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Posts filed under 'Jerseys'
Many of you know Philly-based Bill Henderson as the man behind the essential MLB Game-Worn Jerseys of the Double Knit Era reference guide (which, if you don’t already own it, you should really purchase right now). But he’s also a world traveler who has spread the gospel of uniforms via his collection. Here’s a great story he recently shared with me:
My family and I lived in Japan in 2002-03. While there, I was invited to play baseball in a men’s league. I was so flattered; they saw me taking batting practice at a Tokyo batting cage (real slick — projectors with movies of real pitchers on the screen ahead of you, so the pitcher winds up and deliver and the pitch comes at you like magic right out of his hand). I was puffed up with pride that they admired my Spalding Guide swing.
Anyway, I went to practice and was shocked to discover that half the players were U.S. Military personnel — guys who could put the ball on the roof of the warehouse across the street. Me, once I hit a ball that hit the wall on two bounces. These men were just giant, a different breed from me. But they let me play! It took me three weeks to figure out that they invited me to join because they found out I had a car — a minivan at that, a rarity in Japan because of the cost and difficulty getting a driver’s license. But because I had a car, I could drive several of their best players to and from the games, which were at a field far outside metro Tokyo. To find any open space there, you have to drive 30 miles, which costs a good $20 in tolls plus gas, all of which I paid for.
I was not proud. I kept my secret to myself and played first base and got a bunch of singles and tried to make as few errors as possible.
ANYWAY … The Japanese teams we played all had fancy tailored professional uniforms. We didn’t. Not only that, we made no effort whatsoever to dress alike. There was every combination of softball garb, sweats, and cutoffs.
After a few weeks of this I couldn’t stand it any more. Like any other addict, I had brought a sizeable part of my game-worn uniform collection with me to Japan (no addict can stray far from his stash). I probably have about 20 unis with pants, so after about the third game, I began to arrive for the games dressed in FULL MLB game-worn uniforms (that’s a 2002 throwback uniform I bought from the Pirates).
Nobody on my team ever said a damn thing. But here I was, showing up every week in full 1970s Oakland A’s white (sorry, I had to wear black shoes), as an L.A. Dodger, a 1990 Texas Ranger, a 1979 Oriole with Scotty Ericson’s orange game jersey, a mid-1980s baby blue Phillies road uniform, or even as a 1986 Astro. Yes, that’s a real ’80s rainbow jersey, not a replica. I don’t have 1980s Astros pants, however, so those are Orioles pants from the 1980s. No one seemed to notice. The Japanese just stared at me — I don’t think they knew what to say.
The Rays/Yankees 2003 season opener took place in Japan while I was living there. I went in full Devil Rays regalia and attracted a lot of attention. As you can imagine, everyone there was wearing Yankees stuff … except me. Don Zimmer laughed when he saw me — he was a Rays coach that year. I danced with the Rays mascot (whatever the hell he/she/it is), got on the big TV, embarrassed my kids.
I have many more photos from this period, like me wearing MLB uniforms at every tourist site in Japan. Everyone stared at me. So I stared back.
Bill sent me that dispatch last week. Then, a day or two ago, he sent me a note on another matter, which concluded with the following: “P.S. I have been re-reading, entry for entry, EVERY SINGLE column and blog entry you have published from Jan. 2007 to present. You are one prolific dude. Good lord there is a lot of stuff there.” Despite this blatant brown-nosing, Bill gets points for putting his uni where his mouth is (or something like that) while on foreign soil. Well done, sir.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Some nice footage from the 1961 World Series here. … “I was in Halifax, Nova Scotia this past week and went to the Pier 21 museum (like Ellis Island but for Canada),” writes Trevor Ulmer. “I had just missed this exhibit on an early-1900s Vancouver baseball team consisting of Japanese immigrants. The league folded during WWII, as most Japanese immigrants were forced into camps at that time. I didn’t have my camera, so I googled it today and found this. I did get to see this uniform. Hard to tell from the photo, but the fabric is very heavy, like a thicker, softer canvas-type material.” … Wanna paint your body in your school’s colors? You can’t if you go to Grassfield High in Virginia. Details here (with thanks to Tris Wykes). … The Oilers released their alternate jersey yesterday — another straight throwback. … The Browns will be wearing throwbacks this Monday against the Giants. According to this article: “[T]he only real change will be on the helmet, where the two brown stripes down the middle have been removed, leaving only a single white one. In addition, the players’ jersey numbers appear on both sides of their helmets” (with thanks to Ross Hazlett). … This rugby jersey is causing quite a stir. … Latest System of Dress team: Memphis (with thanks to Chris Yarbrough). … Hosiery note from Dan Bingham-Pankratz, who writes: “A high school coach in Racine, Wisconsin, got everyone on the team the same type of black socks, which were previously not part of the uniform, as a tribute to an injured player.” … Lots of you have been asking for a good photo of Riddell’s Revolution Speed helmet. Here’s a good view of it, as worn by Oklahoma’s Travis Lewis (thanks to Darrell Hatfield). … Michigan’s new Adidas hoops uniforms have been unveiled. … The mighty Fleer Sticker Project has posted a four-page spread from 1960, showing a bunch of early NFL youth merchandising (the full entry is here). “I hadn’t realized the NFL was merchandising its teams so aggressively as early as 1960,” says webmaster JC Helf. “I guess with the AFL coming on board that year, NFL Enterprises (which would later become NFL Properties) realized it was time to start heavily marketing the league.” … JC’s also being going thru the Sports Illustrated vault and came up with some interesting stuff, including the Blackhawks’ barber pole design, great striped sleeves being worn by Princeton and Slippery Rock (note the black-stockinged official, too), the Rams’ yellow jerseys, and some gorgeous pics of Notre Dame. … Great work by Ryan Hossner and his shutterbug galpal Bonnie Noble, who attended last night’s Blazers/Kings preseason game and noticed that Donte Green’s “2″ was upside-down. “We made sure to catch him next to Shelden Williams, so you can see the difference,” says Ryan.
October 8th, 2008
Spent the whole weekend upstate in Ulster County. Not far from NYC in terms of distance (about two and a half hours), but a universe away in all other respects. A little hiking, a little road-tripping, a little “Holy bejeesus, look at that foliage!,” a little cooking this bizarre-o smoked pork roast stuffed with a length of kielbasa — nice. Yesterday’s activities included stops at two tremendous roadhouse taverns, both of which had Nascar on the TV, which was a bit of a kick in the head. I mean, if I walk into a bar on an October Sunday, I should be able to expect to see football and/or baseball, am I right? But when in Rome and all that, so I looked at the TV and made grunts of appreciation whenever there was a crash, which as we all know is the whole point.
At least nobody laughed me out of the bar when I asked if they knew how the Brewers/Phillies game had ended. But I knew better than to ask if anyone had seen any of the season-opening NHL games. That’s right, while you were focusing on baseball and football and maybe Nascar, the NHL season got started over the weekend, with four games in Prague and Stockholm (sort of like MLB opening its season in Japan, only with lots of pickled herring instead of sushi). My annual ESPN season-preview column won’t run until Thursday, when the rest of the season starts, because at least three teams are slated to unveil their new alternate jerseys between now and then, but here are some initial observations based on the four European games:
• All four teams playing over the weekend wore “NHL Premiere” commemorative patches. The ones worn by the Sens and Pens featured the word “Stockholm” and a Swedish flag motif, while the ones worn by the Rangers (who, in keeping with longstanding team custom, put the patch on their shoulder instead of their chest) and Lightning had the word “Prague” and a Czech flag motif.
• Remember how the new Reebok jerseys last year had those awful scoop hems, and how the Rangers custom-tailored their uniforms to create a more traditional straight hemline? Reader Alex Argon notes that they don’t appear to be doing that this year.
• Reader Kelly Phillips actually attended one of the Sens/Pens games in Stockholm and filed the following report: “I saw more bizarre jerseys than one could even imagine. Just about every NHL team, and every version of the Sens and Pens, German teams, even the Belfast Giants. But, nothing could compare to this sighting — note the Frankfurt Lions jersey being worn under the Leafs sweater. Honorable mention goes to the guy wearing a Sundin jersey and a kilt!” Which would no doubt have been a huge hit in those roadhouse bars I was in.
Friendly Reminder: This Friday and Saturday will mark the debut of the Forewords (my lecture/slideshow collaboration with Liz Clayton), as we open two shows for the Magnetic Fields. We don’t know how we’re going to be received by an audience that’s expecting to see an opening band, so it’d be nice to pack the house with some friendly faces, if you get my drift. Tix for the Friday show in Minneapolis are available here, and tix for the Saturday show in Madison can be had here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: On the subject of Titans defenders having strings hanging off of their jerseys, Chance Wilmoth notes that Pacman Jones used to do it. Anyone know if he’s still doing this in Dallas? Also, Chance Wilmoth reports that Tony Brown had his strings hanging out of his sleeves yesterday. … Awesome T-shirt concept here (great find by Adam Reiffen). … According to this article, one reason Vince Dooley changed UGA’s pants from silver to white for several years was because a student cheer of “Go you silver britches” sounded vulgar when chanted rapidly (with thanks to Brent Hardman). … Fans of the old Mattell handheld football games will enjoy the cool box illustrations shown here and here. Plus the same site is showcasing some basketball and hockey designs (big thanks to Paul Ricciardi). … The hockey-themed rock band the Zambonis will be performing at the NHL Face-Off Event in Times Square this Friday. “We’re already debating which of our 350 hockey jerseys we’ll don onstage,” writes drummer Mat Zamboni (who’s got a Whalers-patterned kit). “One cool perk has been receiving some vintage throwback tees, including an elusive Hartford Whalers tee (that’s me). I don’t know the reason official Whalers throwback gear has been impossible to find, but this gives fans at least a little hope.” … On Friday I asked if this character might have been the prototype mascot who lost an “applause vote” to Pat Patriot during halftime of a 1979 game. Based on this account (sent my way by Bob Jones), which describes the prototype character as “a colonial-era superhero,” I’d say we have a match. … I’ve probably learned more oddball factoids from Jeremy Brahm in the last two years than from everyone else put together. Here’s the latest one: “In sumo wrestling, when a yokozuna loses a match to a makunouchi-level wrestler, the crowd tosses their cushions in an act of celebration. Now the sumo association is trying to put a stop to this practice by replacing the old cushions with new ones that are held together with rope.” … Minor tweaking for Tennessee hoops, going from this to this (with thanks to Luke Pellegra). … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Nike is now making prosthetics. … TNOB (team name on back) alert: the Covington (Kentucky) Catholic Colonels (with thanks to Craig McGlone). … Amare Stoudemire may have to wear goggles (with thanks to Dominick Carfello). … Gorgeous (and, alas, very overpriced) jacket here (with thanks to Scotty Johnson). … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: I knew the bicentennial patch had been worn in Super Bowl X, but I didn’t realize it had also been worn five months earlier in the 1975 Hall of Fame Game. Larry Weiderecht says the other team in that game, the Bengals, also wore it. … Bob Wilmot came across this amazing photo on eBay (dig that facemask) and soon found his way to the seller’s Photobucket page, which is loaded with old wire service pics. … Even high schools have helmet carts, although that one, from Lakeland High School in Florida, doesn’t have a facemask (thanks to Wayne Koehler). … Back in May, I was told that the Saints’ old Sir Saint spokescharacter would be revived. And sure enough, he’s back — sort of. Not nearly as much charm as before. Plus his hands have five fingers — a massive faux pas, since everyone knows cartoon characters have only four fingers, it’s the law! … Jordan Eichenblatt notes that an SMU player — No. 7 in this photo — had a missing nameplate on Saturday … Looks like Minnesota has a different collar this year compared to last year. Anyone know more about the rest of the jersey? … I don’t know anything about Canadian politics, but Jean Gagnier tells me that this is Stéphane Dion, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada (the official opposition), wearing an old CCM Canadiens jersey. … I think we’ve shown this map before, but just in case (with thanks to L.I. Phil). … Great job by Ryan Perkins, who captured two Eli Manning helmets in the same shot. … We’ve been talking about the maddening inconsistencies in the Bengals’ side panels for years, but Nick Waeltz captured a particularly vivid example of it. … Good little article here about the designer who created the NHL Winter Classic logo, among other marks (with thanks to Steve Stovall). … Matt Garza was wearing earplugs yesterday (thanks, Vince). … “I spent this past weekend at the Skytop Lodge in Canadensis, Pennsylvania, in the Poconos,” writes Bill Burke. “While in the activity room, I spotted this jersey hanging on the wall with an accompanying letter, which was from a woman whose husband played hockey for the lodge team during the 1930-31 season. She was clearing out his personal effects and thought that the lodge would like the sweater returned. It is basic but classic, and I only wish I could have seen if it had a number on the back.” … Bruce Bates took one of those tablecloths sold in a lot of NFL home party kits and customized the end zones to match the field from Super Bowl LXI. “I made the goalposts out of straws and Play-doh, and the end zones were combos of wrapping paper and carefully cut fonts,” he says. … David Greenwald notes that Angels catcher Mike Napoli has conflicting logos. … New anniversary patch for the Timberwolves. … Odd scene in yesterday’s Dolphins/Chargers game, where Ronnie Brown spent part of the game wearing these weird partial gloves that only covered his thumbs while leaving the rest of his fingers bare. Anyone know more about this?
October 6th, 2008
Looks like we’re gonna have to give an honorary Uni Watch membership to former MLB player Denny Hocking. While watching Friday night’s Twins/Angels game, he noticed something that almost everyone else missed, namely that Twinkies shortstop Adam Everett had a big typo on his jersey. According to this article, Hocking sent a text message to the visiting clubhouse attendants at Angel Stadium, who in turn notified Minnesota equipment manager Rod McCormick. He had a new jersey waiting for Everett as he came off the field after the 4th inning, so Everett played the rest of the game with a correctly spelled insignia.
Too bad Hocking was such a spoilsport. Wouldn’t it have been better if he’d kept quiet about the typo, just to see if anyone on the field would have noticed? Or would that have poor uni-watching etiquette for someone in his position (i.e., a former player with the ability to notify the proper authorities, as opposed to just a random observer)? And what if Everett had, say, hit a homer his first time up and superstitiously refused to change jerseys once the typo was discovered? Would McCormick have insisted that he change jerseys anyway, just for professionalism’s sake?
It’s worth noting, incidentally, that not all typos are created equal. In this case, the severity was magnified by the fact that the Twins use vertically arched lettering on their insignia, so the mis-sequenced letters disrupted the curvature of the arch, as you can clearly see here and here. All the more surprising, then, that nobody noticed the mistake before Hocking did.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Short article here about Habs coach Guy Carbonneau’s neckties (with thanks to Dan Smith). … Check this out: soccer stirrups! (Thanks to Ryan Yanoshak.) … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: What’s with all the cover-up tape in these photos? For the answer, look here. … Cool gallery of SMU helmets here. … Did you know U.S. soliders have had “uniform envy” regarding the Marine Corps? I didn’t, until Matt Locatelli sent me this. … The Hornets have a new court to go along with their new uniforms (with thanks to Mike Etheridge). … Non-sports logo news from Jon Springer, who reports that Giant Foods has gotten a brand makeover. … Chaz Noerenberg notes that Kyle Orton has been alternating between loose cuffs and tight cuffs during the preseason, and also points out that Kevin Jones had a new take on the double-socked look the other night. … Good article here about track athletes wearing jewelry. … Another uni-related treat from the SI archives: The 4/9/56 issue featured a bunch of uni illustrations for the coming season, as seen here, here, here, and here (with thanks to Jim Cooper). … “I was at the August 14th Mets/Nats game at Nationals Park,” writes John Muir. “Almost every hallway and open space has some sort of old-time DC baseball photo/painting/advert. I managed to grab a few shots on my way out after the game — they’re in this gallery.” … Also from John: Some ex-NHLers are circumventing the smoking bans at various arenas. … My annual college football season-preview column will run later this week on ESPN, but it will only cover Division I-A, so I’ll cover a few smaller schools here, including Idaho State. Last year they dressed like this and home and like this on the road. But now they’ve got new home jerseys, road jerseys, and pants. New helmets, too: That’s the old one on the right and the new one on the left (big thanks to Frank Mercogliano for all of this). … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Several Eagles linemen have reinforced horizontal ribbing on their shoulders, similar to what the Bears have had for several years now. … The Mets did the Hispanic thing on Friday night. … The Blue Jays’ black-jersey insignia usually looks like this (note the blue outline, which actually has a black border, but that blends into the surrounding jersey, so you can’t see it), but Jose Bautista’s insignia had a white outline on Saturday. Michael Priest and Hovan Patey both report that third base coach Nick Leyva has had similar problems this season. … Great collection of old hockey programs here (no need to click — they’ll start flashing automatically; with thanks to Mario Morgado). … Here’s something I’d never seen before: soccer positions listed on shorts (with thanks to Kel Hinkle). … Several readers have noted that Vikings RB Adrian Peterson changed his facemask from this to this on Saturday. For additional details, check out the discussion that ensued in last night’s comments (driven primarily by Matt Powers) here. … Jeff Ash has uploaded some really nice illustrations from this book, which he says taught him how to play baseball when he was a kid. You can see a slideshow of the illos here. … Informative video clip here on Oregon’s equipment room. … Several uni-related items in the new issue of GQ, including a short item on longtime Uni Watch faves No Mas, a “Please redesign the Ravens’ helmet” feature (look here, here, and here), and a stunningly inaccurate Cowboys illustration (with thanks to Matt Powers for the scans). … What the hell was going on with Bob Lily’s armpad? … Here’s a rare color view of the Chargers’ “San Diego All America City” helmet crest from the early ’60s. … The Giants never wore white shoes with their original “ny”-logo helmet. But Spider Lockhart apparently did a bit of footwear freelancing.
August 25th, 2008
I know for a fact that several MLB broadcasters read Uni Watch. One of them, who I won’t name here, occasionally trades e-mails with me during games. To my knowledge, however, neither my ESPN column nor this site has ever been mentioned during an MLB broadcast.
Until yesterday, that is. Apparently someone informed Cubbies play-by-play man Len Kasper (that’s him on the left in the photo shown above) that I’d run a transcript of his recent uni-centric banter with color man Bob Brenly (on the right), and at least one of them was rather amused by the whole thing. Here’s how it went down during the bottom of the 6th in yesterday’s Cubs/Astros game:
Kasper: Hey, Bob, we have a follow-up from our weekend conversation about Doug Mientkiewicz and his uniform, and the buttons. The Astros have the same setup as the Pirates, and pretty much every team in baseball. You see how it’s unevenly spaced — they have the two buttons at the top, but then they leave space for the “Houston.” That’s called pro buttoning — there’s actually a name for it. The folks at UniWatchBlog.com put up a transcript of our conversation…
Brenly [chuckling]: Oh, geez…
Kasper: … about Doug Mientkiewicz. So that’s the pro button style. And the Cubs’ home pinstripes, and the blue alternate tops, which they are wearing [today], are the only ones in baseball that are not of the pro button style. You see, it’s evenly spaced, because they don’t have a team name across the middle. There was a big article on ESPN.com about uniform styles back in late May. So thanks to the folks at UniWatchBlog.com for noticing. I didn’t know that, that it had a name — pro button.
Brenly [sounding mildly impatient with the topic]: Why should you know that?
Kasper: And what can happen with the pro button style is billowing, meaning the uniform goes out a little bit because there’s a big space between the second and third buttons. I don’t know if billowing was a problem for you when you played, but it’s an epidemic around the game today.
Brenly [very sarcastically]: Oh, what are we gonna do? [Camera shows close-up of Astros jersey.]
Kasper: Now, they — do they have a little Velcro in there, keeping the “Houston” together? Some teams have that, too. [Hitter strikes out, briefly necessitating some actual game commentary.] Called strike three. [Now back to important matters.] There’s all kinds of stuff like this on the internet.
Brenly [with an exasperated chuckle of barely concealed disgust]: Okay.
Kasper [on a roll now]: Everything you need to know about baseball uniforms. The Phillies had the zippers, right? [Director inexplicably chooses to show a dachsund outside the stadium.] That dog’s not that interested.
Brenly [with an air of what he clearly hopes will be finality]: All I know is I was happy every day I got to the ballpark and there was one hanging in my locker. They could’ve taken all the buttons off of it. Could’ve had one big button right in the middle, I didn’t care, as long as there was one hanging in my locker.
Kasper [apparently skimming through the aforementioned ESPN column]: I guess the Washington Nationals’ red alternate uniforms also do not have the pro button style. So we’ll have to ask Doug Mientkiewicz if he’s a fan of that particular style.
—————
And that’s where that particular bit of discourse ended. The funny thing is, Brenly’s the one who first brought up Mienkiewicz’s buttons last weekend, and he’s also the one who suggested that the Pirates’ jerseys could use some Velcro. But I guess he just wasn’t in the mood yesterday.
Anyway: I assume someone will bring today’s entry to Kasper’s attention. So hey, Len, get in touch — I’ve got a Uni Watch membership card with your name on it. And there’s one for you too, Bob, but only if you stop being so uni-grouchy.
Raffle Reminder: Remember, there’s soccer raffle currently underway. If you haven’t already entered, look here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Looks like the new OKC team’s new name is out of the bag. … The USA women’s soccer team usually wears the national soccer crest on their chest (here’s a clearer view) and shorts. But in yesterday’s Olympic opener against Norway, they were crest-free on both their jerseys and shorts, so the only visible mark on the uniforms was, well, guess. … The 2008 World Series logo and 2009 All-Star Game logo have been released. The ASG design clearly wins, since it has two “TM” marks and two circle-R marks (plus a sternum-level Majestic logo if you want a T-shirt), while the World Series logo has two circle-Rs but only one TM. So the ASG legal team wins home-field advantage in this year’s “Whose Lawyers Are Bigger Douchebags?” sweepstakes. … While we’re at it, Ryan C. Johnston was at Busch Stadium the day the ASG logo was unveiled and took some pics of the ceremonies, which I’ve gathered into this slideshow. Seems like a bit much for a logo for an exhibition game, no? … Tom Shieber notes that Robinson Cano’s memorial armband for Bobby Murcer was missing on Monday night. … Shieber also reports that he’s made a change to the “Dressed to the Nines” exhibit: “On the section devoted to ‘Names and Numbers,’ I’ve changed the table detailing retired numbers to include (as best as I can determine) the exact date when each number was retired. There are still a few question marks and entries in which the date is ‘unknown,’ but happily I’ve managed to track down the vast majority. Additions, corrections, suggestions are most welcome.” … Did the Durham Bulls once wear satin jerseys or BP tops? To see why I ask, look here and here (with thanks to Jay Sandora). … In addition to those new Syracuse jerseys, there will also be a new helmet, with white outlining on the “S” and the return of the white center stripe. Good analysis of the school’s overall changes here. … Interesting note from decal guru Chris Willis regarding the thin plastic film on this helmet: “There’s actually a decal across the front of the helmet that works the same way the plastic on a new phone/ipod/electronics item does. It’s called a Gouge-Gard, and it’s marketed by Creative Football Concepts out of New Jersey. It’s a clear decal that’s cut so that it will conform to the shape of the helmet and it is used mostly for training camp and preseason to protect the front of the helmet from getting gouged up too quickly, especially if it’s a painted helmet. The equipment guys have enough to do during camp.” … According to this page, there are rumors (and I stress that there’s nothing more solid than that) that Nike wants USC to wear black jerseys against Ohio State (with thanks to Glenn Tanner). … “At first glance,” says Greg Riffenburgh, “this Adidas template doesn’t look so bad. A little weird, maybe, but there have definitely been worse. Then I saw this. And this.” … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Jaw-droppingly great photo of Paul Hornung. … Another great old Otis Shepard program cover for the Cubs here (with thanks to Andrew Tanker). … I’m all in favor of high cuffs, but not if they’re so high that your stirrups’ laundry tag is exposed. … Good article here about Michigan’s transition from Nike to Adidas (with thanks to Greg DiLeo). … Here’s something you don’t often see: a gallery of Nebraska media guides from 1964-1990 (nice find by Brian Hansen). … The WHA’s Chicago Cougars’ home jersey looked like this, but for years Matt Mallonee thought it looked like this (closer views here and here). Here’s why: “This sweater has been in my family for quite some time, first with my uncle then my dad. My dad said they used to go to games at the old Barn when he was a kid, and at some point they bought this sweater. He was sure it was what the players wore, and I had no reason to doubt him. However, one day I got curious and looked the Cougars up. Well, he was only 11 or 12 at the time, so I can forgive him. In actuality, the cougar on the sweater is wearing the team’s actual design!” Man, that is a fantastic design. Anyone know more about this item? … The Reebok logo on the Steelers’ pants has always looked like this, but Brinke Guthrie notes that it now apparently looks like this, which is not what I’d call an improvement, unless you’re a Reebok shareholder. … Michigan State has added a pants stripe. … Who knew Rudy Giuliani played hockey? … As most of you know, I tend to prefer fun logo mascots over snarly ones. But not everyone agrees (with thanks to Matt Monsour). … Check out this shot of Nolan Ryan. He always batted right-handed, so why is he wearing a lefty batting helmet in that photo? Maybe it’s a double-flapper? … FNOB alert from Matt Englander: “Matt Elliott had FNOB as a member of the Michigan Wolverines in the early ’90s (that shot is from the 1990 UM vs. OSU game). I am guessing he had to do so because Jumbo Elliott was also on the squad at that time. He was later selected at the very end of the 1992 NFL draft, a true Mr. Irrelevant who achieved relevancy by wearing his entire name on the back of his jersey.” … Remember that “10 Worst Philly Uniforms” list? Here’s its 10 best counterpart (with thanks to Pete Salveson). … Amusing Yet Appalling Dept.: Here’s a story about a guy obsessed with finding a “Patriots 19-0″ T-shirt (with thanks to Daniel Ostroff-Moskowitz). … Rare non-Wisconsin-related report from Nicole Haase, who writes: “So I’m watching Project Runway tonight, and the challenge is to create an outfit for the team to wear for the opening ceremony. They go to a place called the Armory and meet with Apolo Anton Ohno, who’s tells them this is the challenge and then invites them to go look at a museum there that has a history of Americans in the Olympics. Looks like your kind of place — the little that they showed in the episode made me want to go there, like, NOW. I actually turned on my laptop just to send this to you, so I did a quick google search and didn’t come up with anything, but hopefully you know what this place is, because if you haven’t been there, it seems to me you have to go. And hopefully they have maybe this new place (which is right here in NYC, but I haven’t gotten around to checking it out yet)? … “I’ve always been a big hat collector,” writes Tim Stoops. “Imagine the tribbles in Star Trek, only with hats, and you have my room. So in March I started taking daily pictures of each one and posting them on Flickr. I’m up 147.” … Nevada’s helmets have apparently changed from this to this. I assume there’s a corresponding uniform change, but I haven’t seen pics of that yet (with thanks to Mike Etheridge). … There are two new books about branding that tie in with a lot of my gripes about logo creep. The first is Steve Heller’s Iron Fists: Branding in the 20th-Century Totalitarian State, which finds parallels between Hitler’s, Mao’s, Mussolini’s, and Stalin’s propaganda machines and modern marketing/branding applications (and no, I’m not comparing Phil Knight to Hitler, so calm down). I just got a copy of this and hope to write about it soon, but for now there’s an insightful review and some great artwork here. The second book is Lucas Conley’s OBD: Obsessive Branding Disorder. Lots of reviews here, and you can see Conley doing a good interview with Stephen Colbert below (with thanks to Joe Alviani for tipping me wise to the video clip):
August 7th, 2008
Okay, so I know I’ve been obsessing over buttons quite a bit lately, and I also know some of you think I write too often about the Mets. But this thing with Pedro Martinez has officially crossed over into freaky-deeky territory.
Quickly, the backstory: As many of you are aware, when Pedro made his very abbreviated first start of the year on April 1st in Florida, his second button was unfastened. Two months, two days, and one calf injury later, he returned to the mound in San Francisco — with his second button undone yet again.
Martinez’s third appearance of the year was eight days ago in San Diego. I didn’t watch that game, but he seemed to be fully buttoned, at least judging by this photo. So I chalked up the other two instances to bizarre coincidence and figured that was the end of that.
Pedro returned to the mound yesterday. And guess what returned with him: the phantom second button. Like, whiskey tango foxtrot?!
That got me wondering about Pedro’s previous start — the one in San Diego where the photo had shown him fully buttoned. So last night I checked out some video from that game, and look what I found. As it turns out, Martinez was fully buttoned in the 1st inning but reverted to his new signature style in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th (after which he was removed from the game, presumably for remedial button-fastening lessons).
So Pedro is now four-for-four with this new look of his. Is it some sort of ritualistic superstition? A secret shout-out to Lefty Grove or Leo Durocher? (Pedro is rather lippy, after all.) More to the point, what shall we call this style — a hole-in-two? The jersey unshored? Petey’s problem? Post your suggested terminology in today’s comments and I’ll give a free Uni Watch membership (or, for existing members, a new card design) to the person who comes up with the one I like best.
Something else about Pedro yesterday, by the way: no Father’s Day ribbon. Lots of blue ribbons and armbands elsewhere throughout MLB, though. I don’t know about you, but my prostate feels better already.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Weekend throwback scorecard: Awesome to see the cartoon Oriole cap logo, and even nicer that they went to the trouble of making throwback helmets — except they made them wrong (the white panel should look like this). Interesting to see that they kept the Jim McKay memorial armband. And look — no MLB logo on the back of the jerseys or the caps! … Meanwhile, over in the Bay Area (where the Giants had the MLB mark on jerseys but not on caps), Barry Zito had something poking out of his waistband. I was hoping they’d go with the orange sanitaries, but no such luck. … And in Cleveland, the Indians went with belted pants when an elastic waistband was called for. This was the weekend’s only throwback game featuring both teams in retro attire, as the Padres stuck to their regular batting helmets and used belted pants and radially arched nameplates (with no MLB logo) when they should have gone with striped waistbands and a vertical arch. Major bonus points, however, for including the 1978 All-Star Game patch. Jeff Mouldin was at the game and has dozens of additional pics (including several of Heath Bell’s brown-on-gold stirrups) here. … More on the Padres’ uniforms, from Mike Hersh: “I noticed most of the Padres didn’t like their brown undershirts with the mock-turtleneck collar. Most of the guys looked like they used scissors to cut the neckline. Edgar Gonzalez did the worst job of it. And Edgar’s younger brother, Adrian, decided to say screw it and just wore a white undershirt.” … Want to make your own vintage socks? Okay, you probably don’t, but this piece is still pretty interesting (with thanks to Joe Hilseberg, who also pointed me toward two old-school “base ball” uniform sources, here and here). … “Hens and Hogs Night” in Toledo last Thursday, with the Mud Hens wearing Harley-inspired jerseys (courtesy of Wayne Koehler). … Civil War regiment? Nope — it’s a circa-1900 baseball team. Amazing jackets! (Big thanks to Jim Herrmann.) … Kevin Brotzman notes that this story on Jonathan Ogden’s retirement includes the following passage: “Ogden recalled getting handed a white Ravens baseball cap with black block lettering when his name was announced during the draft. ‘I’m like, “What is this?”‘ he said, drawing hearty laughs from the crowd. ‘We didn’t have colors, we didn’t have logos, we didn’t have nothing. And I remember coming to minicamp and my first rookie card, I got a white helmet on.’” … “One of my friends lives in Austria and his local team is FC Blau Weiss Linz (Blue White Linz), a lower level Austrian team,” writes Chris Cruz. “I was watching a video clip of the team and noticed that although the team was sponsored by ‘Lenze,’ one guy (the captain) was wearing a shirt sponsored by ‘is.’” I’d never seen such a thing before, but apparently it’s not unheard of in Austria for a specific player to have a contract with a different sponsor.” … While searching for something else, I came across this photo of Gaylord Perry. Looks like he cut his collar). … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: The Cubs apparently wanted to use zippered jerseys for last Thursday’s throwback game, but MLB wouldn’t let them — or at least that’s what it says in the bottom-left of this page, which was printed on the inside front cover of the program for Thursday’s game (and was generously scanned and forwarded by Kasey Ignarski). … Steve Sundell reports that NASA has a new spacesuit manufacturer (and no, it’s not Nike). … NPR’s Marketplace program ran an interesting sneaker-history piece the other day. Listen to it here (with thanks to Jonna Pedrioli). … “The Grizzlies ‘celebrated’ Friday the 13th by wearing special jerseys with slash marks across them,” writes Aaron Wiens. “They also all wore the number 13.” … Steve Ashpole reports that Green River Community College has two interesting stirrup designs: Packers-striped (additional view here) and team-monogrammed (additional pics here, here, and here). … The Carolina Mudcats celebrated Rocky Mount Night this week by wearing 1960’s era Rocky Mount Leafs uniforms from the old Carolina League. Lots of pics here. … No photos, but a troubling communiqué from Jeremy Brahm: “I’ve noticed a problem with Nike’s soccer uniforms: They are tearing on the front of jerseys. I’ve attended numerous Portland Timbers games this year and have seen three uniforms tear in front of me, and one during a televised road match. I have seen one of the Nike uniforms at the Euro2008 tournament do the same. The tear happens on the front of the jersey, around the numbers. Maybe it’s because of the numbers are heat-pressed as opposed to being sewn? But then you’d think that the sponsor logo would do the same, but it always seems to be below the sponsor’s logo.” … “I found this page, which details the uniforms worn this past season by the soccer EPL’s latest member, Hull City,” writes Geneva Fox. … Argentina NT and Uruguay NT played a friendly basketball match the other day, and Alejandro Macri (writing all the way from Buenos Aires!) reports that Uruguay used a zero for all sub-10 numbers. Here’s a good view of the Argentine design. … Has MLB always sold sleeve patches online? If so, I wasn’t aware of it, but they’re definitely doing it now (as discovered by Chris Brown). … Gorgeous (but expensive) 1912 baseball equipment catalog available here. … Very odd item here: a raglan-styled vest. Did it originally have full sleeves that were later cut off? Why would you construct a vest with vestigal raglan “sleeves”? … Here’s something I’ve never seen before: a Spalding uniform tape measure. … Reprinted from Sunday’s comments: Cool little site documenting ice cream sundae helmets here. … Here’s something I hadn’t seen before: a short video clip showing a very young Shaq in his McDonald’s All-American uni (nice find by Dominick Carfello. … I met Gabriel Urist at a party on Friday. He’s a metalsmith who does all sorts of sports-themed jewelry — NBA-related, mostly, but he told me he just got an MLB license and will be producing lots of baseball stuff soon (he’ll have a booth at the All-Star Game’s FanFest blowout). His stuff is way too blingy for me, but he struck me as an interesting guy, and I plan to stay in touch with him.
June 16th, 2008
True confession: When they gave me a jersey to wear for throwing out the first pitch in Camden last Thursday (details of which, in case you missed them, are here), I initially got the buttons misaligned while buttoning the jersey. Fortunately, the clubbie who’d given me the jersey quickly pointed out my mistake, and then he even reached in and fixed the buttons for me.
Too bad none of Adam Eaton’s teammates did that for him during yesterday’s Phillies/Braves game. Eaton started the game fine, working with his top button open during the 1st and 2nd innings — no problem there. But he must have changed jerseys or gone to the bathroom or something like that during the top of the 3rd, because he came out for the bottom of the inning with his top button stuck into his second buttonhole, which looked dorky-and-a-half. Even worse, his button mismanagement continued into the 4th, 5th, and 6th innings (a span that also included plate appearances in the 4th and 6th, after which he was mercifully removed from the game.
That game featured a few other oddities. Mike Rich notes that Bobby Cox was wearing the wrong cap. And here’s something I’ve never seen before: Jeff Francoeur had a lock of hair sticking out through one of his Cool Flo helmet vents. Maybe that kinda evened things out in the game’s dork-o-rama sweepstakes.
Uni Watch News Ticker: This new book is nothing special, but it does have a uni-related title. … The Orioles added a memorial armband yesterday for Jim McKay, who got his broadcasting start in Baltimore. … Was James Worthy wearing mismatched uni elements in this photo, or was it just the lighting, or sweat, or what? (With thanks to Matt Fitzgerald.) … Scott Player is going to have to change his single-bar facemask (with thanks to Jeff Israel, who also pointed out Croatia’s checkboard-patterned socks). … Bobby Cox isn’t the only one with cap problems: Luis Ayala wore the wrong cap on Saturday (with thanks to Kevin Reiss). … You’ve probably seen the famous Dolphins/Jets “fake spike” play at some point. What you might not have noticed is that every player on the field was wearing the NFL’s 75th-anniversary patch — except for Dan Marino. See for yourself here (great catch by Frank Fleming). … Interesting note from Thomas Foote, who writes: “Basketball-reference.com recently added a uniform number feature that purports to list every player who ever wore every number in any season. Additionally, on the top of each player’s personal page, there’s a bunch of boxes — one for each uni number worn during the player’s career, styled in the team’s colors. Check out Chucky Brown’s page: 14 teams, 2 uni numbers. Sharp contrast with Tony Massenburg, who wore seven different numbers with 14 teams. On thing I found in my quick personal perusal is that three NBA players have worn 03, and one each have worn 07 and 09. All these players played for the Rochester Royals in the 1950s. Intrigued, I searched for pictures of the Royals from that era and found this. The 07 seems to be Paul Noel, the only player ever listed as having worn that number.” … USA Rugby has a new kit — look here and here (with thanks to Joe Alvernaz). … “Talking to A’s equipment manager Steve Vucinich before the season, he said that the A’s would be wearing the home whites and new black alternates at home and the road grays and the green alternates on the road,” says Brandon Davis. “But they wore green at home on Wednesday, as part of their Go Green promotion, promoting the environment and encouraging fans to wear green. Starting pitcher Justin Duchscherer wanted to wear the blacks, but the team wouldn’t let him choose that day. Also, note that when the A’s do wear the new black jerseys, they pair it with the gold-brimmed home batting helmet (and even switch to black socks), but the old black jerseys from previous seasons had been worn at home with the solid-green road batting helmet. … “I was watching America’s Ballroom Challenge and noticed the winners of the American Rhythm section — Jose Decamps and Johanna Zacharewicz — actually had sponsorships on their costumes!” writes Karen Hibbitt (who adds that she’s “embarrassed” to have been watching the show). “The sponsorship patch is subtle and small, but you can definitely see it on his arm.” … Biggest jockey ever. … Speaking of jockeys, the Belmont jocks were once again wearing the Eight Belles memorial patch on their boots. No Hooters logo for Big Brown after all, though — that sponsorship ended up getting nixed by the powers that be. … What happens to the uniforms used in movies? In the case of the film Cobb, they end up on eBay (nice find by Jonathan Martin) . … And speaking of eBay, here’s a real prize. … The NOB on Mark Grudzielanek’s powder blue jersey looks even more extended than usual (with thanks to Matt Shevin). … The Padres, who frequently wear camouflage uniforms, turned the tables the other day by having a Naval officer wear a Padres uniform to catch the first pitch, which was thrown by his son. Details here (with thanks to Matt Eichwedel). … Awesome score by Jeff Barak, who found this amazing 1915 photo of Washington Senators manager Clark Griffith. Dig that overcoat!! … Jeff also pointed me toward a thread that included this shot of the 1932 Alabama/George Washington game. Note the interesting ref’s uniform. … The St. Paul Saints celebrated Prince’s birthday by wearing purple jerseys with symbols instead of numbers on their backs, and Minna H. provided a bunch of screen grabs (additional images here and here). “SuperFan, who does a push-up for each run the Saints score, was wearing a purple headband, purple wristbands, and purple-striped tube socks,” says Minna. “Also there was an interesting discussion about how the opposing pitcher couldn’t keep his jersey tucked in.” … Note to designers: There’s a new font out there called Metroscript, which, as you can see, is being touted as sports-appropriate. … Good treatment of French Open aesthetics here (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … Susan Freeman’s father attended the Dallas Stars warehouse sale and came away with some nameplate (here’s a closer view), pucks, and sticks. … I’ll be doing another reading at KGB next month. The date will be July 22nd, the theme will be “Design and Sports,” and I believe one of the other readers will be the very wonderful Michael Beirut, who’s a partner at Pentagram and has done some identity/logo work for the Jets. Further details as the date draws nearer.
June 9th, 2008
Weird case of déjà vu last night: Back in April, when Pedro Martinez made his very truncated season debut, he left the second button on his jersey unfastened (and I said as much at the time). Two months later, Pedro finally returned to the mound last night — with the same button undone (additional views here, here, here, here, and here). Guess he didn’t read last week’s ESPN column.
Speaking of which, I’ve got a new column going up today (here’s the link). See you over there.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Good story here about minor league team names, logos, and branding (with thanks to Kenn Tomasch). … Great find here — a basketball uniform made for the USFL’s Philadelphia Stars for a charity game. “I believe David Trout later went on to play for the Steelers, as a kicker,” says Todd Davis. “He also had that strange double-bar facemask that never quite looked like any others I’d seen.” … Yesterday’s entry about cap inserts prompted this from Paul Hirsch: “I know all about the cap inserts. I have one — it’s red — that my parents bought for me in the 1960s [additional pics here and here]. They were quite popular in Southern California then, because Maury Wills used one. There’s also some discussion regarding having youth baseball pitchers wear them to protect from comebackers. My son pitches, and I’m trying to sell him on the idea. Don’t know if they’re readily available at the moment, but if they become mandatory or encouraged for young pitchers, they’ll be back on the market.” … Check out this great old photo of the 240th Coast Artillery baseball team uniform. “Found it in a display at Fort Williams, adjacent to Portland Head Lighthouse in Maine,” says Dan Cichalski. … Chipper Jones came to bat left-handed last night while wearing a right-handed batting helmet. See it unfold in real time here (with thanks to Brent Hardman). … In that same game, the Marlins’ announcers took a uni-related question from a viewer. I don’t have access to that broadcast, but reader Steven Nathan actually captured it on his cellphone. Crummy audio and even crummier video, but you can get the gist here.
June 4th, 2008
Got a really interesting note the other day from reader Matt Frost, who clued me in to a uniform category I hadn’t previously been aware of. Check it out:
I was watching a show about the Highland Games on the Discovery Channel. Tucked in amongst all the kilts was a small bit about the tug of war. Surprisingly, there was a high degree of uni-related detail.
In these photos, you can see that it more or less looks like they’re wearing rugby shirts. But there are some peculiar bits, starting with their boots. In fact, there are actually companies that produce tug of war boots. They look like ice skates with no blades.
Getting back to the shirts, they’re definitely modified. The more basic ones are simply rugby shirts with an extra layer of fabric. The pullers have it under the arm and along the ribs, and the anchorman has it over the shoulder as well. Some of the more hardcore teams, though, have more intense padding. Here it looks like some kind of rubber. A lot of teams seemed to have quilted padding sewn in to the inside of their shirts, but I couldn’t find any images of those.
Faaaaascinating. Remember when they used to tugs of war on The Superstars, or Superteams, or whatever it was? I mainly recall the Steelers tug team, anchored by Ernie Holmes, engaged in a seemingly endless t-o’-w against some other team (probably the Cowboys, but I no longer recall the specifics). Anyway, that’s about the full extent of what I know about this sport. After some very quick research, however, here are a few other things I’ve noticed:
• Here’s a rear view of one of those reinforced panels.
• Most teams have matching socks.
• In addition to outdoor matches, there also appears to be a thriving indoor tug circuit, in which the “field” is a narrow strip. No boots here — looks like specialized sneakers.
• The sport’s youth program could use some uniforms.
And so on. Anyone know more about this sport? Fill us in.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Someone’s trying to have it both ways (with thanks to Ryan Connelly). … Amusing rant here on umpires’ uniform numbers. Not sure how accurate it is, though — it claims that No. 2 has been retired twice (for A.L. ump Nick Bremigan and N.L. ump Jocko Conlan), but as Jeffrey Soderberg points out, that number is currently worn by Jerry Crawford. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: People are always asking me where they can buy stirrups. Here are some nice ones on eBay. … Here’s another shot of Omar Vizquel wearing No. 42 during his rookie year — and also sporting a double-flap helmet! … A gem from the photo archives? Nope — it’s the Rickwood Classic, which took place just the other day. Details here, and additional pics here (big thanks to Mark McCollister). … A team logo on the back of the mound is bad enough, but Dustin Pomprowitz reports that the Brewers have taken it a step further. See that light-colored lettering? Here’s a closer look. Should only be a matter of time before we see real advertising there, at which point we will have officially reached a low point in human civilization. … As you may also have noticed in that last photo, the Braves wore their alternate caps yesterday. First time they’ve worn them with something other than the solid-blue alternate jersey. … Ah, product placement (with thanks to Jason Dulin). … Eagle-eyed Joe Hilseberg notes that Orioles coach John Shelby appears to have an upside-down 8 on the front of his jersey. … Bob Andrews attended a Texans season ticketholder event last night and got lots of cool uni-related pics. “They apparently are really promoting the secondary logo,” he writes. “It was worn by everyone.” … Sleeve observation from Mike DeCaro, who writes: “I was watching a game between the White Sox and Indians on May 28th, when I noticed that Rafael Bentancourt seemed to have a wide discrepancy in the length of his sleeves on his jersey. His pitching sleeve looked a few inches shorter than the other. The best pictrure I could find was from spring training.” … Chaz Norenberg notes that the MLB logo is missing from the back of Josh Hamilton’s jersey. … Good article here about the Mariners’ Marineros jerseys, which will be worn tomorrow. … Thanks to everyone who came out to KGB last night — good times. … And big birthday wishes to Milesofsparks, who makes my world stripey and happy. Just FYI, you’ve got one more present waiting for you, which you’ll get this evening.
May 30th, 2008
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