liked the home version. Rather enjoyed the road version, but the Rangers just don’t feel like a vest-ish team, so they’re probably better off without both of these. Good.

• Changing the shoes from blue to black: You know the only reason they did this is because the blue spikes wouldn’t work with the red alt jersey. Still, whatever motives, black spikes are always the way to go (Oakland excepted, natch). Good.

• Changing the belts from blue to black: Another change that was no doubt necessitated by the introduction of the red uni set. And it’s too bad, because a blue belt would look better with all their other combos — yes, even with black spikes. Belts and shoes should always match at the office, but that rule doesn’t hold at the ballpark. Stupid.

• New batting helmet: Hahahahahahahahahaha! The great thing about this is that the Mets’ sleeve patch is no longer the worst uni element introduced this winter. I’ll have an entire ESPN column on this helmet later today (look here). Beyond stupid, more like imbecilic.

Fortunately, I was having too much fun at Saturday’s Uni Watch party to get too worked up over any of this. Speaking of which…

Party Update: Saturday’s shindig at Sheep Station was really swell — best Uni Watch party ever, I’d say. Big thanks to all who showed up (especially Ed Hahn, who came all the way from DC and took some photos that you can see here). I’ll have a full report, with lots more pictures, ether tomorrow or Wednesday.

Speaking of this week’s schedule, I’ve got three ESPN columns in the hopper (one today, a really interesting surprise topic for Wednesday, and my annual Super Bowl preview column on Friday), so I may cut back a little here on the blog — not sure yet. In any event, we’ll definitely have regular content tomorrow.

Uni Watch News Ticker: I’ve previously run photos of Richard “Batman” Wood, who got his nickname because of the logo he wore on his pads. But now Chris Markham has found a shot indicating that Wood also wore a Batman helmet decal. … Also from Chris: USFL officials wore really awful Pony-branded socks. … “Southern California” is a lot of letters to fit on a basketball jersey (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … According to this story, the Sixers will be switching to their 1982-83 uni design next season. But I’ve seen next season’s Sixers jersey, and I can tell you that it’s not quite as simple as an ’82-’83 throwback. Sorry, can’t tell you more, but I just wanted to say that the story as stated on that page isn’t quite accurate. … The Bobcats wore their checkerboard uniforms on Friday, forcing the Suns to wear white on the road. … Color vs. color: Marquette vs. DePaul on Saturday. “I had it on in the background and it took me about five minutes to look up and realize that the team in blue wasn’t Marquette — and I’m from Milwaukee,” says Karl Vierthaler. … Last Monday I linked to this article about Nile Kinnick’s old football gear. But the web version of the article didn’t include this great photo of the jersey’s inner tag (big thanks to Brad Eenhuis for mailing me the newspaper version). … Similarly, yesterday’s New York Times featured this article about the 1959 all-star benefit game for Bill Dobbyn, but the web version doesn’t include this great photo that ran in the print version. … A high school goalie in New Hampshire is trying to trick shooters by having a new pattern printed on his pads (with thanks to Justine DeCotis). … According to this column, one of the first things Eric Mangini did after being hired by the Browns was “to tear down a huge mural of the team’s Hall of Famers, a list that includes Jim Brown, Otto Graham, Paul Brown, Dante Lavelli, Marion Motley, Lou Groza and Leroy Kelly. … That wall is now painted white.” What a moron. … UNC’s women’s hoops team wore pink uniforms yesterday, in memory of Kay Yow. … And officials working the Longwood/Va.Tech game wore pink whistles (with thanks to Clark Ruhland). … Yesterday’s post included this shot of the 1950 NHL all-star jersey design, which, as Dan Richardson points out, appears to have been the inspiration for the New Westminster Salmonbellies lacrosse team’s jersey design. … “Our local high school is Georgetown-Ridge Farm High School in Illinois,” writes Joel Hackler. “For our non-major sports, the high school co-ops with another local town, Chrisman. Our mascot is the Buffalo and our colors are purple and gold, while Chrisman is the Cardinals and their colors are red and black. Since we co-op for track and cross country, our coach decided to create a new uniform. As you can see, they stick out. The logo on the front includes ‘CHS’ (for Chrisman high school) and ‘GRF’ (Georgetown-Ridge Farm). It’s hard to see, but the two sets of letters are connected with a white chain symbolizing that the two schools are connected.” That’s Joel at far left in the photo, running in the 4×100 relay. … If you go to this page and scroll down about halfway down the menu on the right, you’ll find an excellent video on how a football helmet is manufactured (with thanks to David Soline). … Badly botched NOB during Saturday’s NBA D-League game between the Anaheim Arsenal and L.A. D-Fenders: Ryan Forehan-Kelly was missing an “e” and a hyphen (good catch by Daniel Peterson). … Kari Lehtonen isn’t the first Thrashers goalie to have a Batman-themed mask. Pasi Nurminen wore Batman and the Joker on his mask in 2003-04 (thanks, Teebz). … If you start at this page from a 1967 issue of Baseball Digest and start scrolling down, you’ll see some unusual (and, I think, very unofficial) MLB team logos (with thanks to Gordon Reid). … Tris Wykes sent along some interesting scans, including Doug Flutie with his mouthguard tucked into his sock, Duane and Brent Sutter in a 1986 photo they probably regret, Bobby Orr wearing No. 27, and Chris Chelios wearing lace-up gloves and rubber bumpers on his helmet. … Kyle Oen — the man behind the awesome Vintage Minnesota Hockey site — reports a hockey/baseball crossover promotion in the offing: “This coming summer we have agreed to do a St. Paul Saints baseball jersey that celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Minnesota Fighting Saints hockey team.” No images yet. … U.S. Pond Hockey Championships report from Jeff Barak, who writes: “Here’s a Men’s Senior team wearing old IHL Minnesota Moose jerseys. This team won the “Golden Shovel” a couple of years back as division champions. Next we have the Pond Scum, showing some of the unique numbering treatments you sometimes see (I recall a team last year that had fractions, decimals, roman numerals and even π on one of their jerseys). And then there’s District 5, wearing their plaid lumberjack flannels. I did see a few other teams wearing Ottawa 67’s barberpole-style jerseys, 1980 U.S. Olympic jerseys, AHL Iowa Stars, and some with the 1932 Boston Bruins striping pattern, plus more than one tweed jacket, but unfortunately no photos — the combination of 13º weather and a -7º wind-chill made for an unhappy five-year-old son and sucked the life out of my camera batteries.” … Reprinted from last night’s comments: In 1985, Bill Bidwill had the Cardinals wear solid-red hose (no whites), and the players protested. … Here’s something you don’t often see: the towel literally being thrown in at the conclusion of Saturday’s Mosley/Margarito bout. … Dayton wore throwbacks yesterday (with thanks to John Cristiano). … Teal vs. maroon on Saturday, as Coastal Carolina played Winthrop (with thanks to Mike Miller). … Also from Mike: “What’s wrong with this photo? That’s UW-Milwaukee wearing gold vs. Valparaiso in white. Nothing unusual, right? Except that the game is in Milwaukee (check the Brewers ads). Valpo has gold road uniforms and Milwaukee has gold home uniforms, so Valpo had to wear white on the road.” … Adam Telischak was attending the NFL Experience in Tampa sent along some shots of vintage NFL sweatshirts and this program. One thing I hadn’t noticed before: Brownie the elf has five fingers — unusual (and unacceptable!) for a cartoon character. … Lots of NHL all-star pics here. … This is pretty funny (with thanks to Ken Ocker). … Coupla Super Bowl screen grabs from Doug Keklak: First, when Jim O’Brien kicked the game-winning field goal in SB V, his chin strap was unbuckled. Anyone know if he always did this? Also, why did Jim Otto have a first initial in SB II? Was there another Otto on the Raiders? … Rafael Nadal has been wearing some brutal color combos down in Oz.