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Posts filed under 'History'
Some people are compulsive documenters who pore over their files and scrapbooks; others are no good at documentation but are big on eyewitness testimony, repeatedly saying, “Trust me, kid, I saw it, I was there.”
The great thing about Ricko is that he fits both categories. If you read the comments section, you know he’s constantly saying he was in attendance (or glued to the TV screen) when a certain uni-related incident took place, and he often has the clippings to back up his claims. Here’s the latest batch of selections from that clipping database:
• Note the hand-lettered “A” on the socks in these Namath-era Crimson Tide shots.
• Speaking of the Tide, Ricko says, “Alabama was one of the first teams with several players wearing Pumas. It was Namath’s junior year. The white eyelet placket and tongue didn’t last long.”
• Call it spatting, call it taping — by any name, Ricko says this is the earliest example he’s ever seen. And it isn’t just any player — it’s Jim Thorpe, playing for the Canton Bulldogs. “Can’t say exact year,” says Ricko, “but he signed with them in 1915, and his last season with them was 1920.”
• The 1970s Pirates appear to be a bottomless pit of Ricko fodder. The latest exhibits: Willie Stargell wearing white shoes in the 1978 All-Star Game [Correction: As several commenters immediately pointed out, it appears to be a 1973 photo — odd, considering the caption], an awesome ad for Brookes spikes, and a montage of virtually every possible combo from the bumblebee era.
• And here’s an interesting Pirates tibit: As you know, the Buccos changed uniforms in the middle of the 1970 season — a change that included switching from black caps to gold caps. But they stuck with black batting helmets for the balance of that season, even after changing everything else — the helmets didn’t change to gold until the next season. (Also: Looks like Manny Sanguillen may have been wearing belted pants with his sleeved pullover in that photo. Not surprising that a lot of mixing and matching would have taken place after the mid-season uni switcheroo.)
• “This one comes under the heading of ‘Players Bending Team Rules When It Isn’t a Regular Game,’ ” says Ricko. “Y’know, like an ASG or a Japan Tour. But I did a double-take the first time I saw it, thinking maybe the Reds had worn red shoes for an opener at Riverfont or something. But after looking at it, I realized it was posed. It’s too perfect — the ump, for instance. Also, the only #24 Pirates had in ’71 was a pitcher named John Lamb. Unless he was pinch-running, he’d probably have been wearing a jacket. But it IS 1971 — note the button-front Reds jersey — well before the team allowed anything but plain black shoes. So it appears Concepcion (who later wore red shoes and white shoes in ASGs) decided to show how great the Reds’ unis would look if they wore those new red Adidas the White Sox and Phillies were introducing that year. And he was right.”
• But wait — here’s Don Gullet, circa 1971. Maybe they (or at least he) wore red spikes after all!
• You may recall that my recent Cubs column included an entry about the Cubbies inscribing each player’s uni number inside his helmet logo. Turns out they weren’t the only team to do this, as seen in this photo of Tommy Helms.
• Entertaining 1981 SI essay about football helmet logos. Among other things, the Bengals’ helmet is described as looking “like a varicose pumpkin,” a line I wish I’d thought of myself.
• And last but not least, here’s another of Ricko’s early uniform illustrations (in case you missed them, there’s a bunch more here), this one from the 1961 Army/Navy game.
And now I have a sad announcement to make: After five weeks, of sifting through all the e-mails Ricko has sent me, I’ve finally caught up with him — no more clippings! I think we can all agree that this has all the makings of a Greek tragedy, or at least a serious case of withdrawal. Ricko, my man, rev up that scanner and gimme another fix, pronto.
Raffle-O-Rama: For all you soccer fans who say I never write about your favorite sport … well, I’m still not writing about it. But I’ve got a soccer-centric raffle for you. The folks at SoccerPro.com have given me a $100 gift card that can be applied toward any of their licensed gear. To enter, send a blank e-mail with your name in the subject line to the raffle address (not to the usual Uni Watch e-mail address, please) by 10pm eastern this Friday, August 8th.
Normally I automatically add three bonus raffle entries for all enrollees in the Uni Watch membership program. But I know many readers and members don’t care about soccer, and I don’t want to end up with a raffle winner who isn’t a soccer fan, so we’re going to handle things a bit differently this time: If you are enrolled in the membership program, you may send up to four e-mail entries; only one entry for non-members. I’m trusting you all to handle this on the honor system (i.e., if you’re not a member, please don’t enter more than once), so don’t fuck it up by cheating, OK? OK.
I’ll announce the winner next Monday, when I’ll also be announcing yet another raffle.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Speaking of soccer jerseys, check out this new new soccer top from Zanzibar. “It’s so repulsive and tacky that I had to send it your way,” says Pat Murray. … If you really love your team, bleed for it. Further details here (with thanks to Alan Kreit). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The pestilence of those Phiten-branded socks is spreading. … “Twin Enterprises has a line of hats comprised of most of the teams in the NHL (and some now-defunct teams),” writes Sam McCullough. “The fronts are all fairly standard and comprised of basic, distressed primary logos, and the back, is usually a team wordmark, and in some cases a secondary logo. But the Islanders cap features the far more badass stripe design element from the team’s jerseys.” … Another season, another Syracuse football uni. … You know how you buy a new cell phone or an iPod and it’s covered with a thin plastic film that you peel off? That’s the first thing I thought of when Jacob Reed sent me this photo. … The Chico Outlaws recently wore these uniforms for Aloha Night (with thanks to Lizzie Fox). … No matter how many times I look at it, the O’Brien Trophy looks like a beach ball perched on a trash can. … Remember Andy Messersmith’s “Channel 17” NOB? Listen to this, from Brent Hardman: “Driving to work this morning I was listening to AM 750 WSB, which is Atlanta’s biggest bews/talk station and until recently was the Braves’ radio flagship. They were talking about longtime Braves announcer Skip Caray, who died on Sunday. Apparently the host of the show, Mark Arum, suggested that the Braves retire the number 17 to honor Skip and all of the old announcers who used to broadcast all of the games on TBS when it was known as Channel 17. The remarks were then relayed to the Braves announcing crew doing the game on the West Coast for Peachtree TV, and they talked about it during the broadcast and thought it was a great idea. How weird is that? I’m not sure if they would really ever do it, or more importantly if they should (kinda doesn’t seem right to have the 17 up on the outfield wall with numbers of the great Braves of the past and Jackie Robinson). It just made me wonder if there were other instances of teams retiring numbers for such abstract things as TV stations.”
August 5th, 2008
Several readers have spoken highly of this 1969 book, which chronicles the first half-century of the NFL, so I tracked down a copy. Sure enough, tons of great stuff. Here are some highlights:
• First and foremost, there’s a section devoted to the evolution of the uniform, featuring a kickass series of illustrations showing what was worn by the 1920 Decatur Staleys, the 1921 Packers, the 1926 Duluth Eskimos (my favorite of the bunch), the 1948 Rams, and so on. There are some major surprises here — did you know, for example, that the Giants once dressed like this? Or that the Bears, for one season, wore this? Yabba-dabba-doo! The Lions, on the other hand, haven’t changed that much.
• Check out this illo of Lenny Moore, circa 1957. Naturally, the caption mentions his famous spats, but there’s also this: “The yellowish substance on the shoes is a resin many ball carriers dab on their fingers to get more tack on the ball.” This is the earliest reference to stickum I’ve ever seen. Also from the caption: “The sweat band on his wrist was borrowed from tennis.” So are they saying Moore was the first NFLer to wear a sweatband? Major discovery!
• There’s also a series of awesome poster-style illustrations devoted to over a dozen important NFL historical figures, including Johnny U, Crazy Legs Hirsch, John Mackey, Jim Brown, Don Hutson, Chuck Bednarik, Gino Marchetti, Leo Nomellini, Louie the Toe, Gale Sayers, Cal Hubbard, Jerry Kramer, Ray Nitschke, Night Train Lane, and Elmen Tunnell.
• Great padding/gear photo here.
• Did you know the Redskins used to wear their Indian-head logo on their chest, sort of like the Blackhawks? Look!
• There are lots of photos showing Lucite facemasks. Note that in this shot, the backfield is Lucite-masked, while the linemen have conventional cages.
• I’m fascinated by the berets and bow ties that early officials wore, as seen here, here, and here.
• Here’s the oldest, rattiest jersey I’ve ever seen. And the 8 appears to be upside-down!
• Rare shot here of the Browns’ block-shadowed numbers.
• We’ve all seen this SI cover featuring Y.A. Tittle. But I’d never seen that helmet in action until I saw this photo (note the light-colored nighttime ball, too). Also, oddly, they chose to use Tittle and his helmet as the subject for this illustration. The caption includes the following note: “Although Tittle wore high top shoes, low cuts were becoming the most popular shoes. With the mandatory taping of ankles, the high cuts were no longer necessary.” I’d never heard about mandatory ankle taping before, or its effect on footwear styles!
• Love the striping and shoulder yokes here.
• Check out this shot of the overtime coin toss from the famous 1958 championship game. No wonder the Giants lost the game — their captains were taking refuge in a sideline cape while Johnny U was rarin’ to go. Bad form, no?
• You don’t often see pics from the early-’70s Pro Bowls, back when they wore “A” and “N” helmets.
• Hey, Jim Bakken — fasten your chinstrap!
Want to get your own copy of this fine volume? Look here.
And now a note from Vince: I’m looking for unique sports-related T-shirts, not unlike the beautiful Brewers shirt Paul linked to last week. Anything different, timely, relatively unknown, undiscovered, or featuring great design would be welcomed. Have a favorite tee you’d like to share with the world, own a company that makes kick ass shirts, or know of somewhere to get some great gear? Drop me a note with the pertinent details. Thanks much.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Paul here. Fascinating story here about a factual error in one of the Steelers’ Super Bowl ring designs. … Dig these great high school hoops unis from 1972. Love those big bullseye numbers (with thanks to Chris Markham). … Mark Jones sent along this photo from the 1966 Cotton Bowl. Note that the two LSU players have mismatched pants striping. … Brazilian soccer star Ronaldinho will wear No. 80. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a number that high on a soccer jersey,” says Greg Riffenburgh. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The Dodgers print Andy LaRoche’s NOB in all caps, while the Pirates style his brother Adam’s NOB with a small cap. … When I visit Portland next month, I hope most of the locals can spell better than whoever created these jerseys at the Highland Games (with thanks to Ryan Hossner). … Andrew Ferguson reports that BU basketball has a new 100th-anniversary logo, although it isn’t clear yet if it’ll be worn as a patch. … Can’t remember if we’ve covered this already, but just in case: Miami will supposedly be wearing this alternate jersey this season — yikes (with thanks to Mike Camello). … Got an interesting note from Mike Frentz, who attends the same church where Marc Sagmoen is a youth pastor. Sagmoen, as some of you may recall, is the outfielder who was called up by the Rangers and issued No. 42 on April 15th, 1997 — the same day the number was retired by MLB (we’ve discussed this previously here on the site; for details, scroll down to the middle of this entry). Mike writes: “On April 15, 2007 (a Sunday, as it happens), [Sagmoen] brought in the jersey he wore for that one game, the 10th anniversary of his MLB debut. As he tells the story, he’s sitting there in the on-deck circle in the 4th inning of his big league debut. As he and Mickey Tettleton get loose, Mickey says to him, ‘Take your jersey off.’ Marc is confused, even after Mickey repeats the message. Finally, exasperated, Mickey points to the Jumbotron, where President Clinton is making the announcement that Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 will be retired across baseball. ‘Now batting, number 42…’ … Anyway, the question I the question I wanted to ask is this: Marc claims that this incident makes him the only player in the four major pro sports to play one game and then have his jersey number retired. Can you verify this, or come up with counterexamples for me to show him? I’m not talking about ceremonial comeback stints or numbers that were never used again (like Eddie Gaedel’s 1/8). The player must have played exactly one game and then had his number formally retired.” Good question. Anyone..? … I work for ESPN.com, so how come it took Stu Taylor to tell me that the site is doing a college football helmet poll? … See that little chest patch on Kyle Boller’s jersey? The Ravens are giving that to players who attended at least 85% of the team’s off-season workouts (plus they get a piece of candy, a gold star, and a nice note from the teacher to show their parents). Here’s a closer look (with thanks to Jack Krabbe). … Gibby Davis notes that Shawn Marcum appears to have a more southerly Pedro porthole. … Paul Wiederecht sent along this shot of the 1989 Pittsfield Mets. Thank got the parent club never used that striped waistband. And what’s with the one guy with the striped pants? … Good info here on Roger Federer’s Olympics attire (with thanks toBrinke Guthrie). … Here’s something you don’t often see: a Little League team in Negro Leagues throwbacks (with thanks to Michael Miller). … Scott Novosel sent along this shot from a 1976 all-star tour of Japan. Look at all the National Leaguers wearing pillbox caps! … David Sonny notes that Johnny Cueto has switched from a black glove to a red one. … DC report from John Muir, who writes: “On Thursday, July 17th, my girlfriend and I went to the 47th Annual Congressional Baseball Game at Nationals Park, the first to be held in the new stadium. I had to use my cell phone camera, because her camera battery died. Those shots, and several scans from the official program, can be found here. Some notes from the game: Democrats took the left dugout, Republicans the right; Dem. Batting helmets were blue, Reps. Red; all Congressmen wore the uniforms of their home MLB, minor league, local college (some of them were alma maters), or hometown travel team; Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) wore a No. 9 Mets home alternate, with solid blue cap and high blue socks; Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Cali) wore No. IX, in reference to Title IX; Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Az) donned the Diamondbacks road brick, with full black tights; Rep. Joe Buca (D-Cali) wore a Dodgers home jersey and cap, but with oddly piped pants; former Florida GOP Rep. Lou Frey Jr., who’s slated to be inducted into the Congressional Baseball HOF, was in attendance — he wore Dodgers off-white throwback.” … Good soccer uni site here (with thanks to A.C.). … And here’s a compendium of Olympics posters dating back to 1896 (as forward by Marcus Ramsey). … Thanks to everyone who came down to KGB last night — hope you had as much fun as I did.
July 23rd, 2008
It was hot in NYC yesterday. Like, really hot. So hot you could feel your eyeballs perspiring and your nuts liquefying. So hot you could break a serious sweat just by breathing. Plenty humid, too. Very, very muggy. Did I mention it was hot?
So I confess that I questioned the wisdom of wearing a second set of hosiery yesterday. Still, the notion of playing softball without stirrups was unthinkable, so it was time for another rummage through the Uni Watch sock drawer.
This week’s design: royal blue, medium-cut.
Ideal for feeling like a member of: According to reader Paul Wiederecht, who gave me these stirrups a while back, these hose were originally the property of the 1978 Mets.
Color-coordination factor: Easy.
How they looked: Not too shabby, right? Nice and bright, with a pretty perfect color-to-white ratio (and yes, I know there’s a hole in the back of that tee, but I’ve had it since 1989 and have lived with a variety of cats in that time — rips and tears happen).
How I felt: Like Craig Swan, who was the N.L. ERA leader in ’78 and had pretty nice stirrup stylings.
How I played: 1-for-4 and a run scored. Did I mention it was really, really hot?
Before I went home, I noticed a gal on an adjacent field wearing these awesome hoop socks. Not a bad one-sock option for a hot day.
(Special thanks to Collateral Gammage for the pics.)
Research Project: Next time you see a home plate ump “cleaning” the plate by kicking the dirt off of it, instead of bending over and using his whisk brush, please make a note of the date, inning, and batter, and then let me know. Thanks.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Pin-up artist extraordinaire Rob Ullman created this 1969 Chisox rendition for Uni Watch reader Maks, and threw in a modern version to boot! … Rob, incidentally, is now offering a line of T-shirts. If you’re interested in them, and/or want to have Rob create a pin-up illo for you, contact him here. … Last question in this interview with Dwight Smith addresses his sock superstitions. … The annual Oldtime Baseball Game, a charity matchup in which Boston-area college players wear classic flannels, is coming up next month. Details here. … A little birdie tells me Texas Tech’s men’s basketball program will be outfitted by Under Armour this season. … Speaking of Texas Tech, Jon Arnold sent along this. “It’s only a replica, and I can only find it at one store, but it shows a white collar on Tech’s black jersey,” he says. “In the past it has been black, like the rest of the jersey.” … My pal Friederike Paetzold sent along some pics of artwork by a guy named Brian Jungen, who makes Native American/tribal-inspired pieces out of Air Jordans (additional examples here, here, and here). If you want to see more, check out Jungen’s site. … Here’s Babe Ruth in a different sort of uniform (with thanks to Jim Nedelka). … The Temple “T” logo is celebrating its 25th anniversary (with thanks to Morris Levin). … The Mariners and Indians wore 1989 throwbacks on Saturday. Additional pics here, here, here, here, and here. … Meanwhile, the White Sox wore throwbacks yesterday in honor of Harold Baines (additional pics here, here, here, here, and here). … God I hate it when teams wear BP jerseys for a regular-season game, as the Orioles did yesterday. … Miguel Cabrera is still wearing those Phiten-branded socks. Someone in the MLB office, please make this stop, now … Too bad I can’t afford this awesome-looking uniform catalog. … A-Rod had some helmet decal issues yesterday. … And Tim Lincecum had tag issues (thanks, Brinke). … Who does these stirrups belong to? Giants pitcher Geno Espineli, who tossed a scoreless frame yesterday in his MLB debut yesterday, that’s who. Let’s all wish him continued success (with thanks to Matt Garcia). … “I used to be a student equipment manager at the Univ. of Minnesota, with the football team,” writes Tris Wykes. “The Buffalo Bills trained at our complex when they were in Minnesota for the Super Bowl vs. the Redskins. One night, I went in and tried on Mark Kelso’s enormous helmet — the one with the ProCap on it.” … Last week I linked to the NYC Diamond Jubilee patch that the Mets wore on their dugout jackets in 1973. That prompted this response from Alec Orenstein: “The patch lists all the boroughs of New York, but Staten Island is listed as Richmond. That’s fine, because Staten Island is Richmond County. But following that logic, Brooklyn should be listed as Kings, because Brooklyn is Kings County. But instead it simply says Brooklyn.” … Hilarious account here of American synchro swimmer Christina Jones behaving like a materialistic moron getting lots of free Olympic swag. Key quote, from an on-site photo assistant: “We definitely want the Nike logo to show.’’ Of course you do (with thanks once again to Brinke Guthrie). … Sage Bray participates in one of those “vintage base ball” leagues where everyone dresses in period costume (there’s a full photo gallery here). “One element you may particularly dig, although it may not be historically accurate, is that we wear white jersey lacing for home games and black lacing for road games,” he says. “I believe we’re the only team in the league with any sort of home/road uni distinction.” … Remember this shirt? The guy who makes them says he has a new batch in stock (plus he has this design in the works). If you want in, give him a shout and tell him I sent ya. … Uni-numerical mystery from Matt Walker, who notes that the Longhorns are retiring a bunch of numbers, including No. 22 for Bobby Layne. Thing is, Layne wore 22 in the NFL but, as Matt writes, “the only number I’ve ever known him to wear as a Longhorn is 41.” Anyone know more about this? … David Holland sent along lots of great Baltimore Bullets-related stuff. First, dig the classic old logo on Gus Johnson’s jersey. Next, check out this team photo and note that half the players have an older logo (capital B) and the other half have the newfangled one (lowercase b, outstretched hands on the double-l). And how can you not love this, this, this, and this? … Several readers are reporting that Lou Piniella’s jersey featured his All-Star Game sleeve patch yesterday. No photo yet, though. … This is beyond awesome (great find by John Muir). … Best baseball outerwear photo ever? Could be. That’s Ernie Shore in the plaid coat and Grover Cleveland Alexander in the sweater (big thanks to Bob Andrews). … Two interesting tidbits from Jim Parker, beginning with a UCLA tale: “In the mid- to late 1950s, UCLA’s legendary head football coach Henry ‘Red’ Sanders would purchase the team’s home powder blue jerseys in a lighter shade of blue each successive season, until they were almost as pale as the visiting teams white jerseys (although the jerseys were still blue enough for players and fans to tell the two teams apart). Several years later, UCLA’s longtime equipment manager revealed why: Players and fans could tell the two teams apart, but it was virtually impossible to make the same distinction on the black-and-white game or ’scout’ films. In these films of the UCLA games, the offense and defense immediately blended into one indistinguishable group after every hike of the ball.” Next up from Jim, a little noted NFL factoid: “This is somehow a well-kept secret and oddity among most uni experts, but in 1949, at the owner’s insistence, the L.A. Rams wore red unis, complete with a red helmet. They lost in the NFL championship to the Eagles that year and went back to their traditional blues the following season.” … Remember those basketball capes I recently showed? Ryan Priest sent along this 1964 Evansville shot. “As you can see,” he writes, “unlike the capes you featured, these are robes with sleeves. (It was Evansville after all. Everything had sleeves.) ccording to an e-mail I received from UE Athletic Equipment Manager Daryl Buente, ‘Coach McCutchan’s team always wore pullover warmup jackets during pregame warmups and full-length robes, with snaps all the way down, on the bench. Until 1968, there were robes of many colors: red, green, yellow, light blue, and gray. In the ’50s, the robes were two solid colors, white and purple. When I was a freshman in fall 1968, Coach McCutchan bought orange robes and kept them until he retired in ’77.’ He went on to tell me that he gave Jerry Sloan the last robe in his possession (a gray one) upon his retirement as a player.”
July 21st, 2008
Lemme tell ya, nothing screams “deep blues authenticity” like a screening of a 50-year-old ballgame in which almost everyone in the stadium was white (although it’s arguably grittier than some of the other entries on the B.B. King’s calendar).
Such was the incongruous setting for last night’s screening of Don Larsen’s perfect game, which I attended with my buddy Michael McMahon. Reader Michael Gawley, who’d won free tix in last month’s raffle, came over and introduced himself, along with his pal Walt, whose T-shirt was a point of significant interest. Turns out it’s a campaign device for Heisman hopeful Beanie Wells. Walt said he made it himself. Want your own? Look here.
But I digress. Here are some notes I took regarding the screening of the game itself:
• I’d say slightly less than half of the players wore batting helmets. Among those who did, all of their helmets appeared to be flocked.
• Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Wolff, now in his 80s, was in attendance at the screening and did a little Q&A before the game was shown. When the screening got to the top of the 9th, they switched from the TV audio to Wolff’s radio call of the final three outs (I caught a glimpse of him at his table and he was beaming as he listened to himself). When Carl Furillo led off the 9th by flying out to Hank Bauer in right field, Wolff said Bauer was on the edge of “the cinder track” (or maybe “the cinder path” — couldn’t be sure), rather than the warning track. Never heard that term used in that context before before.
• The screening included all of the original commercials, which was actually the thing I was most excited to see. What I didn’t anticipate is that almost all of the commercials would be for Gillette razors, the official World Series sponsor. There was one ad for ballpoint pens after the end of the 6th inning, but every other spot was for Gillette. Incredibly, no two of them repeated. Most of them mentioned that for $1 you could get a pack of Gillette blades and a free “vest pocket-sized” baseball encyclopedia, which looked like a must-have, so when I got home I went straight to eBay and promptly located a copy.
• One of the Gillette ads featured former screwball master Carl Hubbell (long since retired by 1956), who was introduced, rather uni-intriguingly, as “Ol’ Square Pants himself.” I’d never heard of this sobriquet applied to Hubbell, so I did a bit of googling, which got me nowhere (although I’m now familiar with the handful of web sites that mention both Hubbell and SpongeBob). Anyone know the story behind this nickname?
• Roy Campanella had an open batting stance from the right side, which was extremely atypical prior to the 1990s.
• Sal Maglie came to the set/stretch position in the most bizarre manner of any pitcher I’ve ever seen — no words can do justice to it, but buy me a drink at the next Uni Watch party and I’ll try to pantomime it. For all I know, maybe Larsen came to the set in an unusual manner too, but of course he never had to pitch from the stretch in this game. (Speaking of which: Larsen had no windup to speak of — just a step-and-throw delivery, almost like a quick-pitch. Prior to the screening we were told that he’d scaled back his windup and adopted this more streamlined delivery just a few weeks earlier.)
• Mind-blowing factoid I’d never heard before: While Larsen was pitching the game of his life, his wife was filing for divorce. Insert “That makes his perfect day even better!” joke here.
• Vin Scully sounded almost exactly the same then as he does now.
• According to a little caption that was shown toward the end of the screening, there are only five pre-1965 ballgames whose broadcasts still exist in their entirety, and four of them are World Series games. Can that possibly be true? If so, it’s a sad commentary on the state of sports history and archiving.
My thanks to B.B.’s publicist John Seroff for letting me know about this unique event, and for providing the raffled tickets — much obliged.
Shortstop Can’t Stop Shorts: Amidst all my recent posts about baseball shorts, I forgot that I’d linked to this 1949 photo of the Mobile Bears a little over a year ago. Fortunately, Paul Deaver found that photo on his own. Plus he found this page (see the fifth graf), although I’ve been unable to turn up any visuals on that team. But it’s becoming clear that shorts were a more widespread minor league phenomenon that we realized.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Iowa’s newly renamed hockey team has an unfortunate antecedent. Details here (with thanks to Greg Wyshynski). … Key excerpt from this article about C.C. Sabathia: “One of the first players Sabathia met in the clubhouse was first baseman Prince Fielder, who at 5 feet 11 and 270 pounds is no longer the biggest man on the roster. ‘When I first walked in, he asked me if I needed to borrow some (uniform) pants,’ Sabathia said. ‘He’s probably the only guy with a pair I’d fit in’” (with thanks to Nicole Haase). … Mike Eckert notes that Miguel Cabrera was wearing Edgar Renteria’s sweatbands last night, but he really needs to get rid of the fucking Phiten-branded socks, NOW. … I noted yesterday that Jose and Argenis Reyes both have “Reyes” NOBs (no initial), but Matt Edwards notes that Jose has a “Reyes” strip of tape on the brim of his batting helmet while Argenis has “Argenis.” No photo yet. … The controversy regarding the Celtics’ championship banners continues. Yesterday I relayed the explanation that the “NBA” icon was solid green if the Celts won the title on the road and outlined if they won it at home, but several readers have poked holes in that one. Here’s a banner-by-banner analysis, as compiled by Darrell Hatfield. … The Brewers apparently have a different mound icon for every occasion. Here’s what they had over the weekend (with thanks to Ryan Connelly). … Shorpy does it again. … Best thing I’ve learned while researching baseball shorts (or maybe just the best thing in human history, period): Check out this 1950 L.A. Times article about the Hollwood Stars’ shorts, scroll down to the last full paragraph, and check out the name of the Pacific Coast League’s president at the time. When you stop laughing, you can read the rest of the article here. … Let’s say your mad about local zoning ordinances, and you want to paint your house an annoying color as a silent protest. What color do you paint it? Purple, of course (with thanks to Steve Laga). … Wednesday was “Jason Giambi Mustache Day” at Yankee Stadium. Photo gallery here … Scott M.X. Turner sent along a bunch of photo scans from this awesome book: First, check out this 1962 team photo. Note the white outlining on the NY logo — that was scrapped for subsequent editions of the team’s dugout jacket. Next, look at this shot, taken at the Polo Grounds (which means it’s either 1962 or ’63). Is that a flocked Mets batting helmet? Never seen that before. And finally, when skipper Wes Westrum resigned, he took his jersey with him. … Half-hour highlight video of the 1952 World Series available here, and the 1960 Series is here (great find by Roger Faso). … Best newspaper correction ever (courtesy of birthday girl Alleen Barber). … More awesome tag designs from Scott Little. … Someone out there is coming up with a bunch of NHL redesigns, and some of them are pretty interesting. This, for example, is pretty damn cool (with thanks to Nathan Gemignani). … Yesterday’s notes about the different number fonts on various old AFL jerseys prompted a lengthy and detailed response from Terry Proctor. It’s too long to reprint here in the Ticker, but you can read it here. … Before there were the Mets — like, long before — there were the New York Metropolitans. Back then, just as now, their true color was blue. The back of those cards, incidentally, looked like so (great stuff from Doug Mooney). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Amazing early football helmet here. … UVA’s football team will be playing a throwback game against Richmond on September 6th. Details here (with thanks to Jason Perle). … Great West Virginia football clip, circa 1969, here (courtesy of J.D. Arendshorst). … Ricko sez: “These two photos have always intrigued me. It isn’t often you see two football shots of the same play taken by two different photographer=s from different angles, perhaps only hundredths of a second apart.” The WR is Art Powell, and Ricko has a lot to say about him. … Is Joe D.’s fly open here? Drew Cochrane thinks so. … I think I’m in love. That’s a high school team — the Duryea, Pennsylvania, Wildcats –from the 1950s. Saw it on the Chris Creamer board. … And at the other end of the spectrum (with thanks to Kamau Rotan. … Pretty excellent managerial tantrum here. … Jason Arndt reports that Alex Ochoa (who was supposedly a five-tool player when the Mets traded Bobby Bonilla for him in the early ’90s, but three of those tools turned out to be striking out, flying out, and grounding out) has been wearing his first name on his jersey in Japan for years now. … There’s an item about Mike Mussina’s pants at the very bottom of this page. And the last section of this page has some news about Joba Chamberlain’s stirrups. Both items were penned by Tyler Kepner, easily the most uni-aware beat writer out there. … Check out this cool vintage soccer ephemera (courtesy of Michael Orr). … Poor Nike, shut out from Olympic advertising. Breaks my heart.
July 11th, 2008
Several weeks back I did an entry about the 1971 book This Great Game. That led several readers to suggest that I track down a pair of football books that were published around that same time: The First 50 Years (which I’ll get to another day) and The Other League, which chronicles the story of the AFL. As you might expect, there are some excellent photographic details worth examining. Let’s take a look:
• Excellent view here of the “San Diego All-America City” crest that the Chargers wore on their helmets in 1963.
• What’s that little nub just above the nose bumper? Ditto here and, I think, here.
• Nice shot here of George Blanda with a pocket pouch and no chinstrap. Also, note that the “1″ on his chest doesn’t match the one on his sleeve.
• Speaking of chest/sleeve inconsistencies, check out Joe Namath here.
• Look at this — holy moly! According to the book, that photo is from 1963, which was the only year that the Raiders wore silver helmets and gold numbers, but I’d never seen that heavy black outlining before. Yeesh.
• Lousy photo quality, but it’s always good see more shots of Denver’s vertically striped socks.
• Here’s something you don’t often see: AFL All-Star Game photos, as seen here and here.
• Lots of interesting shots of officials. In this photo, from 1961, the zebras weren’t even zebras — no stripes, just giant uni numbers. By 1963, they’d gone to the red stripes with no numbers (note the Jets’ original helmet design, too). In that last photo, it looks like the ref, who’s in the background, is wearing a black cap, but apparently it was red, with the AFL logo. The white caps had the logo as well. Anyone know if the AFL officials eventually switched to black stripes? Looks like they might have, based on this late-’60s shot, but it’s tough to be sure. There are also several Super Bowl photos that show officials wearing black sleeves with uni numbers (additional shots here and here). All those shots are from Super Bowls I and II, so those could just be NFL officials — who officiated those early Super Bowls anyway, NFL crews, AFL crews, or a mix? Anyone know if that non-striped black sleeve was an NFL or AFL thing?
• Look at that last photo again and check out the facemask for the Chiefs player who’s facing the camera. Look how the area between the two upper screws (just above the nose bumper) is sort of scooped or scalloped — don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.
• At first I thought the “4″ in this photo was a mistake. But apparently that was part of San Diego’s standard uni number font. Not only that, it was also used by the Titans, who kept the font when they became the Jets. Plus the Colts used it back in the 1950s (even on the sleeve). Still looks weird to me.
• Why did Joe Namath have a blank helmet in his first pro game? He was blank-domed on this 1966 SI cover, too (but not on an SI cover that ran a year prior to that).
• Man, the Oilers had some huge-ass rear-helmet numbers.
• I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a prominent belt buckle on a football uniform. Apparently all the Chiefs wore it.
• Love the “CBS Color” sign on the camera.
• And finally, here’s a wide shot of Shea Stadium’s first pro football game. Forty-four years later, I don’t think they’ve ever changed the foul pole or screen.
And there’s plenty more. Want you own copy of this book? Look here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Fascinating tidbit from sporting goods magnate Terry Proctor, who writes: “Did you ever notice the extended flap of knit trim with the off-center double snaps on the A’s waistband? That flap was extended to cover the real belt that was worn underneath. The knit trim that went around the waist on the pants actually was a tunnel loop. A regular belt was worn and that flap covered the belt buckle. The Red Sox also wore this style.” I had never, ever heard this before. … “A New Orleans police officer was suspended — 15 minutes before he was set to retire — for wearing the wrong uniform shirt (with thanks to Chuck Alexander). … Scott Little is obsessed with Starter jackets, among other things, and sent along photos of 16 jacket tags plus a few other tags and labels of interest. Check out the full slideshow here. … Japan has unveiled its wrestling and table tennis uniforms for the Olympics (with thanks to, of course, Jeremy Brahm). … While we’re at it, Thomas Tunner (who modestly claims to have “both the largest sports collection and the largest wardrobe”) sent along this. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The roster of catchers who’ve worn brimless helmets (which had previously included Duke Sims, Ron Hodges, Dave Valle, Bob Boone, Jim Sundberg, Carlton Fisk, and Pudge Rodriguez) has a new member: Jeff Torborg. … The Reds’ camo jerseys have stirred up a bit of controversy and commentary (with thanks to Mark Fightmaster). … If you go to this audio link and scroll ahead to the 38-minute mark, you’ll hear swimmer W. Hodding Carter discussing the new LZR swimsuit. Interestingly, he says it makes you feel “like a superhero,” yet another furtherance of the trope I identified in this site’s very first entry (with thanks to Morris Levin). … Not exactly a surprise, but Citi Field will feature lots of pricey food options. … “I saw this sign at the New Era shop in Manhattan,” writes Steve Flack. “So all those ugly-ass ‘fashion’ 5950s are born out of a request from Spike Lee.” … I know Sandy Alomar Jr. was the first catcher to wear knee-saver pads, but did he also wear them while batting? Check out this shot of him from the 1997 All-Star Game — never seen that before. … Nike is being sued by an inventor who claims the Evil Empire Swooshkateers stole his patented cap design. Oddly, the guy wore a Nike cap for his photo accompanying the article (with thanks to David McGee). … Interesting note from Jeremy Gooch, who writes: “No photo, but during the 1992-93 preseason and at least part of the regular season, Tom Rathman of the 49ers wore a ‘No Fear’ sticker on the back of his helmet, right above the American Flag. It looked kind of like this, minus the circle, and it was red instead of black.” Anyone know more about this? … According to the “Clubhouse Confidential” section on this page, the Brewers’ equipment manager had ordered a uniform for C.C. Sabathia a week prior to the trade, because he was worried about getting caught short during the Independence Day weekend (nice find by Rob McCallum). … You probably know Babe Ruth was briefly a Dodgers coach after his retirement. But did you know he wore No. 35 (here’s another shot)? Dan Cichalski took both of those screen grabs from last weekend’s debut installment of Baseball’s Glory Days, a new weekly series running on FSN (or on MSG-Plus in some markets, including New York) that I’ve been meaning to mention. The series is basically the second coming of HBO’s When It Was a Game productions: Lots of home movie footage, a bit of endearingly over-sentimental voiceovers, and some talking heads waxing poetic. New episodes will debut each Sunday night, and I think it’s a 12-week run. Great stuff, and highly recommended. … Also from Dan: The Lakewood BlueClaws are holding a Springsteen promo on July 25th, and will be wearing this design for the occasion. … Super-cool Charlie Gehringer military baseball uni up for auction here. … Charlie Samuels strikes again: Earlier this season, Mets outfielder Nick Evans wore No. 6. Then they sent him down, acquired Trot Nixon, and gave him No. 6. Then Nixon went on the DL, where he remains today, and now they’ve recalled Evans and given him 6 again, which means they now have two players on the roster with the same number. Is that even allowed? … Speaking of the Mets, Bryan Heaton notes that neither Jose Reyes nor recent call-up Argenis Reyes is wearing a first initial. … Elton Brand posed with a throwback Sixers uni yesterday, and Jake Driver points out that they apparently did something similar for Josh Smith. Not sure what this all portends, but I’m looking into it. … Bernie Langer was at last night’s Phils/Cards game in Philly and says Brendan Ryan’s striped stirrups (shown there from another date) caused quite a stir. “People all around me were saying, ‘Look at that! Look at those socks!’ A dad behind me kept on yelling to his little kids, ‘Look at that guy’s socks! Look at them!’” … Nice timeline of Houston Cougars logos here (with thanks to Corey Buck). … Ryan Connelly notes that the NHL09 trailer shows the Panthers wearing their pre-Edge design — odd. … The Red Sox were still wearing the stars/stripes caps yesterday. … Remember how we discussed that the “NBA” icon on the Celtics’ championship banner is sometimes solid, sometimes not? Mario Fontana took a tour of the arena two nights ago and asked about that. “I was surprised to get an answer,” he writes. “If the Celtics won the championship that year on the road, it is represented with a dark (filled in) circle, representing their green jerseys. If they win it at home it’s a white circle, representing the home jersey. I thought this was pretty neat.” … Get this: The Brewers put their “B” logo on the pitching mound each game, but a reader who didn’t give his/her name says, “For the recent Negro Leagues tribute game, they put a dark blue generic M back there, to try and complete the effect.” Yeah, nothing says authentic Negro Leagues like a field decoration that nobody thought of until a few years ago. … Speedo is having trouble producing enough LZR swimsuits to keep up with demand. That link came from Jeremy Brahm, who says he also found a Japanese article that says “regular swimmers cannot get the LZR until the Fall because the priority is getting enough suits for the Olympic swimmers.” … Jeremy also sent some pics from the Haarlem Baseball Week in Holland, a six-team tournament for college level teams. Interestingly, the Netherlands Antilles are using two Braves “A” logos on their jerseys and caps (which is an improvement over what they used to wear). … A bunch of Thurman Munson memorabilia is going up for auction.
July 10th, 2008
New ESPN column today (link here), but it’s a short one, so we’ll carry on here as usual.
So: I’ve frequently written about baseball players who’ve had facemasks attached to their helmets after suffering facial injuries, a roster that includes Ellis Valentine, Gary Roenicke, Kevin Seitzer, Charlie Hayes, Terry Steinbach, Terrence Long (here’s a side view), David Justice, and of course Dave Parker (who wore a hockey mask for one plate appearance before switching to a football-style mask, which was later sold at auction), among others.
But who was the first ballplayer to wear a mask attached to his helmet? Depending on how you want to define “mask,” I suppose you could say Earl Battey’s do-it-yourself earflap from 1963 might qualify. But reader Jere Smith may have found a significantly earlier example.
Check out this New York Times item, which ran on September 6th, 1959. It says Billy Martin, then with the Indians, would be wearing “a special helmet fitted with football-type face-guarding bars” after having being beaned a month earlier. But here’s the thing: Despite returning to the active roster, Martin never played again that season. As you can see here, his last game that season was on August 5th (the day he was beaned). So unless he wore the mask-equipped helmet the following season — which is unlikely, since most players who’ve worn the masks have only required them for a month or two — Martin may have been the first player to be outfitted with a mask-inclusive helmet, even though he never got to wear it in a game. Man, I’d love to see the rig they devised for him. My new holy grail.
As it turned out, the most direct effect of Martin’s beaning wasn’t on helmet history — it was on Jim Brewer’s face. Almost exactly a year to the day after Martin took that pitch to the face, Brewer buzzed one over his head, prompting a sequence of events that culminated in a one of history’s most notorious sucker punches. After the game, Martin (who by this time was playing for the Reds) explained that he’d no longer tolerate any pitches near his head after having been beaned the previous season.
Note that Martin was wearing a helmet as he punched Brewer, but no facemask. Maybe Brewer should have worn one instead.
Get Shorty, Continued: Yesterday I linked to this article about the 1975 Sacramento Solons, who wore shorts. The article mentioned that another minor league team, the Houston Buffaloes, had worn shorts way back in 1949, which was news to me. But sure enough, Paul Deaver has come up with this.
Only thing is, the caption says the Buffs wore the shorts in 1950, not ’49. Then again, if you scroll down to the April 1st, 1950 entry on this page, it says the Buffs wore the shorts in 1949, and other sources tell conflicting tales (Rob Neyer and I spent a good portion of last night trading research on this one). It’s a significant point to nail down, because 1950 was the year that the Hollywood Stars unveiled their shorts, so it’s not clear which team was the first to go shorts-clad. I will continue to investigate.
Research Query: I’m currently in the market for any and all photos that show Mets players wearing white cleats in an All-Star Game, especially during the Davey Johnson era. If anyone has Mets yearbooks from that era (no, I don’t have any myself — all my yearbooks are from the ’70s), could you see if the All-Star coverage includes any photos showing white-shod Mets? Thanks.
Uni Watch News Ticker: A source at MLB.com checked in yesterday with the following info about the star-spangled caps: “Just Sunday and Monday, they sold almost $250,000 worth of these hats JUST on the mlb.com online store. That doesn’t count sales at the game, sales at stores, or sales at other online sites. They have been the top-selling items all weekend. Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, and Phillies were the top four, in that order. They are far and away the best-selling item we had last week and one of the hottest-selling items this year.” All very nice, what with “a portion of the proceeds” going to charity. Still waiting to hear what the portion is and what portion, if any, MLB is pocketing. … MLB’s pants problem is nicely summarized in the last sentence of this item (with thanks to Bo Baize). … No photo, but according to this Q&A page, “When the [1996] Packers were honored at the White House [after winning the Super Bowl], Jim McMahon wore a Bears jersey, enraging Green Bay fans. McMahon explained that he did it because the Bears never got a chance to visit the White House after winning Super Bowl XX. Their trip to Washington was canceled after the Challenger space shuttle blew up” (great find by Jesse Benack). … Got a note yesterday from one Jakob Kuriakose, who said he totally digs Uni Watch, except for one thing: “I have one huge objection to your site, and that is your love of stirrups.” Yes, and aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play? … Here’s a puzzler: Phil Garner, circa 1977, wearing a Yosemite Sam sleeve patch! Robert DeCorte noticed the photo in the lower-right corner of the Pirates’ 1978 yearbook cover. “I’m assuming it had something to do with Phil’s bushy mustache, since no other Pirate seems to have that patch.” This is a new one to me — anyone know more? … The Pedro porthole is spreading. That’s Aaron Heilman, from Monday night’s game. … Partial roundup of Olympic outfits here (courtesy of James Yeh). … Very cool 1950s Bear Bryant jacket up for auction (with thanks to Chris Smith). … Uni Watch teamwork in action: Jen Boone told me that Ryan Spilborghs of the Rockies had come to bat with his fly wide open, and Kate Lyden Chavez provided the screen shots, as seen here and here. … Nice to Nike is getting into the American Gladiators scene. All kidding aside, the notion that high socks and arm sleeves can actually make a runner faster is interesting. Designers always like to say, “Less is more,” but in this case maybe more is less. … Manny Ramirez wears Nike cleats these days, but he’s about to cash a $10,000 check from Reebok. Why? Look here (with thanks to Jim Pericotti). … Remember when the Brewers were advertising their web site on the Miller Park mound? Now they’re campaigning for Corey Hart to be elected to the final All-Star spot in the dirt behind home plate. Can’t they leave this shit off the field of play? As most of you know, I love Milwaukee, but these are total Mickey Mouse moves that belong in the minor leagues (screen grab courtesy of John Okray). … Michael Beasley has both of the Nats’ logos tattooed on his arm (with thanks to Eric Arnold). … Several people have forwarded me the URL for this “10 Worst Sports Logos Ever” list. It’s poorly conceived and poorly executed (please, let’s not bother discussing all its shortcomings), so I wasn’t planning on linking to it. But there was lots of chatter in the comments yesterday about one of the items on the list: this secondary Jets logo. Several people said they’d never seen it before, and one went so far as to say he didn’t believe it was the real deal. Ah, but it is, and I have the proof. One of the more interesting items in the Uni Watch library is this Jets style guide (yes, it has an Astroturf cover), which I acquired a few years ago. Entitled Being Green, it lays out strict style guidelines for the team’s logo, typography, graphics, and — wait for it — the “Gameface” (which also makes a cameo appearance here). So yes, the Gameface logo was indeed an official part of the team’s graphic identity as of a few years ago, although I agree that it never seems to have been used in a public setting (and also agree that that’s probably for the best). The style guide — and maybe the Gameface icon itself — was produced by the superstar designer Michael Beirut of Pentagram, who also happens to be one of people with whom I’ll be sharing a lectern at that “Sports and Design” reading on the 22nd, so I’ll ask him about the Gameface then. Or you can show up and ask him yourself.
July 9th, 2008
Got a note recently from Brandon Garrett, who said he’d been looking through a photo archive called “Vanishing Georgia” and stumbled upon a huge trove of old sports pics. I haven’t done one of these region-specific photo surveys in a while, so let’s check out some highlights:
• I really like the simple color-blocked design used by this 1916 basketball team.
• “This shot is described as being a Fitzgerald, Georgia, baseball team from 1897,” writes Brandon. The interesting thing is how each player seems to have a different local sponsor — never seen anything like that before.
• Note the “4″ sleeve patches. Memorial gesture? Repeated uni numbers? Nope — this shot shows the Fourth District A&M School baseball team, which I assume is what the numeral refers to.
• A shot of “Bobby Jones, Ty Cobb, and ‘an unidentified man,’ ca. 1940s.”
• Caption to this 1920 photo, as quoted by Brandon: “D. Hodge poses for a photograph in his baseball uniform. He was a catcher for the Unity Spinning Mill team from Newnan.” Too bad about the mismatched socks, but it is SO DAMN COOL to see one of those hoop-striped undershirts in its entirety, without a jersey covering up part of it.
• Fascinating shot here of a co-ed 1910 baseball team.
• Here are two shots of the 1907 baseball team at the Georgia School of Technology (now Georgia Tech). Quite the fearsome mascot in that last shot — rrrrooowwrrrr! (Looks like this 1920s team had a slightly more appropriate mascot.)
• Yeah, the stripes are cool, but what really interests me is the dark pants. I’m assuming that the collars were the same color as the britches. Note that the jersey logo is positioned on a chest pocket, too.
• Simple rule: If you play in Dublin — even Dublin, Georgia — you’re gonna have a shamrock on your uniform.
Suitable for Framing Dept.: Last Monday I got an e-mail from reader Mike Menner, which read as follows:
Hiya Paul,
Greetings from Minneapolis!
On Saturday we celebrated the 18th annual Fiesta de Béisbol here, a two-day celebration of all that is good and right about baseball. We led off the party Friday night watching the Twins battle back to beat the Brewers, thanks to Joe Mauer’s 8th inning homer. Then Saturday had US playing ball, followed by a grand feast, contests, prizes and a live music hootenanny winding up the night.
As part of the proceedings, we chose to honor your with our “Catbird’s Seat Award” (named in honor of Red Barber) for “acting in the best interests of baseball.” (I have a certain issue with authority figures–popes, presidents, archbishops, commissioners, and have long felt that this current commissioner has shirked that longtime duty of acting in the best interests of the game. So we award the Catbird’s Seat to those who do.)
Thanks for fighting the good fight of calling ballplayers to look like ballplayers.
All the best,
Mike
Now there’s a genuine honor! Although I’ve never attended an installment of Mike’s long-running Fiesta project, I’ve long been aware of it and know what a labor of love it is for him and many others (for details, look here and here), so I was proud to be on the receiving end of such a prestigious award.
A few days later, a package arrived at my house. Inside was a nice variety of items, including really nice cover letter from Mike, the aforementioned award certificate, two awesome baseball-themed poems from Mike’s official poet laureate, Anna Meek, an official Fiesta shirt, and a bottle of Stadium Mustard, all of which was packed in some gorgeous Ebbets Field Flannels tissue paper. And in a nice touch, the whole shebang was shipped in a Vienna Beef hot dog box. Now that, my friends, is a fully integrated approach to kissing my ass award presentation.
Big thanks to Mike and his posse. I’m fully aware that sitting in the catbird’s seat is a privilege, not a right, and I hereby promise to do my utmost to be worthy of the responsibilities that come with this fine award.
Get Shorty: Got the following note yesterday from Mark Rybczyk: “I remember seeing a picture in The Sporting News back when I was a kid about the Sacramento Solons of the Pacific Coast League wearing short pants. I did a little searching and found this.” I in turn poked around the Sporting News archives and found this.
The game-used uni that Mike found is obviously from 1976 (note the sleeve patch), but the archival article is from ’75, which means the shorts were worn for at least two seasons (unless the ’76 jersey in that auction listing was mixed/matched with a pair of shorts from the previous season, although that seems unlikely). Also, the ’75 article quotes minor league manager Del Wilber claiming that the Houston Buffaloes wore shorts in 1949 — a year prior to the famous Hollywood Stars shorts, which I had always thought were the first shorts to appear on a professional baseball diamond. But a subsequent search of TSN’s archives found no mention of a shorts-clad Houston team.
As an aside, while looking for that ’75 article, I stumbled across a small item from March of 1976 about the White Sox’s shorts.
And as a much bigger aside, check out this note from the 1975 article: “Little Leaguers were admitted at a reduced price, and every feminine customer over 18 received a grocery order for a free chicken.” There are SO many things to love about that sentence (my favorite being the use of “feminine” rather than “female”), but let’s just say they don’t write sports items like that anymore.
Quick Research Query: If anyone DVR’d the FSN Rocky Mountain broadcast of last night’s Rockies/Brewers game, please drop me a line.
Uni Watch News Ticker: We begin today’s ticker with two great slideshows. The first one comes from Claude Jacques, who recently visited the baseball and soccer halls of fame took a slew of tremendous jersey photos — check out his gallery here. Meanwhile, Nicole Haase is the latest reader to have visited the Packers Hall of Fame, and her photos are tremendous. You can see her excellent gallery here. … Wanna read a really interesting little item about Mike Schmidt and Nike? Check out the first few grafs of this story (nice find by Shawn Sweeney). … Dueling managerial windbreakers from the 1989 World Series. … This audio file is an interview with former A’s great Joe Rudi. There’s some good uni-related chatter at the 7.5-minute mark, or here on the progress bar (with thanks to Jonna Pedrioli). … Yesterday I linked to this New Yorker cartoon. Turns out I wasn’t the only one who noticed it. … Cardinals Hall of Fame registrar Jennifer Jackson has come up with additional info about that helmet decal (which, as you’ll recall, was worn by Lou Brock during the 1975 All-Star Game, but I wasn’t sure if it had been worn at other times and/or by other players). “I have found pictures of several players taken during the 1975 season where the sticker is on the helmet,” she writes. “Those players include Ted Simmons, Reggie Smith, Bake McBride, Hector Cruz, Keith Hernandez, Ron Fairly, Ed Brinkman, Mario Guerrero, Luis Melendez, Jerry Mpmphrey, Ted Sizemore, and Luis Melendez. Some other players, including Bob Forsch and Mike Tyson, did not wear the sticker. I have not found anything explaining why some players wore the helmet with the sticker and why some did not.” So, basically, it sounds like most St. Looie players wore the helmet decal in 1975 (which I don’t remember at all) and that it was a one-year thing. … Hey only two to a customer, buddy! That ad ran in The Sporting News in 1949. … Awesome old uniform advertising banner here. … And here’s a fascinating item: a Sand-Knit promotional jersey. … Ryan Rodriguez reports that the Air Force is changing its uniforms from this to this. … Wal-Mart has a new logo. Analysis here (with thanks to Robert Tusso). … While looking for something else, I came across this shot of Sandy Alomar from the 1997 All-Star Game. Look familiar? … Chris Ruebel recently spotted the world’s worst Little League uniform in Breckenridge, Colorado. … Another Pedro Martinez start, another sighting of the Pedro porthole, which is such a bizarre affectation that it’s keeping me awake at night. … Cardinals pitcher Ron Villone’s kid has an odd hosiery superstition. Details here (with thanks to Tyler Kepner). … Last night’s comments had some good chatter about Charlie Finley’s innovations while the A’s were still in KC, including Harvey (the mechanical rabbit who delivered balls to the home plate ump) and the Pennant Porch (for entertaining details, look here).
July 8th, 2008
Back in late April, I ran an entry on the Orioles’ orange uniforms. Several of the comments that day came from a guy I hadn’t seen before on the site. He called himself Ricko, and one of his posts in particular led me to raise an eyebrow:
I have two four-drawer lateral files full of MLB, NFL, and college football clippings dating back to the ’50s. I know, cuz I’m the one who clipped them and saved them. Most times if the uniform was unique and there was no date on the clipping, I’d write the year on it somewhere. I’ll dig through my files over the weekend and see what I can find. I have an SI midseason photo of Ken Holtzman pitching all-kelly, from the A’s Bando/Rudi World Series era. And it’s just as ugly as the Orioles orange. Maybe uglier.
Envisioning a field trip in which I’d end up dancing barefoot through all these incredible clippings, I quickly dashed off a note to Ricko to find out more. Alas, he said he lived in Minnesota, so I couldn’t just drive over for a quick visit. I asked him more about his files, and here’s what he wrote back:
Period covered is generally mid-’50s to late ’70s or so. So I kinda have the beginning of the double-knit (baseball) stretch pants (football) era covered.
Files were created cuz I used to do sports artwork (painter, cartoonist).
Need a photo of Joe Womack or Larry Garron or Paul Blair in a sleeveless Orioles vest? Or an opening-week SI clipping saying that in 1971 the Orioles experimented with orange shoes but the players didnt’ like them? I can probably find you one.
LOL, I get steamed a team can’t even get its own history correct. Those Jets Titans throwbacks? Wrong color gold. That combo was light gold, similar to Steelers, etc. The colors they chose are correct for the FIRST Titan unis only. When they went to shoulder stripes, they brightened and lightened the gold. What, they’re so dense they can’t look at old football cards?
I’m really not a cranky old man. Just amazed at inaccuracies. Broncos never wore Tennessee Orange, for example. That’s the creamsicle orange the Bucs wore. My former partner was Denver Post sports editor at the time. Broncos ordered “Burnt Orange,” thinking they’d get Texas orange (wanted to wear same color as Texas). Instead they got the Orioles-Browns-Giants orange that everyone else got. And being thrifty (as those early AFL teams were), they just went with them.
Here’s a story you’ll like. In my pro sports PR days I met the Houston Oilers’ original PR guy (name fleeting — “Jack Harrigan,” maybe). He thought the Oilers maybe should wear black and gold (”black gold,” right, good thought). Nope, Bud Adams pointed to a big turquoise ring he always wore. “I want them to wear this color,” he said. Presto, columbia blue for the Oilers.
Why haven’t I been to your site sooner? Just found it. Was searching on “stirrup socks.”
I don’t claim to know everything. But the sports and time period I DO know, I know pretty well. And I have lotsa photos to lead to (hopefully) accurate findings. … I can probably provide stuff you wouldn’t believe. I was a freak about it. Have index cards I made (hand colored) for NFL/AFL unis from mid ’50s to early ’60s. Watched stuff like a hawk. For example, no stripe on Raiders helmets til ’62. Period. I can bury someone in photos who claims there were stripes prior to that.
Holy shit. Clearly, this was someone I needed to get to know better — like, a lot better. Just one problem: Ricko said he didn’t have a scanner, so there was no way for him to digitize his clippings and send them my way. So I basically told him, “Get yourself a scanner. Now. And then get back to me.”
And that might have been the end of it. When a week passed — and then another, and another — I figured Ricko was either a serial exaggerator or one of those old-school eccentrics who can’t deal with “sophisticated technology” like scanners (you know the type). I hear from people like this all the time, people who talk a big game but then don’t deliver.
Then, exactly four weeks after our initial correspondence, I got an e-mail from Ricko, with some scanned attachments. A few minutes later came another. And then another. And another. For the next 24 hours, it was all Ricko, all the time, with no less than 33 communiqués arriving during that span. Another 40 or so have come along since then, making for a full-blown Ricko-O-Rama.
Not that I’m complaining, mind you. Most of the material Ricko’s sent has been primo. There’s waaaaaay too much of it to fit in one entry, so here’s the first installment of the Ricko Files, which should become a regular feature around here (and would have debuted much sooner, except I was waiting for Ricko to provide a photo of himself, which he finally did a few days ago). Without further ado:
• Here’s the Sporting News’s season-opening uniform descriptions — A.L. and N.L. — for 1962. The interesting thing is that the Mets are listed as wearing “white with orange piping” at home (no mention of pinstripes) and “gray with orange trim” on the road. Obviously, that never happened; to my knowledge, the only time the Mets have ever worn orange trim was in the Civil Rights Game back in March. Also, note the mention of the “black belt,” when the team always wore blue belts in the early days. (This isn’t the only instance of the Mets’ inaugural uniforms being erroneously described, by the way: In January of ’62, Casey Stengel posed for this photo, which showed the Amazin’s set to wear striped stirrups and a flashier chest insignia. By the time pitchers and catchers reported a month later, the design had changed.)
• We all know that the A’s began wearing green and gold in 1963, when the team was still in Kansas City. But here’s an amazing tidbit: According to this Minneapolis Star clipping, KC’s original technicolor duds were made of nylon! But wait a minute — there’s nothing nylon-y about this photo, dated August of ’63. Ricko explains: “The first gold uniforms were actually satin, much like Dodgers uniforms you’ve shown. I know the A’s actually wore them because I watched the game on TV the night the Minneapolis Star photo ran. Even in black and white, it was easy to see they were, indeed, shiny satin.” I suspect the “satin” Ricko refers to was actually the nylon mentioned in the newspaper clipping, but either way it’s a major addition to the historical record. Anyway, they soon switched to standard flannels during that season. (Also, note that the team’s white shoes, striped stirrups, and yellow sanitaries aren’t shown in the clipping, because they didn’t appear until four years later.)
• Check out the stirrup stripes on Jim Hunter in that 1967 SI cover — tough to say if there are only two yellow stripes or if there’s a third one that’s obscured by his pants, right? Ed Charles definitely had three stripes, but the width and spacing look different than Hunter’s. And here’s Campy, clearly wearing two fairly narrow stripes. All these photos came from the same season, 1967.
• As long as we’re talking about the A’s: Here’s the solid-kelly |
