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Posts filed under 'Jackets/Ponchos'
Got a note the other day from Terence Kearns, who wanted to tell me about his latest DIY project. Along the way, he raised an interesting question. Take a look:
Here’s another one of my hybrid DIY varsity jackets — a 1930s-inspired Chicago Blackhawks jacket. Just like my last one, I found all the patches on eBay and the jacket was right off the rack, so the whole thing cost me about $120.
When you posted my ’86 Mets jacket last month, someone in the comments said, ‘It’s not DIY if you pay someone to sew it on for you.’ JimV suggested calling it DIO (Do It Oursleves). Now, I don’t have the skills or equipment to attach chain-stitched or chenille patches to thick wool melton or leather sleeves, so I outsource the sewing, and I’ve still created a one-of-a-kind, quality sports schwag in the DIY spirit that I think is awesome. And that’s the point, isn’t it?
It’s an interesting question, one that reminds us that everything is relative. After all, if you really wanna make a DIY jersey, shouldn’t you sew the shirt together yourself, instead of buying a blank one at Wal-Mart? For that matter, shouldn’t you grow the cotton from which you make that shirt? If you’re making a DIY wool jacket with leather sleeves, shouldn’t you shear the sheep and tan the leather?
Obviously, that’s an unreasonable standard to impose. But those examples are useful reminders that almost every DIY project includes elements that have been, as Terence puts it, outsourced. Does it matter? Is there a hierarchy of DIYness?
This debate reminds me of something I used to hear back in the 1990s, when I published a zine. At that time, zines had been around for many years but desktop publishing software and internet networking were starting to make some zines look more slick, like “real” magazines. This led to a lot of chatter about whether something deserved to be called a zine if it was professionally printed instead of being xeroxed at Kinko’s, or if it had any full-color content, or if it had advertising, or if it had corporate advertising, and so on. Lots of litmus tests.
My feeling, then and now, is that a zine is an independent publication whose subject matter, voice, and point of view are largely a reflection of one person’s distinctive sensibility (preferably an interesting, articulate person with an eccentric sensibility, but you can’t always have everything), and all the rest is a big gray area. Similarly, I think a DIY uniform project is anything conceived and executed by one person’s vision, even if some of the execution is done by someone else.
Would it have been “better” if Terence had sewn the patches onto his jacket himself? Sure. For that matter, he could have made his own patches, instead of buying them on eBay. But he wanted pro-level patches, and that’s fine. He also didn’t have the resources to sew onto leather, and that’s fine too. Still counts as DIY in my book.
Then again, maybe I’m not the right one to be offering that assessment, since I’ve never made a DIY jersey myself. And I understand that someone who does all his own sewing, like Bryan Justman, might take a dim view of Terence’s approach. What do all you other DIYers out there think?
Giveaway Reminder: Today’s the last day to enter to win the Jaguars jersey box. Details here.
Scott Reminder: Remember, Scott Turner’s going-away party is tonight at Rocky Sullivan’s. Don’t miss.
ESPN Reminder: In case you missed it yesterday, here’s my Super Bowl column on ESPN.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Ladies and gentlemen, your new, semi-permanent Super Bowl industrial complex logo. Key quote, from the NFL’s huckster-in-chief: “We feel that 45 is a special year. It feels like it’s the perfect time to launch it.” It must be very interesting to be the sort of person who can give that kind of quote with a straight face. … I meant to post this earlier in the week but forgot: Nike’s “Pro Combat” marketing campaign has gotten out of hand. … Latest organization holding a logo-design contest: the National Endowment for the Arts (with thanks to Todd Radom). … Here’s something we missed from last weekend: The Maple Leafs wore camouflage jerseys during pregame warm-ups last Saturday. “I believe they were honoring Canadian soldiers who had come home from Afghanistan,” says Jenn Walsh. … Interesting longjohns controversy in the soccer world. … Some interesting Rochester Red Wings pics from Paul Bielewicz: First, these 1960s shots of Joe Altobelli and Boog Powell show the team’s “ball with wings” logo wrapping around the sides of the batting helmet. … The Fleer Sticker Project has hit the holy grail, the mother lode, the pièce de résistance: NFL Chiquita Banana stickers. Full details here. … More Fleer Sticker goodness: NFL soft drink promotions. … The good folks at Strictly Fitteds are celebrating their third anniversary with a giveaway contest — one lucky winner will win 100 fitted caps! Details here. … You can see Chuck Bednarik strapping on a leather helmet with a facemask here (great find by Giancarlo). … You probably knew this already, but it’s always good to be reminded: That Reebok jersey you’re wearing was probably sewn together by woefully underpaid Third World labor. … R. Scott Rogers sent along some awesome jersey photos he took at the Cedar Rapids Kernals ballpark museum, plus he pointed me toward a nice little photo gallery of historical team photos. … Bruce Genther collects vintage uniform catalogs, just like I do (read: We often bid against each other), and lately he’s been scanning the most uni-relevant pages from the catalogs in his collection. First up: 1962 Wilson and 1973 Rawlings. … Last week’s issue of Fortune magazine (which I was once the marketing columnist, believe it or not) has a nice little piece on concussion-sensing football helmets (as forwarded by Joe Nocella). … Here’s a cool article about Vermac, the Belgian company that outfits lots of cycling teams (with thanks to Sean Clancy). … Also from Sean: “SpiderTech, the prepackaged kinesiology tape, is sponsoring a road bike team in Canada, called SpiderTech presented by Planet Energy. At the launch, Canadian cycling legend Steve Bauer auctioned off one of his yellow tunics from the Tour de France. The team sported the tape while dressed in full kit at the official team launch, so they were all taped up and just standing around in sneakers. … Major development on the package design front, as Heinz has revamped the single-serve ketchup packet (big thanks to Adam Brodsky). … Some goot chatter about hockey stick taping here (with thanks to Ken Juba). … Good catch by Eric Trout, who noticed Michigan State’s Draymond Green wearing Sacramento Kings practice shorts underneath his game shorts. “With MSU being a big Nike school, they probably wouldn’t be thrilled with the three stripes flashing underneath their uniform,” he notes. … Ugliest sneaker ever? It’s certainly in the running (with thanks to Austin Chen). … According to this article, Colorado football ” will likely wear 1990 throwback uniforms throughout next season” (as noted by Matthew Robins). … Whoa, check out this totally groovy Penguins patch! Never seen that one before. Anyone else? (Awesome find by Jason Bernard). … You know how medical journals always have stories about people who show up at the emergency room with Coke bottles up their ass or crayons in their urethra or whatever? Here, at last, is a uni-related version of that kind of story (blame Paul Wiederecht). … Rob Harrigan wrote up a nice ode to his favorite bowling shirt. … I’m several days late with this, but RIP, Jane Jarvis — you were a crucial part of the soundtrack to my childhood.
February 5th, 2010
By Phil Hecken
Back with round two of the “Design-A-Uniform” contest entries for the Clarksville High School baseball team. If you missed the first batch of entries, you can see the whole thing here. Today we move on to the second set of entries, and they are every bit as good as the first. So, let’s get started:
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Adam Hainsfurther: submission
-Adam Hainsfurther-
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Peter Halbrooks: submission
I look forward to seeing everyone else’s designs!
Peter
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Joe Hilseberg: submission
Hey Phil,
So I threw a design together. I really like High School uniforms to be basic. Knowing that they already have the Cubs styled “C” hat I though I would work from that.
Home Jersey: I really played off of the Cubs look and feel here by introducing a home pinstripe. It can be black or purple…not gold! I also created a “Cville” logo to mesh perfectly with the existing hat. I think this design can hold up well over time. And of course all of the jerseys feature the Cubs number style…why not go all the way?
Road Jersey: Super clean. Basic varsity font and vertical arching. Enough said.
Alt Black: This jersey introduces a new alt CHS logo as well. I’ve personally always prefered the paw logo over the “angry cat” logo when dealing with cat themed teams. This is just a variation of a paw with stylized interlocking CHS letters. This logo can also be used as a sleeve patch on the home or road.
Let me know your thoughts.
-Joe Hilseberg
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Thomas Huppé: submission
Hope it will help.
Regards
Thomas Huppe
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Patrick Karraker: submission
Phil:
Here is my entry for the Design a Uniform contest. I designed two new logos for Clarksville — one which is a re-colored version of the Clemson paw logo, and a brand new “CHS” logo. For the uniforms, I created an almost Oregon-esque set featuring five jerseys and three caps, although I have preset uniforms so there is none of that crazy “mix-n-match” stuff. The first one, the primary home uniform, is a sleveless model featuring that CHS wordmark that the Clarksville coaches love. I paired this one with the black “CHS” cap. I think if any team is doing a redesign, they should have a pinstripe option, so that is my first home alternate, and I paired that one with the purple paw cap. The second home alternate, my personal favorite, is a black jersey, paired with a black paw cap, special for this jersey. For my road jerseys, my primary set is a gray jersey inspired by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ road set pre-exorcism, which I always thought was one of the more underrated uniforms in baseball. This jersey is paired with the purple paw cap. Finally, my road alternate is a sleveless purple jersey which has an LSU feeling to it. This one is paired with the CHS logo cap. Good luck to the Wildcats this season, hope to see them winning with this look.
Patrick Karraker
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Eeth Koth: submission
I’ve attached my submission.
I only did one treatment being I’m a better thinking these things up than executing.
As you’ll see with my MS Paint nightmare.
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Matthew Lanzoff: submission
Hey Phil,
First off let me say I love reading your work. Each of the writers bring a great voice to blog and as an everyday reader it nice to have things change up. Well with out any further ado, here’s what I put together for the Clarksville squad.
As a child of the 80s, hearing the name Wildcats my thoughts immediately go to the Thundercats. So thats where I started with my design. While I hate it on my Mets, I’ve never really minded it on some baseball teams I think it looks good on the field so I took the coach’s cues and put together a black home uniform. The white arm bands, which might be impossible to get from a uniform supplier, are inspired by Tygra’s random yellow embellishment on his sleeve. The chest crest is of course inspired by the Thundercats logo itself.
On the road, I thought the Clarksville squad would look best in a more traditional grey. This time we get the initials woodmark across the chest, complete with cartoon cat inspired font, and the sleeve bands make a return. For the team’s heads I wanted to go with something understated but consistent with the rest of the look, so I whipped up this.
I liked the idea of a school having a running theme through all their teams looks; so as a special bonus, I put the cat logo on a football helmet. I think its pretty appropriate.
Thanks,
Matt Lanzoff
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Steve Lastname: submission
Hi Phil,
Attached are two files. One is the home and away jersey (and pants), the other is two possible alternates. Let me say that I don’t like the logo on the black alt, but I figured I’d explore it. I might like it more if I had more time to design the letters to look like the ones on the Cubs uniform. But then again, a Cubs logo rendered in yellow and purple on a black jersey just doesn’t look right, no matter how good the letters look.
Thanks,
Steve
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Ryan Muraro: submission
Hey Phil,
My name is Ryan Muraro, and I am an aspiring design who just graduated this May with an Industrial Design degree from the University of Wisconsin Stout. Recently I read your entry about the Clarksville High School Wildcat baseball team’s desire for a rebranding effort, and I would like to entry my designs for consideration of fulfilling this request. The entry consists of 3 logos and 3 uniforms, descriptions as follows;
- The logos were built for identity consistency, as all of the logos are built around the cap logo, which will remain as was requested. Currently the Clarksville H.S. teams use several logos from various sources, so the hope was to create a logo set that could be used across the athletic department if desired. The “Chicago Cubs” C is perfect for building apon; being so symmetrical creates a perfect base. The First two logos are the Wildcat logos, one with full body and one with a cropped body. I took inspiration from the University of Kentucky logo primarily, but was sure to keep the logo’s look original. These are simple two-color logos, if there would be a desire to create more detailed-looking Wildcats, there is the option for that. The full version is a primary mark for print materials, spirit gear, etc; the secondary mark is streamlined with the exclusion of the Wildcat’s legs for use on team uniform elements (jerseys, caps; if it were to be used for other athletic teams, it would work for an excellent football helmet logo). The third logo is the CHS lettermark logo, again built off of the Cub C hat logo. Not much description needed for this logo, it’s meant to be a strong, clean, simple, versatile logo.
- The uniforms are pretty self-explanatory. The alternate is very Purple, but I must be crazy for not being afraid of the color. Purple, though, makes for a terrible complement to black, so there is no use of black throughout this uniform set. If black were to be uses, I would suggest either altering the shade of purple used with that uniform set, or just avoiding the use of purple all-together. The home uniform is super clean, the aways have an original script mark, the numbers are standard jersey block style, while the font is a standard sans-serif type (Abadi in this application, but is meant to be altered depended on what the manufacturer has available).
That may be a bit wordy, but I want to make sure there is a good basic understanding of my mindset while undergoing this design process. I hope that, even if this isn’t the design chosen, that my effort and skill are evident in the final product. Best of luck in the future, and thanks for this opportunity.
Ryan Muraro
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Joseph Obermaier: submission
Hi Phil,
Here is my entry in the design a uniform contest. It was enormous fun. I missed out on the Sartell Sabres call…would have loved to try my hand at that one… Love the site! (I, too, once thought I was alone as a uni watcher.)
Here are the four pieces (putting on my best Michael Kay voice from when he was only on the radio):
1. Wildcat “mascot” logos, appropriately mean and inspired (maybe too much) by Halloween.
2. A home uni, proud whites with purple sleeves, trim and gold accents. Home mascot patch above the heart. “Wildcats” across the chest, purple trimmed in gold; matching colors for the oversized number on back. NOB in untrimmed purple. Purple stirrups with gold stripes trimmed in white (must be worn high!). Also with a “CHS” cap that is reminiscent of the great Habs (Canadiens) logo. The font is Copperplate Gothic.
3. An away uni, heavily gray, with plenty of black, and purple and gold accents. Away mascot patch above the heart. “Centerville” across the chest, gold trimmed in purple. Also with a CHS cap and oversized number on back; same fonts as the home uni, but with the colors inverted. NOB in untrimmed purple. Black stirrups with purple stripes trimmed in white.
4. An “alternate” jersey, no sleeves, with black and purple claw marks on upper right, and longer claw marks on corresponding shoulder on the back. “Wildcats” across the chest in a scratchy font called Viner Hand, purple trimmed in black. Number below left, same color scheme. Oversized number on back in same colors. NNOB (would mess with my claw marks). Same stirrups as the away uni; purple pants (I know, but why not for an alternate uni?). The cap is purple, with black brim, large gray panel in front containing the home mascot.
Anyway, there they are. I would love to hear any feedback the other uni watchers have on the designs. And find me some more contests like this one!
Thanks.
Joe
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Well, that’s going to do it for the second round of the Design-A-Uniform contest entries. There are many more awesome ones like the ones you see today still to come. Make sure you praise and comment upon today’s entrants. Their work is awesome (and hopefully, it won’t devalue the profession).
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 Got a brand new “Benchies” for you today, and it’s in color, much like the UCLA/USC uniforms last evening. Here’s Ricko to give you the rundown:
“Ah, the Holidays, that time of year when TV introduces the world of Mick and Mike to all the new high tech gadgetry out there. Imagine the excitement in BenchiesLand.”
Enjoy your Sunday Benchies.
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 Our next batch of NFL uni tweaks feature more interesting concepts from the readership. Despite one or two posters not enjoying the reader designs, the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, and I have several more tweaks still to come. If you’re interested in this, please drop me a line and put in the subject line: “Uni Tweaks (your team[s])”.
First up is Patrick Woody who bring us this:
Hey Phil,
I know you’re getting bombarded with these things, but I’ve had a few NFL redesign concepts gathering dust for a while in the wasteland of my hard drive.
First up is one for the Titans. Basically I matched the helmet stripes up with the pants, removed all the Jetsons elements, and tweaked the logo to look more traditional and less cartoonish. The three stars on the sleeves probably doesn’t work, but I wanted to slap something on there and didn’t want to replicate the helmet logo.
Second is the Ravens, who to me are the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NFL. Like the Titans, here I wanted to remove the gimmicky cartoon elements (sorry, I can’t stand the superhero/cartoon trend) and make them look more like an established and storied franchise and less like a team playing in the Arena Bowl. Still, I wanted to keep the purple and black, even though I’m not a fan of that combo. On the jersey, I went with single-color block numbers because there is never a time when that doesn’t look good. The mustard pants would never fly, but I wanted to see how they looked. I left the cartoon bird head logo (limited by MS Paint – not much I can do with logos), but removed the superfluous “B”.
And last is the Falcons. Ok, this is pretty much just their recent throwback uniform, but I really think it’s such a damn-near perfect look that you can’t do much to improve upon it. I used a version of the red helmet without the gold stripes, although I do think the gold stripes would work. I also threw in the gray pants as a nod to the Bartkowski era uni’s, but with the throwback striping pattern. Of course, that pretty much made them the Giants pants with slightly different colors. Oh well.
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Next up is Greg Skaljac, who has some thoughts on the Browns:
Love your site and the articles on changing some awful NFL unis — lifelong Browns fan, but can’t stand the current unis — need some modern updates.
See attached “brown jersey”, “wht jersey” and “alternate orange” looks…I also put in a new helmet utilizing the classic “brownie elf” with their original white helmets
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Next up is Matt English, a Bills fan with an idea for a new helmet:
As a Bills fans, I thought they’ve been long overdue for a uni tweak. For starters, taking out the navy and going with a straight white/red/royal blue design. Here’s what I whipped up for a helmet redesign. It was originally primarily red, but I decided at the last minute in Photoshop to make it primarily silver/white. I brought back the old standing Buffalo logo. The stripes through the logo give a sort of Montreal Canadiens vibe, overall I think it has a retro aesthetic without being too plain.
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Moving along, we have Mike Boriotti, who dislikes the current Panthers uniform, and has this to say:
So, I personally hate the Carolina Panthers look. I think the shoulder stripes are way to busy, the pants are ugly, and they completely misuse their quasi-Carolina Blue color; look at the UNC football team and you’ll see the correct way to utilize Carolina Blue. What I did was completely change the Panthers to much more traditional looking jerseys, pants, and socks. Other changes included getting rid of silver as one of there colors all together, using a new logo, and changing the blue to a much darker shade. The new logo is actually based on the 1947-1955 Pittsburgh Panthers logo, which I like better because it shows the entire Panther, and the Panther also looks like it is stalking its prey- very aggressive and masculine. One non-traditional thing I did was following the Jacksonville Jaguars in pairing black helmets with black pants, which for my money, is really cool looking when executed correctly. Also, the seams aren’t meant to be seen like on the Buffalo Bills, they just look that way. Big thanks and keep kickin’ fuckin’ ass UniWatch.
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Last up for today is John Loukadakis, who points out that what follows are not actually his designs, but they are some new tweaks for the Redskins:
First let me say this is NOT my design, I read the Warpath as I am a HUGE Deadskins fan, another fan designed this, I just wanted to bring to your attention.
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 UW #1 Seahawks Fan Michael Princip has been tracking the Oregon Ducks and all of their 2,456 possible uniform combinations this season. He’ll be updating it after each game.
The Ducks were idle yesterday, but they’ve got a HUGE game coming up this Thursday (December 3, 2009) in Autzen, when they meet their cross-state rival OSU Beavers in the 113th edition of the Civil War. Always a big game, this one is for a Rose Bowl birth! And, knowing the two combatants, you never know what kind of crazy uniforms they may break out just for this game. Will the Ducks finally break out the carbon helmets? Will the Beavers counter with their own version of pro-combat riflery uniforms that Paul first tipped us off to in his NCAA season preview back in the first week of September? Gonna be a true run for the roses Thursday next.
Here’s Your Updated Ducktracker
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 Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: OK, a little bit of twist to today’s entry, which comes courtesy of reader Andrew Leavitt. I know from what sport this comes, but you folks may need to put on your thinking caps. Pretty good puzzler today, but not for you die hards. Please, if possible, LINK to the answer in the comments. Ready? Guess The Game From The Scoreboard. Date, location, teams and final score, please. And, as always, if you enjoy the game, please send me some new scoreboards! Drop me a line. Thanks!
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 In case you missed the comments late yesterday, reader Tod Hess (aka “aflfan”) graced the boards with a fantastic write up of some High School football they play in Detroit. I’ll let him describe it, along with the recap of the games. Here’s Tod:
“Every year in Michigan means one thing, Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) State Football Championship. They started in 1975 with four divisions and have now expanded to eight divisions. The finals are now played at Ford Field on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving and had previous been played at the Pontiac Silverdome and before that Western Michigan University. Below are the photos from this year’s Championships. It is my favorite weekend of the year as I use to do stats for the finals for several years. You see almost every kind of offense you can imagine for spread to I formation to wishbone to veer to single wing and if Menominee makes it down to Ford Field you get to see the single wing. You also see lots of different uniform styles.”
Thanks Tod. And now, here’s a rundown of the games:
The Michigan High School Athletic Association held their boys football finals at Ford Field yesterday and today. Here are some pictures of the uniform match ups
Division 1: Detroit Catholic Central (blue) vs. Sterling Heights Stevenson (white)
Division 2: Lowell (red) vs. Inkster (white)
Division 3: East Grand Rapids (Blue) vs. Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (white)
Division 4: Marshall (white) vs. Three Rivers (Purple)
Division 5: Jackson Lumen Christi (white) vs. Clare (green)
Division 6: Montague (blue) vs. Monore St. Mary’s Catholic Central (white)
Division 7: Traverse City St. Francis (Blue) vs. Hudson (white) — Hudson is way to busy to me.
Division 8: Beal City (white) vs. Crystal Falls Forest Park (black with striped socks)
* Those are photo galleries where you can look through a bunch of pictures. Great stuff, Tod, and thanks!
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 Our man in the street, Jim Vilk, brings you his “Top 5″ Best and one WORST college football uni matchup from Saturday’s games:
Honorable Mention to the best looking university game in Canada yesterday, the Vanier Cup between U. of Calgary/Queen’s U. — Okay, so it was the only game in Canada yesterday…
5. Washington State/Washington — A pretty sweet-looking Apple Cup
4. ND/Stanford — And one dandy of a ballgame, too.
3. Tennessee/Kentucky — Best of a slow week for the SEC.
2. Tulane/SMU — A serious contender for #1…if not for…
1. UCLA/USC – Wow! All that’s missing is Keith Jackson and Frank Broyles.
And the Worst Uni Matchup: Arizona/Arizona State – Wildcats won the game, but lost for the 2nd week in a row here.
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 And Finally…the Riflery Unis: I’ve been pretty hard on Nike these past few weeks for their “treatment” of school tradition with their superhero new “Pro Combat” uniforms that will supposedly turn the wearers into mythical warriors. I bashed the manufacturer for their hype, but never really commented on the uniforms themselves. Well, I dragged the man on the street, the man who never met a uniform he didn’t like, to assist with his unbiased opinion of the unis foisted upon us this past week. Yep, Jim Vilk will trade barbs with me on the riflery unis. Here’s Jim:
“This weekend we saw another round of Nike “Pro Combat” unis. Their purpose, of course, is to make my job harder when picking the Top 5 matchups. Okay, actually, their purpose is to give the players a lighter, state-of-the-art and more fashionable (?) uni blending the past and the future. This time, there were seven teams involved, which you will see below.”
Clemson: Exhibit A and Exhibit B.
JV: Fine from the front. What’s that on the backside, chaps?
PH: Agreed. I actually liked Clemson in this. But WTF is with Nike and these pants. It’s like, they imagined a the pants as a picture frame that needed a border or something. With the focus on the buttocks. There is a pattern here.
Florida: Exhibit A and Exhibit B.
JV: Again with the chaps. Otherwise, I really liked this one.
PH: This one is bad. Mono-blue, and the picture frame pants — a signature pattern for swoosh.
LSU: Exhibit A and Exhibit B.
JV: Not bad. I can handle the wraparound leg stripes. I’d rather have yellow, too.
PH: Gold (intersting shade) helmet? Good; Jersey? Good; pants stripes that neither start nor end anywhere? Not good. Liked the “sleeve” stripes tho.
Miami, Fla.: Exhibit A and Exhibit B.
JV: An improvement on the regular uni! Two-color numbers are kind of cool. Stripes too far on the backside, but at least they’re not chaps.
PH: Gotta agree here, as well. Definitely better than anything they’ve trotted out there in the past decade. I don’t mind the two color numbers, and they kept the pants relatively clean. Good job with this one.
Missouri: Exhibit A and Exhibit B
JV: From a distance, and in the right light, that’s almost a Seahawks away uni. Glad to see they managed to find a little room for some gold…
PH: If I am judging this solely as a uniform, I actually like it…a lot. But, could they have taken away any more of Mizzou’s identity in the process? At least the bottom of the cleats and the shoulders had some gold. And that helmet was pretty cool.
Texas: Exhibit A and Exhibit B
JV: A lateral move from a classic uni. Very well done.
PH: Outstanding job. Only two complaints: probably could have used a normal (if that’s possible) stripe on the pants, and, even though they were actually true as they could be to the original, I wish the helmet logo and numbers were either different sizes or that the numbers would have been black. Just would have made it easier on the eyes. But a nice job, swoosh.
VA Tech: Exhibit A and Exhibit B.
JV: Another improvement on the regulars, but that’s not saying much. Don’t mind the fading numbers and stripes.
PH: Another not-so-bad one, but they ruined it with the signature pants “swoosh” or whatever you wanna call it. But if that was their only digression, then I say, not too bad. Better than their current uni, but they should make their throwbacks their full time gig.
Final thoughts:
JV: In short, if you take away all the hype that surrounded these, you end up with what uni makers usually have – some hits and some misses.
PH: While I totally disagree with the entire exercise (did any of these teams really need “new” uniforms to begin with???), and think it’s more hype designed to move more merch, as uniforms, this batch wasn’t too bad. There, I said it.
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OK, whew…another short one. But hey, there was a lot to cover this morning. The pros take over the gridiron today, and don’t forget, tonight at 6:30 EST, the Grey Cup (that’s like, the Super Bowl for Canada) is taking place in Calgary. My buddy Mike Styczen reports that the entire city is sold out of watermelons. Why, you ask? Because Roughrider fans cut them, gut them, and wear them on their heads, like helmets. I shit you not. I guess that’s Canada’s answer to the cheesehead. Anyway, if you get it on your television, it’s a great game (and hopefully, both the Als and the Riders will be wearing their sweet throwbacks) and definitely worth watching.
Uni Watch Winter Classic Update: If you missed last weekend’s announcement of the UWWC, click here and scroll down to the second item, where Ricko describes the whole thing. Both Paul and I will be attending, and among all the other activities described, Paul plans on holding a Uni Watch Gathering at one of the local watering holes. Full details to be announced at a later date, but we hope to see as many of you as possible (so far, besides Ricko and Teebz, I believe rpm, Ben Traxel, jth and at least 20 others are planning to attend). Could be the biggest Uni Watch Gathering to date! Mark your calendars for January 22, 23 & 24, 2010.
Have a fantastic Sunday everyone.
November 29th, 2009
One of the highlights of my recent trip to Pittsburgh was a visit to the Heinz History Center, which includes the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum. I took a lot of photos here, so let’s get right to it (with apologies for the inevitable problems with glare and reflection when photographing things in glass cases):
• Here’s a great factory team uniform, circa 1955 (details here), along with a jacket from the same team, different year.
• And here’s a junior police team uniform, circa 1944, worn by a young player whose high school didn’t have a team.
• This is an autographed 1960 Dick Groat jersey, notable primarily for its tagging.
• Would you believe that a big league GM gave a player a raise in 1948 without the player even asking for it? It’s true, at least according to this letter.
• May favorite thing in the entire museum was this display, devoted to a local marble-shooting champion. Yeah, I know, marbles, but c’mon — look at that jersey and patch!
• If you’ve spent any time looking at Negro Leagues photos, you know it’s practically an iron-clad rule that one player was always wearing last year’s uniform, or another team’s uniform, or something out of step with the rest of the team.
• Here’s a really great story: In 1949, a local schoolgirl embroidered this shirt with the likenesses of Ralph Kiner, Wally Westlake, and Babe Ruth, and then sent it to Kiner and Westlake for them to autograph (the Babe had already died, alas). Kiner not only autographed it but sent it back with this cover letter. Dig that stationery!
• The football section included an entire wall of letterman jackets and sweaters. But my favorite jacket was this one. That chest patch is near-perfection.
• I really liked this display showing a ref’s jersey, whistles, score sheet, and flags.
• Another highlight: This Steelers cheerleaders display. Additional pics here.
• I was happy to see they had a small mention of L.C. Greenwood’s gold shoes.
• This was a local football team called the Oilers. I love that there’s an oil derrick in the background.
• And here’s an all-black football team, wearing a jersey style I’ve never seen before.
• You know those old-fashioned football nose guards? Here’s an early patent drawing.
• Apparently the Pittsburgh boxing community is still pissed off about the Louis/Conn fight (Conn was a local hero). I didn’t get any pics of the Conn memorabilia at the museum, but I did get a shot of this great robe and accompanying set of trunks. Not sure why a Pittsburgh fighter had “NY” on his trunks, but whatever — gorgeous.
• This is Chuck Cooper’s All-American uniform. Note the photo at lower-right — I didn’t realize the Celtics had once worn uni numbers on their shorts. And why doesn’t the shorts number match the jersey number?
• Several excellent old basketball uniforms here.
• I love the soccer jacket shown on the right. Here’s a close-up.
• And it won’t surprise anyone to hear that I also love this Pop Warner jacket, rendered in green and gold.
• Unusual artifact here. The United Black Front was a local activist organization, and you’ve gotta love an activist agenda that includes softball.
• The museum even features some swimming exhibits, including a tremendous Olympic time trails patch, a photo of the 1932 U.S. Olympic team, and a shot of some rather revealing swimwear.
• Finally, there’s this. I’ll let it speak for itself.
Phew! It’s worth noting, incidentally, that the Heinz facility also features a really great exhibit that documents the history of the Heinz company itself, including a photo of the Heinz baseball team, circa 1907 (note that they’re even using Heinz baseball bats), and a display showing the uniforms worn by female workers at the Heinz plant. Just goes to show that all roads lead back to uniforms.
And now a word from Vince Grzegorek: If I have one lasting legacy at Uni Watch, it probably won’t be writing about Brownie the Elf at every opportunity, or for being Paul’s first intern. No, it most likely will be for running the site’s annual NCAA tournament contest.
So let’s get this going. In the past I’ve come up with convoluted point systems and spent a lot of time scoring each entry by hand. But I’m much too busy for that this year, so screw that. Instead, we’re going to run a normal bracket challenge. To sign up, go to this site. Our group name is Uni Watch, our group ID is 68140, and our password is stirrups (all lowercase).
The top five winners will get to choose from the following prizes, all provided by Paul:
1. A free Uni Watch membership.
2. A free T-shirt from our friends at Pennant Race Gear.
3. An MLB logo wristwatch. (Full disclosure: Although it’s never been used, it appears to need a new battery. — PL)
4. A Bimbo Mexican soccer jersey, size large (contributed to the cause by reader Jeremy Deason — PL).
5. A copy of the new book Cubs by the Numbers.
Top winner gets his or her choice of prizes, second-place winner gets to choose from the remaining four prizes, and so on.
Hey, how about that economy?: Paul here again. As some of you are aware, changes are afoot at Distant Replays. Here’s a quick imaginary press conference about what this means from a Uni Watch perspective:
New enrollees in the membership program used to get a $10 Distant Replays gift code. Are you still offering that benefit?
No, effective immediately.
I ordered my membership card a few weeks ago but haven’t received it yet. I thought I was getting the $10 gift code. What happens to me?
There are 16 of you out there who fit this description (some of you have been waiting way too long for your cards, and I’m sorry about that — life has been hectic lately). Those 16 cards will mail out this week, and unfortunately they will not be accompanied by Distant Replays gift codes. If you feel gypped or baited-and-switched, get in touch and we’ll work something out.
I received my Distant Replays gift code with my membership two months ago but haven’t redeemed the $10 code yet. Will I still be able to redeem it when the company goes back online?
Good question. I’ve asked Andy and Rav about this, and so far they haven’t responded. I know them well enough to know they aren’t just blowing me off — I think they just have much bigger things to worry about at the moment. If I had to guess, my hunch would be that old gift codes will not be honored when DR resurfaces. But we’ll have to wait and see.
Sorry for the hassle. Feel free to be in touch if you have further questions about any of this.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Thrashers appear to have a 10th-anniversary logo slated for next season, and holy shit is it a stinker. … Negro Leagues shorts alert! That’s Prince Joe Henry, the Detroit Clowns player who often had some, uh, unique uniform stylings (but not always). Those pics were contributed by Jared Wheeler, who also sent along shots of an old Houston warm-up jacket from the Slama era, a 1940s Harvard hoops jersey, a Senators jersey with a Jerry Cosby tag (“Never seen his tag on a baseball uniform,” says Jared), a Willie Stargell cap (that’s the closest look I’ve ever gotten of the stars — note that only the one on the right appears to be properly oriented), and — the real prize — a sleeve patch from the 1944 minor league Orioles. Thing of beauty, no? … This is really cool (nice find by Charles Neiswender). … But this is just ridiculous (blame Mark Doescher). … Jordan Wiley has created an interesting project: He’s created an a listing of the best logo treatment for each letter of the alphabet. In other words, this is A, this is B, etc. I don’t agree with most of his choices, but that’s kinda beside the point, cuz it’s an interesting little project. I wish he’d put all his letter choices side by side in one big composite alphabet (get working on that pronto, Jordan!), but for now you can check out his breakdown here. … On Friday I mentioned that I’d been surprised to learn that the Milwaukee Braves had offered stock to the public. That prompted the following from Terry Paffenroth: “The stock was a huge issue when the team’s new ownership started making the plans to move the team out of Milwaukee, because they had buy up that remaining stock from people, most of whom who were not about to sell and lose the team. The plan that eventually took shape was that minority stockholders who would not sell were given a letter saying that their shares were being voided in exchange for a voucher for season tickets — in Atlanta. And just for the first season. Next time I see my grandparents, I’ll try and find their old stock certificate, along with the letter and voucher. They small stockholders and were given two tickets. The largest number I have come across was for six tickets.” … Kentucky wore black uniforms on Friday. … The Fresno Grizzlies have some new alt/promo jerseys (with thanks to William Paul Barrett). … Check out this square-formatted NOB (nice find by Robert Saietta). … Tequila sundrise over Blacksburg. … Brett Crane notes that Kevin Youkilis is wearing his #20 elbow guard in the WBC, even though his WBC uni number is 21. … Maybe we’ve covered this before and I’m just suffering from brain-lock, but what’s up with the ‘Pops’ patch? … Here’s the logo for the 2011 Pan-Am games (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Bob Ruffolo was inside the new Yankee Stadium on Saturday and took a bunch of photos. … The Rangers’ two-tone helmet lives on, at least for now, in a team commercial (screen grab courtesy of Josh Jarmon). … Lots of college basketball uni musings here. … Greg Riffenburgh notes that Arsenal’s Russian signee, Andrei Arshavin, has been wearing at least two different kinds of cleats, as seen here and here (that’s him in the background). … Soccer note from Joe DeLong, who writes: “I was watching Serie A soccer highlights on Sunday and saw that Filippo Inzaghi of AC Milan scored his 300th career goal and was immediately presented with a No. 300 jersey.” Details here. … Doug Keklak sent along this shot from the 1956 Johnstown High School yearbook. Weird to see that the whole team had uni numbers in the 70s and 80s — I realize those numbers were legal in h.s. hoops back then, but it’s still odd that they’d only use numbers in that range. … Luke Mohamed reports that Sidney Crosby, who normally wears a visor, was visor-free during part the first period of yesterday’s Pens game. … The 1898 Spalding Ice Hockey and Ice Polo Guide, which is believed to be the earliest hockey guidebook, is now accessible online — complete with ads. … Interesting 2005 story here about bunting — this kind, not this kind (nice find by Mike Ortman). … St. Paddy’s Week has officially arrived, as the Raptors wore green last night. … As promised, supercross racer Kevin Windham wore Saints-themed gear on Saturday (with thanks to Sean Clancy). … Don D. snapped this shot of an adult league hockey team called the Charlie Browns. “The uniform also has a shoulder patch with Snoopy biting through a hockey stick, à la the Sharks,” he adds. … Only in America, or so I’d assume (thanks, Phil). … Also from Phil: Think this guy’s got enough swooshes?
March 16th, 2009
New ESPN column today — look here.
Meanwhile … I recently got a note from reader Steve K., as follows:
A friend of mine was moving and his wife made him give up his boxes of old videos. Of course he kept all the Japanese porn for himself, but he knew I was a sports fan and offered me the rest. Most of them are ‘This Week in the NFL’ and ‘Game of the Week’ episodes and a bunch of other NFL Films stuff, spanning from 1971 to about 1979. Should make for a lot of interesting screen grabs!
To call the resulting screen shots “interesting” is to severely understate the point, because Steve (who, as you’ll see in a minute, has a very good eye) has come up with a body of material that’s every bit as compelling as Ricko’s contributions. In fact, if he keeps it up, I may have to inaugurate a new “Steve K. Files” series. For now, though, here’s what we’ve got:
• “This is from 1971, Week 1, Jets at Colts,” writes Steve. “Norm Bulaich had a big game, but the more interesting part of this is that he wore an NOB jersey during parts of the game but went NNOB during other parts. The NNOB jersey appears to be an old-school pre-1970 NFL jersey with the larger numbers, because it doesn’t even allow room for a nameplate.”
• “Check out how big the nameplate font was in these shots of the Bills and Jets (1972, Week 1) and the Jets again (1973, Week 2),” notes Steve. “I believe the Jets, Bills, and Patriots, all from the AFC East, used this ultra-large font at various times during the 1971 through 1974 seasons. The Jets seemed to use it inconsistently, as some players had more normal-sized fonts than others. By 1975, this font was gone for good, although I sort of like it.”
• “In Week 1 of the 1971 season, the 49ers wore white jerseys with plain white sleeves — no stripes, no TV numbers! This was NOT their customary road jersey. Except for the Bengals (who didn’t add TV numbers until their 1981 makeover), I can’t remember another instance in the 1970s when an NFL team did not have TV numbers.”
• “Check out the letter spacing on those Browns NOBs” [and the official's picture-perfect stirrups -- PL].
• “Look at the wild rain jackets the Giants are wearing on the sidelines! That’s from 1971, Week 1.”
• “It’s a little hard to see, but here’s an FNOB being worn by the Bucs’ Maulty Moore in 1976. They also had a Manfred Moore.”
• “Here’s another FNOB: Joe Owens, from the 1973 Saints. Oddly, there were no other players named Owens on the Saints that year.”
• “A lot of the 1973 Colts had NOBs that were literally abutting the numbers, plus Doughty’s NOB looks like it may be a bit off-center.”
• “Speaking of off-center NOBs, look at Craig Morton.”
• Check out Mike Williams from the 1975 Chargers — his first name initial comes after his surname. I think I’ve only seen that one other time in the NFL (Browns during the 1981 preseason).” [This is an absolute stunner for me. Never would've believed it if Steve hadn't provided visual evidence. -- PL]
• “When the Rams played their final game in the L.A. Coliseum in 1979, one end zone said ‘Good Bye,’ the other ‘Good Luck.’”
• “Here’s Lions head coach Don McCafferty in swanky 1973 duds, including a zip collar.”
• “Halftime show at New Orleans’ Tulane Stadium in 1973. Dog was NNOB, but at
least he had stripes on his sleeves. Is that T-shirt logo big enough?”
• “I hadn’t realized Archie Manning wore a single-bar facemask.”
• “Here’s Saints coach John North from 1973, with the Sir Saint logo on his jacket.”
Amazing stuff, no? Big thanks to Steve for all this great material.
The Oracle Checks In: When I linked yesterday to this vintage basketball warm-up top and mentioned its snap-on nameplate, I was pretty sure I’d be getting a follow-up note from Rochester sporting goods maven Terry Proctor (that’s him at left). Sure enough, he sent me a note yesterday afternoon, as follows:
That photo of the Wilson warm-up jacket brings back many memories of that style. Wilson used the smaller “gripper” snaps, which made sewing the name onto the separate piece of tackle twill much easier. The only company we used that also used the gripper snaps was Russell. Powers, SandKnit and Spanjian all used the larger jacket-type “dome” snaps, which made sewing the letters on very difficult, because the foot of the sewing machine had trouble fitting around the dome. We eventually had the tags attached only at the top, for easier sewing. By the 1970s we changed from snaps to Velcro, which made the whole process a breeze.
Also: In the 1970s, the Coane Mfg. Co. of Philadelphia, which made a full line of quality uniforms (they did the Philadelphia Warriors and the early years of the 76ers) came up with a fleece tag that we sewed directly onto the jersey or jacket. Then you applied individual die-cut letters made out of the hook-sided velcro material. These letters would not fall off during play and were very easy to change if you had a new player. We used them mostly on basketball and baseball uniforms. They didn’t work out for football but they were a great idea in their day.
Terry has loads of stories like these. You might even get to read some of them if I ever get off my lazy ass and transcribe the phone interview I did with him last month. Soon, soon….
Uni Watch News Ticker: Indiana State wore powder blue throwbacks the other night. Note that the “I” is actually the shape of Indiana (with thanks to Dave Reding). … The trend of giving a personalized jersey to a newly hired coach, even though coaches don’t wear jerseys, has spread to soccer (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Amazing series of old NFL posters available here. … Trey Phillips notes that Saints receiver Lance Moore often wore one eye black sticker over the past season (but not always). … Matt Englander has brought another sports-themed illustrator to my attention: Paul Schoeneck. … Great time-lapse video showing the Winter Classic rink being set up at Wrigley Field here (with thanks to Greg Riffenburgh). … Faaaaaascinating rugby observation from Caleb Borchers who notes that the Harlequins, a club in London, wear their first and last initials on their shorts. But if there are two players with the same initials, they use the first initial and the first two letters of the players’ surnames, as in the case of Nick Evans and Nick Easter. … Vintage Riverfront Stadium groundskeeper’s uniform available here. … You know how boxers always do those cheesy stare-downs at press conferences and weigh-ins? Here’s the lamest one yet. That’s WBA flyweight champ Takefumi Sakata with the gauze mask. “On his blog, he says it is just to protect from catching a cold,” says Jeremy Brahm. “I know from personal experience that the Japanese will wear their masks while going to work, riding the bus or train, etc. I wore one over a weekend and couldn’t stand it.” … Matt Powers recently took his family down to Fordham, where his sister works in the Athletic Dept. After watching Colgate and Norfolk State play a color-on-color women’s hoops game at beautiful Rose Hill Gymnasium, they walked around the campus and saw some old framed football programs (here’s another) and this memorial to the Seven Blocks of Granite. … For a few months now there have been all these rumors about the Mets possibly going to a dark-gray alternate jersey next season. As I’ve explained to everyone who’s asked me about it, there’s no truth to this rumor — they may add some dark-gray fashion/replica merch to sell to suckers (just like every other team is doing), but the on-field attire has no significant changes for next season. Then, two days ago, I got a note from a reader who I won’t embarrass by printing his name here, breathlessly telling me that he’d just taken these photos of a dark-gray Mets jersey at a local Sports Authority outlet. I told him it was just a fashion jersey, to which he replied, “But it sells for the same $80 as the other jerseys!” After I explained to him that fashion jerseys sell for $80 and authentics sell for a shitload more, he went away, but he apparently gave the same spiel to several bloggers who pounced on the “story” (including this clown at The Daily News, who really should know better), which in turn led even more readers to write to me. So I’ll say it one more time: Contrary to what a few people apparently think, the Mets are NOT adding a dark-gray alternate jersey next season. And that’s the last time I’ll be addressing that rumor (unless it, y’know, turns out to be true or something).
Holiday Schedule: Phil will have an entry tomorrow, I’ll be back on Friday, and then Phil handle the weekend, as usual. My thanks to everyone who helped make 2008 a very good year for Uni Watch, and remember not to make any New Year’s resolutions you can’t keep.
December 31st, 2008
New ESPN column today — here’s the link.
Meanwhile: While the rest of the baseball world focused on the hot stove league, the real story was on the uniform scene, where MLB exec Bob Watson announced “the Francona Rule,” which according to Watson means, “You can only wear your uniform top or jacket.” In a truly inspired elaboration that will go down as the uni-related quote of the year, Watson added, “You can’t wear your nightshirt, or whatever it is. You can wear it before games, or after games, but not during games. You have to have your uniform top at all times.”
Watson’s commentary on sleepwear notwithstanding, this means no more sweatshirt for Francona (among others), no more smock for John Gibbons, and I think Buck Showalter just cancelled his latest comeback plans.
There’s a lot of confusion and misinformation about this story and the history surrounding it. I can’t clear up all of that confusion, but I can help with some of it, FAQ-style:
Didn’t MLB and Francona butt heads over this issue a few months ago?
Yes, back in August.
So if they were already enforcing the rule then, why did they have to enact a new rule now?
Good question.
Doesn’t the rulebook already require the manager to wear a uniform, at least if he leaves the dugout and goes onto the field of play?
No. Rule 3.15 states: “No person shall be allowed on the playing field during a game except players and coaches in uniform, managers, news photographers authorized by the home team, umpires, officers of the law in uniform and watchmen or other employees of the home club.” Note that the “in uniform” stipulation is applied to coaches but not to managers.
On the other hand, I recently came across this page, which tells the story of how two beat reporters — George Lederer and Phli Collier — managed a Dodgers intrasquad game during spring training in 1964. Lederer actually donned a Dodgers uniform, but Collier skippered in civvies (you can see them both here). As the account of the game then explains:
Collier, dressed in street clothes … broke the rules when he charged onto the field to argue an umpire’s decision at second base. At this stage of the game, with the score still 1-1, Lederer was sharp enough to remind the umpires that Collier had no right to be on the field.
So this suggests that non-uniformed managers were understood to be barred from the field of play at least as early as 1964, even if the rulebook doesn’t specify this. Why? In going back over my research files, I found a 2005 listserv post by Frank Vaccaro of the Society for American Baseball Research that may shed some light on the subject:
Nearly all non-playing managers before 1900 wore civilian clothes. … [T]here was a [National League] rule in place from 1879 to 1891 preventing non-playing managers from appearing on the field. This was referred to as the “Harry Wright rule.” After he won the championship in 1878 — his sixth in seven years — this rule passed, I suppose, to give other teams a chance. Wright used to stand on the sidelines shouting orders to his players: “WAIT” to take pitches and “FACING” to hit to the opposite field, as well as the names of players who should catch flies, etc. Other teams were in a panic.
So the “Terry Francona rule” is apparently the latest version of the 128-year-old “Harry Wright rule.” I have a feeling Bob Watson doesn’t know this.
Why do managers wear uniforms anyway?
In baseball’s early days, many managers were also active players, and player/managers persisted longer than most people realize. There were three three of them as recently as the 1970s (Frank Robinson, Don Kessenger, and Joe Torre), and one in the 1980s (Pete Rose).
But Connie Mack wore a suit while managing, didn’t he?
Yes. Mack’s a bit of a red herring, though — he owned the A’s, so he wore a suit in large part because he saw himself as a businessman/executive type and dressed accordingly. For a broader analysis, let’s turn once again to Frank Vacarro’s 2005 SABR listserv post:
[T]he interesting question is “How did baseball managers evolve to become the only team leaders in sports with the tradition of wearing the team uniform?” The answer is four-fold. Nearly all managers in the 1890s were playing managers, but a 1900-1920 manager could manage in civilian clothes if:
1) He embraced the style created by the [Harry Wright rule].
2) He wanted to exude the authority of a magnate.
3) He did not want to play or to appear as a base coach.
4) He had never played baseball professionally.
By 1940 these reasons became archaic. The 1880s NL style was forgotten; managers “like magnates” did poorly; teams carried enough coaches (and players — roster sizes grew) to do all delegatable tasks; and all managers had at least some professional playing experience. Offsetting these [factors] were the layout of the grass and the diamond and the fact that a manager could participate, on any corner of the field, in pre-game activities that were low on effort but high on skill, such as hitting grounders or fungos, bullpen catching, or even pitching BP. All these contrast sharply with activities high on athleticism that characterize pre-game practice in the other sports. It’s sometimes said, rightly or wrongly, that baseball is more a game than a sport.
For good measure, Vacarro provided a list of 20th-century managers who skippered in civvies (an asterisk indicates that the manager was known to don a uniform on occasion):
• Bob Allen, Reds, 1900
• Connie Mack, A’s, 1901-1950
• Horace Fogel, Giants, 1902
• Tom Loftus, Senators, 1902-1903
• Bill Armour, Indians, 1902-1904; Tigers, 1905-1906
• Frank Selee, Cubs, 1902-1905
• Ed Barrow, Tigers, 1903-1904; Red Sox, 1918-1920
• John McClosky, Cardinals, 1906-1908*
• Hank O’Day, Reds, 1912; Cubs, 1914
• George Stallings, Braves, 1913-1920
• Hugo Bezdek, Pirates, 1917-1919
• Clark Griffith, Nationals, 1917-1920*
• Branch Rickey, Cardinals, 1919-1925*
• John McGraw, Giants, 1921-1932* (although he usually wore a uniform prior to 1921)
• Wilbert Robinson, Dodgers 1928-1931*
• Burt Shotton, Dodgers, 1947-1950* (additional pics here, here, here, and here, plus here’s one of his game-worn dugout jackets)
It’s not clear how many of these skippers, if any, went onto the field of play during a game, but this photo shows Hank O’Day wearing spikes with his suit while managing the Cubs, suggesting that he went onto the field at some point.
But MLB doesn’t want Francona wearing a pullover even in the dugout. So when did not wearing a full uniform go from being rare to being banned?
I haven’t figured that part out yet.
Couldn’t MLB have avoided this whole mess with Francona if they hadn’t created so many different kinds of officially licensed outerwear for him and other managers to try on?
Gee, what do you think?
Membership Update: Remember, today is the last day for ordering a gift membership at discounted holiday rates.
Today’s showcase card is based on the “shineboy,” the shirt worn by Alpha Phi Omega members when they run the Texas flag onto the field before Texas Longhorns football games.
Beantown Reminder: Uni Watch party tomorrow, 8:30 p.m., at Boston Beer Works. The gathering got a little preview write-up in today’s Boston Herald, plus Randy Moss is gonna stop by and explain why he keeps wearing those upside-down 8s, so come by and join us.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Wisconsin wore their long-awaited throwbacks on Monday night, and man did they look sweet, although it turns out that the beat writer for Madison’s Capital Times totally Doesn’t Get It™ (with thanks to Nicole Haase). … Expect to see lots of NBA throwbacks beginning this Friday. Details here. … Duke guard DeMarcus Nelson is wearing some interesting kicks. Details here (with thanks to intern emeritus Vince Grzegorek). … Awesome female Black Fives photo and info here. … Spectacular discovery by Jared Wheeler, who found a shot of Magic Johnson from the 1980 NBA All-Star Game with two initials on his NOB! … Jeff Meyers, who works for the independent Ft. Worth Cats, informs me that the team has a cat eyes alternate jersey. Look closely and you’ll see that the pupils actually spell out “F” and “W.”
December 5th, 2007
Last month I wrote about all the great uni-related photos in Sports Illustrated’s The Football Book. Now I’ve gotten myself a copy of The Baseball Book, which has a slightly smaller but still significant trove of uni details. Let’s take a look:
• Here’s a 1950s shot of Nellie Fox. Note that the Sox insignia is a patch, not embroidered. Never noticed that before.
• Another Chisox shot, this one showing Luis Aparacio during the 1959 World Series, when the White Sox actually wore white socks.
• Next time we debate the pros and cons of base coaches wearing helmets, think about this photo. Can you believe how close to home plate those shutterbugs were allowed to get?
• This is an 1896 shot of the New York Giants, and I absolutely must have one of those sweaters.
• Couple of interesting things here, beginning with the Cards’ heavily ribbed stirrups. Also, look closely Bob Bowman’s (No. 26) right toe. Looks like he’s got a little metal plate and strip of leather there to keep the tip of his shoe from wearing through. And that leads us to…
• …this shot of Satchel Paige’s cleats, with a great view of precisely the same toe accessory.
• Amazing old Boston Braves jacket here.
• Decent view here of the yellow batting helmets that the A’s wore in 1967 (when they were still in Kansas City).
• Best uni-related prank ever. According to the caption, the player on the ground was actually an actor named Lou Archer, “who appeared in Babe Comes Home, Ruth’s second Hollywood feature.”
Loads of other great photography here — recommended.
Membership News: Got a brilliant card design request the other day from Robert Eden. He originally joined up back when the membership program was first announced, choosing the basic Uni Watch colors. But once he heard we were now accepting NCAA-themed design requests, he put in an order for an additional card (which anyone can get for $15, by the way) patterned after a Nebraska Cornhuskers tearaway jersey. As I think you’ll agree, Scott executed the concept quite nicely.
Meanwhile, Nina has finished adding all the Charter Membership code to the membership roster. If you’re a Charter Member, your number on the roster should be shown in bold. If we somehow missed anyone, let me know.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Yesterday’s post about uni numbers on pants prompted a response from Aaron Stilley, who pointed out a baseball example I’d forgotten about: the Kansas City Monarchs (additional views here, here, here, and here). “I agree it’s usually a bad idea, but for some reason I actually think it looked nice on the Monarchs’ unis,” writes Aaron, and I’m inclined to agree. … By now I think most of you are aware of the Minnesota high school hockey jerseys that are on display at the Xcel Center. But what you might not know — and what I didn’t know myself until Jeff Barak forwarded me some pics — is that the display also includes an incredible 1940s Coast Guard team jersey with a gorgeous chenille crest. Further info here. … The woman who designed the Lambeau Field 50th-anniversary patch is profiled here. … Alejandro Marci reports that Argentina has new soccer uniforms. “The jersey has a hidden drawing on the front,” he writes, “inspired by a traditional Buenos Aires decorative painting art form called Fileteado, which is most commonly used to decorate buses. That technique is also in a small patch located on the back of the neck. There’s also an awful colored field in the back, as a background for the numbers. Apparently it’s some new FIFA regulation for NTs.” … “As you know, the Giants typically apply each player’s last name to his batting helmet in large white letters,” writes Jason Taylor. “Until August, it appeared that Barry Bonds was no different. But I just noticed that his last name appeared in two other styles on the back of his helmet within about a week’s time. I’m guessing that it had something to do with him donating his 755 and 756 helmets to the Hall of Fame.” … Genius find by Jere Smith, who’s turned up a video clip from the 1988 NBA Legends Game, in which every single player wore FNOB — and in a totally weird format to boot. Details and full video clip here. … Several readers have noticed a subtle change made by the Bruins, but Paul Pokaski sums it up best: “The Bruins started the season with double-outlined lettering on their nameplates. This style was worn as recently as October 22 on the road against the Canadiens. Recently, however, the Bruins have been using single-outlined names on their road whites. They wore this style November 3 at Ottawa, and in their most recent game, at Toronto.” Very odd to see a team make this sort of change in the middle of a season. … You’ve gotta be kidding me. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Lots of good uni-related soccer Q&A action here. … And The London Times’s picks for the top 50 soccer kits of all time here (with thanks to Iain Landon).
Holiday Schedule: We’ll have open chatter tomorrow. Maybe Friday too, or maybe I’ll put up some real content — not sure yet. And our usual open chatter for the weekend. Happy Thanksgiving to one and all, and remember, white meat’s for suckers — dark meat’s where it’s at.
November 21st, 2007
For years, if I’ve needed an old Astros photo, the first place I’ve looked has been Astros Daily, an excellent blog with loads of great images. What I hadn’t realized, however, until reader James Poisso recently pointed it out to me, is that the site includes a page of video links, which provide a priceless historical survey of what is arguably MLB’s most visually interesting franchise. There’s too much material to describe fully, but here are a few highlights:
- If, like myself, you’ve only seen Colt .45s uniforms in still photos, check out the very first video link on the page, which features lots of footage showing the Colts’ basic uni plus jackets, ushers’ uniforms, and related merch.
- You probably know that the Astrodome’s roof had to be painted when outfielders couldn’t pick up the ball against the original ceiling design (which in turn led to the development of Astroturf, because the facility’s original grass wilted and died when sunlight could no longer shine through the painted roof). One of the videos actually shows the roof being painted!
- As you might imagine, there’s plenty of footage showing the tequila sunrise design, including some good shots of the original bullseye version.
- According to Dressed to the Nines, the tequila sunrise jerseys were always paired with dark stirrups. But check out this shot of Larry Dierker — he’s definitely wearing orange hose, and they appear to be striped to boot.
And there’s a lot more. Recommended viewing.
Membership Announcement: Lots of you have asked if an additional column can be added to the membership roster, indicating the team and era that each card design was patterned after. I didn’t originally think we’d need to include that kind of info, since I figured the card designs would all be based on familiar uniform designs and that their sources would therefore be self-explanatory. But of course it hasn’t worked out that way — we’ve got throwback designs (the one shown above is a 1970 Indians treatment), minor league designs, soccer and cycling designs, etc. So yes, I now see it would be a nice idea to include this information, so everyone can see what a given card design was based on.
But here’s the thing: The roster chart is already pretty big and unwieldy — I don’t want to add another column to it. But if you go to the card design gallery and click on a given card design, you’ll get the Flickr page for that design — and you can add comments to that page. So I hereby invite all members to click on their own card designs and add an explanation for your design inspiration (turns out member Anthony Giaccone already did this several weeks ago). If all goes well, we’ll have all the team-based card pages annotated in short order.
You may have to register with Flickr in order to leave a comment. But it’s easy and free, and Flickr is a cool site that you really ought to be part of anyway, so it’s a win-win.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Scroll down to the end of this Q&A session with a Cardinals beat writer to see what the Redbirds think of the new BP caps (good find by Jordan Hirschfield). … Excellent catch by Avi Berliner, who spotted the following tidbit buried within this Wall Street Journal article: “Alex Marvez, president of the Pro Football Writers Association … winces at the new [NFL] rule requiring photographers to wear red vests with small Canon and Reebok logos. Mr. Marvez calls the idea of using working press members as advertising vehicles ‘really alarming.’ Neither company is paying a specific fee for the vests, but Canon Inc. is an official sponsor of the league (it pays a rights fee to be associated with the NFL) and Reebok International Ltd., owned by Adidas AG, is a league licensee (it makes merchandise with NFL logos, including jerseys, pants and photo vests).” … Always good to hear from Mike from Queens, who notes that USA Softball has some very odd batting helmets (additional views here and here). … Tour de France note from member Mike Edgerly, who writes: “Members of Team CSC are sporting black Live Strong-style wristbands that say ‘Harden the fuck up.’” Details toward the bottom of this page (and I swear, if today’s comments section devolves into a series erection jokes, I’m gonna pull the plug on the site, so don’t even think about it). … It’s well documented that Bob Feller will do anything for a buck, but this seems like a bit much. … “Could there be an uglier uni matchup?” asks Vince, referring to yesterday’s Brazil/Nicaragua contest at the Pan Am Games. … A reader who didn’t give his full name notes that Matt Holliday appeared to have one sleeve shorter than the other last night. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: With the Sharks and Ducks having added orange to their color schemes, Kris McInnis figures it’s time for every NHL team to go orange.
July 17th, 2007
New ESPN column today — here’s the link.
Meanwhile: Last night I worked a volunteer shift at the very wonderful City Reliquary, where the gift shop featured a book I hadn’t noticed before: Mark Rucker’s Brooklyn Dodgers, a pictorial history of my home borough’s most storied franchise. After flipping through the pages for a few minutes, it became apparent that this was a mandatory purchase. Here are some of the reasons why:
• This shot, taken in 1868, shows something I haven’t seen before: Look closely and you’ll see that the players are wearing little cuff clips on their trousers, much like what urban cyclists sometimes wear.
• Check out the neckties on display in this 1884 team portrait. And this page shows contrasting neckwear styles.
• Somehow the lace-up jersey style always looks better on guys with bushy moustaches, no?
• Wanna learn something amazing? Read the caption to this illustration.
• Excellent view here of the old style of wearing your fielding glove on your belt while batting.
• I would give anything for this sleeve style to come back into vogue.
• Here’s the best view I’ve ever seen of the Dodgers’ 1916 tattersall plaid design from 1916.
• Think this sleeve logo is big? How about two of them!
• Here’s the earliest photo I’ve ever seen of a player wearing a windbreaker under his jersey (or maybe just the earliest windbreaker photo I’ve ever seen, period).
• Spectacular view here of the white slacks that umps wore on Sundays and holidays in the early 1940s.
And as long as we’re talking about historical stuff: You know how old fruit crates used to have really amazing labels? Roger Faso has turned up an artist named Ben Sakoguchi, who creates baseball-themed paintings in the style of those old fruit designs. Check out Sakoguchi’s full web site here.
Membership Update: Big day yesterday, as we topped 100 memberships — check out the ever-expanding active roster here. My thanks again (and again and again) to all who’ve signed up. If you’ve been thinking about getting on board, full details are available here.
Regarding benefits: T-shirts for those who’ve signed up at Level Two or above have been ordered and should start arriving right about now. Membership cards, fridge magnets, and digital art CDs will begin shipping this weekend. By this time next week, I hope to be completely caught up on everything. Thanks again (and again and again) for your patience.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Wednesday’s note regarding the Diamonbacks’ uniform schedule led to this communiqué from a source with the Astros: “Now, the ’Stros are wearing the brick red jerseys almost exclusively on the road as opposed to the gray. The road brick red is the only Cool Base we have and the owner likes the red. There has been a trend as we get down the stretch in previous years that we would wear them for certain games that did not fit the usual alternate jersey schedule. Red was usually only worn on Sunday. However, last road trip the owner asked for red on the road. BUT, we played the DBs and they had wore their red jerseys on Sunday… making us switch to gray for one game. Luckily we don’t change helmets or caps or pants.” … Good catch by Willet Hossfeld, who notes that Tyler Clippard appears to have removed the button from the top of his cap. … My two cents regarding the disastrous London Olympics logo: It reminds me of this. … The minor league Elmira Jackals have unveiled new home and road unis (much to the disgust of Bryan Long, who quips, “How boring are these things?”). … Reprinted from Wednesday’s comments: Randy Moss was asked about his temporary practice jersey number (6) and had this to say: “Sometimes you can be able to go back and get your number and sometimes you can’t. They really told me 6 was the available number that they have back in the equipment room, so I said, ‘Just give me a number and I’ll make it.’ I guess there is a little buzz around right now with me and number 6. I don’t really care about a number, all I care about is suiting up and going out here and winning on Sundays.†His official roster/jersey number is still to be determined. … Meanwhile, Todd Krevanchi notes that Moss has been getting rather creative with his gloves. … Latest Japanese baseball weirdness contributed by Jeremy Brahm: Hichori Morimoto in stilts. … Good view here of Rafael Nadal’s personalized sneakers (as spotted by Brinke Guthrie). … Good little comedy video here, showing what the NHL’s “super-sleek” third jerseys might look like (nice find by Jeremy Brahm). … Follow-up to Vince’s tattoo entry yesterday: Ryan Howard has a huge brand on his arm. Full details here (with thanks to Michael Milici). … Very nice early uniform catalog (extremely similar to one that I already have, so I won’t be bidding on it) here, and some great vintage unis and accessories up for auction here, here, here, and here. … Meanwhile, here’s a vintage print ad and a uniform company uniform print ad that I bought. … All NASCAR cars will feature a memorial decal for Bill France this week (with thanks to Adam Denobriga). … Steve Robeson reports that the Caps are having a fire sale of old merch. … Photo of the day (courtesy of Jon Klevorn). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The Orioles will wear Negro Leagues uniform on September 6th. Details here. … Yancy Yeater reports that the Washington Wild Things of the Frontier League will be wearing 1979 Cubs-inspired throwbacks tomorrow night. … It’s really small and hard to see, but it looks like Santa Clara had some killer basketball unis back in 1911 (taken from this article, which was forwarded by Tim Sheehan). … Today’s installment of the always-entertaining No Mas blog featured this shot of the first Hagler/Antuofermo, and you know damn well what part of the photo I immediately fixated on.
June 8th, 2007
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