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Posts filed under 'Headwear'
Reader Jared Wheeler works for Mitchell & Ness, where he conducts historical research to help ensure that the company’s reproductions are as accurate as possible. I’ll be conducting an interview with him soon, but for now here’s a bunch of killer hockey photos he recently sent my way:
• “Here are some photos of the first ‘all-star’ game in 1934, which was a benefit game for Ace Bailey of the Maple Leafs,” says Jared [this was 13 years before the first ‘official’ NHL All-Star Game — PL]. “Check out how the Leafs wore ‘Ace’ on their jerseys. And here’s a shot of Bailey himself after two brain surgeries. After he was hit from behind on December 12, 1933, in a game against the Bruins, some of the B’s started wearing protective headgear.”
• “Here’s Bobby Orr wearing No. 5 in an All-Star Game with his No. 4 gloves, and wearing No. 27 — with No. 37 gloves! — in an exhibition game prior to his rookie season.”
• “Another All-Star Game shot, this one from the 1976 ASG in Philly. Both teams wore the bicentennial patch, which was also worn by the Steelers and Cowboys in Super Bowl X.”
• “This is a is a 1937-1938 photo of Milt Schmidt wearing a crude mask. Here’s a later photo of Schmidt — look how his captain’s C is between the two numerals. Both photos ran in Sport magazine in 1948.”
• “Here’s a shot of the Red Wings’ diamond-shaped captaincy patches. And dheck out the in a diamond-shaped sleeve designation here. The ‘R’ team, by the way, is the amateur New York Rovers. This shot was taken at training camp in Lake Placid in 1948.”
• “Two interesting World War II-era shots here: The Red Wings wore a ‘V’ patch, for victory (you can see it on both sleeves), and some Maple Leafs players prepared for war in their sweaters.”
• “Here are some great old sweaters: Seattle Metropolitans, circa 1919 (here’s a tight shot of the crest), New York Americans, mid-1930s (plus a rear view), and Philadelphia Quakers, circa 1930. We got these shots from the Hall of Fame.” [As an aside, what’s the deal with that little collar ribbon on the Seattle sweater? — PL]
• “Two Rangers wearing improvised facemasks: Ivan ‘Ching’ Johnson, circa 1930s, and Walt Tkaczuk, 1977-78.”
• “Look at the two jersey logos in this shot. It appears that the face on Hull’s logo is much darker.”
• “Some random old stuff: the Montreal Wanderers, circa 1914; the 1928 Detroit Cougars; and the first indoor arena game, which was in Quebec in 1893.”
• “Is that a back pocket on the player at far right?”
Awesome stuff. And in the non-uni category, Jared even found another shot of an athlete smoking (and baling hay): That’s Bobby Hull.
Signal Flare: Do you work for Under Armour? If so, I have a quick question for you. Please drop me a line here. Thanks.
And you should’ve seen the notes that came in from Tom Tancredo and Lou Dobbs: Of all the reactions to yesterday’s entry about Los Spurs and Los Suns (most of which were posted in the comments section, although a few readers e-mailed me their thoughts directly), the most interesting and thoughtful one was an e-mail from Pablo Souki. Check it out:
I grew up in Venezuela, speaking Spanish. Of the American major sports leagues, I followed MLB very closely, the rest not at all. Some of the team names were always translated back then, like Cerveceros and Gigantes, who seem to have gotten it right. Others were not. The Yankees were always the Yanquis (phonetic translation, I guess, but nothing else), the Phillies were always the Filis, the Dodgers were the Dodgers.
I get the feeling (no hard evidence of any kind here, just me remembering my childhood) that the ones who were translated were the ones who had a literal translation: The Reds were the Rojos, the A’s the Atléticos, the Blue Jays the Azulejos, and so on. This seems to have changed with the Marlins, though — there was an actual translation for Marlins, but I don’t remember ever using it.
If I had to guess, I would say that the other translations had happened at earlier times, when we had no access to U.S. broadcasts of games, only translated ones. Cultures were less intertwined, and names were translated. By the time the Marlins and Rockies appeared, we could watch games on satellite TV and were more used to English terminology. However, this theory is destroyed by the fact that the Devil Rays were always the Mantarrayas. So maybe “Peces Espada” was just too cumbersome a translation for “Marlins.”
Two other notes: First, Spanish is spoken so differently in terms of syntax and jargon from country to country (the word used in Venezuela for “receipt” is used in Argentina for “pastry”, for instance, and words that are perfectly common in one country are terrible swear words in others) that I would be hard-pressed to believe that my childhood experiences hold true elsewhere. ESPNdeportes.com itself has such a variety of nationalities that the inconsistencies from one column to the next are huge. As a matter of fact, some writers use the “Los” article before team names, others don’t. All of this just illustrates the point that “Latino” encompasses so many nationalities that it is very hard to get something like this right. But we have been all thrown in the same group, whether we like it or not.
Second, I have never seen a Latin team wear “Los” on its uniform., The Caracas Lions don’t wear “Los Leones,” just “Leones.” The La Guaira Sharks only wear “Tiburones,” no “Los.” So maybe that is the best reason to not add the “Los” to any team’s shirt.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The web site Improbable Soccer is running a series on team crests. The first installment is here. Expect new updates every day or two. … Did you know Navy once wore this helmet? Details here. … Unlikely stirrup alert: There’s a TV commercial currently running for the MLB 2K8 video game. Just past the 30-second mark, the voiceover (Denis Leary, I believe) says, “I wanna have the most fun you can have with those funny baseball socks on,” accompanied by a shot of the ’67 Cardinals in all their striped-stirruped glory (nice find by Chris Flinn). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Jerry Rice doesn’t mind if the Niners unretire his number so Isaac Bruce can wear it. … Gonzaga pitcher Cory Powell wore a helmet/mask combo the other day. “He recently took a comebacker in the orbital bone,” writes Matt Camino, who sent me the photo (which was taken by his fiancé, Meghan Moran). “He apparently wore a plastic mask like the ones NBA players wear after he first got hit, and now he wears the helmet and facemask to prevent it from happening again.” … Thing of beauty. … Excellent column here about a baseball card photographer who works for Topps (with thanks to Minna H.). … Just what the world needs: Billy Crystal in pinstripes. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: The A’s wore a way snazzy jersey patch yesterday. … Interesting note from Brian Vigue, who writes: “I played high school football in the mid-’60’s — and I wore a leather helmet! It wasn’t left over from the ’40s but was supposedly the latest technology at the time. There were at least three different helmets used by team members: the leather helmet, a suspension bubble-type thing, and an oblong close-fitting plastic job that kind of looked like Otto Graham’s. Many schools we played at the time also used the leather helmet.” … If you click on this link, you’ll download a PDF of a daily tournament update from the International Baseball Federation. Most of it is very official-looking, except for this amusing handwritten addendum from the Canadian coach. Also of uni-note: Check out the second numbered item here (with thanks to Bob Timmerman). … “Montreal’s going to have a new junior hockey team next year and they introduced their new jerseys today,” writes Paul Richard Cook. Full details here, and there’s a video clip that includes some previous Montreal junior hockey logos here.
March 11th, 2008
The site had very little traffic back on December 24th, so most of you probably missed an interesting discussion prompted by this Ticker item, which mentioned that Penguins equipment manager Dana Heinze was planning to have goalie Dany Sabourin wear “a set of earmuffs with the team logo” over his mask in the Winter Classic game.
As it turns out, that didn’t happen. But the mention of it in the article led Keith Merritt (aka The Ol Goaler) to post the following comment:
If Dany Sabourin wears earmuffs in the outdoor game against the Sabres, it will hearken back to one of the lowlights in Pens history. Back in the late ’60s, Pens coach Red Kelly had his entire team wear earmuffs for an indoor game at the St. Louis Arena, in an effort to block out the noise of the rabid “singing fans” of the Blues. After the Blues scored their third unanswered goal, Kelly threw his earmuffs to the floor in frustration.
I’d never heard this story before, so I immediately put out a call for photos and additional info. A reader who goes by Nuk quickly responded with this (scroll to page 21), which lists the date of the incident as January 3rd, 1970, and explains that the ’muffs were worn only by players on the bench, not by those on the ice. A few hours later, reader Bob A came up with some major paydirt, demonstrating yet again that Uni Watch readers can untangle the threads of almost any historical mystery, even when operating with only a Christmas Eve skeleton crew.
Okay, so the those ’muffs didn’t look quite as cool as these Muffs. But the bigger issue, at least to me, is that those fluffy earmuffs aren’t designed to block out noise — they’re only supposed to keep you warm. Maybe those headphone-ish earmuffs, like the ones worn by airport runway monkeys hadn’t been invented yet in 1970, but what about, um, earplugs? Less embarrassing-looking and more effective to boot.
And then that got me thinking about athletes who’ve worn earplugs. The most prominent recent example is Rafael Palmeiro, but he’s far from the only one: Bobby Bonilla wore ’plugs during his Bronx-cartography stint with the Mets (sorry, no photo), and I observed Chuck Finley going ’plugged on at least two occasions (best photo I could find was this).
I’m sure there are others I’m overlooking. Clearly, we need to assemble a team of earmuff/earplug all-stars. Let the nominating begin.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Giants equipment director Joe Skiba’s latest video report is available here. … Interesting bit here about the Arizona hoops team’s shoes (with thanks to Dan Thomas). … While researching something else, I came across this early-’90s shot, showing the Lions wearing a memorial patch. Anyone know who it’s for? … Not such a great idea (fortunately, I was off at the movies seeing There Will Be Blood, which was completely mind-blowing — not to be missed). … Did you know Minnesota wore this jersey design in 1995? I didn’t, until Dan Schneeman told me. … Uni Watch antique photography authority David Brown sent me this 1870 shot yesterday. “Check out the amazing ironclad ship on the bib of one of the uniforms,” he writes. “Is that some kind of first for representational images on baseball uniforms?” Probably. … Follow-up from Richard Fronheiser regarding yesterday’s post about the officials wearing red and green armbands during the ’69 Rose Bowl: “Back in the day, players would have to report in as substitutes. One team reported to the official with the green armband and the other reported to the official with the red armband. Simple as that.”
January 4th, 2008
Athletics aesthetics doesn’t get much better-looking, or more fun, than yesterday’s NHL Winter Classic. The Penguins looked totally friggin’ awesome; the Sabres looked totally friggin’ awesome. You had just enough snow to be beautiful but not enough to ruin the game, you had hockey players wearing eye black, you had officials wearing those not-quite-ski-mask thingies, you had Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller wearing a Sabres sock turned into a toque (apparently by these guys), you had Sergei Gonchar wearing a little towel on the back of his right glove so he could wipe the snow off his visor (kudos to Sean Doherty for catching that one), and you had lots of people smiling (that’s Buffalo’s backup goalie, Joceclyn Thibault). Hell, you even had the gorgeous panorama of Buffalo, and let’s face it, how often are you gonna hear those words in the same sentence?
In short, the whole thing was a hoot. Okay, so the goalies didn’t wear plain brown pads after all, which was a mild letdown, but that’s the only bad thing I have to say about this event. Kudos to all involved, and let’s do it again as soon as possible.
Incidentally, we’ve now had hockey in the snow, football in the snow, and baseball in the snow all within the past nine months. All we need now is a snowy NBA game (which, at the very least, would probably lead to some high-sock action), an idea I offer to David Stern at no extra charge.
Latest Reason to Take the Gas Pipe: I have a friend who recently got a management job with Nike, and she’s been working at the big NikeTown store in Manhattan. She tells me that the sales associates who work the floor (there are about 50 of them) have an interesting ritual before the store opens each morning: They gather around and put their hands together in the center of the bunch, like a football team before a game. Then they chant — and I’m not making this up — “Just do it! Just do it! Just do it! SWOOSH!!” And they raise their arms while saying that last word.
And people wonder why we’re getting our asses kicked in the global economy.
Uni Watch News Ticker: This page has a great video clip of the Lakers talking about their short shorts prior to Sunday night’s game (big thanks to Ty Nowell). … And according to this story, the Lakers had to get the shorts made by a local supplier, because — get this — Adidas “did not have a physical pattern for them.” Good thing Adidas is, y’know, a big-time apparel manufacturer. … Just when you thought you’d seen everything: plaid basketball shorts. The team is the Buchan Bakers, a barnstorming squad from the 1950s. Details here (with thanks to, uh, someone whose e-mail I accidentally deleted — whoever you are, please get in touch so I can give you proper credit). … I love the Packers’ uniforms, but this is a bit much. … Too much information. … Matt Benz notes that one of the refs in Saturday’s Oilers/Wild game had thin white stripes on his pants. “He had no number on back of his jersey either,” writes Matt, “he must have had his bag misplaced by the airlines.” … Michael Romero notes that Chad Henne’s Capital One Bowl patch was coming loose yesterday (plus he sent along a screen grab of New Year’s Day’s best bowl uni). … Michael Rich notes that Fresno State appears to have merit decals in three different colors. Anyone know what their system is all about? … According to this page, Kentucky will have new football uniforms next season (with thanks to Derrick Jewell). … Interesting soccer note from Jeremy Brahm, who writes: ” Normally when a soccer team wins a cup or championship, they will have the trophy ceremony right after the match and the players will still be in uniform to accept their trophy or medal. But the Kashima Antlers did something a little odd on New Year’s Day, when they won the Emperor’s Cup in Japan. During the match, which they won, the Antlers wore their road grays; but for the trophy awarding, they wore their home uniform on top of their road shorts.” … Enough already with all the patches. … Uni Watch mascots Tucker and Caitlin’s new year’s resolution: more snuggling!
January 2nd, 2008
New ESPN column today — here’s the link.
Meanwhile: During Tuesday afternoon’s Red Sox workout, Manny Ramirez’s turban (it no longer qualifies as a snood) did not feature the World Series logo. To nobody’s surprise, they corrected that oversight in time for batting practice yesterday, and the logo was also slapped onto Manny’s dark game turban.
By now it’s routine to see the WS logo on jersey sleeves and caps. But yesterday it was also on umpires’ sleeves and caps, fleece pullovers, and David Ortiz’s headband.
And then there was the matter of the logo’s placement on the Rockies’ vests. There’s a long tradition of vested teams wearing sleeve patches jersey torsos, natch. The problem is that there’s no set protocol for where on the torso they should be worn, as demonstrated by the variety of placements shown here, here, and here. The Rockies’ placement is as good as any — the problem is that the patch is so damn big.
For all the things carrying the WS logo last night, I was surprised to see how many things managed to escape logo-free, including BP caps, ski caps, dugout jackets, and Red Sox hitting coach Dave Magadan.
Batting helmets were logo-less as well. Or were they? Manny’s helmet had a logo decal during his first at-bat, but it was apparently removed after that. I didn’t notice anyone else wearing the helmet decal.
In short: Could’ve been worse. And tonight we should see real stirrups on the mound and, just maybe, real road grays too.
(Special thanks to Bryan Redemske, Michael Romero, Randy Williams, and Ben Nickerson for their contributions to today’s entry.)
Uni Watch News Flash: This just in: According to this item in today’s Boston Herald, Reebok’s new NHL jerseys may be on the way out. Here’s the relevant passage (which was brought to my attention by Doug Mooney):
According to sources in the [Bruins] dressing room, Reebok has been unable to correct problems with the new jerseys introduced this season across the NHL and will replace them at the company’s expense with new uniforms made of the old materials.
Players have complained since training camp that the new jerseys, which are supposed to be lighter and allow sweat to evaporate out through the shirts, have instead trapped water inside and gotten heavier.
I’ve got calls in to the NHL and Reebok as we speak. More details as I get them.
Update, 12:55pm: Just spoke with an NHL spokesperson, who told me that the Boston Herald report is incorrect. As it was explained to me, Reebok has informed each team that players who have “moisture issues” with the new jerseys (i.e., lots of water ending up in their gloves and/or skates) will be given the option to have the option to wear a jersey with a new front panel made of a different high-tech material. The spokesperson maintained that there was no league-wide move to scrap the new jerseys, nor was there any move back to “old materials.”
When I asked if the league had any sense of how many players were requesting this option, I was told to direct that question to Reebok. I’m still waiting to hear back from them.
Uni Watch News Ticker: If you thought this was problematic, wait until you see this (as found by Ella Moran and Pete Bonavita). “What is it about the 49ers and the sweaters they inspire?” asks Scott Turner. “Certainly not the legacy of Dick Nolan.” … Nice article here on MLB rituals, uni-related and otherwise. … The Birmingham Barons have new uniforms. … Chris Laughman has come up with a bunch of cool high school football unis, including Vernon Hills in Illinois (note how the “VH” helmet logo appears to have been swiped from an unlikely source), Heritage High in California (here’s another shot), and my favorite, San Pasqual in California (if not for the side panel on the jersey, they’d be damn near perfect!). … Early X-Y-Z victim, or just a fold of fabric? (As found by Vince, who also passed along this.) … This type of story seems to come up like clockwork once or twice a year, but it’s still a good read. … Brady Quinn lost a bet and had to wear a USC jersey for an interview (with thanks to Greg Riffenburgh). … According to the first paragraph of this story, Troy Tulowitzki’s name was misspelled on his new bats last night (as forwarded by Joe Ramos). … Soccer note from Roy Ellingsen, who writes: “Erling Knudtzon (show here behind goal scorer Kim Holmen) managed to wear the wrong socks for a Tippeliga soccer game (Norway’s premier division)!” … Ray Bergman asked me what LT is wearing here. Apparently, it’s this.
October 25th, 2007
Sometimes the world just feels a little bit … off. You can’t put your finger on what it is, but you know something is wrong. It’s not something big — more like a tiny itch that keeps eluding you no matter where you scratch, like when you balance your checkbook and can’t figure out why the totals are off by three cents. You know things weren’t always this way, but you only have a faint memory of how they used to be, and now it’s gone and you can’t quite figure out what’s changed. And however minor this discrepancy may be, you know the universe will never quite come back into proper alignment until this small detail is addressed.
And that’s why, brothers and sisters, I’m so happy to announce that Ben Wallace will be allowed to wear his headband this season.
In case you’ve forgotten (and it was such a surreally idiotic episode that I wouldn’t blame you if you’d blotted it out of your mind), Wallace was benched early last season for violating Bulls coach Scott Skiles’s “no headbands” edict. So Big Ben spent the season looking like this and this, instead of sporting the more familiar forehead-accessorized look he’d cultivated in Detroit. It looked wrong, like it was some other guy instead of Wallace. Now, thankfully, this small rip in the cosmic fabric will be mended.
For those keeping score at home, the moron here is clearly Skiles (who, thankfully, never coached Wilt Chamberlain). I’ve yet to hear him present a rational, sensible explanation for banning a league-sanctioned and -branded accessory. And headbands aren’t just fashion statements — yo, Scott, they keep sweat out of your eyes.
Skiles made things worse yesterday by giving an all-time clunker of a quote: “We still have a no-headband rule. I just left it up to the guys who have been here if they wanted to make an exception for Ben.”
This is like the Mets insisting that they’re a really good team despite their last-season collapse, or Charlie Brown standing on the mound in the rain and shouting, “It’s just a little shower!” while everyone else scampers home and Snoopy goes by on a raft (plus it puts makes Skiles the rhetorical heir of Elaine Crispen; if you don’t remember who she was, look here). Dude, wake up: You ain’t got no no-headband rule no more, which is a good thing, since it was a bogus rule to begin with. Now sit down, shut up, and let Big Ben do his thing.
Raffle Results: The winner of the futuristic Royals jersey is Ryan Etgen. Big congrats to him, and thanks to all who entered.
Membership News: As a big fan of horizontal stripes and the color green, I’ve rarely been as excited about a membership design request as I was when Michael Doucette requested Celtic FC the other day. Scott’s execution, as you can see, was dead-on. This and other new designs now on display in the membership card design gallery.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Lots of other NBA changes in the offing besides the return of Ben Wallace’s headband, including a new bronze trim for the Wizards (here’s a rear view), new throwbacks for the Warriors (which apparently mean no “The City” throwbacks this season — dang), the return of the “New Orleans” insignia for the Hornets (along with the new fleur-de-bee patch), and an anniversary patch for the Lakers. Plus, as already noted in yesterday’s Ticker, anniversary patches are also being worn by the Pistons and Heat. … We’ve talked before about how Red Sox uniforms sometimes have an upside-down 8. Turns out the Sox aren’t the only Boston-area team with this problem. The Patriots’ numeral 8 is supposed to have a smaller loop on top, but Randy Moss’s 8 was upside-down two nights ago. On the back, too. Great side-by-side comparison here of Moss’s and Donte Stallworth’s respective 8s. … Two days ago I ran this photo. Now Dave Bloomquist has come up with this (which dates back to 1956). Separated at birth? … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Bill Belechick’s sweatshirt says, “QUIPMENT” — the E is missing. … Breakdown of great soccer uniforms here. … The Blackhawks will be wearing a memorial patch for Bill Wirtz. Insert internet/web site joke here. … Not uni-related, but am I the only one mildly surprised that Rick Ankiel didn’t win the National League’s Comeback Player of the Year Award? Yeah, he only played about 25% of the season, but Stretch McCovey won Rookie of the Year in ’59 based on virtually the same number of ABs. ’Course, nobody ever accused Stretch of doing HGH, but still, have you ever seen a more impressive comeback than Ankiel’s? Dude completely reinvented himself, made it all the way back, and was a legitimate power threat during the latter part of the season. … Good spot by Matt Englander, who writes: “After the Red Sox acquired Curt Schilling in 2004, they made adjustments to the banner the top of their home page. Because they didn’t have an action pic of Schilling in a Sox uniform, they cropped his head (presumably from a shot from his D-Backs days) and put the head on another Boston pitcher’s body. If you look closely you can see that the edges of Curt’s neck are a dead giveaway that this was a crop job. That was 4 seasons ago…and you’re telling me they couldn’t pull out that placeholder and put an actual Sox action shot in there? Ridiculous.” … While researching something else, I stumbled across this. I don’t even wanna know. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Great little item here about how the Seahawks have a staffer whose job is to keep track of Seneca Wallace’s green-dotted and dot-free helmets, depending on whether he’s playing QB or WR. … Also from last night: French law prohibits alcohol-related jersey sponsorship, so Glasgow Rangers FC, whose jersey usually looks like this, blacked out the Carling logo during yesterday’s match in France. … Roberto Luongo has a new mask. Lots of additional pics here, further info here, and a short video is here. … New mask for Chris Mason, too. Photos here, details here. … Rugby World Cup note from Eric Bangeman, who notes that the countries that have won the World Cup in the past (New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and England) are wearing a sleeve patch that depicts the William Webb Ellis trophy, which is awarded to the winning nation.” … UConn’s new hoops unis will look like this (with thanks to Matt Edwards). … Life-altering photo here of the 1920 Dartmouth hockey team (with many, many thanks to Cullan Foote). … Very, very sad news out of Milwaukee, where Art’s Concertina Bar — site of a Uni Watch party last year, and my favorite tavern in America — has been sold. The new owner plans to only minor changes, but the biggest loss will be Art himself (shown at the Uni Watch party with Stephanie West), a national treasure who’s simply irreplaceable. Enjoy your retirement, Art — I’ll miss ya.
October 3rd, 2007
I can’t imagine why anyone would want to watch something as completely irrelevant as the Hall of Fame game, which is pointless even by NFL exhibition standards. But it’s a good thing someone watched, because now we have our first real uni-related development of the football season. As I first mentioned in yesterday’s Ticker, several people who watched the game reported seeing a little green dot on the back of some of the quarterbacks’ helmets (here’s a larger view). Most people seemed to think it had something to do with the radio sets that the QB helmets are equipped with, and it turns out they were right — sort of.
ProFootballTalk.com reported yesterday that the green dot “to help officials confirm that only one player on offense is wearing a helmet with a radio receiver from the coaching staff. So, if a team plans to put two quarterbacks on the field at the same time [for a trick play], one of them must change helmets before entering the game.” (You can see the full report by searching for “green dot” on this page.)
But how does the dot end up on the helmet? Is it embedded into the plastic by the manufacturer, or is it just a decal applied by the team? If the latter, what’s to stop a team from beating the system by “forgetting” to slap on the decal? I posed that question to NFL spokesman Dan Masonson, who responded thusly: “It’s a decal. The team’s equipment manager puts the decal on. Officials will make random spot checks throughout game to make sure they are on proper helmets.”
I meant to ask Dan why green was chosen as the operative color, but I forgot. I didn’t want to bug him again, so instead I e-mailed Giants equipment manager Joe Skiba (soon to be the subject of the next Uni Watch video report, incidentally), who responded, “Why green? I guess they said, ‘Let’s give the equipment guys some of the ugliest decals to throw on a helmet.’ Personally, I like the idea of having defenders spot the green dot from the backside and hitting the QB.”
I kinda like the idea of color-coded decals. Maybe they could impose the same “only one on the field at a time” rule for the following decals:
Red = Only player allowed to make stupid TD celebration
Blue = Only player allowed to make stupid sack celebration
Gray = Only player allowed to make first down signal
Orange = Only player allowed to whine when flagged for a penalty
Brown = Only receiver allowed to lobby for pass interference call
Plaid = Only player allowed to have one chinstrap buckle unsnapped
And so on. Admit it, it’s a brilliant system. Mr. Goodell, I await your call to discuss the financial particulars.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Did you realize that pine tar rags have team logos on them? I didn’t until last night, when Matthew Lepke sent me this note: “The camera crew from Fox North caught the Indians using a Tampa Bay(!?!) pine tar rag in the on-deck circle tonight. Very strange. As the Twins’ announcers said, ‘No wonder they aren’t scoring many runs.’” … Pulitzer-worthy move by the Houston Chronicle, which is providing a very amusing tutorial on how readers can convert their David Carr jerseys into Matt Schaub jerseys. Of course, the best move might be not to spend $250 on a jersey to begin with, but maybe they’ll run that bit of advice next week. … “Fanbanta.com has been having a ‘Design a Kit’ contest to publicize the launch of their website and to possibly outfit a Scottish 3rd Division team they are sponsoring,” writes David Walker. “Most of the designs are, as it turns out, horrible. But interesting.” … Good site dedicated to 1978 World Cup uniforms here (good find by Denis Hurley). … Intersting shot here of UConn players being fitted for their football helmets without facemasks (kudos to Matt O’Brien). … We’ve all heard about how the “armor” worn by Barry Bonds and others allows hitters to lean over the plate with impunity. But according to this analysis Bonds’s armor may also aid the mechanics of his swing (thanks, Vince). … Speaking of Bonds, several people have mentioned to me that he had his fly unzipped while on deck about a week ago. I couldn’t find a good shot, but it’s plainly visible in this video clip. … And speaking of XYZ issues, remember that item last week about Kerwin Danley umpiring with his fly unzipped? Here’s the visual evidence (with thanks to Vince for poring over the game video). … Great find by Scott Turner, who stopped designing membership cards just long enough to find this great photo of early-’70s White Sox stirrups. … A week or so ago I briefly linked to a photo of the Redskins’ 75th-anniversary throwback jerseys, but then I had to take down the link. It must be kosher now, though, because the jersey is being shown on the NFL’s own site. Let’s hope the sock stripes match the sleeves. … Wyoming is apparently moving to a Broncos-style template. Full unveiling on Friday (with thanks to John Eisel). … Good rundown here on the history of the Cork jerseys in the Irish sports of hurling and football (as forwarded by Denis Hurley). … “A buddy of mine named Michael Carasik lived in Chicago during the early 1980s,” writes Morris Levin (whose Victory Pennants site sells some great throwback pennants, incidentally). “He was part of a group of Cubs fans who were active in the Jewish community. Ivan DeJesus played shortstop so they had T-shirts made up that read, ‘Jews for DeJesus.’” … Rick Porter reports that the Penguins and Sabres will wear throwback uniforms for their New Year’s Day game, which may be held outdoors. … Yesterday I linked to this commercial (and noted that the Chargers’ lightning bolt designs were inconsistent). That prompted a note from Steve Due of AIS Uniforms, which manufactured the unis for the commercial: “The Bears jerseys were cut on an older pattern that is baggy. The Chargers were a new-style jersey that we had to make patterns for and had three days to do everything. As is commonly the case, since Reebok, Nike, Under Armour and the rest aren’t manufacturers, but promotion-driven, they plan to have things ready for commercials and often can’t, so they have to rely on AIS/Sportsrobe to make them. Usually with the knowledge that a cast and huge crew are going to be shooting in a very short turnaround. Often with nothing to go on but some pictures.” None of which really explains why the lightning bolts were inconsistent — stay tuned. … Latest minor league team to wear pink jerseys: the Portland Beavers. … An Australian Rules Football team was recently fined for wearing the wrong uniform (cheers to Steven Russell). … After a few weeks of back and forths, it looks like the logo creep on NFL photographers’ vests is here to stay. … Speaking of logo creep, people who wonder why I get so worked up over corporate marketing logos should take a look at this. … Jeremy Brahm reports that skullcaps are becoming increasingly common in Japanese baseball, but the players wearing them seem to lose their caps and helmets with distressing regularity. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Steve Prudente reports that the announcers in last night’s Giants/Nats game mentioned that Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum keeps track of his strikeouts by writing tally marks under his brim. Gotta find a visual of that. … Also from last night: Jarrod Saltalamacchia wore a logo-free helmet for part of last night’s game (he later wore a proper one), and he’s switched from No. 23 to 25, but I’m only showing that because it’s fun to see his name on the back of a jersey. … The 49ers will wear throwback uniforms for their season-opening game on September 10th, in honor of Bill Walsh. … Soccer news from Nick Noyes, who writes: “Freddy Adu’s new club in Portugal, Benfica, will be sporting new kits this season, with the road variation featuring pink.” Further details here.
August 7th, 2007
By Vince Grzegorek
There’s a lot of down time in baseball, whether you’re in the dugout or the bullpen, and ballplayers inevitably find ways to amuse themselves. While this often involves practical jokes among players, there are other times when the hijinks are done to amuse fans as well as teammates.
That’s why I wasn’t surprised when Jeremy Brahm sent me this pic of Hichori Morimoto’s Muitai from the first Japanese All-Star game (here’s another view). What struck me was that the day before, while I was at the Western Reserve Historical Society, Scott Longert had told me a story of former Indian Ron Pruitt wearing a conehead for the National Anthem during a game in the ’80s. If there was a conehead in Cleveland two decades ago, and one far away in Japan today, might there be more to be found?
Of course there were. In fact, the famous 1970s Saturday Night Live skit has provided the impetus for many a ballplayer (and fan) to don the conical headgear. Here’s a partial rundown:
- The most obvious example, of course, are the fans of David Cone who show up to the ballpark with coneheads.
- Former Mariners reliever Bill Caudill used to wear a conehead while sitting in the bullpen during games.
- Former Astros relievers Larry Anderson, Dave Smith, and Charlie Kerfeld (scroll down to “Coneheads”) used to all wear coneheads during games in the 80s while sitting in the bullpen.
- Players and fans of the St. Paul Saints once donned coneheads on Conehead Night (middle of article) inspired by team co-owner Bill Murray (near end of article).
Here’s to hoping that “Mango” doesn’t take off in the same way.
Uni Watch News Ticker: After Jonathan Smith was waived by the Patriots, we finally have the answer to the question, “What number will Randy Moss wear this season?” #81 (thanks to Jeff Israel, who can wear whatever number he wants)… Starting this season, the men’s football and basketball teams of Kansas will have uniforms that have the same official font as the university (Trajan). Other uniforms will be replaced with the correct font as they wear out (a very normal font thanks to Scott Johhnson)… Scott also noted that South Dakota State University will have new Nike football uniforms starting this year… A couple of people mentioned that Temple will have new football uniforms as well this season (check out the photo gallery for the totally bitchin’ helmets)… Joe Bonneau passed on this gallery from The Smoking Gun featuring mugshots of people wearing jerseys and other sports paraphernalia… Reprinted from yesterday’s comments section, “The 10 Most Expensive Sports Collectibles” list on Forbes has some cool uniform and equipment related items… I was at the Fausto vs. Beckett, Indians vs. Red Sox game and was glad to see that Fausto continues to leave the stickers on the underbrim of his hat. … Breaking News!: Despite being listed as merely “Questionable” for today’s blog, Paul Lukas is sufficiently recovered from his vacation to check in with a brief report (see below). Try to act like you remember who he is.
Home Sweet Uni Watch: Thanks, Vince. I’m back, kids, so straighten up and stop shooting spitballs behind the substitute teacher’s back. It was good to get away but it’s even better to be back on terra Brooklyna, so please join me in thanking Vince for minding the store in my absence. Thanks also to Joe Hilseberg, Mark Mihalik, and Eriq Jaffe, whose excellent pinch-hit contributions helped keep things interesting while I was on the road, and to all the great people I met earlier this week in Toronto (full report to follow next week). Bonus thanks to Uni Watch mascots Tucker and Caitlin for the warm welcome upon my return.
Although I stayed true to my goal of not checking out the site even once while I was away, Uni Watch was nonetheless close to my heart for most of the past week. While rummaging through a thrift store in the rural Midwest last Saturday, for example, I came across this poster, featuring a ton of uni-related items, which of course I felt obligated to document. Check it out: There’s an early full-face helmet; an early uniform; Tom Dempsey’s shoe; anniversary patches for the Seahawks, Steelers, Broncos, Lions, AFL and NFL; the Broncos’ vertically striped stirrups; and Bob Griese’s eyeglasses. There was also this Seahawks poster, featuring a good shot of the Native American imagery that the team’s identity is based on.
Scott and I kept processing membership orders while I was away, incidentally. If you haven’t checked out the membership design gallery lately, take a look — there’s some interesting stuff in there, including our first three unnumbered designs (representing the 1928 Detroit Tigers, Augusta National caddies, and Minnesota Twins bat boys). Remember, if you sign up by next Tuesday, you’ll have a “Charter Member” seal added to your card when you renew next year, whoop-whoop.
The most interesting uni-related communiqué I received during my getaway came from an ESPN reader named Joshua Lanning, who pointed me toward this photo and wondered if Denny Mac was wearing a plastic trash bag for an undershirt or what. McLain was frequently photographed doing the windbreaker-as-undershirt thing, but that doesn’t appear to be what he was wearing in that cover shot. Reminds me of that NFL lineman who tried to lose weight during training camp by putting on a rubber suit and then driving around with his car’s heat on full blast — and then passing out. Can’t recall who this was, unfortunately. Little help..?
Getting back to McLain: He was (and apparently still is) a first-class scumbag, but no amount of Mob connections, bad checks, pension-fund raids, or jail time can change the fact that the dude totally knew how to wear stirrups (further evidence here, here, here, here, and here). He was also, of course, a musical genius. Perhaps a pardon is in order?
July 27th, 2007
Classic moment in Arlington on Saturday, as Brian Roberts’s cap briefly became the summer residence for a winged creature of some sort, occasioning mucho banter between Rangers broadasters Josh Lewin and Tom Grieve. Let’s listen in:
Josh Lewin: What’s he got on his hat? Butterfly?
Tom Grieve: Sure is.
JL: Wow. Now that’s gotta be good luck.
TG: That’s pretty good. That’s not a practical joke, either — that butterfly just landed there.
JL: Ol’ Butterfly-Head, Brian Roberts. [The butterfly beats its wings slightly, as if to acknowledge the broadcasters’ attention.]
TG: I wonder what’s on that hat, that lured the butterfly.
JL: Well, the oriole bird.
TG: Think that’s what it is?
JL: Sure. It’s mating season.
[Both men chuckle heartily, apparently amused by the thought of interspecies fornication.]
JL: We actually have a replay of the butterfly deciding that the hat of Brian Roberts is a good place to be. [Replay shows butterfly landing on Roberts’s left sleeve, then hovering near his head, and then finally alighting atop his cap.] Doink! Little does he know.
TG: We’ll see how long it stays there. [Desi Relaford strikes out. Roberts participates as the Orioles infield throws the ball around the horn, but the butterfly stays put.]
JL: I’m impressed by the staying power here, because Roberts is now moving around, he took that throw, threw the ball around the horn, and the butterfly is saying, “I’ve got the best seat in the house, I’m stayin’ right here.”
TG: You think he’s smiling because he knows it’s there?
JL: I can’t imagine he knows he’s got a butterfly on his head.
TG: Everybody else does! He’s the last one to know.
JL: You wanna go down and tell him?
TG: I just wanna see what happens when he runs off the field. I wanna see if it stays there.
JL: Maybe it’ll be like the old days when you’d leave your glove and the guy on the other team would come out and use it. So Relaford will be wearing the butterfly next. Think it’s a monarch butterfly?
TG: No.
JL: No? That would be black and orange, same as the Oriole.
TG [getting all lepidopterological on us]: Uhhhhhh, I don’t think that’s a monarch. Whatever it is, though, it’s happy on that hat.
JL: Probably eatin’ its way right through the hat.
TG: Maybe it’s not a butterfly, maybe it’s a moth.
JL: Could be a moth!
TG [getting a little carried away]: Maybe it’s Mothra. [Camera shows that the butterfly/moth is still there.] That’s great.
JL [remembering that there’s a baseball game taking place]: Kinda speaks to the fact that there’s not a lot going on when the Rangers are up at bat here.
TG: Bedard’s taken care of that — he’s struck out six of the last eight hitters. [Camera once again shows Roberts’s insect-clad cap.]
JL: The butterfly perseveres. La papillon. Or again, it could be a moth, and that’s a lot less romantic and all. Something just really poetic about a butterfly swooping down, but I do believe, upon further review, that’s just a really ugly moth. [Whatever it is, it suddenly flies away.] Ooooh, I jinxed it! I think I insulted him! Well, it was fun while it lasted. Got a good nine pitches out of that.
And one blog entry. Incidentally, I see that Grieve was wearing a sheriff’s badge at the beginning of the broadcast. Is that part of his regular shtick?
(Special thanks to Brad Holmes for bringing this episode to my attention.)
Tech Question: For sequences like the above, it’s fine for me to make screen grabs and transcribe the audio, but it would be even better if I could upload the appropriate video segment to YouTube, so you all could get the full effect. I don’t know how to capture just a portion of a video file, however (plus there are copyright issues, natch, but at the moment I’m more concerned with the technical logistics). If you know how to do this and are willing to explain it to me, please get in touch.
Membership Update: I mailed out two dozen more membership kits over the weekend and have once again caught up with Scott — if your card is shown in the card design gallery and linked on the active roster, then it’s either in your hands by now or on its way in the mail. If your card hasn’t yet been designed, it should be showing up in the gallery later this week.
In case you missed the announcement a few days ago, we’re now offering NBA designs. And remember, everyone who joins by the end of this month will have a special “Charter Member” seal added to their membership cards when they renew next year.
St. Loooooie Party Reminder: I’ll be hanging out tomorrow night at McGurks, so come on down and say hi. I expect to arrive around 8 p.m.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Full listing of Premier League kits here (with thanks to Michael Dove). … Yikes — Hank Aaron was a smoker! … Here are the new Rugby World Cup jerseys for Australia, Scotland, and Ireland. “Canterbury [the New Zealand company that manufactured these look-alikes] is the new Nike,” says Ross Lake. “Such a pity.” … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: The All-Star Game cap patches are really friggin’ big. … 7/7/07 brought lots of numerologically themed articles, including this, this, and this (with thanks to Brian Nelson and Harvey Lee). … Jon Eisen has come up with the uniform cameo of all time: Babe Ruth as a New York Giant. The story, as stated in the caption: “New York Yankees outfielder Babe Ruth, in a Giants uniform, with Giants manager John McGraw at an exhibition game with the Baltimore Orioles on October 3, 1923, at the Polo Grounds. Ruth played in the Giants outfield for the game, which was a benefit.” … Uniform numbers for the Islanders’ new players have been announced (with thanks to Matt Brosseau). … Twins backup backstop Mike Redmond took some stitches in his scalp on Friday, forcing Joe Mauer to play both ends of a doubleheader. Mauer really needed a rest on Saturday, so, according to this article, “About 17 hours after having his scalp knitted, Redmond stuck extra padding in his helmet, borrowed a skull cap from the White Sox, blacked out the Sox logo and caught nine innings while becoming the first Twin in memory to wear a do-rag” (nice find by Matt Nelson). … Good spot by Chris Allen, who notes that Reebok used essentially the same design templates for its NFL and NHL draft caps. … Sunday’s New York Times account of the Jose Padilla trial included this tidbit regarding the jury: “Several times now, the five women and seven men have shown up in color-coordinated outfits. One day, the men dressed in blue and the women in pink. On July 3, the first row wore red, the second white, and the third blue, leading bloggers to wonder whether they were worrisomely frivolous or unified — or so patriotic as to condemn all accused terrorists.” … Good Tour de France report from Michael Rich, who writes: “Normally the defending champ wears No. 1 the next year (or, if the defending champ is not racing, the honor of wearing No. 1 falls on another rider on the same team, or the best finisher from the previous year who is competing). This year, with no Floyd Landis and no Phonak team, the honor would normally fall on Oscar Pereiro (Caisse D’Epargne). However, with this last year’s result still being contested, the Versus commentators said that no one was given No. 1 this year. The highest number was given to Pereiro, but that was No. 11. Since teams area all given numbers in the same decade as the team leader, this means no one was given Nos. 1 through 9 (since there are nine riders per team, the numbers ending in zero are never given out).”
July 9th, 2007
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