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Posts filed under 'History'
By Phil Hecken, with Mike Styczen
A couple of weeks ago, in the comments, reader “Mike2″ (Mike Styczen) mentioned “TESS,” which is an acronym for “Trademark Electronic Search Service.” Not quite certain what, exactly, this was, I asked him to elaborate more fully. What transpired after that has led to this article, which will hopefully allow you to more fully explore the myriad logos and trademarks (some of which have never even been used) for our favorite sports teams. What follows, then, is a look at “TESS” and some of the more unique logos and trademarked images that Mike uncovered using the TESS service. First, let’s get to meet Mike and then he’ll guide us through this TESS mess.
Phil Hecken: What do you do that you’re familiar with the trademarks databases?
Mike Styczen: I’m a commercial lawyer in Calgary. I don’t do trademark or patent work directly (I’ve never registered or litigated one) but in the course of my work I have to sometimes verify that they’ve been properly registered, assigned, mortgaged, that sort of thing, which requires some work in the databases. It didn’t take long before I realized how much raw information was in there.
PH: How long have you been a fan of uniforms?
MS: Unlike a lot of UniWatchers, I wasn’t fascinated with uniforms growing up. I first got interested in uniforms around the time of the NHL’s anniversary season when a bunch of teams did throwbacks and I started to realize that there were a lot of interesting designs out there. I remember seeing Marc Okkonen’s book at my local bookstore for about five bucks in the clearance and for some reason I didn’t pick it up for some reason, I sure regret that now.
PH: So, what led you to Uni Watch?
MS: I was reading up on some throwback uniforms and ended up finding one of the original Village Voice columns and I was hooked. I’ve been a regular reader ever since then. One of the proudest moments of my life so far was when Paul referred to one of my wisecracks as “brilliant” and “trenchant” in an ESPN.com column.
PH: I assume you own some unis, then?
MS: I’ve got a few replicas, nothing authentic — Gretzky Oilers, Sittler Leafs, Hawerchuk Jets (I used have tickets when I lived in Winnipeg), and somewhere, an old rainbow guts Astros. Plus a Flames jersey I wear to games and to the Red Mile.
PH: Anything else you want to let us know?
MS: I’m also an avid road racer (mostly marathons and halfs), I have a pretty big collection of race shirts that could be considered uniforms.
PH: Got any favorite uniforms?
MS: My favourite uniform the original powder blue pullover Blue Jays, just because that’s what I grew up watching. In the NHL, I love the simplicity of the original six jerseys, without all the extraneous piping, patches, boxes, stripes, and junk.
PH: Awesome. OK, thanks Mike.
So now, without further ado, I now turn the piece over to Mike, who’ll take you through the procedure.
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Phase the First: The Maiden
An overlooked source of information on sports logos and names (and, for that matter, logos and names of products and companies) is the TESS database.
TESS is the Trademark Electronic Search Service and is maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark office. I don’t know how to describe it other than as an absolute treasure trove of trademarks filed in the United States.
The simple search interface provided is remarkably powerful — you can word search the by trademark, owner, or all fields. You’ll get a list of trademarks to look at — many of them are just trademarked photos of trademark used on samples.
The biggest problem with TESS is that it’s structured as a database, behind a firewall, so you can’t Google it directly and you can’t (as far as I can tell) link to individual pages or drawings. I’d love to have written this entry with links directly into TESS but I couldn’t make it happen. Instead, you get photos and drawings I found on TESS hosted on Flickr.
The Canadian version of TESS is the imaginatively named Canadian Trade-marks Database, hosted by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. This database still bugs me because the word “trademark” doesn’t have a dash in the middle, but the database does. Searching is similar to TESS, the focus is (obviously) on trademarks registered in Canada, and the deeper TDR information contained on TESS isn’t available on-line in Canada.
TESS is huge — I just scratched the surface to find some odd and interesting designs to write about. I apologize for not having anything from the NBA or NCAA, I just don’t know enough about either of those to recognize interesting things if I see them.
NHL
Everyone knows the NHL’s current logo, and the old logo, but here’s a logo that also floated around in the 1990’s — I don’t recall them ever officially adopting it, but it showed up on merchandise from time to time. And another oddball logo — the application says it was for “electronic transmission of news, data, graphics and audio from a central server via modem to computer terminals”. My guess is that someone thought it looked pretty cool and high-tech at the time. Here’s some more NHL logos you probably never knew existed:
St. Louis Blues
Boston Bruins
Washington Capitals
Los Angeles Kings -– I know everyone has seen this goofball, but I can’t believe he got his own trademark.
The first, unused logo of the Ottawa Senators
Here’s an odd Pittsburgh Penguins logo. I’d love to know the story behind this one. This logo isn’t an unfamiliar logo, its now part of the the Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins logo. But what’s interesting is that the Pittsburgh Penguins registered this logo in 1989, ten years before the WBS Penguins were founded. Perhaps the Pittsburgh Penguins were considering it for themselves, registered it, then put it on the shelf and then brought it out ten years later for their minor league affiliate?
NFL
The NFL referee’s shirts are trademarked — both the long sleeve and short sleeve versions.
No logos or pictures available, the names trademarked by the Houston Texans included: the Stallions, Wildcatters, Stormcats, Bobcats, Wildcats, Challengers, Apollos, Texians, Toros, Wranglers, Roughriders, Roustabouts, Colt 45s, Roughnecks, Energy, and Hurricanes.
The Baltimore Ravens’ infamous stolen logo, and an odd one of a raven on a goalpost.
While we’re on the topic of Baltimore football, another infamous logo.
Buffalo Bills
Chicago Bears
Tom Landry’s hat
Remember the New Englands Patriot superhero mascot? Well, it turns out his name was Superpatriot.
MLB
This is a cool one – we all know the San Francisco Giants threatened to move through the 70s (to Toronto), 80s (to San Jose and Santa Clara) and 90s (to Tampa), but did you know that in the 1980s they actually trademarked a script logo, a cap logo and a different cap logo for San Jose?
The Baltimore Orioles own this St. Louis Browns logo. And their alternate cap logo is trademarked, upside down apostrophe and all.
Chicago White Sox have two unusual logos here and here. Not surprisingly, given that the White Sox have had so many logos and designs in their history, there are probably just as many White Sox logos in TESS as the other 29 teams combined.
I don’t know much about the Tampa Rays, but for some reason they’ve trademarked the phrases 9=8 and ‘09>’08.
Texas Rangers
Toronto Blue Jays
Atlanta Braves
Milwaukee Brewers — also trademarks for Bratwurst, Polish, Italian, and Hot Dog. I couldn’t find Chorizo.
This one took me a minute to process – its obviously Chief Wahoo, but backwards. I found it kind of disturbing actually, being so familiar but wrong at the same time.
I thought this one was interesting – the Yankees have trademarked the image of their facade, both with and without flags on top.
And finally, doesn’t Youppi just look sad in his trademark application. It’s like he knows what’s coming.
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Well there you have it. Thanks Mike. So, go forth young Uni Watchers and explore your favorite team’s trademarks and logos. See what you can find. If you find something you really like, or is really unique, or just plain bizarre, be sure to post it here.
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On Friday, I linked to this photo of the Boston team playing the New York team, and is dated October 8, 1904. (That photo, by the way comes from the Library of Congress, a tremendous resource.) The location is the Huntington Avenue Grounds, which, if you could look at it schematically, would look like this. When I first looked at the date, I figured it had to be some kind of post season game, but then I remembered in 1904 there was no world series. So, I looked up the year in baseball for 1904 and found out they were still playing regular season games as late as October 7 (and possibly later). So, that photo had to be the New York Highlanders playing the Boston Americans. Further research indicates that the game in question was not even the pennant clinching game, which the Boston squad won on a wild pitch from Jack Chesbro (which was played in New York). Interesting. I had always thought the regular season in baseball, even at the turn of the 20th century, ended on or about October 1.
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Also on Friday, poster “War Damn Eagle” had hoped to see what the Nationals, who had worn their idiotic patriotic red white and blue uniforms, which were not well-received due to the red socks, sleeves and helmets, would look like with blue accoutrements. I have very little ability when it comes to matters such as this, but I tried a couple mockups to see how they’d look. The blue looks MUCH better, right?
I had asked my artist-in-residence, Pretty Boy Paulie, if he could assist with a “good” version of these, but unfortunately he was unavailable. If anyone has photoshop skills, could you post a clean version of what those mockups would look like, so we can start our write-in campaign to have the Nats wear blue socks, sleeves and helmets with their alts. Thanks!
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Meet The Mess Mets: Well, it’s one step backward, one step forward for the Amazin’s this season. Friday night was a step backward when they broke out the godawful black jerseys — which also means they wore the black lids, which is the worst possible of their myriad combinations. Prior to Friday night, their other home games had been the other horrid combination of black and blue caps, black sleeves, and black socks. Which meant they were forced to wear baseball’s worst batting helmet (since the Texas Texases decided to ditch their ultimate mockery of the baseball gods). Well, on Saturday, the Mets finally took one step closer to getting it right — returning to the blue caps, socks & sleeves with their snow whites. A much better look. Here’s hoping they take the final step today, and return to the pinstripes and blue caps, which is their best combination and actual official home uniform. Really, would that be asking too much?
So, that got me to thinking, about all those home uniforms and the ridiculous and unnecessary use of black for black’s sake. For years, from their inception, the Mets really had only one gorgeous home uniform. They won a world series wearing that one. Somewhere along the way, 1983 to be precise, they decided to “jazz” it up by adding superfluous and unnecessary blue and orange piping. The did manage to win a world series in that one as well. By 1993 they had returned to their senses and removed the piping (but added a ridiculous tail for two seasons). The tail was gone after two years, but by then the “black for black’s sake” craze and the need to have several “alternate” uniforms had taken hold in baseball and the Mets added black to their uniforms in 1998, first only on their cap. (And in 1997 they introduced their “snow whites” to supplement the pinstripes). By 1999, all bets were off as the Mets added the black alternate jersey (both home and road) and a black cap. It’s been that way ever since.
I won’t even go there on the use of the black, since it doesn’t deserve to be worn on the diamond by the Mets (since it is not and never has been, one of their official colors). But their home combinations aside from the choice of black are four: (1) the worst of the four: black & blue caps, black sleeves & socks, and snow whites; (2) next worst, black & blue caps, black sleeves & socks, and pinstripes; (3) next best, blue caps, sleeves & socks, and snow whites, and (4) finally, the best, blue caps, sleeves & socks, and pinstripes. We won’t even discuss this shit. Batting practice and softball jerseys don’t belong in game play. I know, I know, begging for the mets to ditch the black cannot be repeated enough is pointless, but it still sucks, and I hate it.
One argument for the black on these boards I have heard, and one which I’d almost be leaning towards, is to keep the black drop shadow. Some seem to think it makes the wordmark “pop”. What do you think? Here’s the “Mets” wordmark without the black dropshadow. And, here is the wordmark with the black dropshadow. And here they both are, side by side. I’d have to say, if the Mets were willing to eliminate the black caps, sleeves and socks, but keep only the dropshadow, I think they’d have one of the sharpest uniforms in the bigs. But until such time, I will hate their multiple combos and uniform transgressions. OK … I’m done with this now.
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This and That: Speaking of black for black’s sake, Teebz attended the World Deaf Hockey Championships in Winnipeg, and reports that Team Canada broke out these really awful black uniforms — young fans in town from Raleigh were understandably upset when they saw their home NHL club’s BFBS idea stolen … The Indians just scored … Todd Krvanchi was watching the Jordan Classic, and noted that Mason Plumlee on the white team with jersey #24 on the front and #42 on the back. In addition, Jimmy Dykes spoke with Marcus Jordan, (Michael’s son), who is going to Central Florida next year. Todd says Dykes asked Jordan “If he’d ever worn any gear in his lifetime other than Nike/Jordan brand. Marcus’ response? Never. In fact, UCF is an adidas school and have agreed to allow marcus to wear Jordan brand and not adidas in college.” Interesting. Thanks, Todd … Nightlife, hookers and drugs? For an NBA baller in Atlanta? Not for the Heat, who’d like to escape Atlanta without getting shot, arrested or killed with a win … Outta Heeeerrreee … Aston Villa had to wear their change kit against West Ham yesterday, but some of the kits were sans adverts. According to reader Seven, “in today’s English Premier league game between Aston Villa & West Ham has decided that West Ham’s change strips are too close to Aston Villa’s home strip. Villa will apparently wear plain white training tops that will be completely blank except for their numbers on the back. The kit man is printing the numbers right now.” (reprinted from yesterday’s comments) … Spring football means it’s time to show off your new eyeblack — Godboy Tebow approves … The Mariners held a military appreciation thingy yesterday — so what kind of unis did they break out to honor the men and women in uniform? Yup — somehow that’s more appropriate than the Nats and Pods, isn’t it … The Indians just scored again — *sigh* … The NBA announces a new playoff promotion for families buying 5 or more tickets: free mushroom pizza … y’know…that CBJ uni isn’t all that bad (check out the dude with the “playoff beard” in the front row) … worst wager on the PGA tour: “Dude, I’ll bet you fifty bucks you can’t hit the light house” … second worst: taking it … Puma stripes: good, 3 stripes: bad … Cleveland just scored again … Further proof the Mets can’t do anything right: Opening Day? — c’mon guys … Here’s one for Powers … who knew Mike Schmidt could cry? … Cleveland just scored again … As reported in last night’s comments, it’s hard to see here, but the Twins wore their ‘82 throwbacks last night, and Delmon Young was missing the number on front of his uni (should appear like so) — I got some bad screen grabs here and here (you get the idea) … I want Vince Vaughn’s life. And finally, reprinted from last night’s comments (from James Huening): “Holeeee shit! Check out Ryan Dempster doing the Shoot-the-Puck contest at the second intermission of the Hawks-Flames game.”
Enjoy your Sunday. Did the Indians just score again?
April 19th, 2009
At the recent Uni Watch gathering in Pittsburgh, George Fetkovich was kind enough to give me this book, which has a bunch of great photos. Let’s take a look:
• Remember my column about the pinned-on uni number panels in the 1934 MLB All-Star Game? Looks like the Pitt football team was doing something similar in 1908.
• Y.A. Tittle could have used this chest mark as his personal logo. No idea what it stands for, but I like it.
• Speaking of cool chest logos, look at this! Unfortunately, there’s no explanation of what the caption refers to as “their unusual jerseys.”
• Anyone wanna colorize this? I’m thinking royal with navy trim for the jerseys, and something mustard-ish for the shorts.
• Hey, fellas, why are you wearing bras? Never seen that pattern on a hoops jersey before.
• Never seen this one either. I really like it, though.
• Here’s an interesting football team portrait. Not sure why some players have the “A” jerseys and some just have stripes. Maybe one or the other was a practice jersey design..?
• There’s surprisingly little Pirates content in the book, but I was particularly fond of two shots: This one shows the awesome “P P” collar monogramming that I love so much, and this one shows another one of those heavy-knit baseball sweaters that I wish would make a comeback.
• Very odd football padding on this guy. Almost looks like he’s got tumorous growths coming out of his elbows and shoulders, no?
• Rough image quality, but I’m intrigued by this 1906 youth baseball shot. Note the “NE” script, for “New Eagle.”
• There’s no shortage of teams that have worn their team name or city name on their placket over the years (in fact, Phil devoted an entire entry to this phenomenon back in December). But until now, I’d never seen a team wear the first initial of its city along with its team name. Note that the little period in between the first two letters on each jersey — amazing.
• Sashes are so damn cool (especially when paired with striped socks).
• Although the caption simply refers to this as a “bowling” photo, the telltale small balls mean that these lanes are configured for either duckpins (which is found primarily in Baltimore and a little bit in New England) or candlepins (upper New England). I wasn’t aware of either game ever having a foothold in western Penna. — can anyone tell me more?
If you like what you see here, you can click through the entire book here. Thanks again, George.
Special opportunity for UW readers: As I mentioned a week or so ago, there’s a sports blog panel/conference thingie coming up in June, and the organizers are now offering a 20% discount for Uni Watch readers. To take advantage of this deal, enter the code “uniwatch” when checking out on the ticket ordering page.
About that No Mas event with David Wright tonight: Basically, everyone who e-mailed yesterday is in. The event is at 8:30 tonight at 21 Mercer St. in Manhattan. Enjoy, and someone be sure to ask David Wright why he goes high-cuffed for day games.
Raffle Results: You were totally convinced that you were gonna win this time. And you were right — if your name is Curtis Pidhorney.
In case you were wondering: Yes, the Uni Watch Classifieds are still an ongoing concern. Later today we’ll add a permanent link to them They now have their own perma-link on the home page, and later today I’ll be adding a few more listings. I realize this project has been slow to develop, but we’re getting there — thank for your patience.
Uni Watch News Ticker: For those who missed it yesterday: The “I’m Calling It Shea” T-shirts are now available (here’s what the blue version looks like). And you can get a 10% discount if you use the checkout code “uniwatch” … Not sure, but I think this is Rob Ullman’s first NBA-themed treatment. … Jim Ransdell’s Sports Design Blog continues to impress. His latest winner: a post featuring lots of great circa-’74 basketball graphics. … Decent article on kinesio tape here. … Nice article here about how the Shea family is coping with the demise of Shea Stadium. … Current issue of ESPN Mag has this shot of Michael Crabtree, in which he’s wearing socks with the old NFL logo (current logo is on the cleats, though). There’s also this shot, which finds Crabtree wearing old-logo wristbands (with thanks to Chris Flinn). … Did you know frequent Ticker contributor Tris Wykes used to work for the Tampa Bay Bucs? I didn’t, until he sent me this note yesterday: “Back in 1993, while serving as an equipment assistant for the Buccaneers, we played a preseason game at Miami and I snapped this picture of my boss, Frank Pupello, and his Fins counterpart, who I believe was named Bobby Monica. We were told the aqua Dolphins helmet prototype you see on the shelf was going to be the team’s regular helmet for 1994. Apparently, that plan was scrapped.” … Don’t eat any yellow snow ice. Details here (with thanks to Brian Castile). … Angel Cabrera wears a special glove on his cigarette hand (with thanks to John Muir). … Ryan Howard, on the other hand, smokes bare-handed. … Tony Kellogg found some old football pics at an antique shop — he says they’re from the 1930s, but I think they’re earlier than that — that show the officials wearing white, which was common in the pre-zebra era. … Now the NHL postseason is starting, it’s time to grow a playoff beard (with thanks to James Huening). … Check out the “B” on Wes Unseld’s socks (with thanks to Dave Holland). … Steve Cook did some quick Photoshopping to show how the new Bosox alt cap logo would look with a white outline. Much better, sez I. … Who’da tunk Leo Sayer, of all people, had such good taste in hockey jerseys? (With thanks to Scott Stone.) … No photo, but I’m told that the Mariners have had an Ichiro jersey hanging in the dugout, which is odd for two reasons: (1) I thought Ichiro’s teammates hated him, and (2) since when is going on the DL cause for a hanging-jersey tribute? … Joan Jett, rocker ballplayer. Chris Falvey saw that photo on the wall of a New Orleans eatery. Not sure of the backstory. … Bryan Justman just finished his latest DIY project, a Guy LaFleur Nordiques jersey. … Lids for Yids (with thanks to Trevor Williams). … Teebz is running his annual NHL playoff pool over on his blog. Details here. … Who’s going to wear 42 tomorrow? Apparently everyone. … ANaGELS? … Oh dear (blame Dan O’Connor). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Michigan’s spring football game featured a QB wearing red uni numbers, presumably in place of a red no-contact jersey. … Pretty great uni-related Bruins commercial here (with thanks to Michael Blinn). … The Orioles debuted their new “Baltimore” road uniforms last night. Or is it “Balttimore”? And here’s a great spot by Tom Hedrick: Brian Roberts began the game with the wrong script on his right sleeve. Someone must have noticed, because it had been fixed by his second at-bat. … No photo, but here’s something I’d never seen before: At several points during last night’s Mets/Padres game, cameras caught San Diego outfielder Jody Gerut consulting a little crib sheet that he kept in his back pocket. Presumably had info on outfield positioning. … Also, in that same game, Mets batboy and Uni Watch membership enrollee Matt Harris christened the new Shea by wearing stirrups. Nicely done, Matt, but I also saw you untucking your jersey while you were still in the dugout after the last out was made. Save that until you’re back in the clubhouse! … Speaking of Shea’s inaugural game, a cat showed up on the field. John Okray got a video grab. … See that guy in the front row? That’s New York Governor David Paterson. He’s legally blind — and yet, as pointed out in last night’s comments, even he knew which Mets cap to wear last night, unlike the Mets themselves. … Last night I got an e-mail from one of my ESPN editors, Thomas Neumann, with the subject line “I’m assuming alcohol was involved.” The e-mail contained this link. … Pirates had their home opener yesterday and used the occasion to memorialize those three Pittsburgh police officers who were murdered by a gun-toting nut 10 days ago. The Bucs and ’Stros both wore Pittsburgh police caps during pregame ceremonies, and the Pirates kept wearing them during the game. They also added a “PBP” patch (for Pittsburgh Bureau of Police). … Speaking of the Pirates, I think someone mentioned this over the weekend, but it’s interesting that their collar piping extends all the way down the inner edge of the jersey. … Good spot by Brian Hunsicker, who notes that the “N” on the front of Wilfredo Ledezma’s jersey was upside-down yesterday. … Dave Gilmore hosts a weekly podcast on BaltimoreSportsReport.com, and this week his guest was Kevin Brotzman of Oriolesnumbers.com. “We talked about Uni Watch, Mets by the Numbers, a whole bunch of stuff,” says Dave. Check it out here.
April 14th, 2009
By Phil Hecken
If you aren’t familiar with reader and frequent contributer to the Uni Watch cause, Larry Bodnovich, you will soon be. He is a collector of McFarlane as well as other football figurines (and has posted many pictures of his collection), and Paul featured a small portion of his fantastic screen grab sets in a recent column. As if this weren’t enough, Larry possesses another extraordinary talent we’re going to take a look at below, a talent which I have the pleasure of introducing you to today: the colorization of old sports photography. I first noticed Larry’s talent for colorization when he posted a few pictures of old football photographs he had done, so I asked if he’d like to try his hand at old baseball photographs. Well, he agreed, and today I am pleased to present to you the first batch of his efforts.
Before we begin, I wanted to let you know a little more about Larry and his work. A quick Q & A follows:
Phil Hecken:: How long have you been colorizing pictures, and what can you tell me about it?
Larry Bodnovich: I have been colorizing old family and football pictures for a year or two. The quality of the original picture has a lot to do with the final result. The sharpness or lighting is important.
PH: I first saw your work with old football pictures. Did you work from old programs or did you know what colors the uniforms were?
LB: For some old football some educated guesswork is needed. I have studied Ohio State’s uniform history as well as I can, so I kind of know the colors to use.
PH: What program do you use?
LB: I use a program called “Recolored.” I found out about it a few years ago when I was trying to figure out what colors certain Ohio State uniforms were in the 1910’s.
PH: You’ve done family photos too, right?
LB: For my family pictures my 81 year old mom has a amazing memory on what color her clothes were even from when she was a kid.
PH: How, exactly, do you work this magic? Is there any special technique, or computer wizardry you use? And can you sort of share this with the readers?
LB: Basically, you choose a color and use the mouse to sort of trace in the selected area. I use trial and error and after I select a color I hit colorize and see how it looks. Then I move on to the next area. I am learning now to use more saturation or less depending on what looks better. Also there is a warmify that sometimes enhances the look.
PH: So, do you start from a certain ‘colorscheme’ (or lackthereof) as a base and work from there?
LB: For the most part I just use gray or grayscale for the background. Depending on how much detail is around the subject. Bottom line is I try and try until I get a look I think is ok to me personally.
Cool stuff. For today’s post, I sent Larry a bunch of old time base ball photographs, and included with them the “Dressed To The Nines” (Marc Okkonen drawings) graphics to assist with the colorization. What follows are the first batch, plus a couple of “bonus” renderings Larry provided me with. Enjoy!
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We begin with this 1903 portrait of Cincinnati Reds player Joseph James Kelly. A trip to Dressed To The Nines shows us the Reds of this vintage wore blue road uniforms with red lettering. Larry worked his magic to show us how the 1903 Cincinnati Reds would have looked had we seen the uniform in person.
The New York “Americans” in in 1903 (they weren’t yet called the “Highlanders” and certainly not the “Yankees”) looked like this, according to Marc Okkonen. After Larry went to work, we can see that the 1903 New York Americans would likely have looked like this.
Next up is this 1916 portrait of New York Giants pitcher Christy Mathewson, whose Giants had one of the most unique uniforms in all of baseball — according to Okkonen, their uniforms were almost purplish, with plaid striping. Historians may disagree on the shading, since I believe it was closer to blue than purple. Unfortunately, the portrait is only a headshot, so the wonderful sockage wasn’t visible. Nevertheless, Larry’s come up with this vision for the 1916 New York Giants. For a future post, I will try to find a full-body, high quality shot of the Giants in this uniform, so Mr. B can have a go at the whole kit and kaboodle.
Moving along, we find John McGraw and Frank Chance, from 1911, of the Giants and Cubs, respectively. That season, the Giants dressed like so and the Cubs donned these bad boys. Thru Larry’s handiwork, here’s what the 1911 Giants versus Cubs would have looked like.
You may recall my post from a few weeks ago featuring teams who won the World Series the previous season. One of those whose picture I used was Bill Wambsganss, second sacker for the Cleveland Indians. In 1921, the year they wore that uniform, the Indians dressed themselves in this getup. In living color, here’s how the 1921 Cleveland Indians looked.
In 1916, the Brooklyn Dodgers also sported one of baseball’s more unique looks. In black and white, here’s how Chief Meyers, Manager Wilbert Robinson, and Rube Marquard & Chief Meyers appeared. Those same photographs of Chief Meyers, his faithful manager Wilbert Robinson, and Rube Marquand & Chief Meyers in color, look simply amazing. Oh, to have been alive to see that game. (Those photographs all appear to have been taken on October 7, 1916, during the World Series of that year between Brooklyn and the Boston Red Sox.)
In addition to the National and American Leagues, a third league, the Federal League had a couple years of competition (which would eventually lead to one of the more famous and seemingly ridiculous statutes in existence today, baseball’s antitrust exemption — which, if you are not familiar, is a good, quick read). But in 1914, a player for the named Hughie Miller played for the St. Louis Terriers (notice the “FL” or “Federal League” patch on the sleeve). Through the magic of colorization, here’s how the 1914 St. Louis Terriers would have appeared.
I also asked Larry to try his hand at this 1919 picture of Cincinnati Reds player “Hod Eller” (that’s the way the photograph was identified when I found it, although I have my doubts as the name on the picture says “Allen” — a quick perusal of the Reds roster indicates a catcher named “Nick Allen” was on the team, so I’m going to assume that’s who it is). Be that as it may, the 1919 Reds looked like this. So, if this gentleman were standing before you today, here’s how he would appear in his 1919 Cincinnati Reds uniform.
In the year of 1916, the Big Train, Walter Johnson, was pitching for the Washington ball club (who did apparently carry the nickname “Senators” at that time). Here’s what those Senators wore in 1916. The colorization completed by Larry yields the Big Train of the 1916 Washington Senators looking like this. Magnifique.
That concludes the first batch of photos I sent to Larry. But he sent me some additional colorized ones that are also incredible. Check out this tremendous job of Rogers Hornsby in his 1919 Chicago Cubs attire … Larry wasn’t entirely certain who this is, but he believes it’s Nap Lajoie from the 1903 Cleveland team … finally, from Shorpy, here’s Babe Ruth in his Boston Red Sox days.
As you can see, the quality of the photograph has a LOT to do with the quality of the colorized print. I’ll continue my search for additional sports photographs for Larry to continue his efforts upon, and I’m sure with each one, his results will get better and better.
My special and heartfelt thanks go out to one of UW’s finest posters, “LarryB,” for all the time and attention he has already devoted to this ongoing and important project.
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This and That: Did the Sharks and the Kings really participate in one of those “Pink at the Rink” deals? No, they didn’t, but thanks to the lighting, it sure looks like it … Obviously trying to keep a low profile, 3rd round co-leader Angel Cabrera likes to blend in with the azelae at the Masters … First the good news: they’re removing the corporate name “Alltel” from the Arena in Little Rock — the bad news? It’s going to be the Verizon Arena now … Goggle alert! … Take a good look at this leaderboard, because it’s probably the largest scoreboard in any sport you’ll ever see that has not one drop of advertising — beautiful … For footy buffs: City set to kick ManU’s ass … “We suck” … “Yeah, but at least Rbk fixed our socks” … and in Frozen Four hockey, the team wearing red and white won … Are the pants sponsored by H&R Block? … All kidding aside, curling doesn’t get enough UW love, but I’ll give some love to Team Canada’s shirt — that is a cool design (if, of course, you can picture it without the Timmy’s ad and the Ford ad) … Well — the new Bosox away unis made their debut — complete with blue socks — so what’s the verdict? … They don’t look so bad from this angle, but those blue numbers on back — hmmm … I still say this is one of the best sweaters in the NHL … Talk about a a tough call up — everyone wants a shot in the show, but there are better ways to gain a roster spot … Yesterday, I ran this photo showing A’s players pausing in a moment of silence for the slain Oakland PD officers at Friday night’s game — and wondered if the A’s were wearing black socks — Paul got in touch with Steve Vucinich who (thankfully) confirmed that the leggings/stirrups where indeed dark green, and not black … Beuffy the vampire Detroit Cougar slayer (and, for those of you not participating in Rbk’s “Where’s Waldo” promotion for the Winter Classic — he was “Waldo”) got the game winner for the Hawks — the Red Wings wore their Winter Classic throwbacks, leading some readers to wonder if the Blackhawks will don their throwbacks in the back end of the home and home today … Play soccer or join a gang? Tough choice, but now there is a choice … What’s the best way to attract 50,000 fans to your spring practice? Start by not mentioning you went 3-9 last season … How can something that looks this bad from the back look this good from the front? — well, they could still excise the beveled numbers and “DC”, but it looks so much better than this did … Johnny Okray posted a good observation in last night’s comments: “Dave Bush hit Cubs backup catcher Koyie Hill on his foot during his first at bat. The next time up, there was a huge hole in Hill’s shoe with his toes sticking out. I don’t know if he fixed it or got new spikes later in the game. But doesn’t that got to feel weird to have a hole in your cleat? Nice New Balance kicks though.” … And finally, from UW Prexy Paul Lukas, Corey Wimberly fans have a new hero to champion — that’s pitcher Josh Outman, and goddam those are some beautiful lower leg stylings! Thanks Paul.
Enjoy your Sunday, especially for those of you for whom this is the holiest of Holy days — Masters Sunday, of course.
April 12th, 2009
One problem with this site, if you want to call it a problem, is that I’m sometimes inundated with more great material than I can post. This means some stuff inevitably gets back-burnered, which I always feel guilty about. David Frost, I’m sorry I haven’t gotten to you yet — soon, I promise. Ditto for you, Ned Paynter. But the person to whom I owe the biggest apology is Larry Bodnovich, who’s been sending me tons — and I mean tons — of amazing stuff over the past six weeks. Today I’m finally going to give him the first of what I expect to be many, many star turns. (Note: If any of the links in this piece give you trouble, try adding a space to the end of the URL and then hit enter. If that doesn’t work, copy/paste the URL back into your browser and hit enter. And if that doesn’t work, copy/paste into a NEW browser window.)
Larry specializes in screen grabs from vintage football footage. I’ll let him explain:
My brother and I have been collecting DVDs of old games for a while. We’re part of a group of people who trade this type of material. We have other sports besides football, but football is our favorite.
Some of these DVDs commercially produced, and some are game tapes or films that somebody has done. They are in color, sort of like ‘When it was a Game.’ Some are highlights or team histories, and some are complete games in color. Some are silent, and some have had play-by-play dubbed in.
Larry has sent me loads of college gridiron shots, but today we’re going with some NFL material. And not from any random NFL game, either — Larry got his hands on the famous Vikings/Lions game from 1964. That’s the game when the Vikes wore white at home but the Lions didn’t get the memo, because they showed up with their own white jerseys, creating a white-on-white mishmash that must have been very confusing for the quarterbacks (and probably the fans, too). So the decision was made to have the Vikes switch to their purple jerseys, which they changed into right there on the sideline. Fans were then treated to the spectacle of the NFL’s first solid-purple team.
Other notes from this same game:
• I wonder how many NFL teams had cheerleaders in 1964? (The Steelers were the first team to use them, in 1961.)
• Look at those wussy officials wearing plastic rain slickers. Anyone know when they stopped wearing those things?
• Check out the band in the background of this shot.
• Lots of oddities in this scoreboard shot: The letter “O” appears in several different typefaces; the “Y” is unusual; and hey, two quarts, that’s a half-gallon!
You can see more of Larry shots from this game here.
And that’s just the beginning. Larry has also put together spectacular albums of material focusing on the Broncos, Titans/Jets, Eagles, Raiders, Chiefs (be sure to check out the adorable team logos toward the end of the album), and the 1962 Championship Game (look at this graphic!).
There’s also this album and this album, both of which are wonderful grab bags of old NFL stuff. Oh, and Larry also put together a WFL album, including some shots of the infamous pants-by-position game.
Full disclosure: Larry sends this stuff faster than I can keep up with it, so I haven’t yet clicked through every single one of these images. But if we wait for me to catch up with all his material, you’ll never get to see any of it. So poke around in the albums, enjoy the great images, and don’t blame me if you don’t get anything else done today.
Class(ified) is now in session: The Uni Watch Classifieds are now up and running. You don’t want that one lonely ad to be there all by itself, do you? To place your own ad, follow the instrux here.
Raffle Reminder: I’m currently raffling off a jersey from SoccerPro.com. For details, look here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Coupla follow-ups to yesterday’s material. First, regarding Jim Wagner’s imaginary team logos, Glenn Stern notes that Jim’s concept for the San Diego Missions (top-left of this page) is very similar to the logo for a real team, minor league baseball’s San Antonio Missions. … And second, Todd Vaughn’s scrapbook of woven labels from Chatham Mills in Pittsboro, North Carolina, prompted this from Pittsboro native Chris Warfford: “Chatham Mills was known as the worlds largest manufacturer of woven labels. From what I understand, workers of the mill would grab a few of the designer labels they were making and sew them onto their own clothes, so the shirt they had purchased at the local men’s or women’s store was now labeled as one from Saks 5th Avenue or Bloomingdale’s.” Chris, incidentally, works for Frontier Spinning Mills, which spins cotton and polyester yarns for many textile operations, including the venerable Twin City Knitting. … Best thing about the Joba Chamberlain arrest video: Check out his striped shirt! … As you know, some of the new football helmet shell designs have air vents in places that conflict with the longstanding placement of stripes and/or decals, all of which is apparently causing some consternation in Ann Arbor. The funny thing, of course, is that the winged helmet design is based on a now-obsolete helmet-construction format, and now a new format may be forcing some changes to the stripes (with thanks to Seth Fisher). … Major find by Jared Wheeler, who recently came across something called the Little Blue Book. “It highlights all the sports (collegiate and professional) for the 1951 season,” he says. “Nothing related to uniforms, but the first section of the book talks about a well-dressed man in 1951 and gives pointers on business wear, leisure wear, etc.” Jared scanned all the relevant pages here. … The Salt Lake Bees will be wearing a memorial for owner Larry H. Miller, who passed away earlier this year. The patch’s shape is based on Miller’s company’s logo (with thanks to Brett Crane). … Here’s what the Phillies’ World Series ring looks like. … The Clearwater Thrashers have a 25th-anniversary logo. “It incorporates three different logos used by the club over the past quarter-decade,” explains Larry Wiederecht. “The Phillies’ P, the stylized C you see in Clearwater (both used in the C-Phils days), and the swaying palm that was designed as the current secondary logo when the club was re-named Threshers in 2004. The font also comes from the current uniform design.” … It’s a Houston hosiery spectacular, with game-worn stirrups from the Colt .45s and Astros both available on eBay (awesome find by Ryan Connelly). … I highly, highly recommend all of the photos linked in this comment from yesterday. … Andrew McKillop has created a photo album of rare college football pics. Highlights include UTEP and Oregon State with SNOB, a very interesting Texas Tech uni, and Notre Dame’s green jersey with shamrock helmet. To check out the full album, go here and enter the password “helmets1″ … They’ve finally started dismantling Yankee Stadium, as you can see here (with thanks to Alan Tompas). … A crown has been added to the top of the Royals’ scoreboard. Good video report here (with thanks to Chris Murphy). … Joe DeAngelis has created a logo puzzle. Can you identify all the logos? Answer sheet coming tomorrow. … Two games into the season and the Rangers have already gotten seriously stupid, wearing their red cap, sleeves, and socks with their blue-trimmed white home uni. The red/blue confusion was reflected in Josh Hamilton’s armbands.… More from that same game: Salty’s forward-facing brim experiment is apparently over (and boy do they need to find some condensed letters for him). … Here’s the Phillies’ new alternate batting helmet. I like, I like. … Reds pitcher Edison Volquez slipped and almost injured himself on a fielding play last night. Why did he slip? Because, as Phil points out, he had his pants pulled down under his heel, and the pant fabric glided on the grass surface. … It’s hard to see in this photo, but Steve Johnston says that’s a flapless Cool-Flo helmet that AJ Pierzynski’s wearing. If so, I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen a flapless Cool-Flo. … Odd rugby promotion here. Click on any two players and watch what happens (with thanks to Hadyn Green). … Bemidji State has a pretty adorable logo (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … “The Blackhawks broke their single-season attendance record on Wednesday night,” writes James Huening. “The fan who officially broke the record was given a jersey with the number 835,972 as the NOB (or is it ATOB, for attendance total on back?).” … NHL/MLB crossover item from Erich vonNida, who writes: “Patrick Sharp ‘threw’ out the first pitch at a Chisox game. This video link shows that, along with some shots of some of Blackhawks players wearing Chi Sox hockey sweaters.” … Here’s a shocker: Bill Belichick dressed up all nice and purty for a Wesleyan alumni event (with thanks to Chris Choi). … Back in the late 1990s, Denver University’s mascot, Denver Boone (drawn by Walt Disney himself), was replaced by a hawk. A decade later, many fans still want Boone back, and now a fan group has created a new Boone to appear at athletic events (with thanks to Ryan Hess). … Today’s my Mom’s birthday, so I’m gonna be off the grid and Phil will have the helm. See you tomorrow.
April 9th, 2009
Robert Edward’s spring auction gets underway this Wednesday, and there’s a lot of cool stuff on the block. Let’s take a look:
• I love these little die-cut player images. And look at all those mustaches! (Here’s the full auction listing and additional photos.)
• These full-figure die-cuts are even better (full listing).
• Totally digging this Christy Mathewson postcard (full listing).
• Always loved these “big head” cards (full listing).
• Leave it to Swift Meats to sponsor a series of cards showing disassembled players, sort of like a butcher shop version of a standard baseball card (full listing).
• As many of you are aware, Shoeless Joe Jackson spent his latter years running a liquor store (full listing). Note that the shelf pricing is pretty much the same as shown in that grocery signage catalog I recently wrote about.
• Hard to beat this Globetrotters design, complete with a globe on the back (full listing).
• I’d give anything to see the Knicks wear this design as a throwback, complete with the shorts. Speaking of which, the shorts have an odd vertically aligned tagging format — not sure I’ve seen that before (full listing).
• Love this collection of Mickey Mantle World Series HR ticket stubs (full listing).
• I may have to bid on this Louisville Slugger bat poster (full listing).
• Yowza! That was worn during a 1924 World Tour by the White Sox. That stars/stripes cadet collar is the coolest (full listing).
• Such an underrated uni design (full listing).
• I’d love to see the jersey shown on this football card (full listing).
• Very odd typography on this sweatshirt. Note that the arch isn’t centered — it peaks off to the right side, sort of like the first incline on a roller coaster (full listing).
There’s plenty more where that stuff came from — very nice auction. Enjoy.
Uni Watch News Ticker: A big, long hug to the city of Binghamton, where I lived from 1982-87. For two of those years, my address was 151 Oak St. — right around the corner from the site of Friday’s shootings. … Think you know team colors? You might change your tune after seeing this (great find by Justine DeCotis). … Also from Justine: Sensational article about baseball caps here — highly recommended. … Patrick Runge, who collects Super Bowl patches, notes that the SB XLIII patch package shows the old Cardinals helmet logo. … Cool blog devoted to vintage clothing styles here (with thanks to Mike Hersh). … Also from Mike: Check out the amazing prices in this old Manny’s Baseball Land ad. Several other old Manny’s ads are shown here. … As had been rumored, the A’s are definitely going to wear a memorial patch for the slain Oakland police officers. The patch won’t be worn until the team’s home opener on April 10th. No artwork yet. … Here’s the latest on the Tropicana redesign (with thanks to the other Foreword, Liz Clayton). … Good article here about Carolina blue (with thanks to Denis Kirstein). … Underbill update (courtesy of Allison Kleiber). … Yo, Doug Mientkiewicz — your sock laundry tags are showing (photos taken by Matt Ryburn). … Go to this page and search on “all Royals players are required” — the next three grafs from that point tell a really interesting story about Royals pitcher Chris Hayes and his pants/stirrups stylings (big thanks to Matt Brown). … Eeeeeyikes! (Bizarre find by Adam Brodsky.) … What’s up with that jersey in the background of this shot? (As spotted by Gyula Németh.) … I’d seen template illustrations of this 1934 Reds design, with the team name on the sleeve of the road jersey, but until now I’d never seen a photo of it. Dave Eskenazi provided that one; when I showed it to Todd Radom, he sent along these. … The Mets wore black sleeves, socks, and caps for their Friday and Saturday exhibition games. Normally that would mean black gear for their catchers, but Brian Schneider and Ramon Castro both wore blue. Not sure if this means they’ve be wearing blue for all games this season, but here’s hoping. … More Mets news: For the past two seasons, David Wright has gone high-cuffed for day games, but not on Saturday. … As some of you are aware, I’ll soon have a new boss at Page 2. I have no idea what, if anything, this will mean for Uni Watch, but I’m under contract for another year, so I don’t anticipate any major changes. … A sports blog conference/panel thingie, with a really unfortunate name, is scheduled for June 13th in Manhattan. Tickets are pricey, so I don’t anticipate attending unless they invite me to be a panelist. … Not sure I’ve ever seen this type of softball mask on a shortstop before (with thanks to Anthony Labugenz). … Saturday’s Royals/Rangers exhibition game found both teams wearing royal blue jerseys and royal blue caps. “Really aggravating to everybody in our section,” says Glenn Stern, who attended the game. “You had to really look to see when men were on base, trying to distinguish runners from fielders and base coaches, etc. It was the only negative in an otherwise great day.” … Also from Glenn: Fun article about basketball shorts here. … Judging by this item, it looks like the Reds will be wearing 1964 throwbacks for the Civil Rights Game in June (good find by Shea McMahon). … Odd scene for the Padres on Saturday, as they had two players on the field wearing No. 81 at the same time (with thanks to Alan Borock). … Les Motherby has stumbled upon this site, which is devoted to the typography of uni numbers applied to jerseys in the EPL, the Euro 2008 tournament, and the 2004 Olympics. … The DIY phenomenon has apparently spread to eBay (with thanks to Mark Kluczynski). … “In the Philly area, they have commemorative ‘Phillies World Champions’ Pepsi cans,” writes Dave Treston. “It’s the new Pepsi can, but the promo was obviously designed for the old cans, considering the lighter blue color and the old Pepsi logo. It’s interesting to see the (unintentional) juxtaposition of the old and new Pepsi logos.” … Kyle Orton will be wearing No. 8 with the Broncos, since 18 is retired for Frank Tripucka (with thanks Harvey Lee). … As many of you are aware, Ty Lawson briefly changed uni numbers on Saturday. Anyone get a screen shot? … New junior welterweight champ Tim Bradley wore Habs-inspired trunks on Saturday night. Here’s a closer look. … Here’s a great find: a vintage New Zealand netball team portrait (big thanks to Ryab Dooley). … Someone posted this photo in the comments last week. That’s basically how I looked on Thursday, when I received a shipment of spectacular smoked boudin from reader Clay Marbry in Louisiana (except I wasn’t wearing a uniform). Thanks, buddy! … The Braves plan to retire Greg Maddux’s number this summer. Toss in this news item from a few weeks back and you’ve got Maddux having his number retired by two teams in 10 weeks. Has that ever happened before? … The Mets held a public workout at their new stadium yesterday, and Alan Tompas was on hand to take a shitload of photos. Among the more interesting tidbits: The Pepsi clowns are wearing the pizza patch; players were wearing the new cap patch; someone — I think Luis Castillo — has a new glove with blue webbing; and can someone please explain why Omar Minaya chose to wear a red Mets cap? … Alan also took a ton of pics at Saturday’s Yanks/Cubs exhibition game. … Majestic is opening its first retail store, directly across the street from Fenway Park. So now fans will be able to buy, uh, all the same crap they can buy at every other sports-oriented retail shop. … Great footage of Hank Aaron and Sadaharu Oh facing off in a home run derby. “Hammerin’ Hank is sporting a Braves jersey he never wore as a player,” notes N. Prinze. “He’s wearing the full home jersey that was introduced in 1981 — five years after his retirement.” … The Reds have a new scoreboard. … Guess who contributed this: “For the first time that I know of, a team in the Korean Baseball Organization — the Hanwha Eagles — is using the Western alphabet, instead of Hangeul, for their nameplates.” If you guessed Jeremy Brahm, you’re wrong! This one came from Dan Kurtz, who adds: “As a huge fan of the KBO, I’m a bit sad that they went this way. I hope it’s only a one-year deal and that other teams don’t start doing this. That’s what has always made owning a KBO jersey great –the player names are still written in Korean even though the team name isn’t.” … Great article on the history of Fordham baseball here. Sixth graf mentions that this year’s squad will be wearing a “150 Years” patch. No photo of the patch, alas, but it will presumably be based on this, which Paul Wiederecht found in the team’s media guide. … The Phillies’ gold-trimmed uniforms looked nice enough. And hey, look — Philllies! Also of note: The Braves debuted their solid navy batting helmets, and the field had that stupid Opening Day logo, which shouldn’t be allowed for night games (and is unnecessary anyway). Probably be seeing a lot more of that today. … Speaking of which: As WFMU DJ Bill Kelly said on the air yesterday, “There are only three days of the year that matter — Christmas, my birthday, and Opening Day of the baseball season.” So enjoy the ballgames and, if you’re attending one of them, stay warm.
April 6th, 2009
If you haven’t been following the comments lately, you might be unaware of an argument that’s been playing out regarding the Broncos’ 1962 helmets. I’ve got some additional fat to throw onto that fire today.
First, the basics: In 1962, the Broncos began the season wearing an orange helmet with a colored bronco logo decal. But the colored bronco was soon changed to white. It’s not clear, at least to me, at what point the color-to-white changeover took place — maybe during preseason, maybe early the in regular season, maybe midway through — but that’s not the big issue. The larger question is whether the colored logo was brown or light blue. Both sides have their partisans, but nobody’s been able to turn up a color photo from ’62, so visual “proof” is limited to the interpretation of old b&w photos.
The “blue logo” camp is headed by Ricko, who has the advantage of having actually seen the Broncos play back in ’62. He says the notion that the horse was originally brown, “may be the most often-repeated error in the uniform, and therefore the most widely believed untruth. I’d really like to strangle the guy who made that first wrong throwback helmet.”
But now the other side is being heard from, primarily in the personage of Tom Jacobsen. He’s the Broncos collector who provided all the material for this post last summer. After seeing this controversy developing in the comments section, he got in touch with Gene Mingo, Frank Tripuka, and Jerry Strum all of whom played for the ’62 Broncos. Then he got back to me with the following:
They all said the logo was brown. The thought was, the team was making such a drastic uniform switch [from brown/gold to orange/blue] that the brown horse logo would bridge the gap between the old and the new in terms of fan recognition. Lame thought, to me, but that was the logic. Could all these guys be wrong or have foggy memories? Sure, but until somebody has a color photo, I’m taking the players’ word over anyone else’s.
Tom also checked with Patrick Scoggins, who’s the guy behind this Broncos uni history page. Patrick cc’d me on his reply to Tom, as follows:
I have also seen/read this [about the horse having been blue, not brown] — it’s not a new theory. Not a single source proclaiming this, however, has ever been able to substantiate their claim with any iron-clad evidence. That said, it should be noted that there doesn’t seem to be anyone in the “brown logo” camp that could provide supporting evidence either. From my standpoint, I do not have any color photos from early in the ’62 season that could definitively put this to rest, one way or the other.
But here’s a bit of background: Several years ago, both myself and another helmet historian (can’t remember his name right off the top of my head) worked with a marketing guy from Riddell (Ken Draznick) who was trying to pin down all of the different AFL/NFL helmet variations because they were, at the time, planning to do a fairly large release of mini/micro helmet variations. In all of our communications re: the “early ’62″ helmet, we were much more focused on when the change to the white logo occurred; amongst the three of us, the understanding that the original logo was brown was sort of assumed or taken for granted. Maybe Ken had some previous supporting evidence or maybe he just took our word for it.
Subsequent to this bout of research, I conducted a phone interview with former coach/GM Jack Faulkner, who was the main guy responsible for the uni/helmet change in ’62. While I never asked him specifically, “What was the color of the original logo?”, there were several references to the “brown logo” during our conversation — references he never corrected or questioned.
At this point, I decided to cut to the chase do what I probably should have done all along: send a note to Helmet Hut prexy Curtis Worrell, who’s probably the most knowledgeable helmet historian in the business. Here’s his response:
Yeah, we have been pounded with e-mails about this one over the past couple of weeks. As you know, people make deductive reasons when they don’t have color photos. And some people just love to take the other side no matter what — those folks are always fun to deal with, ha!
We do not have color photos, but we’re searching right now with some organizations. We lean toward the brown bronco, because of the earlier helmets. Some people assume color coordination was as prevalent as it is today — “They wore blue socks, so you have to have a blue bronco.” But that’s just not the way it worked in the early days. I can give you example after example of non-color-coordinated setups. How bout using big 3″ black numbers on the side of the helmet with a navy blue stripe, like Illinois?
Curtis said he’d let me know if/when he turns anything up. Personally, I don’t have a dog in this fight — I’d just like to get the matter resolved. Which leads me to something else Curtis told me: “Don’t be so eager to clear things up or settle matters. This is what keeps people coming back and wanting more! I don’t want to know everything… some secrets are great! Keeps you young!” I know what he means — sometimes the mystery is more fun than its resolution. Still, I’d like to get this one settled. Stay tuned.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Tigers pulled a much better April Fool’s stunt than I did. Here are some good pics of Curter Granderson, Magglio Ordoñez, and Brandon Inge (with thanks to Ben Kelly). … As for my hoax, it had legs. … And hey, the bogus jersey we mocked up is pretty much the same thing as a jersey Brian Fairleigh already owns. “I bought it in December of 2004,” he says. “It’s authentic Reebok, a Shaun Alexander replica.” … Second and third pics in this photo gallery show good views of the Phillies’ gold-trimmed Opening Night jerseys, along with their new alternate helmet (with thanks to Chris Ashworth). … Cool article here on USFL gumball helmets (with thanks to Jim Randsell, whose Sports Design Blog is worth checking out). … Someone really ought to get a Uni Watch membership card based on this design (with thanks to Eli Carr). … Here’s a Uni Watch-ish treatment of hospital scrubs (with thanks to Jason Hillyer). … Two tremendous auction finds by Bruce Menard: a 1929 Boston Braves jersey (be sure to click on the photo and check out the rear view) and a 1924 Bruins jersey. … And speaking of auctions, check out this Babe Ruth cap — especially the tattered but legible name tag (big thanks to David Brown). … Judging by this auction, it appears that Martin Brodeur sometimes marks the knob of his stick with the opponent’s city. Anyone know if he always does this? (As spotted by Jake Elwell.) … Another groom who wore athletic sox to his wedding: Mark Rybczyk, who wore stirrups (”unbeknownst to my wife,” he adds). … Interesting uni-numerical sequence here (nice find by Will Melbye). … NYC has a new soccer team, and Hugo Lindgren doesn’t like its name. … In case you hadn’t heard, the most ridiculous merch outlet ever is now open for business. … Brilliantly simple (with thanks to Jim Kohan). … Always fun to see how Michigan’s various teams incorporate the winged helmet motif (with thanks to Ethan Crooks). … Has Kevin Durant been wearing these sneakers for a while, or are they new? (As spotted by Brad Keppler.) … Latest baseball team to wear camouflage to “honor” the military: Wichita State. … Killer DIY work by Jim Vilk, who’s re-created the Cavs/Bullets ‘76 playoff matchup out of Lego. “The players can pass and shoot,” he says, although we might need video to get the full effect. He’s also made a soccer game out of electric football figurines. … Speaking of DIY, Ryan Connelly has made himself an Outlaws mountain bike sweater. Here’s the backstory: “Back in 1995 or ’96, I played dek or floor hockey for a team called the Outlaws. I designed the team logo (arguably my first DIY project!), so i wanted to do a DIY with both a wordmark across the front and a racing number like they use in the Tour de France (white, on the back of the sweater). But instead of using my last name, I used an old user name I’ve had for years, Houndogg. I used the Outlaws skull and the outline of Pennsylvania for the left-sleeve patch [which looks really cool up close -- PL]. Nothing is sewn together — everything is glued together except the gray layer on the wordmark.” Good stuff, especially when you consider Ryan’s doing all of this in this workspace. … Still more DIYing, this time from Matt Powers, who teaches at a school that recently put on a production of Damn Yankees. “I ended up DIYing all of the templates for the logos on the uniforms, ordering the blank caps, as well as finding the stirrups at Twin City Knitting,” he says. “The seamstress, who is also one of the school’s security guards, and I have become fast friends! I was also charged with coming up with the T-shirt and marketing design for the play, most of which I subcontracted out to my sister, a graphic artist in Boston.” … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Color footage of the Bills, from 1964! … You might have heard that the Pirates lost to a community college team yesterday. What you probably hadn’t heard is that Pirates fans had designed a T-shirt mocking the college team. Details here. … Joe Alvaro reports that vendors at the new Yankee Stadium are all wearing reverse-field pinstriped jerseys and Yankee caps. The sleeve insignia is “Legends Hospitality.” And for those of you who don’t live in NYC, the calorie counts are required by law here at fast food outlets. … The Nuggets wore their green “Earth Week” uniform last night, forcing the Jazz to wear white on the road. They also had green headbands, green-trimmed sneakers, and special warm-up T-shirts. … The Bobcats will be wearing green uniforms tonight. And apparently the ball has green trim too.
April 3rd, 2009
By Phil Hecken
This past week, a number of pictures from the outstanding Google-Life magazine collaboration, featuring the treasure trove of Life magazine pictures, have been again popping up on the blog. The collection, which was originally released in November of 2008, features literally millions of gorgeous pictures from Life’s archives. You can begin your search for these photos here. I’ll see you in a few hours.
The collection is still relatively new (in fact, as many of you know, UW prexy Paul Lukas already wrote two pieces featuring photos from the Life collection when it was first released). But they keep adding wonderful photos to the archive, and it continues to grow. They estimate they’ll have over 10 million images available when all is said and done. Not all of them are sports-related, of course, but many are.
I won’t spend this article reposting a bunch of pics (although I will post some), since you don’t need me to do that — you can get lost in your own little search for hours (as I know I have and I’m sure I am not alone in that). But just in case there was anyone living under a rock, or who didn’t happen to read Uni Watch when Paul first explored the Life archives, I thought we could take just a few moments to discuss the Google-Life collaboration.
The only problem, if you could even call it that, with the search function, is it doesn’t seem to have a great interface. It takes some getting used to, and finding pics can prove tricky. And once you find your photos, they’re not exactly always clearly marked. I’m hoping they’ll get around to better identifying the photos in the future, but with 10 million of them, and I’m sure many of the originals weren’t well ID’ed, that may prove a daunting task.
Lets say I want to find some New York Mets pictures. Simple enough, right? Just go to the ’start’ page, type in “Mets” in the “search” bar, and voila — five pages of uni goodness. I mean, how gorgeous is this? Awesome, right? And look, the photograph is clearly identified: “Baseball player Willie Stargell #8 (L), of the Pittsburgh Pirates, sliding in a game vs the New York Mets.” They also include the date, location and photographer’s name.
Unfortunately, however, that same search turns up this beautiful photograph, but the only identifier is “1969 Mets Baseball Team” (I am pretty sure that’s Gil Hodges on the left, but many, I’m sure, do not.) And if I change my search terms to “Gil Hodges”, I do find 10 photos, (one of which may have been taken the same day, only it’s in black in white), but I don’t find any in color. So, while finding pictures, especially with an easy search such as “Mets” turns up gold, I simply wish there were more to go on, especially with older teams or teams for which I am not familiar.
Likewise, a search for “Tom Seaver” turns up ONE (!) result, and it’s flipped! (this pic appeared in the comments this week and prompted today’s column). That’s another small beef I have with the archive. Here’s how that pic should have looked (and surely, it was correct if it did appear in the pages of Life). As several readers (I’m looking at you Squiddie) have pointed out, many of the pics are flipped, such as this Baltimore Colts pic (which I unflipped). Again, with 10 million photos, give or take, I can’t really complain about the lack of identification or a few being reversed, but it is more than a minor flaw.
A search for “Giants”, for example, will return not just sports photos, but other stuff as well, so it’s always advisable to refine your search terms. If you just wanted to keep going after that initial search, however (and why not — those pics are gorgeous), seven pages in you’d find this page, and if you click on the 18th (out of 20) thumb, well then you’d be rewarded with this fantastic pic of “The New York Giants, in dark jerseys, playing against the Dallas Cowboys in light jerseys. (December 1962).” Notice the player is wearing sneakers. Of course, he’s not identified (pretty sure that’s Frank Gifford), so the greatness of the site is somewhat diminished by the lack of identifiers.
A final, although not major complaint I do have is when one finds, say, a photo string to one’s liking. Say I just click on the “Baseball” link on the home page. The result will be thousands of photos in thumbnail form. If I click on the one from page 1 entitled Cuban Baseball Players, I get that particular photograph, with not much identification (ok, fair enough). To the right of the photograph are four additional thumbs (”Related Images”) plus a link to “more” photos. I wish they could have spread those photos and the additional links out in the same form as I get if I typed in “Cuban Baseball Players” in the search screen. The way they’ve set the board up, however, yields the photo with the four thumbs (which seem to rotate in a bizarre order when you click on them). If I click the “more” link, all I get are four new small thumbs. If there is anyone from the Google-Life page reading this, maybe you could talk to someone about this and set about to fixing it pronto? (I keed, I keed).
Anyway, in sum, I LOVE the Google-Life stuff. I just wish it were a little easier to identify and/or search for specific teams, persons, etc. And Life isn’t the only game in town as far as finding old sports photos goes. The Library of Congress (head down to the third item in Paul’s Follow-Up Roundup for linkies) has pics, as do Corbis (be sure to sign up — it’s free) and Shorpy and probably a bunch of others. But the Life archive is still relatively new, adding new pictures all the time, and just a wonderful place to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon (or a day in your office, if you know what I mean). If you haven’t yet bookmarked it, what are you waiting for?
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From The Ricko Files we have four beautiful photographs today, in honor of the announcement that the Original Eight AFL clubs would be wearing throwbacks this season. (For the full story, click here. For a pretty damn cool link showing a bunch of 50th Anniversary stuff, click here.) Paul referenced the report (first item in Friday’s ticker), and announced the referees (to our surprise and delight) would also be “throwing back” to their original AFL uniforms. Some discussion ensued as to whether the AFL referees really wore orange and white stripes, or if the stripes were, in actuality, red and white. As we Uni Watchers are nothing if not a detail oriented group, we of course needed additional confirmation that the ref unis were, in fact, orange and white. Confirmation came in the form of this auction piece, which shows the unis are a beautiful orange and white stripe. Notice that the uniform on the left has what appear to be equal width stripes, while the two on the right have thicker orange stripes (as well as numbers). One is obviously the short-sleeved and the other is the long-sleeved version of the same jersey. They are distinctly different from the third jersey however. This will be evident in the photos below.
Ricko has delved deep into the Ricko files to provide us all with additional photographs showing the referees in their original orange and white. The first pic appears to be just a couple of Patriots (and, c’mon, how freakin’ gorgeous is that uniform? — I know the ‘losing’ sentiment that is attached to those, but seriously, that’s 9,000 times better than the stuff they won all their Super Bowls in). Anyway, if you look closely at the photograph, you will see in the upper right-hand corner a referee, clearly clad in the orange and white. You’ll also see the lower portion of his leg, which features a black and orange striped sock (but no stirrup!). It’s hard to tell, but the orange stripes appear thicker than the white ones on the official (ref?). The second photograph shows the Buffalo Bills in action (another gorgeous uniform), with a clear image of a referee in the background wearing the orange and white stripes and an orange cap. The stripes on his jersey appear to be of equal width. The third photograph is from a 1963 Chargers versus Oilers game (love those Oiler helmets) and notice the color of the Chargers jerseys — I’m not quite sure what color blue that is, but I know what it isn’t — ‘powder’ blue. Notice the referee (or is that a line judge?) in what could be described as red (but most likely orange) stripes, and they appear to be much thicker on the color side and thinner on the white side. Also, the cap is white. Finally, the fourth photograph is from 1961 (it says 1962, but it’s a pre-season guide, so the pic is from ‘61), Buffalo Bills versus Dallas Texans. The official does appear to have red stripes in that one as well, but don’t appear to be equal width either. Hmmm.
I can certainly see how it might be possible to think the referees and officials wore red back then, because in a couple of these photographs they sure appear red. If anyone knows more about the stripe width (as in, who on the field wore which), it’d be great if you could post it. Also, what was the distinction between the orange and the white capped officials?
Ricko sent me a note along with the photos, a portion of which I will reproduce here:
“That Bills-Texans photo is the first color action photo I ever saw from an AFL game. Imagine that, the ‘62 SI football preview. Two full seasons played and its the first color game action seen by a kid who bought every annual he could find for those two years. Saw football cards, of course (which were all posed), but no game action. Granted, I didn’t live in an AFL market, but still…
And these young guys think we’re kidding, exaggerating, bragging or telling sob stories when we talk about how tough uni-watching was back then. LOL”
Thanks, Ricko! You’re the man. These kids today, eh?
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This and That: Interesting stuff from reader Charlie Lockett: “The new England soccer kit is launched this weekend and for what i believe will be the first time, each kit is individually tailored to each player, like a suit! Some really interesting preview videos you might enjoy” … Today’s NC2A regional final between the Heels and the Sooners may be more about Blake and Tyler than NC and OU … Texas Ranger Michael Young states, “I played for the Cubs. Our uniforms were green.” … They’re still doing that pink thing in hockey? … This may have already been posted, and if it was, my apologies, but the Chiefs will be wearing the Texans unis this year, and some are not happy about it (again, apologies if this exact story was already posted) … The Jags will be getting really shitty uniforms this fall, but at least they have low expectations for the upcoming season … Speaking of new uniforms, the Russians are getting some for their national soccer team … Yesterday’s post got me thinking “Go Terriers” (no, not really) … Speaking of hockey, this is REALLY cool — why didn’t they have cool stuff like this when I was a lad? … “We haven’t bowled a single game as a team and we already have equipment companies calling us, so the word is getting out” … A bit of uni news can be found in the “Briefly” section of this 49ers article … Do people still skateboard? If so, here are some skateboard logos … and finally, Brawn scores with Virgin.
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Everybody enjoy your Sunday. I gotta work, my brackets are all busted (there’s more red ink there than in the stimulus package), and it’s supposed to rain. Cheers!
March 29th, 2009
There was some chatter in the comments yesterday about the Pittsburgh Maulers, who played in the USFL back in 1984. By happy coincidence, reader Jeff Warner has an interesting story about the Maulers’ uniforms:
When the Maulers came into existence, they were looking for a practice facility that had space for a couple of offices, and my school district had an old junior high school with a decent football field, not too far from downtown Pittsburgh. The agreement worked well for the one year that the team was in existence, but when the team disbanded, they basically left most of the equipment to the school district as part of payment.
It was a convenient coincidence that Baldwin High School wore purple and white while the Maulers were, of course, purple, gray, orange, and white. Thus, we gladly took in the unis and made them our own. For several years — roughly 1985-88 — we had uniforms with the orange highlights, despite not having orange as a school color. The pants and helmets lasted the longest, the jerseys not as long. I’ll have to look to see if I can find some old pics in a yearbook at home and scan and send a couple to you.
The team was pretty bad while wearing these uniforms — kind of like the Maulers. When we won a game midseason in 1988 (my freshman year), it was the first win in something like 27 games, if I remember correctly.
I like this idea of using uniforms as a unit of barter or payment. Hell, in the current economic climate, even a shitty purple jersey is probably worth more than a $100 bill. All you jersey collectors, your moment of triumph has finally come!
It’s gotta be better than buy Citicorp stock: Our friends at Ebbets Field Flannels are looking for investors. Interested in getting in on the ground floor, or the field level, or whatever? Contact EFF prexy Jerry Cohen here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Monster find by Paul Wiederecht, who found a site loaded with old AFL program covers, many of which are pure gold. Take some time to click through each year’s offerings — tremendous stuff. … A Cubs exec wants more night games at Wrigley. … Mattew Algeo’s living in Rome these days and has noticed something interesting: “Professional street hockey seems to be quite popular here. It’s played in gyms, with a ball (not a puck), field hockey-like sticks, and four-wheel (not in-line) roller skates. The uniforms are the usual ad-covered monstrosities found throughout Europe, but the goalie pads sometimes feature some pretty cool designs.” … Another Lions leak, and I can confirm that it’s accurate. Helmet and pants are still silver (they look a little bleached in that scan). Is that number typeface a huge mistake or what? … This story about Sidney Crosby’s visor refuses to die. Look, we all know that if you challenge a guy to a fight and he responds by removing his visor, that’s code for “How about a blowjob after the game?” and “You bet, but only if I can wear your sweat-soaked jersey while we’re doing it!,” so let’s just move on already. … Turns out Kansas City isn’t the only city that’s all worked up about the AFL throwback uniforms (with thanks to Steve Harbula). … The Flyers will be wearing orange at home throughout the postseason and next season (with thanks to Kieran Kelly). … Brazilian soccer coach Roberto Fernandes punishes players who don’t hustle by making them wear a pink dress (as reported by Mark Kaplowitz). … An Oakland writer has some interesting thoughts about the Raiders’ AFL throwbacks (with thanks to Michael Gawley). … Hey, remember af2? Right, me neither, but one of their teams has new uniforms (with thanks to Dan Bewley). … Michael Cline Jr. notes that the Sabres wore their throwback-logo helmets with their non-throwback jerseys last night, which isn’t how it usually works. … Speaking of the NHL, my Page 2 colleague Thomas Neumann and I attended last night’s Isles/Wild game, where the pregame festivities featured Darryl Strawberry, of all people, wearing an Islanders jersey to accept a check to his charitable foundation. Just about died when I saw that. Unfortunately, I was sitting at the other end of the rink and couldn’t get a good photo, but I’m hoping something will turn up on the wires. … Doug Keklak sent along a shot of a high school softball pitcher wearing what appears to be a team-insignia headband, plus some cool old shots of then-Civic Arena. … Also from Kek: “While reading this book, I came across this story. I have an email out to [the author] to see if there’s photographic proof of this, but he’s in Egypt for the next two weeks, so I won’t hear back from him right away.” … Little Boy Blue? Nah, it’s just Boise State’s softball team (with thanks to Cory Dowling). … Here’s a rare photo of the Broncos’ brown-logo helmet from 1962. The brown decal was only used for part of that season, because team officials decided it didn’t stand out enough on the orange background, so they changed the decal to white (with thanks to Tom Jacobson). … The Jets’ 50th-anniversary logo has been unveiled. I’m not usually one to call for more drop shadows or additional colors, but this feels a little flat, no? …
March 26th, 2009
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