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Posts filed under 'History'
Here’s something I’ve been obsessed with for years: If you look at old photos, you’ll see that starting pitchers used to do their pregame warm-ups in front of their respective dugouts, not in the bullpens. Check out this old photo of Shea Stadium, for example — as you can see, there were three dirt circles on each side of the plate: an on-deck circle, a fungo-hitting circle, and a flat “mound” where the starting pitchers warmed up. If you look at this shot, also from Shea, you can see that this flat mound had its own pitching rubber. There was a home plate on each side too, right in front of the “No Pepper” sign near the backstop.
The color shots in that sequence are screen shots from When It Was a Game. Larry Bodnovich has compiled several hundred of them. Here are some highlights:
• Smokin’ in the boys’ room clubhouse.
• I can never get enough of those stripe-o-rama stirrups that the Reds wore in 1956 and ’57.
• What’s the deal with this cap? Almost looks like he’s wearing two caps, or like there’s a pocket or fold in the cap. Anyone..?
• Boy, those KC A’s uniforms were purty.
• Larry got lots of great shots of Cincinnati’s subscript NOBs. Additional views here, here, and here.
• Not sure what’s going on here, but it’s an interesting shot.
• Dig those Cubbies jackets!
• Rare color shot of the Yankees wearing the trylon and perisphere sleeve patch to promote the 1939 World’s Fair (which was also worn by the Dodgers and Giants). Additional view here.
• And here’s a good shot of the WWII-era “Health” patch that so many teams wore in the 1940s.
• Oh. My. God. SO much to like in that shot! And if that doesn’t melt you into a bag of sentimental mush, this one and this one probably will. Oh, and then there’s this one.
• Judging by past discussions, I’m the only one who likes this design. But c’mon, those sleeve stripes! And here’s a rare view of how this uni looked from behind.
• Man, that’s a thick armband that the 1940 Reds wore for teammate Willard Hershberger. Love those two-tone stirrups, too.
• The Reds had great usher’s attire, too.
And so on. Want to see more? Check out Larry’s three albums of When It Was a Game grabs here, here, and here, plus he’s also done an album of shots from FSN’s Golden Age of Baseball series, here.
Uni Watch Calendar: Remember, I’ll be conducting a Mets uniform quiz contest next Tuesday, July 21st, 7pm, at Two Boots on Grand Street (plus there will also be readings by Mets by the Numbers webmaster Jon Springer, Faith and Fear in Flushing webmaster Greg Prince, and Mets historian/author Matt Silverman). The quiz will be a ball-buster, so start studying sending bribes to the teacher now. There will be a free prize for the winner, plenty of not-free pizza and beer for everyone else, and you’ll get to see Phil looking all frustrated during the quiz because he’ll know most of the answers but won’t be allowed to enter (sorry, buddy, but there’d be a riot if my right-hand man ended up winning). Oh, and Springer, Prince, and Silverman won’t be able to enter either, just to keep things fair. Looking forward to seeing lots of you there.
Meanwhile, the Cleveland Uni Watch party is now confirmed for July 30th, 7pm, at the Prosperity Social Club. Vince has promised to do his show-stopping improv routine about CC Sabathia’s man-tits, so you won’t wanna miss that.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Remember that little buggy they used to bring Stan Musial out onto the field on Tuesday night? Turns out the Ford logo on the front was taped over (great catch by Brendon Yarian). … The Colts are the latest NFL teams to sell ad space on their practice jerseys (with thanks to Rob Quigg). … Very good memorabilia/collectibles site here — lots of good stuff if you click around (with thanks to HHH). … Here’s the logo for next January’s Winter Classic, which will be played at Fenway Park (with thanks to John Muir). … Andrew Borders, who works I the sports communications dept. at Princeton, writes: “While cleaning out a closet, we found this old jacket here in the office. The only tag says, ‘Hodgman, Framingham, Mass.,’ which refers to a company that has since been bought by the Coleman outdoor company.” Anyone have any insights on this jacket’s origins, history, etc.? … The Indianapolis Newspaper Guild is urging its members to wear red for a meeting today. … Still more city flag jerseys from HHH. … Interesting note about Under Armour basketball sneakers here (good find by Cedric Padilla). … Some very nice vintage equipment catalogs from Rawlings, Spalding, Rawlings again, Wilson, Rawlings yet again, and some little brand I’ve never heard of. … Here’s something I’m almost positive you haven’t seen before: Oil Can Boyd in catcher’s gear. Roberto Santiago took that shot while working at Red Sox fantasy camp last year. … Alan Borock reports that these shoes “are becoming popular in the running world” (and look, there’s Matt Powers ordering seven pairs right now). … If a dimpled surface makes a golf ball go farther, why not apply the same principle to a car? (Thanks, Kirsten.) … Lots of intriguing info from Matt Ryburn, who writes: “Here is a photo of my great-great-great uncle Jim Son, standing at far left, with his baseball team from Clarkdale, Arizona. Uncle Jim as he is known in my family is standing on the far left. My grandfather gave me this photo last weekend and told me he had fond memories of running up and down the wooden grandstands at the stadium. I am curious about the man in the back row, whose jersey says ‘WOW’ [and note the gorgeous vertical arching on the underside of the Ws -- PL]. I thought maybe Uni Watch readers might have some insight. The only thing my grandfather knew about him is that he was Native American and was sent up to try out for the Cleveland Indians in the ’30s but was sent back because his skin color was too dark.” … “Some athletes in Iraq are trying to start an Iraqi national baseball team for international competition,” writes Ryan Matthews. “But no one in Iraq sells baseball equipment and they currently have one jersey, from a Japanese team, nine gloves that they share, three balls, and an old softball bat. After hearing this, Rachel Maddow decided to organize a way to get them some gear. According to her show on Wednesday, Ebbets Field Flannels is making the uniforms and folks are working on getting them equipment.” I’ll check with Ebbets to learn more. … Coney Island babies, pre-Wilco on Monday evening. I had just gotten that shirt in the mail about three hours earlier (photo by the incomparable Liz Clayton).
July 16th, 2009
Maybe it’s just coincidence, but I was in Baltimore two weeks ago and now Baltimore’s own Joe Hilseberg has found a site that has what he describes as “the greatest local collection of jerseys I have even seen!”
The site is Parkway Pastimes, and it’s run by some serious collectors of Baltimore/DC game-used gear. Plug “jersey” or “helmet” into the site’s search engine and you get hundreds of results. Among the many, many highlights (for all these pages, click on the thumbnails for larger versions of the photos):
• Here’s a full, intact set of the O’s solid orange uniform. And here’s a prototype for a different orange design, which I’d never seen before.
• But if you really want to see a cool orange jersey, look at this one.
• Speaking of orange, check out the Rawlings sleeve patch on this jersey, along with the 30th-anniversary patch on the other sleeve.
• Joe says, “I think this jersey design only made it on the field one time. Angelos hated the orange neck trim.”
• Dig the lowercase lettering on this NOB.
• Speaking of NOBs, remember that brief period when the Caps used negatively arched lettering? Note that the lettering appears to be direct-sewn, which means the nameplate shown at NHLuniforms.com is apparently wrong.
• Here’s a gorgeous jersey from the minor league Orioles days.
• And speaking of the minor league O’s, look at this incredible sleeve patch!
• Jeez, ya think the Terps were trying to rip off the Nats jersey design or what?
• Here are two different Brooksie helmets, both with the shortened brim.
• Unusual finds here: two Senators caps, both with old-fashioned protective insert liners.
• I don’t think Mike Devereaux has ever shown up on our running list of MLB players who’ve worn faceguard attachments. But he appears to have had one.
• Maybe my favorite thing on the site: an old Colts marching band uni from the AAFC days when green was one of the team’s color.
• Look at all the different Caps socks these guys have collected.
• If you search on “pants,” you’ll see lots of Washington Bullets warmup pants — including one from Manute Bol. Check out the inseam listing on the tagging!
• Check out the totally boss Bullets warmup jackets here, here, and here.
• Love this killer Colts championship jacket.
And so on. There’s a lot more on the site — have fun poking around on it.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Jays wore their annual Canada Day uniforms yesterday, complete with CNOB and a flag sleeve patch. Additional pics here. … The Des Moines Register has put up a gallery of old Little League photos from the 1950s and ’60s, many of which feature interesting cap and jersey designs. Highly recommended clicking — check it out here (big thanks to Ryan Simmelink). … Very nice Forbes Field cartoon here (with thanks to Joel Basknight). … Latest installment of the North Stars uni history project is up (with thanks to Cole Jones). … Two new Australian soccer teams: the North Queensland Fury (here’s their road kit) and Gold Coast United (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Also from Jeremy: A store in Japan is hosting a Yomiuri Giants exhibit that includes a gallery where six designers have come up with new Giants uni concepts. … Good story here about Charlie Hayes’s 1994 facemasks. Didn’t realize he’d worn the Rip Hamilton-style version (big thanks to Bo Baize). … Recently spotted at Shea: Someone in a Mets jersey with “Buckner 86″ on the back (with thanks to Dan Herr). … Great shots of Hank Aaron serving as a Korean batting instructor, circa 1982, on this page (Jeremy again). … Andy Bruinewoud recently visited the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and took some photos. … Boy, this really makes me proud to be from Long Island (with thanks to Alan Kreit). … Ryan Church was wearing some seriously ridiculous bell-bottoms yesterday (thanks, Phil). … Just what I always wanted: a baseball map of Taiwan (Jeremy yet again). … Tyler Kepner asked Brian Bruney about his blank-backed cap: “Wish I had a more exciting report for you,” he writes, “but Bruney said he simply
wears the same hat for everything — spring training, pre-game, in-game –
and the iron-on logo on the back peeled off.” … Wow, I didn’t remember this patch being so big. … Interesting question posed by Derek Blodgett, who asks: “What’s with the upside-down triangle and NHL team logos? Three teams use the triangle: the Penguins, Sharks, and Predators. Is there any significance to that?” Hmmmm. … With the all the AFL throwback hoopla just around the corner, Phil reports that the excellent Remember the AFL site has been expanded. Worth checking out. … Speaking of something worth checking out, look at this players-vs.-umps episode of Family Feud (genius find by Chris Flinn). …That new football stadium in Dallas finally has a logo. … RIP, Thin Man.
Holiday Schedule: We’ll have regular content tomorrow. Phil was planning something for Saturday, but I insisted that he take the holiday off, so instead we’ll just have a photo that captures the spirit of America (I really wanted to use that one, but the date kinda ruins it for July 4th purposes). And then Phil will do his usual thing on Sunday. OK? OK.
July 2nd, 2009
By Phil Hecken and Lance Smith
Scroll down for two important messages from Paul
I’m back today, joined by Lance Smith (a/k/a “Squiddie”), whose unofficial UW title has got to be “Life Historian.” He’ll be taking us through a wonderful journey today of the Cream City, vis-à-vis the first Major League Baseball franchise to call Milwaukee home, the Braves. Lance weaves a wonderful tale through his incredibly through and painstaking research of the Life archives:
On March 28, 1953, Lou Perini announced that he would be moving his Boston Braves to Milwaukee. The move had been approved 8-0 by the National League and by April 14, Milwaukee was ready for the ceremonial first pitch. (OK, Lance thinks that was the first pitch in 1957 but you get the idea.)
This was the first major league franchise shift in 50 years and the initial enthusiasm by the Milwaukee fans meant it received some attention in Life magazine. If you look through the Life photo archives you can find some choice images from the early days in 1953 and during the teams successes in 1957 and 1958.
So what did the Braves find when the moved to Milwaukee?
• Attractive young women in faux Native American head gear
• Warren Spahn and his wife got a visit by the Welcome Wagon. Included in their welcome gifts were a book on playing winning baseball and a six pack of Grandpa Graf’s.
• Some protest (A 35 hour work week? Lance guesses they did elect Frank P. Zeidler, a Socialist, as mayor in 1948 and he was still in office in 1953.)
• Sausages.
• More sausage. That’s pitcher Max Surkont. Note the back of the dugout jacket in his locker.
• A welcome banquet.
• Mr and Mrs. Spahn again. (No, they’re not the ones drinking the PBR.) Of course, some players played with their food.
But, no matter where they went, there were attentive fans.
The young women of Milwaukee seemed smitten with Eddie Matthews. Even bringing him gifts at the park. Though it was manager Charlie Grimm who got a puppy. Fred Haney, Grimm’s replacement, would receive cheese from a beauty queen. Joe Adcock would also get some attention from royalty.
The Milwaukee Braves could also expect colorful crowds — Often SRO and sometimes sitting room only. Crowds often included members of the clergy and fashionable young ladies. Often more hirsute than average, but with a good appreciation for a fine newspaper like the Milwaukee Journal. Of course, not everyone at the park was most interested in the game.
Milwaukee did gain a lively booster club with more faux Native-American headgear, shirts with swanky embroidery and a fondness for Blatz beer.
Thanks, Lance. Always a great trip down memory lane when you delve into the Life archives!
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And Now Two Important Messages From Paul
IMPORTANT INFO regarding the Baltimore party: Paul here, with a last-minute change of venue announcement regarding the Baltimore party tomorrow. Due to a mix-up (read: poor advance research on my part), we will NOT be meeting at Hillendale Lanes. Instead, we’ll be meeting at Racers, tomorrow night at 7pm. Kirsten and I will have to head back to NYC at 9:30, so we’ll have a solid two and a half hours of Uni Watch fun, OK? OK.
IMPORTANT INFO about something else: The next round of “Naming Wrongs” shirts is finally ready to go, and I think you’ll agree they look pretty sharp. Check ’em out here (or see the individual pages for the Comiskey, Joe Robbie, Mile High, and Jake shirts). These won’t ship until July 13th, but we’re taking pre-orders now. You know what to do.
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 The Proctor Chronicles: Yesterday I linked to several photos of the Buffalo Sabres wearing “mismatched” stripes on their sleeves and hems. That prompted sporting goods scholar Terry Proctor to check in with an explanation:
Dear Phil,
A little background on the Sabres’ original uniform gaffe might help to set things straight. First, the Sabres’ first uniforms in their inaugural year of 1970-71 were made in the style that the Toronto Maple Leafs had just abandoned. Sabres’ Coach/GM George “Punch” Imlach was formerly the head man in Toronto and liked the style of uniform that his Leafs wore in winning the 1967 Stanley Cup.
When he learned that Toronto was changing styles for ‘70-’71 Punch decided to make the new Sabres into clones of the Leafs, albeit adding the Gold trim. The late Frank Rowe, who with his wife Vi ran the C-C-M warehouse in Buffalo and supplied all of the skates, pads, gloves and sticks for many NHL and AHL teams (including the Sabres and Rochester Americans), told me this story years ago. Frank Rowe was a regular visitor to NHL & AHL dressing rooms and one of the “good guys” in the sporting goods business. Many times we would send a broken Amerk player’s skate to Buffalo via Trailways bus after a Friday game in Rochester. Frank would pick up the skate after midnight, repair it and the meet the Amerks’ bus as it passed through Exit 50 of the NYS Thruway in Williamsville en route to Cleveland for a Saturday night game. That was the kind of guy Frank Rowe was.
The Sabres’ new uniforms were ordered but were running late, so much so that they played their first couple of exhibition games wearing the Red, White and Blue uniforms of the AHL Buffalo Bisons that they replaced. The Sabres’ first trainer/equipment manager was Frank Christie who had been in the same job with the Bisons since the 1940s. Since the Sabres used the same dressing room as the Bisons all of the Herd’s unis were still there. Frankie just passed out the Bisons’ old gear at the start.
When the Sabres’ uniforms finally arrived from Rawlings it was noticed that the body striping was reversed from the sleeve stripes. With time against them in ordering a new set of White sweaters Imlach in effect said, “Screw it! We’re wearing these!” So what was an innocent manufacturing goof thus became part of Sabres uniform tradition and history. And if you look closely at original Sabres socks you will note that they have the narrow Northwestern-style striping of the Maple Leafs. Somewhere down the line the stripes all became equal.
Also, pictures of Sabres early practice sessions show Gilbert Perreault and others wearing those Bisons’ “Pepsi-bottle cap” sweaters.
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 Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: It’s impossible to stump you folks. I think. Got a couple here that just may do that. As always, same rules apply — don’t post the answer in the comments, but simply say “I got it” and go to baseball almanac or retrosheet and post the link to the game. Date, location and final score please. See if you can get them both.
Here’s the first one — remember, it’s the game from the STADIUM where the scoreboard is located. Guess The Game
This one might be a little bit harder. Clues are there though. (This pic comes courtesy of Chris Staggs) Guess The Game
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Uni Watch Ticker: Reader Melvin Nieves saw the weekend post, A Reversal of Fortune Color and sent the following note: “Your recent uni-watch article on brand re-coloring reminds me of a set of Padres jersey concepts my partner and I put together for our blog. We find the current Padres jersey set boring, the colors aren’t traditional Padres colors, and they lack a connection to the Friar mascot. The worst part though, is they look just like Milwaukee’s uniforms! We came up with a plan to fix these issues, and I mocked them up in Photoshop (Home and Away). We believe these concepts are unique, attractive, we like the return to traditional brown, and they maintain a connection to the current jerseys. Fans love the sand color, so we think that should stay as well. More info is available here.” … An anonymous friend noticed, with Jerry West as “the NBA logo,” was this photo of Dave Kingman used as the inspiration for Barrelman? Eerie (here they are side by side)… Ben Walsh checks in with another in the myriad number of Worst Uniform Ever articles … “When I heard that the Clippers might move (just a rumor!),” writes Yossi Katz “I started to think what if they came to Saint Louis? What would they be called? Then I (with a little help) made these uniforms. They are the Saint Louis Archers. The white is the home, the gold the road, and the blue the alternate. On the blue, the light blue waves on each side represent the two rivers (Missouri and Mississippi) coming together and continuing down the shorts as one. Note the Arch on the shorts. The main logo is on the home jersey, the alternate on the alternate. What do you think?” — Readers? Thoughts? … The Junior World Championship of American Football is being held at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton later on in June, writes Zac Neubauer. A nice surprise is there doesn’t seem to be any ads. There is a full media gallery on their website. Zac included a shot of Team USA. … Christopher Falvey wasn’t sure if we ever posted this, but apparently Gordie Howe went FNOB back in the day. He found it on this classic video from Chicago: Fast forward to about 1:15 to see a strange animated AL logo too! The whole video is pretty cool. Chris notes, “And, no, I have no idea what the heck is going on with the commercial at 2:30. Ha!” … Although stills from this have been posted, Jason Rypkema found an article with some real neat shots of the some of the AFL throwbacks … Interesting uni tidbit from B. Mitchell from last week’s Italy v New Zealand Friendly warmup match in South Africa, preceeding the Confederation Cup. The New Zealand’s soccer team, is known as “The All-Whites” and they wore a full black kit, like their rugby countrymen. Italy is famously known as the Azzurri (The Blues) and they wore all white kits. … Intersting find from Jason Bernard, who discovered this “Pittsburgh Pirates” cap. He asks, “I wonder if Powers has that one?” … Our penultimate ticker item comes from Casey Wurzbach, who grabbed this shot of Joe Torre bearing gifts on the Tonight Show … Finally, Pablo Souki sent along a few pictures he found in this book, which is about the Asros’ baseball academy in Venezuela: First, pictures of what is supposed to be the first baseball game ever in Venezuela, in 1895. Second, the Caracas road uniform from the 1964-65 season. Not a great picture, but what Pablo loves about it is that it’s Pete Rose crossing home plate. And finally, Tequila Sunrise uniforms in 1990 at the Astros’ academy, as worn by sixteen-year-old Bobby Abreu.
June 16th, 2009
By Phil Hecken … with Dave Ribar and Mike Engle
In yet another interesting bit of serendipity, last weekend’s “What Is Your Uni Secret?” column generated so much ‘buzz,’ I was approached, separately, by two readers, both of whom had remarkably similar ideas. Inspired by the ‘guilty pleasure’ of liking a uniform which generally meets with disdain and ridicule on these boards, both Dave Ribar and Mike Engle emailed me with their thought that a fun column might be basically the opposite of the guilty uniform secret — that being, a uniform which is generally lauded and loved by the UW readership, but which they secretly detest. I’ll let each explain, based on their E-mail contact with me. We’ll start with Dave Ribar who first approached me with the idea:
I enjoyed your Saturday topic of guilty pleasures. I thought it was a great weekend discussion topic — something simple and light that kept the comments section flowing.
That got me to thinking. Maybe you already have this planned, but it would be interesting to devote a future weekend post to the anti-guilty pleasure uniform. I don’t know what you would call it (Emperor Has No Uni?), but it’s the case where you dislike a uniform that nearly everyone else considers a classic. Maybe you hate the entire uniform, or maybe there is just one detail that drives you crazy and ruins the whole thing. To set some rules, the reason for disliking the uni should be uni-based (none of this “I hate the Yankees uniforms because I’m a Red Sox fan” – that adds nothing to the conversation). Another rule would be that the uniform must be considered great by a clear majority.
Next was Mike Engle, who ’spearheaded’ last weekend’s guilty pleasure column. His E-mail to me was as follows, slightly more concise, but the exact same sentiment:
How about a jersey we’re afraid to say anything bad about?
And with that, both of these fine gentlemen proceeded to launch into diatribes bemoaning one or more uniforms. Since Dave approached me first, we’ll get to his selections momentarily. But he wanted to give us this small taste of a biography: “As for me, I’ll keep things short. I enjoyed Paul’s early ESPN columns, and I started reading Uni Watch from the very beginning. I’m originally from Pittsburgh, and I like all of their teams. Because of this, I root against the Browns, Penn St.. and Notre Dame. I am looking forward to the NHL returning to white at home. I have no information on this, but it seems obvious and long overdue.”
Thanks Dave. And now on to Dave’s “Anti-Uni Secrets”:
Now, for the fun part. Here are my unis for the topic…
Bears: The numbers are too skinny for me and don’t look right.
Cubs: I don’t hate the uniforms, but I’ve always thought of them as Little League, with the giant (and simple) chest logo. As for the road unis, they have tried many different things and come up empty each time.
Mets original: Not sure if this is a “classic”, but … I don’t think there is enough contrast between the blue and orange, and the Mets script is ok, but not great — maybe because it’s too short a name. And the interlocking NY is second rate to the Yankees. Lastly, this is another team that never got the road uni right.
Red Wings red: The white sweaters look really good, but the reds do nothing for me. The white stripes look too thick and the uniform is just too red and too plain, even with the great detailed chest logo … Also, sports with shoulder pads shouldn’t use arched names on back, even if it is the (overhyped on this site) vertically arched kind. Straight names on back look much much better in hockey and football.
Brewers ball in glove: Maybe not considered a classic, but definitely overrated. I like the colors, but from the neck down, these uniforms are horribly plain. And the cartoonish glove (4 fingers?!?) takes away from the double-meaning (although it is still a fun logo).
Wow, Dave. Thanks for that. I’m sure a LOT of folks aren’t going to agree with you, but you gave solid reasons for your dislike of these “classic” unis, and I for one can not only respect your opinions, but they definitely may cause others to look at them in a different light.
Next up is Mike Engle, who was on the same wavelength as Dave and who provided me with two unis he loves to hate. Here’s Mike:
The original Philly Flyers (recently reprised as an alternate): Now I’m not saying I prefer what they have now, but these orange uniforms just aren’t that good. The orange sleeve numbers creeping onto the orange body? Not good. The white nameplate? Glad to see it not fixed (it’s an essential throwback detail), but I still don’t like it. The socks? Not good at all. Now I know what the defenders will say: they’re just the Red Wings’ socks, in orange. Now here’s why the Flyers fail here. The Red Wings have two colors. Red and white. Not an ounce of anything else, except for sticks and skates, but I consider that players’ equipment, not the uniform. So while the Red Wings’ socks are REALLY simple (one thick band of color over the other color), it’s the best they can do, so it looks good. The Flyers have THREE colors. Orange, white, and black (really, black, not BFBS). Doubt me? Look at the number trim, the gloves, and the logo. That’s a lot of black. Been there since the Barry Ashbee era. Now look at the socks. Somebody forgot to put a team color on the Flyers’ socks. Either that, or the Flyers really did accept the Red Wings’ rejected laundry. So there you go. This is why I can’t join the “The Flyers look GREAT in their throwbacks!” chorus. Because they don’t. It’s their best uniform they can currently wear, but I just don’t like it.
If you want a second “secret gripe” from me, here’s one now — the white (and only the white) Buffalo Sabres, before they went black/red/silver batshit insane. Check out this picture. It’s a great uniform from a distance, but zone in on the stripe details. The bottom jersey hem goes yellow-blue-yellow, just like the socks. But the sleeves go blue-yellow-blue. There can’t be a good reason for this flip-flop. It’s just a STUPID design decision that drives me crazy every time I think about it, and proof that the Sabres REALLY should have gotten it all right the first time. Because no matter what happens to the socks, it looks all wrong for eternity, as seen about seventeen months ago.
Lets flash back to the 2008 Winter Classic. By this time, the Sabres had abandoned the black/red/silver batshit insanity in favor of the idiotic Buffaslug. I was almost looking forward to the break from that thing for a logo, but the special uniform was more of the same problem, but slightly worse. In what was supposed to be a straight throwback (the problem is that the socks aren’t double-triple striped like how they used to be), the Sabres found another way to fuck up their “timeless look.” You can see the new “wrong socks” have been flip-flopped to match the sleeves, leaving the bottom hem as the mismatched element. If I had to choose one or the other, I’d rather the sock stripes echo the bottom jersey hem, but I shouldn’t have to make that choice: all three components should match.
I love this crest, I think the colors are good, I adore the double-triple stripes of old, and the old all blue look is very good, but this really could have used a decent editor’s eye. Now it’s too iconic of a throwback, which means the stripes will never get fixed, and I’ll be stuck with this gripe forever, and I’ll never fully like the old-time Sabres in white.
Well thank you Michael. That’s a lot of “anti-love” for a couple of what many consider “classic” puck kits. I’m sure there are some who read who will take umbrage with your thoughts, but like Dave, they were well articulated and certainly thought-provoking.
What say you, Uni Watchers? Got a uniform that’s “so classic” or “so good” that you just can’t stand? Remember, you can’t hate the Yankees uni just because you’re a Red Sox fan (or vice versa), and the uniform must be thought of as a true ‘classic.’ You need a legitimate beef with what many of us consider a real solid uniform. Let’s hear it.
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Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: You guys are obviously getting too good at this game. So, you shouldn’t have any problems guessing this one either. But then, maybe you will. Remember, if you get it, DON’T POST THE ANSWER in the comments, but instead, go to Baseball Almanac or Retrosheet and copy the URL of the game that’s about to follow. Just say something like “I GOT IT” and post the link as your “answer” in the comments. As a special “weekday edition” we’ve got TWO scoreboards today, so you must find the answer to BOTH. Final Score, Date & Location required. Ready?
Guess The Game, Pt. I
Guess The Game, Pt. II
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Uni Watch Ticker: Reader Johnny Griswold writes, “I saw your post today (Saturday) about recoloring of new logos to their traditional colors and I wanted to point you to a design project that I’ve been working on for a month or two. It’s called Totally 80’s Redesign, where I take the five most deserving/modern NHL teams and redesign their uniforms as though they were around in the 1980’s.” You can view Johnny’s latest creation here — All of the other team redesigns can be seen by clicking the banners in my right sidebar of the site. Johnny continues, “Additionally, I’ll be creating a Totally Reebok concept, where I take defunct NHL teams, bring them back to life, and modernize them to the new Reebok Edge jerseys.” … Welcome back to the Black … Jeffery Waszak found what looks like an interesting drink — not quite the ‘official’ Mets’ script, but close … Hey Pirates! This is what a trophy looks like — and how brilliant were the schedule-makers to have the Buccos playing Detroit? … I believe these photos may have been posted in the comments on a previous day, but Steven Wojtowicz writes, “Here’s Carrie Underwood at the 19th Annual City of Hope Celebrity Softball Challenge. I can say without a doubt in my mind that this is the first time I’ve ever had any sexy feelings about women’s softball.” … I stumbled on this photo of France vs. Turkey playing hoops — for a second, I thought it was a WNBA game … It seems we haven’t seen the last of pink in sport, as Craig Costello points out in this article about players dye facial hair pink to support Women In League, and also this one, which remarks on the facial stylings of someone known as “Wolfman” … The Pirates and Tigers did the throwback thing yesterday in Pittsburgh, with each team donning 1909 vintage unis, and Pittsburgh again showed Detroit who’s boss, celebrating like they did 100 years ago … Pacific Rim and Asian Baseball Correspondent Jeremy Brahm checks in with this “Pillbox” video — go about 50 seconds in and you can see the Pacific League pitchers for the Nippon Ham Fighters and Kintetsu Buffaloes wearing them for the 1979 All-Star Game. And even his Central League teammates as well. About 3 minutes in and you’ll get another shot of some of the hats. … The Mets have finally called for backup … Zevi Lowenberg found a great article on MLB.com Sunday morning about one pitcher that now sprints to the mound when he called in. … Got a note from Josh Neisler who writes, “you’ll find a few photos of a jersey Honus Wagner wore as a hitting instructor for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The jersey belongs to the collection of the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory (where I work part-time as a tour guide) and was acquired at auction last November. Wagner is important to Louisville Slugger because he was the first player to sign an endorsement contract with the company (he first signed in 1905) and to have his name and likeness appear on Slugger retail models (see bat in photos). Wagner played for the Louisville Colonels until that team merged with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1900. The jersey is white with red letters outlined in blue, and also has red and blue piping around the neck and down the front, in keeping with the Pirates’ color scheme in the first half of the 20th Century. Here’s the text on the placard next to the jersey: Honus Wagner wore this 1946 Pittsburgh Pirates jersey. Wagner was a hitting instructor from 1932 through 1952, and was credited with aiding in the development of players such as Ralph Kiner, Pie Trayno, Arky Vaughan, and Kiki Cuyler. The tag says, ‘Gold Smith, Made in U.S.A., A Preferred Product.’ The size is 48 and Wagner’s last name is stitched just below the tag.” … West Coast correspondent Brinke Guthrie checks in with Chein Ming Wang’s baseball inspired kicks — says Brinke, “I kinda like these. I think.” … Dan Lamothe writes, “Even when I travel on business, I can’t get away from this stuff.” What stuff? Fake Yankees gear, of course. … Ditch the black? Why that’s a novel concept for the Jays and Mets. Thanks to Ben Walsh for the find … Fortunately Paul is on vacation and didn’t have to witness the purple-clad LA Lakers capture the NBA championship, after which they got to wear these nifty caps & t-shirts. Of course, coach Phil chose to don a gold and purple “X” cap (for his 10 NBA titles as a coach), while the Lakers t-shirt said “15x Champions”. Kobe got all the hardware, clad in his 3 stripe swag. And somewhere, soon, in Somalia, small children will proudly walk around thinking the Magic & Red Wings are the World Champs.
June 15th, 2009
By Phil Hecken, with Dave Magruder
You may recall that recently I ran a post with Mike Engle, “What Is Your Uni Secret?,” which asked readers to come up with their “guilty pleasure” for a uniform. In that column, I mentioned that the idea for such came from a reader whom I could not remember at the time, and I asked that reader to come forth and accept the glory for a wonderful suggestion. He did, and it turns out that suggestion came from Dave Magruder (”Dave Mac”), who joins me today with another interesting suggestion (a portion of which also appeared in the comments a while ago) He has expounded upon that original suggestion.
Here’s Dave:
In 2000 the Rams changed their uniforms from royal blue, yellow and white, to millennium blue, gold and white. At the time this seemed like relevant change due to the team’s new identity in St. Louis as “The Greatest Show on Turf.” Recently, however, I’ve been longing for the team to return to their classic royal blue and yellow uniforms (thankfully they will wear them as throwbacks in 2009). These uniforms were a staple of Rams time in Los Angeles as well as the team’s Super Bowl 34 championship in St. Louis.
However, I have always been fond of the current logo introduced with the 2000 uniforms. It is fairly no-frills and modernistic, but it still has a certain charm and connection to the past. This gave me the idea to combine the best of both worlds … the new 2000 logo with the classic LA Rams colors. These types of old/new hybrids don’t always work, but it was intriguing enough for me to see how it would look. Not knowing much about design myself, I asked some Uni Watch readers if they could help me create this logo and several of them posted responses.
Compare the current Rams logo to the current logo with traditional colors (this one created by UW stalwart Chance Michaels).
Interesting. This got me thinking of other logo possibilities. Have there been teams you’d like to see combine a current color scheme to an old logo? Or vice versa? What if the Milwaukee Brewers brought back the old MB ball and glove logo with their current gold and navy color set? Or what if the Seattle Seahawks current, more aggressive hawk logo was filled in with the old Pacific Northwest colors of green, gray and blue? Or what about Milwaukee Brewers barrel man with current colors, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Bucco Bruce logo in red and pewter current color scheme, the Green Bay Packers “G” logo in blue and yellow (1940s team colors), or the Detroit Lions (pre-2009) logo with a gold or red color scheme (see grafs 12 & 13) from the team’s early history?
There are a lot of interesting possibilities I haven’t mentioned that may be worth exploring.
Indeed there are Dave. As fate would have it, Chance Michaels has already created the Barrel Man in current Brewers colors. Pretty sweet, huh?
What say you, dear readers? Do you have any suggestions for former logos or wordmarks or images you think would look awfully sweet if they were updated with your favorite team’s current color scheme? Or, how about a logo from today with colors from the past? I think this could be a really interesting project. If you have the Photoshop/Illustrator or other graphic skills, would you like to try your hand at a few of these? If you don’t, how about you make a suggestion for a “new” logo with updated colors (or altogether new colors) and post it here. Perhaps those of you (and there are so many talented UWers out there) with the skills can take some of the suggestions which are sure to follow and create what has been suggested? I’ll gladly run your submissions in a future column! Either post them directly into the comments or send them directly to me and we can take a look at these again in a short while.
As you guys know, I’m not much in the way of a graphic artist, but I figured I would give a couple of Dave Mac’s ideas a shot, just so we could get an idea of what he’d like to see. So, here’s the Seahawks old & new logos (with the new logo in old colors) and the Original Bucco Bruce, and how he might look with current Buccaneer colors. Finally, here’s what I came up with for the Brewers classic Ball in Glove logo with today’s colorscheme.
And since I’m not much of the graphic artist, I commissioned Pretty Boy Paulie (Paul Soto), UW graphics genius, to help out with the remaining logos Dave had described: the Green Bay Packers in Blue & Gold, the Detroit Lions in Red & Black as well as the Lions with Gold outline. Thanks Paulie, yer the best!
Thanks again, Dave, for the suggestion. OK Uni Watchers, let’s hear what you got!
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Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: OK — you guys have gotten so good at this game, I’m gonna try and stump you, or at least make you work a little today. Slight changes to the “rules” as well: DON’T email me with your guess, but don’t put it on the board either. Instead, if you wish to take a shot at the answer, go to Baseball Almanac or Retrosheet and copy the URL of the game that’s about to follow. Just say something like “I GOT IT” and post the link as your “answer” in the comments. This way, those who wish to guess can still do so without seeing the answer in the comments. Ok? Ok! Here we go: Guess The Game. Remember, I want the date, location and final score (all of which can be gleaned by posting the link from one of the reference sites). Let’s see how long this one takes you.
*If you have a scoreboard photo you’d like featured, please send it to me. I’m compiling a pretty good “stash” for your guessing pleasure, but I can always use more. Make sure to include the date, location and final score! Thanks.
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This is pretty cool. Brinke Guthrie (”=bg=”) sent me this really cool collage he created this week. I liked it so much, I told him I’d share it with y’all.
Also extremely cool is this. Check out the Royals 40th Anniversary Website. Notice anyone in particular? (In case the website happened to rotate out the photo to which I am referring — here’s a screengrab). If the name of the kid in the uni isn’t familiar to you, that’s UW’s own “Lwiedy“.
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 BOBBLE-iscious: Well, it came! UW Bobblehead Guru & Artistic Genius Robert Marshall’s custom bobble arrived this week in a standard FedEx box…standard until you saw the customization on the side. My anticipation was high as I opened the box to reveal my very own bubble-wrapped “LI Phil” bobblehead baseball boy … he even came with a custom bubblewrap neck brace. And now I have actual proof that, at the very least, the bobble-likeness Gets It (TM). Awesome! Bobbleboy now sits atop my computer desk, looking down upon me at the ceiling with disdain.
This is an amazingly high quality bobble. And it’s heavy too. Like, crack-your-skull heavy. Robert even made a video of the little guy before shipping. If you haven’t looked into getting your own custom bobble (hey — Father’s Day is coming up!) I cannot recommend this highly enough. Robert didn’t ask me for a plug, but I’m gonna give it to him anyway. Contact Him if you’re interested. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed!
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 Add to the list another tracker, Timothy Killeen who has been tracking your World Champion Philadelphia Phillies. Here’s his report:
I realize I’m a little late on the uni-tracking bandwagon, but I was inspired by the spreadsheet of another Uniwatchblog tracker and decided to try my hand at doing it for the Phillies since no other track master had covered them yet. I’d love to post when the next round starts up, but until then, here’s what I would have written this time around (as of June 6):
This is my first post at Uniwatchblog, but I’ve been following it for a few months and never go a day without missing it. I’ll be posting as Secane Snake (don’t ask). I decided to start tracking the Philadelphia Phillies’ W-L record by pitcher and uniform as a way of teaching myself iWork Numbers which I recently started to favor over MS Excel. I was intrigued by the work put into user Scott Gladin’s spreadsheet being used to track the Braves, and I decided I would see if I had the chops to replicate it. I think I did pretty well, although I’ll admit the Phils are a much easier team to track. Here is a screen shot of what I have so far.
My WFC Phillies are a decidedly simple team to uni track. Not only do they mostly wear the same classic red hat for both home and away games unless instructed otherwise by the league (Memorial Day, 4th of July, etc.), but figuring out when they will/did wear their new (as of 08’) cream alternate uniforms and blue hats is simple: They wear ‘em during home games that start before 7pm EST, or “day games,” if you will. Simple as that.
Wearing only 3 uniform sets makes me less inclined to believe the Phils’ winning percentage is at all influenced by their choice of uniform, but I do hope they’ll keep up the ridiculous 77% WPCT they’ve accumulated as of June 6th while wearing their away grays. Two players, Joe Blanton and Brett Myers, have been drastically better wearing the gray, and the pitching staff as a whole has only notched 2 decisions at all let alone wins in 8 games wearing the cream alternates.
Since the team was 4-4 before they started to wear the HK patch commemorating the April death of legendary broadcaster Harry Kalas, their winning percentage with the patch is going to be easy for anyone: simply check out the standings, the Phils’ WPCT overall is the same for their WPCT with an HK patch.
As for anomalies: I considered their gold trimmed home-opener WS jersey as just another regular home jersey, but I will always remember that they are 0-1 with that get-up. After that we have the gray Jackie Robinson #42 they wore in May against the Nats which they won, and the Memorial Day game in which they looked pretty much the same wearing another red hat in which they also won.
Thanks Tim. And now, officially, welcome to Uni Watch!
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This and That: While I was too busy watching Luis Castillo singlehandedly cost the Mets a win at Yankee Stadium last night, apparently there was some kind of hockey game on — Congrats to the Pens … We all flock to UW to see the athlete in uniform. Now, the WWL is hoping we want to see the athlete sans uni — like, REALLY, without uni … Sounds like big things are planned at next weekend’s Civil Rights Game, the first time MLB is playing it during the regular season — maybe the Chi Sox will recycle last year’s unis? Right. … Here’s more on the Civil Rights game and Cincinnati’s hosting of that event … Are you a male who’d like to make $100 the sleazy way? Then Rick Reilly has a deal for you … The United Football League will announce logos and colors and nicknames and sponsorship deals for its four franchises in the coming weeks — What the UFL should do: Pursue signing Michael Vick with abandon and assign him to the Las Vegas team … Especially since Vick was released by the Falcons … Apparently, the Red Sox threw at A-Roid on purpose … So will Petey be wearing a Rays or Cubs uni this season? — He’s lookin’ ripped … Apparently we’re not the only ones “Calling It Shea”: Awesome!
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Special Saturday Uni Watch Ticker (compiled by Paul): Very cool that the Nets still have this banner up at their arena (with thanks to Peter Wunsch). … Utah and BYU are getting new field designs (with thanks to Jon Alviani). … So many weird things going on in this photo. First, you’ve got New York Giants players wearing Mets caps. Then you’ve got Mets PR guy Jay Horwitz getting a Giants jersey. And finally, why did they give him a road jersey instead of a home version? … Patrick Williams, who works at the Braves Museum and Hall of Fame, saw the recent Ticker note about the upside-down N at Turner Field. “I pointed out the mistake to my supervisor,” he says. “It has been passed on to the engineering department and will be fixed soon. Thanks for the catch!” … Awesome 100-year-old ad for baseball gear here. … You know how some old baseball jerseys had button-on sleeve extensions? Look — you can own a set of the extensions! Never seen that before. … Did you know that MLB teams can prohibit any minor league team in a 60-mile radius from conducting a bobblehead giveaway? I didn’t, until Robert Ruszczyk sent me this and this. Amazing. Also very sad. … Here are Washington State’s new football uniforms. … Virginia Tech plans to wear special throwback helmets for their home opener (with thanks to Jonathan Sluss). … Here’s an odd but useful view of the Bills’ white throwback (with thanks to Mike Sullivan). … Great shot here of Dave Bing wearing wrestling headgear, presumably due to an ear injury (nice find by Tris Wykes).
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Enjoy your Saturday everyone!
June 13th, 2009
Been a while since I played show-and-tell with my library of vintage uniform and equipment catalogs, and I’ve acquired some interesting new additions to the collection since then. Here’s a breakdown:
• 1964 AALCO Backboard Catalog: This is a bit of an oddball, beause it’s so specific. Like, c’mon, 12 pages devoted to nothing but basketball backboards? But that specificity turns out to be pretty fascinating — who knew there were so many different ways of suspending and folding backboards, or that they had cool names like Cent-R-Strut or forward jacknife model? I vaguely remember my high school gym having something like these contraptions, but nothing as elaborate as this. And look, they even had special tools for hoisting the gear. Way nifty. (Full page-by-page breakdown here.)
• Spalding Sports Show for 1949: A cross between a sporting goods catalog and a comic book, this is one of the most interesting additions to the Uni Watch library in many a moon. Each page features a gallery of cartoons by the great Willard Mullin (more on him here), sort of Ripley’s Believe It or Not-style, and then concludes with an ad for Spalding equipment toward the bottom of the page. Oddly, the gear being pitched usually has nothing to do with the cartoons on that particular page, but whatever. Can you believe I got this awesome artifact for only $10.50? (Full content available here.)
• 1961 Champion Catalog: No surprises here — the usual assortment of jerseys, hose, more jerseys, and so on. The notable thing about this is that the catalog was keyed to Champion’s Rochester operation, which means I think our resident Rochester sporting goods expert, Terry Proctor, will be weighing in with some thoughts. Also worth noting: another appearance of basketball target stirrups, some rather anorexic-looking illustrations of girls, and a fully intact order blank. (Full content available here.)
• Yarrington Mills swatchbook pages: Speaking of Terry Procter, he recently sent me a bunch of vintage swatch pages from Yarrington Mills, and it’s pretty fascinating stuff. There are stripes, braids, patterns, even sparkle fabrics. Swatches are so damn cool. Thanks, Terry! (Full content available here.)
Raffle Reminder: I’m currently raffling off a free T-shirt from SportsCrack.com. Details here.
Something odd that I just noticed: I was checking something on the Uni Watch Membership Roster yesterday when I noticed something odd: Not a single enrollee has chosen No. 70 for his or her membership card. Granted, 70 isn’t the most hallowed number in sports history, but I figured someone would’ve chosen it by now.
Other numbers that have so far gone unclaimed: 62, 64, 85 and 95. So if you want a unique card and a number all to yourself on the roster listing, you’ve got some options.
And now a quick word from Phil: “All uni trackers, if you’ve been keeping track of your favorite baseball team’s record by uniform, please contact me, if you haven’t already done so, as I’ll be posting the first of the tracking results this weekend. Thanks.”
Uni Watch News Ticker: For those who’ve lost track of the Syracuse lacrosse team’s uni changes this season, Chris Drouin has provided a handy overview: “They started the season with home whites jerseys, white shorts, white gloves and white helmets with their numbers on them. Then they switched to white jerseys, orange shorts and gloves, and orange helmets with numbers on the back. Then, for championship weekend, they stuck with the orange shorts/helmets/gloves, but the helmets had player’s name on the back of it instead of their number.” … Uni cameo: Kevin Johnson as a Cav (with thanks to Nick Houser, who has a blog devoted to Ohio sports cards). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Now that’s a bullpen buggy. Note the great usher’s cap, too. … “I was recently in Belgium and went to the museum where they house the costumes/uniforms for the little statue Mannekin Pis (the famous one that is something of a symbol for the city of Brussels),” writes Kelly Phillips. “I was surprised to see that he has actually donned not only a Montreal Canadiens sweater (a gift from the Canadian prime minister in the 1950s) but even a Toronto Blue Jays jersey in the mid-’80s. He has worn more than 700 outfits over the years, and a number of them have been sports uniforms — mostly European football teams, as well Belgian hockey teams, and even the Latvian ice hockey team when they won the Championships in 2006. The uniforms are incredibly well made and done with meticulous care to appear like the real thing. Which is amusing since the statue is only a little over a foot tall.” Additional info on Kelly’s blog. … Lots of old-timey baseball photos from Lincoln, Nebraska here, here, and here (with thanks to Bob Andrews). … Pictorial history of Moroccan volleyball available here (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Awesome little tidbit buried on this page: “Reliever Seth McClung [of the Brewers] altered his warmup apparel Wednesday, when he wore a long-sleeve shirt with ‘Not Coffey’ printed on the back. McClung was trying to help out the fans who sit behind the bullpen, who have been known to mistake McClung for fellow reliever Tim Coffey” (great spot by Harry Bergmann). … Don’t step on that logo (big thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … Stunning news last night out of Chicago, where career low-cuffer Aaron Heilman, of all people, became the latest member of Stirrup Nation. Lots of additional pics here (as first reported by Michael Romero). … Not uni-related, but an interesting article here about pro sports’ losing-est franchises. The 13 “winners” are presented in this slideshow (thanks, Teebz). … The uniforms of all 64 NCAA baseball tourney teams are described and photo-linked here (nice find by Mike Camello). … The AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins are looking for a third jersey designer (with thanks to Johnny Griswold). … The UC Irvine Anteaters use an interesting shortened version of their name on their jerseys (with thanks to Ben Teaford). … Happy Birthday to Kirsten, a day early. Looking forward to tomorrow’s festivities!
May 29th, 2009
Got a note the other day from reader Patrick Ryan. “I know you like the old Milwaukee Bucks logo,” he wrote. “But have you ever seen this?”
I most certainly had not. And my initial instinct was that it was that it might be a joke, because c’mon, a team called the Does? That’s just setting yourself up for boatload of “Doesn’t”-oriented wisecracks.
But as I quickly learned, the Does were a very real team that played in the short-lived Women’s Professional Basketball League, which existed from the fall of 1978 through the spring of 1981. I was in high school during that period, so you’d think I’d remember the WBL, but I don’t (I think it’s safe to say they weren’t marketed as aggressively as the WNBA). Lots of other people do, though: There’s a WBL Memories site, lots of information at Hoopedia (which is hosted by NBA.com), and even a book (much of which you can click through at Google Books).
So what about their uniforms? Here’s a rough summary of what I’ve discovered:
• Almost all the teams went untucked (a very conscious choice, as clearly shown in their promotional materials). At least one team, the New Jersey Gems, used the lower portion of the jersey for the team name. Other teams used contrast-piped hemlines, and still others left the lower-jersey area plain. At least one team, the Houston Angels, appears to have been afflicted with an inadvertent team-wide case of Philly tag.
• One team that did not go untucked (but maybe should have): the Iowa Cornets.
• The most interesting uniform was worn by the Chicago Hustle, whose jerseys had these cutaway semi-sleeves and johnny collars. According to that book I mentioned earlier, these uniforms were not popular with the players. (The rest of that page has more info about the league’s uniforms — recommended reading.)
• The aforementioned Does had these contrasting V panels sewn into the lower side areas (not sure what’s going on with the New York player in the center of that photo — almost looks like she’s wearing a zippered sweatshirt).
• The New England Gulls used a baseball-style script insignia.
• Some teams went NNOB, others had NOBs. The Philadelphia Fox (yes, that was really their name) highlight the player names with horizontal rules, and at least one team the Does, used nameplates — unusual for a basketball uniform.
• The San Francisco Pioneers had really nice warm-up outfits, which included little Golden Gate Bridge logos on the pant legs.
• The refs’ uniforms apparently changed during the life of the league — sometimes they’re wearing plain gray, other times zebra stripes (note the WBL chest logo).
• The league had its own ball, courtesy of Wilson.
If you want to see more, I strongly recommend poking around this site — lots of good info and additional photos.
As for the Does logo, which got me started on this little venture, their logo made some of the players uneasy. But look — it’s now become a high-priced collector’s item.
Bonus May Raffle: Our friends at SportsCrack.com have invited me to raffle off one of their shirts — winner’s choice. To enter, send a blank e-mail with your name in the subject line to the raffle address (not to the usual Uni Watch e-mail address, please) by this next Monday, June 1st, at 7pm eastern. One entry per person, except for Uni Watch membership program enrollees, who can send four entries. I’ll announce the winner next Tuesday.
Chat-a-tat-tat: I’ll be doing a live web chat today at 1pm eastern on ESPN.com. Here’s the link, but do us both a favor and don’t start submitting questions now, because I’m going to give preference to questions submitted during the chat. Thanks.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Hmmmm, who do you suppose made the jerseys for Michael Irvin’s new 4th and Long show? (With thanks to Brendon Yarian.) … “Superfund”? Explanation here (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … Sierra Leone’s new soccer jersey is, in Donald Wine’s words, “epic.” … Nate Boulton and his family spent the holiday weekend at a Michigan fishing cabin, where they found this jigsaw puzzle. … “We put it together and determined that each team should have to go back to its 1995 helmet design,” he says. … Joshua Edney notes that Jermaine Dye has his initials on his batting gloves. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Alarming news out of Pittsburgh, where Nyjer Morgan abandoned his high cuffs for a game, as a slump-busting maneuver. … Here’s a good view of the shamrock decal that Joe Mullen used to wear (courtesy of Kek). Hey, Teebz, how long did he wear this for? … The NBA is concerned about counterfeiting. … They Might Be Giants are sponsoring a Little League game (with thanks to James Huening). … Here’s something new: Braille jerseys (with thanks to Bryan Collings). … You know how the dolphin on the Dolphins’ logo wears a helmet? How would other NFL logo animals look if they were helmeted? Here’s how one guy envisions it (with thanks to Scott Marcusky). … What do you get when you mix the smell of watermelon with the smell of a sweatband? I don’t know, but we may soon find out. … Yesterday I wrote that Juan Pierre wore a blue cap under his batting helmet on Monday, rather than the red cap he wore in the field. But as pointed out in yesterday’s comments, he actually did red the red cap for his first at-bat before switching to blue. … Several readers have sent along these photos of James Worthy wearing mismatched shades of purple. … Lengthy uniform discussion on SNY during last night’s Mets/Nats game. Mostly boilerplate stuff, but at one point Ron Darling said (I’m paraphrasing here), “One year during the 1980s, for some reason our uniforms were really tight. And the most important piece of equipment in the clubhouse that season was this big garbage can, which we used to stretch out our uniforms.” … From that same game: Maybe this has been going on for a while and I just never noticed, but I was surprised to see plate ump Dan Iassogna wearing a mock turtleneck with the MLB logo on the side. Probably the most casual shirt I’ve ever seen an ump wear. … Good NBA gossip from Justin Kerr, who writes: “I was talking to a local sporting goods store manager and asking where his Sixers merchandise was. He mentioned all he had was some black road jerseys with Elton Brand on them and that he originally thought he’d have to wait until next year for them to sell given Brand’s injury. But then he said, ‘Now, that ain’t gonna happen ’cause they’re getting new uniforms. They’re ditching the black.’ Not sure if that means just the black jersey or what, but the NBAstore.com site seems to back this up to some degree. Every team’s draft cap is available for purchase — except the Philadelphia 76ers.” … The Twins insignia being installed at the team’s new stadium doesn’t quite match their current logo, suggesting that some rebranding is in the works. Further details here (with thanks to Owen Kinsky). … Gorgeous old baseball jersey available, pretty cheap, here. … Other eBay finds: a really nice full baseball uni set and an awesome police department baseball team uni.
May 27th, 2009
Last month I posted this entry about the origins of the Patriots’ first uni design. That entry featured the text of a letter from Pats owner Billy Sullivan to fan/designer Walter Pingree, including the following passage: “I think you will be happy to learn that the Boston Globe is taking a color picture of one of our players wearing the new uniform, and it will appear before long in that fine publication.”
That caught the eye of reader Harold Mellor, who works at the Globe on the business side. He wasn’t able to find the photo Sullivan was referring to, but he did find something else of historical interest. Here’s his report:
I was able to coerce our Content Licensing Manager to let me have at the Globe’s photo library for 30 minutes over lunch one day last week. Not having anything to do with the editorial side of the house, I don’t often find myself on that side of the building. With a newspaper like the Globe being around for 100+ years, they have an amazing trove of stuff in their library (when I was in there I overheard someone say “I need the folder with the Beatles Suffolk Downs shots”).
While I was digging around the Patriots folders, I did find something pretty cool: the original Boston Evening Globe page from 2/17/60 with Pat Bissell’s original Pat Patriot cartoon.
The rest of the page is super, too. Who would have thought the Globe would still be writing about the Braves in 1960, eight years after they’d left for Milwaukee? And the article is about Hank Aaron playing second base!
Great stuff. It’s interesting to see how few liberties were taken with Pat P. when he was turned into a logo. And yes, it’s amazing that the Braves were still getting heavy play in the Boston papers as late as 1960, especially since Beantown still had another baseball team. Is anyone aware of any similar examples of local media outlets following a departed team so many years after the fact?
A ton of work that was totally worth it: Check out Kirsten looking all proud, happy, and sexy at our Candela Structures exhibit opening on Saturday night. It was a great evening, and a nice culmination to all the work we’d done over the past eight months. Lots of additional pics, all taken by Kirsten, here.
(There was even a uni-related moment when a guy named Tommy Moorman showed up wearing an A’s cap without the apostrophe-s. When I asked him about it, he said, “I’m about to move to Oakland, but I’m originally from Atlanta, so this is my shout-out to my hometown.” Upon closer inspection, you can see that he actually tore out the apostrophe-s stitching, leaving teeny little holes where light now shines through.)
The show will remain on view Saturdays and Sundays through June 28th at the City Reliquary. We’ll be putting lots of additional info on our Candela web site in a few days.
My thanks to the many of you who had nice things to say about Friday’s New York Times article about our project. Turns out they also included us in their weekly “This Week in Pictures” rundown — cool.
Uni Watch News Ticker: As many of you know by now, the Mets have been conducting a uniform survey. … Repeated from Phil’s weekend notes: You know about football QBs wearing armbands that double as play-calling cribsheets, but I’d never seen a baseball version of that until now. Details here (with thanks to Roger Faso). … Nice job by Andrew Weinberg, who scanned a bunch of pages from the 1975 MLB All-Star Game program. … Early pit-stain panels! Brian Codagnone recently saw that photo of Lefty Grove for sale at Fenway Park. … Bizarre shoe malfunction at a recent Marksvlle High School spring scrimmage (with thanks to Chris LaHaye). … Very nice striped stirrups being worn by Florida State (with thanks to David Ward). … Jeremy Brahm reports that the whole “pink for Mother’s Day” thing has spread to Japan. One guy even used a white bat with pink graphics. … Small item buried on this page: “The Brewers are only wearing the ‘retro’ jerseys on the first Friday of every month, and the players aren’t complaining. They don’t really like the getups. Rumor has it that in the reasonably near future the team may switch back to a road jersey that says ‘Milwaukee’” (with thanks to Nicole Haase). … Neil deMause sent along this photo from the 8/23/15 edition of The Brooklyn Eagle. He notes that the team’s “SI” logo could easily be interpreted as another symbol and adds, “A team ahead of its time, clearly.” … Jeff Barak has started a new hockey jersey blog. … The controversy regarding the Lions possibly having worn gold helmets in 1953 (and/or in other years) continues. Helmet Hut historian Jim Parker says no. But Larry Bodnovich provided these screen shots from a 1953 game. Sure looks gold to me. Miller insists that these were all clear helmets that were painted silver on the inside and then the clear shells yellowed, creating the appearance of gold. But hey, that’s what matters: the appearance. So the answer appears to be that the Lions didn’t intend to wear gold helmets, but they did indeed wear them nonetheless. … Meanwhile, the second entry on this Q&A page has info on the Lions’ brief flirtation with red uniforms. … Phil mentioned this over the weekend, but in cas you missed it: Look who else created his own sports-related drawings and logos when he was a kid: none other than Jack Kerouac! … Apostrophe Catastrophe contribution from Brinke Guthrie, who says this is in his wife’s T-shirt drawer. … Bit of a kilt controversy in Utah. I love the bit where it says it’s OK for the kid to wear the kilt “as an expression of the boy’s Scottish heritage.” But if non-Scottish-descended kid wanted to wear a kilt, that would be a no-go? … Lots of very cool old Japanese baseball videos here (courtesy of Jeremy Brahm, natch). … “I really like this 1980s photo of former Harvard hockey coach Bill Cleary in his Spot-Bilts,” writes Tris Wykes. “Most college or pro coaches wear dress shoes of some type, but Bill clearly went with function over form. Kind of a Vince Lombardi look on ice.”
May 18th, 2009
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