Notice anything unusual about this Gary Matthews gamer from 1983? That smudge on the right sleeve is a little sergeant’s pin — a reference to Matthews’s nickname, Sarge.

But was the pin actually worn on the field or just added to the jersey after the fact? “The jersey’s current owner said he received it from Matthews with confirmation that the pin was worn during the 1983 season,” says Jared Wheeler, who displayed the jersey in the Philly baseball history exhibit he recently curated. “He also had a photo that confirmed this, but I was unable to get a shot of that to send to you.” I did a bit of very quick photo research but wasn’t able to find a shot with a clear view of Matthews’s right sleeve. Maybe someone with a bit of time on their hands would like to do a more in-depth photo search? (Update: Mike Hersh just came up with this. Nice job!)

New ESPN column today — the annual college football mother lode. Look here.

September Raffle: Our friends at Helmet Hut are kicking off the football season by offering a free helmet from their huge product line of NCAA designs (click on any school for the full range of selections for that team). We’re going to call this the Jim Parker Memorial Raffle, in honor of the Helmet Hut co-founder and helmet historian who recently passed away — a great loss for the uni community.

To enter, send a blank e-mail with your name in the subject line to the raffle address (not to the usual Uni Watch e-mail address, please) by 10pm next Tuesday, September 8th. One entry per person, but anyone enrolled in the Uni Watch membership program at the time of the drawing can send four entries. The winner will be announced next Wednesday.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Graphic designer Sean Engelhardt has created a chart that tracks the Mets’ 2009 injuries. “I’m not trying to make any excuses or explain away anything,” he writes. “I just wanted to see the data in action since it seemed so absurd. I also think it’s a fascinating look at how a full season of baseball plays out. You can see how the starting rotation lined up then got mixed around, days when multiple relievers pitched, see who started (and against what team), consecutive-games streaks (and games-missed streaks), etc.” Really good stuff. … Jeremy Brahm was going through his closet recently and came across these Leaf mini-helmets. “I even had the whole set of 26 teams, which believe me was difficult when I was a kid,” he says. “I sent this over to [gumball helmet king] Bill Jones and he told me that he had a set too, but not the box. You can barely find any information for these online.” … And speaking of gumball helmets, look what Brinke Guthrie found on eBay. … Robbie Biederman has launched a new Detroit-centric T-shirt line. … New logos for Georgia State. Further details here (with thanks to Jameson Adams). … Germany’s home kit for the 2010 World Cup has been leaked. … Throwback-ish jersey and a 30th-anniversary patch for the Flames (with thanks to Stan Capp). … Very interesting article about Colt Brennan’s visor — recommended reading. … More headwear adjustments for David Wright, who went with a double-flap S100 last night.

By Phil Hecken, turning two with Larry Wiederecht

I’m rejoined today by Larry Wiederecht (”Lwiedy”), my double play partner, as today we look the pages of another All Star Game program, this time from the Midsummer Classic in Milwaukee, 1975. Although this would be the first time the Milwaukee Brewers would play host to the game, it was not the first All Star Game to be held at County Stadium, Wisconsin. That honor belonged to the 1955 Milwaukee Braves. The ‘75 game was the 46th playing of the classic, and the game was played on July 15th, 1975. Additional information on the actual game can be found here. I love this really neat patch from the game, featuring the words “All Star Game 1975″ in blue and gold on one circle, and the swinging “barrelman” on the other. (Although, Larry notes that the patch not worn on the uniforms, but rather was based on the press pin from that year [third row, fifth from the left].)

So, without any additional ado, let’s get into Larry’s ASG pics:

‣ Rather boring team photos (by All-Star standards). The American League and the National League. The only real uni anomaly that I know of (Vida’s all gold get-up) didn’t even show up. These came from the ’75 Series program.

‣ Less than dramatic cover artwork by a fellow named Robert Deuel

‣ Obligatory welcome letter from the Commissioner, Owner, used car salesman.

‣ Nice piece on the history of Milwaukee baseball

‣ Like in the 1972 program, Medalist/Sand Knit shows their wears

‣ No way I have Suzy Q’s in center (nice home plate, too)

‣ If you are going to use little action shots of Garvey & Cey, at least put them by their own head shots. Sutton, Seaver & Gossage were “misplaced” as well

‣ The Hammer takes in a little USC-UCLA

‣ One of the most recognizable ad campaigns of all time. Always wondered if you couldn’t just put a bullet through the shank, though.

‣ Hey Johnny O, can you still get a Graf/s?

‣ Also a staple of AS & Series programs are the ring ads

‣ With a lot of help from ChampionshipRings.net and a little deductive reasoning, I came up with the following list (top to bottom then left to right)

1971 Dallas Cowboys
1971 Utah Stars
1971 or 1972 Boston University Hockey
1966 SMU
1967 Philadelphia 76ers
1958 Baltimore Colts
1959 Oklahoma Sooners Orange Bowl
1970 USC Rose Bowl
1967 Southern Illinois NIT
1964 St. Louis Cardinals
1969 Minnesota Vikings NFL Champions
1965 Los Angeles Dodgers
1968 New York Jets
1953 New York Yankees
1972 Boston Bruins (World, not Stanley Cup Champs?)
1970 or 1971 Nebraska Cornhuskers Football
1967 St. Louis Cardinals
19?? UCLA Basketball (Pick a year)
1966 Baltimore Orioles

‣ Finally, a nice little pullout program poster.

And that’s not all, Larry also found us some pretty nice pics from that game:

‣ Pretty good staff leading the NL. Over 50 years of managerial experience, seven world championships and nearly a dozen pennants.

‣ Yeah they shook hands, but they never looked at each other.

‣ Speaking of Thurm, missing was his familiar gear. He must have borrowed from the Brewers.

‣ Don’t know how often this combo was worn, but it wasn’t often.

‣ Bernie Brewer’s sister, wife? She’s Bonnie Brewer.

‣ Don’t really know what Billy’s black armband is for.

‣ Hank’s 24th and final All-Star Game.

‣ Yaz pinch hits with a cap insert. He even had to explain to home plate ump Bill Haller what he was wearing.

‣ Gary Carter corrals the final out in left wearing his batting/catching helmet.

Thanks again, Larry. Those are awesome. See ya again soon when we look at our next All Star Game Program!

Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: This one is difficult, but not impossible. The location should be easy, and there are other clues right there on the scoreboard. You shouldn’t need any hints with this one. Date, location and final score are required. Based on the comments yesterday, if you do get the answer, shoot me an email but post something like “I GOT IT” in the comments. This way, people can take guesses throughout the day. I’ll post the winner’s name and some of the good “deductive” guesses at the end of the day. Ok? Ok! Good luck. Guess The Game From The Scoreboard

Another Uniform Tracker has answered the call. Matthew Bohman “Namhob” is a Cincinnati Reds tracker. Here’s his update:

Phil,

The Cincinnati Reds have had their fair share of uni shenanigans in the past, but nowadays they have kept it pretty standard with a traditional home, away, and softball alternate home uniform. Thankfully, baseball’s oldest franchise has avoided the dreaded away alternate and in doing so has kept many a Laundromat in business on the road. At home, there seems to be 2 rules the Reds follow: 1) the traditional “Sunday Red” is alive and well in Cincinnati and 2) for every home series, the red alternates have to make at least one appearance. The only deviation from this rule so far has been a Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday series against the Astros where the Reds wore home white every game (which didn’t stop the Astros from wearing their red alternates for EVERY GAME of that series). Actually, looking through the Astros games for the first 2 months I have counted 24 away games and they have only worn their away grays twice! And one doesn’t even count as an away gray since they were wearing the Stars & Stripes hat on Memorial Day! Hint to the Astros, you are undefeated in your away grays; try them on sometime!

Sorry, back to the Reds…Being an excel spreadsheet junkie, I am tracking the Reds 3 different ways*: overall record by uniform, game-by-game, and per pitcher. For being an average ballclub, the Reds are .500 in both the home whites and the red alts. They’ve had some success on the road this year and it shows with a 14-11 record. As it stands, they are still undefeated in wearing anything apart from the home whites, road grays and red alts (1-0 is undefeated, am I right?). That will probably change as they are expected to get fancy for July 4th and September 11th as well as the Civil Rights game against the ChiSox on June 20th (they’ll be wearing throwbacks of the 1964 Cincinnati Reds). In the end, I predict they will finish 2-2 in the “special attire” category to remain at .500.

* As of June 1, 2009

In case you missed yesterday’s post…a NOB research project, by UW Historian/Research Architect, Timmy Brulia:

Hello All,

This is Timmy B, the guy who created the “NFL White At Home” database that chronicles what teams have worn their white jerseys at home in the NFL since 1957, and the “Pro Football Uniforms 1933-1958″ database, which describes the uniform designs for each team in the NFL and AAFC from that era.

My next attempt at a database is for all the teams that have worn the player’s name on the backs (NOB’s) of their jerseys in the “Big 4″ sports of football, baseball, basketball and hockey. Specifically, when they started doing it.

Up until 1960, there was only one documented example of a team with the NOB, the defunct New York Americans of the NHL in the 1926-27 season. Then in 1960, the Chicago White Sox began wearing NOB’s on the backs of their away blouses. Later that year, the upstart American Football League featured several teams that wore them at the start of the season. From all indications, by season’s end ALL teams wore NOB’s in the AFL. The Raiders went so far as to feature the players’ FIRST name as well as their last.

When the AFL merged with the NOB-less NFL in 1970, the NFL absorbed the idea and adopted the look for all 26 teams.

The NBA, already with several teams sporting NOB’s, took a shining to the idea and also made NOB’s mandatory starting with the 1971-72 season.

Not wanting to be left behind, the NHL adopted a league wide NOB policy in 1977-78 (with ONE notable exception which we’ll get to later).

Finally the National League, in 1979, mandated that all 12 teams at least have NOB’s on the teams’ road jerseys. To my knowledge, the American League never has adopted an NOB mandate. However, the NL’s rule seems to have been “waived” or not enforced as the Ddogers went NOB-less for several years earlier in the decade.

The purpose of the database is to be an easy to follow guide as to WHEN teams started to wear NOB’s, either before a league-wide edict, or especially in MLB, when there were gaps from exactly when they first started wearing NOB’s, then dropped them, and then added them. So if you’re wondering when – say the Braves – started wearing NOB’s (1963), when did they stop, and when did they resume the NOB’s. So, as an example, the Braves entry might look like this (years may NOT be correct):

Braves: 1963-1964, 1976-current.

or for hockey:
Rangers: 1970-71 thru 1976-77 (home only), 1977-78 to date.

What I am asking of you, the Uniwatch faithful, is for your help. I think I can cover the NFL and the NHL pretty well. However, for the NBA and especially MLB, if you can send me any photo samples with some verification as to when certain teams started and/or stopped wearing NOB’s it would be hugely appreciated and I will make sure to give you props in the database with your particular contribution(s).

To close, as promised, the NHL exception for 1977-78. In 1977, John Zeigler took over as NHL President, succeeding the long tenure (30 years) of Clarence Campbell. One of Zeigler’s first actions was to mandate that all NHL teams get with the program and affix NOB’s on the team sweaters, both home and away. 17 of the 18 teams complied, with no problem. One did not. The Maple Leafs owner, the crusty Harold Ballard, refused to follow the edict. They went half a season before Zeigler finally said to Ballard, put ‘em on or be fined. Finally, Ballard complied, by having blue NOB’s on the away blue sweaters! Zeigler, said, “Not funny” and then was ready to clamp Harold with some fines. At last, some time in late February, Ballard and the Leafs followed orders, but only for the blue jersey, with white letters. However, Ballard said to Zeigler, I will not do it for the home whites as he had an iron-clad clause with the Maple Leaf Gardens program printers NOT to adorn NOB’s on the home jerseys. Zeigler relented but ordered Ballard to comply fully starting with the 1978-79 season, which he did.

Thanks and again any and all help will be appreciated!!

You can reach Timmy by emailing him with any info.

Last FINAL Call For the RPM Stirrup Club: Got a note from Robert Marshall, the bobble boy. “phil, could you give a last call on the oriole stirrup, and make mention this weekend that i sent out this email to people that contacted me, and that if they didn’t get this email, that they should get in touch with me again? i think everyone is on here, but maybe i missed someone. i will be placing the order tuesday, so get in before then, i will not order extras. and they take tck 2 weeks to manufacture, so you should have them in less then 3 weeks from tuesday.” So, here’s that last call:

1) Cost $11 per stirrup. We will go through paypal, and use his rpmarshall art email address. Mr. Marshall does not intend to profit from this, but he doesn’t want to lose either. One of you sent Robert a payment for $10 (that is fine, don’t send him an extra 1$, you can work it out on the next pair), and those paypal bastards took $.60. but the breakdown is this: $7 for stirrup/$1 shipping from tck/$.50ish per envelope/ $.50ish paypal/$1.75 shipping to you (he just shipped a pair 1st class)=$10.75, which leaves $.25 for Robert’s gas/time/cover overruns, and he thinks that is more then fair. So, if you want 3 pairs, Robert will know by the $33 total. Make sure you give him a shipping address through paypal if you can. Please make this as easy on him as possible.

2) No, you are not obligated to buy every stirrup. They are calling it a “club”, and it would be nice if people were “generally” in, but nobody is in a must buy position. Robert will continue to add to this email list, and you will get emails every time they go for another ‘rup. If you want off the list, tell him, and he will take you off. Sure, you may occasionally get duplicate info, but it is easier for him to just have a general email to all involved, and not respond individually, he does not want to turn this into a job, he just want to get us all the stirrups we want :)

3) Clearly the next three ‘rups are the red sox, cardinals, and a’s, a popular, yet distant third choice. Robert provided this graphic with some other possible upcoming rups, most were suggested, others he just added to round out the image. He says we knock out the mlb’s first, then go from there, but we might mix in a crazy one here or there. Also the opening size will vary, this first pair is a 5″, and Robert has a feeling people will be happy with this size, it shows sani without getting crazy (staying classy), but we will more or less match the opening to the era. Or if 24 people get in, he can order twelve (min) 5″ and twelve 7″, he will make as many people happy as he can.

From The Jeremy Brahm files: Bunch of stuff from UW’s Pacific Rim Correspondent today: Here is a picture of the new Speedo LZR Hybrid swimsuit. This one is being made in Japan … Who says golf is dull? Japanese LPGA Golfer Sakura Yokomine is bright in the rain. While Megumi Kido, well it says on her shirt. I Love Golf. Or Chie Arimura hearts golf … Here is a pdf of the FINA swim cap guidelines for the 2009 World Championships. And the Rules in press release … Yowsa! Check out this photo of the KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) Lotte Giants … And finally — Remember the Expos helmets with the odd panels? How about this from the defunct KBO Sammi Superstars in 1984. Awesome Jeremy.

A brief candle; both ends burning…An endless mile; a bus wheel turning…A friend to share the lonesome times…A handshake and a sip of wine

So say it loud and let it ring…We are all a part of everything…The future, present and the past…Fly on proud bird — You’re free at last.

The above is for a friend. Everyone have a good Sunday. Peace.

New ESPN column today — here’s the link.

Meanwhile: For months now people have been telling me to pick up a copy of The Football Book, part of a series of coffee table books produced by Sports Illustrated. Last week I finally got around to getting a copy, and sure enough, it’s loaded with great uni-related photos. The only problem is that the book is too big to fit in my scanner, so I had to take photos of the pages. Here’s a sampling:

• As you’d expect, there are lots of great helmet photos. Among the highlights: two Lucite facemasks visible in the same frame; a seriously battered helmet; and a good historical survey of gridiron headwear.

• The book features two spectacular footwear close-ups, beginning with one of the most famous shoes in NFL history: Tom Dempsey’s special kicking shoe, which he used to boot his record-setting 63-yard field goal in 1970. Less celebrated but still fascinating is Doak Walker’s kicking shoe, which included a zipper as well as laces, because he played both ways and had to be able to switch footwear quickly. I love that heavily taped zipper tab.

• Before there were electric heaters on the sideline, some players kept warm by wearing burlap sacks, or by indulging their pyromaniacal tendencies.

• Note the handwritten rear-helmet uni numbers worn by the Browns players.

• Speaking of the Browns, check out the team-colored goalpost, shown here in the aftermath of the 1964 championship game.

• Two photos of officials caught my eye. Note how the two zebras in this shot have slightly different stripe widths and sleeve cuff patterns. Meanwhile, anyone know who this memorial armband was honoring?

• Good view here of how Jim Burt had his jersey custom-tied for maximum tightness.

• Before there were Super Bowl rings, there were other championship trinkets.

• And before footballs themselves were manufactured to standard specs, officials kept a special ball caliper on hand to make sure game balls were the proper size and shape.

• Gorgeous gallery of WWII-era game programs here.

• What’s up with the grommets — or are they snaps? — on the pants?

• Why would a player wear his uni number on his spat job?

• And finally, this isn’t uni-related, but it brings up something I’ve always wondered about: When I was a kid, every team huddled up in a circle — except for the Chiefs, who set up like this, with the quarterback facing the rest of the offense. I remember being fascinated by this protocol when I was little, and then they stopped doing it and I forgot all about it until I saw this photo in the book. Anyone know more about this? Was it a Len Dawson thing or a Hank Stram thing? If the latter, did the Saints use the same huddle format when Stram coached them?

And so on — plenty more where all of that came from. Highly recommended.

Tomlinson Update: Sure enough, as several people noted in yesterday’s comments, Ladainian Tomlinson’s flag decal was missing yet again on Sunday. Dude’s been in violation of a league uniform guideline for nearly half a season now! Is it really possible that nobody else has noticed? Or is he making some kind of statement? Seems unlikely, given his antics during the Chargers’ home opener, but LT is clearly a complex character, so who knows what’s running through his head.

I talked about this with Giants equipment director Joe Skiba when I was out at Giants Stadium two Fridays ago. He gave me a flag decal and suggested that I FedEx it to Tomlinson along with a short, well-worded note (maybe just “Are we missing something?”). It’s a tempting thought — but what if he slapped the decal on his helmet? Then the game would be over. I’ve come to enjoy the weekly “Will he or won’t he?” anticipation surrounding LT’s flag. Why ruin it?

Then again, I love the FedEx idea — I’m torn. And so I turn, my brothers and sisters, to you: Should I sit on my hands and let the weekly game play out, or should I send the flag decal to LT? And if the latter, what sort of note should I include? Cast your vote by sending an e-mail to unipoll at earthlink dot net (not the usual Uni Watch address) and I’ll take the readership’s wishes under advisement.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Not sure how I missed this, since I was watching the Giants/Dolphins game, but Brandon Jacobs’s jersey patch apparently fell off at some point in the second half (with thanks to Eric Stangel, who says he first saw this mentioned on GameUsedForum.com). … Remember back in the late ’80s, when several NBA teams used socks with the team name knit into the hose? Rob Montoya notes that several Albuquerque high school football teams are using that sock style, including Eldorado High and Cibola High. In addition, Highland High’s socks have stripes, vertical lettering, and a team logo. Albuquerque: the unlikely athletic sock capital of America! … Speaking of sock adornment, check out this photo (forwarded by Russ Yurk), which was taken during Cardinals training camp in 1981. What’s with the number-stenciled socks? Anyone ever seen that before? … “South Africa, the recent Rugby World Cup champions, unveiled their 2008 strips this past weekend,” writes Dominic Litten. “It’s quite different from the jerseys they wore in the World Cup. Another interesting quirk about South African rugby is the awesome suit jacket worn by the head coaches (who, by the way, aren’t on the sidelines during games).” … “Dress to the Nines” curator Tom Shieber checks in with the following observation: “Is this a first? The Rockies wore different uniforms in each game of their four-game World Series loss to the Red Sox. Game One: black vest with gray pinstripe pants. Game Two: gray pinstripe jersey and pants. Game Three: black vest (same as Game One) with white pinstripe pants. Game Four: white pinstripe jersey and pants. Maybe they figured they’d keep switching uniforms until they won. Didn’t seem to work.” … Nice find by Jeff Barak: a web page that lists every NHL player to have worn a given uni number. … Neil Berger was looking through some old photos and found some shots of a Bucks uni-history gallery that he took a few years back at the Bradley Center. Additional pics here, here, and here. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Before an NFL game, the game footballs are inspected by the referee, who puts a mark or stamp on them to ensure that there’s no switcheroo. You can see those marks on the tip of the balls used in Sunday’s Niners/Saints game. … The Hershey Bears wore pink breast cancer awareness jerseys during pregame warm-ups on Sunday. … The concept of naming rights has gotten seriously out of hand. … While researching something else I came across a photo of Lance Rentzel wearing a really crude-looking facemask, similar to the cheapo-looking one that Gale Sayers used to wear. … Michael Rich was at the Georgia Tech/Clemson game a few weeks ago and spotted a fan wearing a custom Tech jersey. … Interesting interlocking “X” and “V” being used by the Charlotte Checkers for their anniversary patch (with thanks to Kyle Ostendorf). … Any article that includes the quotes “People would make fun of us and stuff” and “Like if we travel around, people are going to give us a lot of crap” has got to be worth your while — and it is (nice find by Todd Davis). … More lower-leg shenanigans for the Packers secondary last night, as seen here, here, and here.

Lots of ground to cover today, beginning with the excellent time I had last Friday at Giants Stadium, where I spent the afternoon interviewing equipment director Joe Skiba. This will end up as a video column on ESPN.com later this week, but here are some notable factoids:

• As you can see above, your typical NFL team has a lot — like, a lot — of facemasks on hand. (Here’s a larger view.)

• How tight are NFL jerseys these days? So tight that Osi Umenyiora’s jersey and pads fit fairly comfortably on me. Keep in mind that Osi outweighs me by over 100 pounds. For the record, Jared Lorenzen’s jersey was a big roomier.

• Speaking of Umenyiora, it turns out he likes to have his jersey partially untucked in the back (sort of like Wayne Gretzky), so Skiba has the back of his jersey tailored with a diagonal hem.

• Think the Giants’ blue helmet looks stupid with their red alternate jersey? Skiba has something in mind for you. I’m not allowed to talk about it, because team management hasn’t yet green-lighted Skiba’s idea, but let’s just say it would be a pretty revolutionary move if it came to pass. (And no, it’s not a solid-red helmet.)

• Skiba clued me in to a new footwear regulation I hadn’t been aware of: Prior to this season, a player’s shoes had to be predominantly black or white (depending on the team’s official shoe color) but could be accented with team colors. Since the Giants’ official colors are blue and red, this meant that some players’ shoes were black with red accents and others were black with blue. This year, however, the NFL has required each team to settle on one accent color. The Giants chose red (a mistake, in my opinion), so no more blue-accented cleats for Big Blue.

Big thanks to Joe for taking time out of his busy schedule to make himself available. On top of that, he turned out to be a real character in front of the camera, which should result in a very entertaining video. Joe, if you’re reading this, you da man and all that.

NHL Roundup: Meanwhile, a slew of additional NHL unveilings took place over the weekend. I’m just about NHL’d out (it’s only a 30-team league, but it seems like they’ve trotted out about 387 uniforms over the past two months), but protocol demands a full accounting, so here’s a quick rundown, in roughly descending order of quality:

• Coyotes: Plenty to like here — simple, basic, a classic in the making (lots of photos here). The only fly in the ointment: the way the panels and seams have forced the “C” and “A” designations to move too close to the crest.

• Blackhawks: Pretty true to the classic version. But this is probably the best example yet of how old-school waistline striping just doesn’t work with Reebok’s new rounded shirttail hem (additional photos here). Which brings up a question: What exactly is the rationale for the rounded hem? For all the chatter about the new uniform system’s innovative fabrics and streamlined tailoring, I’ve yet to hear an explanation for this particular (and particularly annoying) element.

• Ducks: As of my last writing, we had only seen this, but now a bunch of practice session photos have surfaced (additional views here). Yeah, the wordmark is weak and the stripes are a joke, but I still like the color scheme and the lack of extraneous bells and whistles. Whatever you thought of last year’s version, this update is certainly no worse.

• Stars: I actually love the road uni. And I don’t mind the simplicity of the home design (additional pics here). But like many other observers, I don’t understand why they’re highlighting the city name at home and the team name on the road. Feels like some promising ideas that weren’t taken to full fruition.

• Flyers: Road whites are silly but harmless; home design looks like a black tunic (additional pics here). Oh, and according to an item buried on this page, “Privately, some of the players said the new jerseys were too snug. So the Flyers are ordering them two sizes larger than usual for most players.” Nice to know the Edge system is being subverted before the season even starts.

• Thrashers: Pointless apron-striping (which has ruined what I once considered the league’s most underrated road jersey) plus the worst left sleeve in sports equals a mess. Additional evidence here.

• Oilers: Which one looks more like a practice jersey — home or road? Answer: both.

• Sabres: Looked like crap last year; looks like crap this year (further damning evidence here).

• Blues: For those who’ve been wondering, this is the design I knew about a few months ago (I got to see one of the jerseys when I was visiting the Liebe factory back in July) but wasn’t at liberty to discuss. Some people in the comments section have said they’re okay with it, which surprises me, because I think it’s a total train wreck. From the idiotic apron strings to the super-annoying Ree-box, it reeks of overdesign — especially when you factor in the way the apron strings are extended on the pants (additional pics here). Embarrassing.

In addition, we now have our first view of the Rangers’ new design on an actual human being. Compare that to this and the new wordmark looks awfully compressed, no? And again, the rounded hemline ruins the non-rounded stripes. I’m starting to think they would’ve been better off going back to the drawing board.

Fuck it, they should all just do this and get it over with.

Raffle-O-Rama: Speaking of the NHL, here’s a little tale that speaks volumes: About 10 days ago I got a note from a PR guy working for the NHL. This wasn’t one the league’s staff publicists — it was a guy from a PR agency that had apparently been retained by the league. He wanted to make sure I knew all about the league’s exciting new uniform system, with its high-tech fabrics and innovative tailoring. Then he asked if I’d like to have one of the jerseys so I could see for myself, and of course I said yes. He didn’t ask which team I preferred, and I didn’t make any special request, but I figured it’d probably be either a Rangers or Islanders jersey — y’know, since I live in New York and all.

A few days later, a package arrived. Can you guess what was inside? Take a look.

I don’t mean to sound ungrateful — it was nice gift, after all. But you’ve gotta admit, it takes a special kind of cluelessness to send me a jersey from the one team that features the one color I can’t stand. This kinda sums up everything wrong with the NHL these days, no? (So does this: You’d think a video game would gain its legitimacy from the sport, not the other way around.)

Anyway, I’m gonna raffle off the jersey, and I won’t even make fun of whoever wins it. Specs: Size 52; includes all tagging; blank on the back. And since winning a Kings jersey brings to mind a bunch of old vaudeville jokes (”First prize is a week in Philadelphia; second prize is two weeks in Philadelphia”), I’ll make it more interesting by tossing in some extra goodies: The first prize winner will have a choice of the Kings jersey, a Capitals T-shirt (size L, blank on the back), or a bunch of MLB sleeve patches. A second-place winner will have a choice or the remaining two prizes, and a third-place winner will get the remaining prize.

To enter, send an e-mail to uniraffle at earthlink dot net (please note that this is not the regular Uni Watch address) by this Thursday, September 20th, 10 p.m. eastern. I’ll announce the winners on Friday. I won’t be reading the e-mail entries, so please don’t include messages or attachments. One e-mail per person, but all enrollees in the Uni Watch membership program will automatically get three bonus entries.

Speaking of membership, the recent server snafu put a damper on news from that front, but Scott and I have kept working on applications. With two exceptions (hang in there, Joseph Mays and Charlie Hildbold — we’ll get to you soon), every enrollee should now have his or her membership kit. If you haven’t received yours, let me know. And for all you folks who recently told me you were planning to sign up once the server issues were settled, I look forward to receiving your orders.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Nike and Ohio State have struck a huge deal. And it includes some penalties for swoosh obstruction. … Reprinted from Thursday’s comments: Awesome Yellowknife jersey at the beginning of this photo gallery. … Good article here about the Astros’ visiting clubhouse manager, who has a huge bobblehead collection (with thanks to James Poisso and Kevin Gee). … While researching something else, I came across this photo of Paul Hornung wearing a college all-star jersey — apparently the same design shown in that Mitchell and Ness video that Vince linked to last Friday. … From 1921 through 1951, the Cubs held spring training on Catalina Island, a small island off the California coast that was owned by William Wrigley. Joaquin Jang has provided me with a link to an excellent half-hour video about the Cubbies’ history on the island, and it’s filled with tons of great visuals plus some nice little uni-related factoids (the Cubs used to leave behind their spring training uniforms each year for the island’s high school team to use, e.g.). The only catch is the size of the video file — my computer took over two hours to download it. But it’s worth it, so just start the download before you go to bed or something like that. The link is here. … AJ Brandt reports that U.S. Airways has been creating a fleet of NFL-themed jets, with liveries honoring the Eagles, Cardinals, Steelers, and Panthers. Not sure if the flight attendants have to dress the part, but I wanna make it clear right now that I’ll travel on a leaky raft before I fly on a Bengals plane. … Tyler Kepner wrote a nice little item at the bottom of this page about Ian Kennedy’s stirrups. … The Padres wore 1990s throwbacks on Saturday — the last installment of their season-long throwback program. … Small uni number switcheroo for the Mets. … Things have been suspiciously quiet over at Oregon, but Clark Farrand says that may be changing soon: “On the radio pregame show for the Oregon/Fresno State game, they had a guest ‘insider’ (whose name/title I didn’t catch) who said that the white helmets announced last year were ready and that they should be broken out in the next few weeks. Interestingly enough, they were considered for the Michigan game last week, but the team wanted the focus to remain on the game and not have helmet hype overshadow anything.” … Todd Davis notes that Pitt is now in the unusual position of having the exact same wordmark on its jersey and helmet. … Interesting note from Alejandro Macri (writing all the way from Buenos Aires), who notes: “The South African rugby national team is using green and yellow mouth protections as part of their uni design. It’s very disturbing to see green and yellow in these men’s teeth, but it may be the beginning of a new trend.” … Everyone got a kick out of this over the weekend. … You probably know Jason Varitek has “TEK” printed on his chest protector collar. But did you know he also has it inscribed on his mask? (With thanks to Corey Paske.) … Also from Corey: This is a shot of Wisconsin hockey coach Mike Eaves. Anyone know what the “SP” tag logo on the jersey is for? … Garrett Malcolm reports that last week’s Derek Lee bobblehead giveaway at Wrigley Field depicted Lee with a gray underbrim. … Dave Lewellen notes that Trent Green’s sleeves had stripes for Miami’s Week 1 game against the Redskins, but the rest of the Dolphins were stripe-free. … Wish I’d been near a TV for Saturday’s Iowa/Iowa State Game. The Cyclones wore gorgeous throwbacks (lots of additional pics here and here), and the Hawkeyes added an “ANF” decal (that’s for “America Needs Farmers,” don’tcha know), much nicer than the one originally worn during the Hayden Frye era (with thanks to Matthew Lepke for the decal screen grab). … Awesome collection of game-worn hockey jerseys here (with thanks to Joe Hilseberg). … Advertising on NFL uniforms? It’s already happening, if you count the Vikings’ cheerleaders. … The Nationals wore a sleeve patch over the weekend to mark their final homestand at RFK Stadium. … Speaking of the Nats, great article here about how the team’s script “W” logo is imprinted onto the outfield grass. … Attention A.J. Connelly (and anyone else interested in chinstraps): At the 49-second mark of this video there’s a shot of 1942 Heisman Trophy winner Frank Sinkwich wearing a really weird chinstrap. Jeff Lindquist, who brought this to my attention, also found another view, though not as good, here. Anyone know more about this? … Steven Wyder notes that Julio Lugo usually has a light brown smudge on his left sleeve/shoulder area, a phenomenon that dates back to his days with the Dodgers and Devil Rays (tough to see, but it’s there). “I think it’s pine tar — he must rest the bat there in the on-deck circle or something,” says Steven. … True, I loved striped socks — but I might make an exception for Billy Corgan (disgusting find by Nate Gruz). … Speaking of non-sports socks: “I live in Calgary,” writes Steve Francis, “and one of the attractions here is the Family of Man statue downtown. As a part of an arts festival currently underway, one of the artists has knit socks around the legs of most of the statues.” Seems more like leg-warmers, actually, but still pretty cool. … Derek Lowe risked a fine the other day by wearing a red jersey during warm-ups the other day, to signify “no contact.” Details (plus a revelation about Grady Little being cited by MLB’s uni police) toward the end of this page (with thanks to Eric Borer). … The Bills wore Kevin Everett T-shirts under their jerseys yesterday. The tees will be auctioned off for charity. … The Steelers wore their throwbacks yesterday — and sure enough, for the first time since Super Bowl XL, Willie Parker was wearing an American flag decal, although it remains to be seen whether it’ll be there on his regular helmet next week. … LaDainian Tomlinson’s helmet flag, however, was still AWOL. … Another black chinstrap for Chad Johnson yesterday. … Several readers have noted that the Longhorns have switched their uni numbers screen-printed to tackle twill this season. … Good catch by Jesse Gavin, who spotted Jon Kitna wearing a crucifix necklace yesterday.

First and foremost: The site is finally back in business. Full archives, full comment functionality, full everything. For further details, look here. Many thanks for your patience during the hassles of the past week.

Meanwhile: The Mets wore their first responder caps last night, as has been their longstanding custom on September 11th. All other teams wore American flag cap patches (although, as usual, there were a few players whose caps were flag-free), and the Blue Jays went a step further by wearing the American flag on one side and the Canadian flag on the other.

And that leads us back, in a roundabout way, to something that first popped up on Monday, when I suggested it might have been inappropriate for LaDainian Tomlinson to run around waving the stars and stripes prior to Sunday’s Chargers/Bears game. I’ll have more to say about that later on in this post. But before I get to that, here’s an irony: You know how all NFL helmets have an American flag decal on the back? In the Chargers’ case it’s positioned near the back tip of the right bolt (which it sometimes overlaps). But it turns out that one Charger didn’t wear a flag decal on Sunday. Care to guess who it was? That’s right: LaDainian Tomlinson.

LT didn’t play during the preseason, but I did find this shot from a July 30th practice session — no flag, but also no NFL logo, so maybe they just hadn’t added all the little details so early in training camp. Tomlinson did wear the NFL logo on Sunday, however — but not the flag. He appears to have worn the flag throughout last season, as seen here, here, here, here, and here, so I assume this was just an oversight, not a conscious statement of any kind.

I’m not sure the same can be said, however, for Willie Parker of the Steelers, whose helmet has been flag-free since last season. Look at pics of Parker from last season or this season (that shot is from a preseason game) and you’ll see no flag. But if you look at pre-2006 photos, you’ll see that Parker used to be flag-clad (and that includes his appearance in Super Bowl XL).

This raises several questions, only some of which I can answer:

• Why did Parker stop wearing the flag? Not sure. I have a call in to the Steelers, but I have a feeling I won’t get a straight answer out of them because just about any answer is bound to stir up controversy.

• Even if he wants to stop wearing the flag, it’s part of the uniform, so shouldn’t he have to wear it? You’d think so, yeah. I’ve asked the NFL to clarify whether the flag decal is officially part of the uniform or if it’s a non-mandatory accessory. Will advise.

• Why do NFL helmets have flag decals to begin with? To my knowledge, the first appearance of flag decals in the NFL was in Super Bowl XXV, when the Giants and Bills wore them to show support for U.S. troops in the Gulf War. The flags were gone the following season but reappeared in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks. The other major sports made post-9/11 flag gestures as well, but only for one season (or, in MLB’s case, the balance of the season that was already in progress). Only the NFL retained the flag on a full-time basis the following year, and they’ve kept it there ever since.

• Well, we’re still at war, so why not still wear the flag? There is indeed a tradition of sports teams wearing flags or flag-inspired imagery during wartime. This dates back at least to World War I, when baseball teams wore flag patches, flag-inspired shields, red/white/blue armbands, and even red/white/blue stockings.

That said, the flags that began appearing on uniforms in 2001 weren’t about war per se — they were to commemorate those who died on 9/11. (Remember, the Iraq War didn’t start until 2003.) That’s why most sports only kept them for one year. Some might argue that we’re still engaged in the “war on terror,” but that’s really more of a political term than a military one. While the threat it refers to is real, it’s a threat (and, hence, a “war”) that is likely to extend throughout our lifetimes and beyond. It renders the concept of wartime — and signifiers thereof, including flag decals — meaningless.

• Isn’t it wrong to wear a flag on a sports uniform anyway? Arguably, yes. According to the United States Code, Title 36, Chapter 10, §176(j): “No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform. However, a flag patch may be affixed to the uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen, and members of patriotic organizations.” The first sentence is vague, because it says the flag shouldn’t be used as a uniform, not on on a uniform. But the list of acceptable uni applications in the next sentence pointedly excludes sports. In any case, this isn’t binding law — it’s just official etiquette. And we’ve all seen how often that etiquette has been ignored.

Now then, about LT waving that flag during the pregame ceremonies: I want to make it clear that I love the American flag — always have, ever since I was a kid. Gorgeous piece of design, lovely symbolism. I had one displayed in my window for months after 9/11, I always have one displayed on Independence Day, and for years I had an old 48-star version that I used as a backdrop in a display case (I later sold it at a stoop sale because I thought someone else should get to enjoy it). My concern regarding Tomlinson’s antics was the context. Pregame introductions are pretty much designed to get the home crowd whipped up in an us-vs.-them frenzy. And if “us” is carrying an American flag, where does that leave “them”? By using the flag, I thought Tomlinson was essentially appropriating the concept of patriotism in a way that the visiting team — in this case, the Bears — couldn’t realistically hope to match or answer. The implicit message was, “Our team is representing America, which means the other team isn’t,” which crosses the line into poor sportsmanship and being a bad host. Or at least that’s how it felt to me. I would’ve preferred to see Tomlinson waving a Chargers flag, or a San Diego flag, or something that was more team-specific, instead of essentially taking home-field ownership of something that rightly belonged to both teams.

Finally, some of the comments about this issue back on Monday mentioned the playing of the national anthem before games. It may surprise you to learn that this ritual is a relatively recent phenomenon. I was surprised to learn this myself back in 2001, when I was researching an article about “God Bless America” being played at ballparks in the aftermath of 9/11. Here’s the pertinent section of the piece I wrote back then:

The tradition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” being played prior to every game may seem eternal, but keep in mind that the tune wasn’t even officially adopted as the national anthem until the 1930s. According to James Charlton’s The Baseball Chronology, the first instance of the song being played at a ballgame was on May 15th, 1862 — during the Civil War — at Union Grounds in Brooklyn. Over 50 years later, during World War I, a military band played the tune during the 7th-inning stretch of a 1918 World Series game. “From then on,” reports the Chronology, “the song [was] played at every World Series game, every season opener, and, whenever a band [was] present to play it.”

Playing the anthem didn’t become more the rule than the exception until World War II, when public-address systems — which were installed at stadiums in part for civil defense reasons during the war — became sufficiently widespread to enable recorded versions to be played. Even then, there were some holdouts — as recently as the mid-1960s, the Cubs only played the anthem on special holidays like Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, because team owner P.K. Wrigley felt that playing the song at each game effectively trivialized it. And Royals owner Ewing Kaufman cited a similar rationale in 1972, when he ordered that the anthem only be played “on Sundays and special occasions,” because it “was not receiving the respect it deserved.” Public reaction, however, was highly negative, and Kaufman quickly relented.

Six years after I wrote that, it’s hard not to see the growing parallel between the sports-related use of the anthem and the uni-related use of the flag, both of which have gone from the very occasional to the much more commonplace. Some may think this is a good thing; others may disagree. But the similarities are striking.

Flight of the Bumblebee Nine, Continued: Yesterday’s entry about the flying Alabama helmet numeral prompted some interesting follow-up contributions. For starters, Doug Simpson found another photo of the play in question. At first I didn’t see the airborne 9, but that’s because I wasn’t looking high enough — it’s right in front of the receiver’s left hand.

Then Wade Harder, who had brought the situation to my attention in the first place, checked in with some additional info: “I was able to watch a replay of the play. The decal flew off in a helicopter motion with a good amount of speed and landed about four yards away from Johnson. He was completely unaware of the mishap as he got off the ground and just trotted back to the huddle.”

Uni Watch News Ticker: This quiz was practically made for Uni Watch readers (with thanks to Allie Hinderstein). … I can’t find a good photo, but Vince has noted that USF is wearing a pair of memorial decals. Details here. … Another kicker who wears a wedding band: Rian Lindell. … Tim Sheehan got some nice pics of a vintage Portland Beavers jersey. … Attention Minna H. Your worst nightmare is here, here, and here. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Nice survey of Maple Leafs uni history here. … Jeremy Brahm just informed me of something called the Golden Players Club, which is reserved for players who have 2,000 hits, 250 saves, or 200 wins in Japan. Members get a blazer (lots of additional pics on the four pages that begin here). … Intern Vince Grzegorek, increasingly flexing his journalistic muscles beyond the realm of the uni-centric, has a pair of Cleveland Scene sports blog entries here and here. … Douglas Brei and I would both like to know who the dark-uniformed team is in this photo. … Apparently PTI didn’t get the memo explaining that the new NFL logo isn’t supposed to be used until next year (with thanks to Jason Farmand). … Switzerland’s socks look like upside-down stirrups (thanks, Vince). … According to this video clip, wearing the visiting team’s cap to a ballgame can increase your chances of going home with a baseball (credit Vince yet again). … You’ve heard of throwback uniforms? Here in New York we had a throwback subway the other day. … Latest Bengals uni-related problem: Bryan Robinson’s sleeve stripes appeared to be peeling off on Monday night (good spot by Scott Yager). … Justin Tokarczyk notes that Andy Reid was wearing last year’s headset on Sunday. … Esteban Loaiza wore solid stockings for his Dodgers debut last week, but he must have asked the equipment manager for some stirrups, because that’s what he was wearing last night (good catch by Ros Yoshida). … Several readers have noted that the Cardinals’ coaching staff wears a logo that faces one way on the cap and the other way on the jacket.

Ten years ago, in the middle of a month-long cross-country road trip, I stopped in Shelby, Montana, where I checked out the Marias Museum — a tiny facility devoted to local history. Shelby had been the site of Jack Dempsey’s heavyweight title defense against Tommy Gibbons back in 1923 (it was supposed to put the town on the map but almost bankrupted it instead), and a good chunk of the museum was devoted to artifacts from the bout. It was a great little exhibit on a little-noted chapter in sports history.

Local history museums like the Marias are among my favorite travel attractions — the smaller, the better. Sometimes amateurish but always lovingly assembled, these informal little reliquaries are often filled with amazing photos and other artifacts you’d never find at “real” museums. Two readers have made this same discovery lately — both in Iowa, oddly. The first is Jesse Gavin, who recently sent the following communiqué:

I would probably have been the last one to imagine that there’d be any vintage uni finds in my hometown of Cascade, Iowa (pop. 2000). But when I was home over the weekend, I stopped by a new exhibit at the hometown Historical Museum. They just opened up a new exhibit on Urban “Red” Faber, a Cascade native who went on to play for the White Sox for 19 years and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1964. They had plenty of good stuff there, so here’s a bit of a recap.

First off, they had a pretty cool locker reproduction, including an authentic jersey, cap, pants, and socks. They also had an original seat from old Comiskey Park and a couple of other caps. I’m not sure which team the first of those caps was from, but I’m pretty sure the latter was from an off-season when Faber was loaned to the New York Giants for a world tour.

In addition to the Faber stuff, they also had a few old pictures and uniforms from Cascade-area town teams from back in the day. This Pleasant Grove jersey is from the late ’40s, as are this catcher’s mitt, chest protector, and shin guards.

About a week after I heard from Jesse, I got a note from Neil Berger, who had discovered two more Iowa treasure troves:

A recent family wedding took me to Iowa City, where I visited the University of Iowa Sports Hall of Fame, and Cedar Rapids, where we took in a Cedar Rapids Kernels game and checked out their Hall of Fame, which had uniform samples from the long history of Cedar Rapids baseball.

Neil didn’t fully describe all his photos, but there’s some killer stuff, ranging from the obvious (baseball, football, men’s and women’s hoops) to the not-so-obvious (marching band, letterman sweaters). Treat yourself to a slideshow of his photos here.

Membership News: Two dozen membership kits went out in yesterday’s mail, which means we’re finally caught up. With one exception (sorry, Bobby Hill, your card got botched during trimming and will have to be done over next week), every card that was ordered through last Sunday has now been printed, laminated, and shipped. If you’ve been holding off to give Scott and me a chance to catch up after the flood of orders from late July, now’s the time to sign up — we’re ready for you. And that goes double for the guy who inquired about having us do a Colorado Caribous design treatment.

Uni Watch News Ticker: DeAngelo Hall had a message for Chad Johnson on Monday night (thanks, Vince). … Map manufacturers sometimes put small, phony streets onto their maps, as a way to catch people who are stealing and republishing their maps. Stuart Greenlee reports a similar example from the logo world: “A student from Clemson University once told me that the Clemson ‘paw print’ logo had a notch cut into the bottom of the paw to prevent copyright. Ever since then, I have looked for the notch in other paw-print logos (believe me, there are a lot of them here in the South). Occasionally I’ll see some other school using the logo with the ‘Clemson Notch’ and I wonder if they have permission.” … The DE ROSA-vs.-DEROSA issue is addressed in the next-to-last entry on this Q&A page (with thanks to Jon Aubry). … Cathy Reeder caught an interesting exchange during a Cubs game the other day: “During a discussion of catcher’s gear, color guy Bob Brenly said, ‘Of course there is one piece of protection you ALWAYS wear. In fact, I even wore IT when I was a manager and a coach in the dugout too. I just always felt IT was part of the uniform.’ Now, I’m a girl and I’ve never played baseball, but isn’t it odd that a coach or manager would wear a protective cup? I mean, do you really need one to sit on the bench? Does anyone find this odd but me? Do any other MLB managers do this?” I know there are at least three people reading this who work in MLB clubhouses — what’s the word, people? Do coaches and managers wear the cup? … Entertaining story of possibly dubious veracity from David C. Murphy, who passed along this note that he received from a friend: “When I worked at Airborne Express (’90-’97), occasionally we would see packages go through from whoever made the MLB jerseys at that time. If someone got called up, traded, or needed a new jersey, there would be one shipped out. On more than one occasion, I would get the jersey out and try it on. I think I worked one whole shift wearing a Dwayne Henry Astros jersey. That falls under the ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time’ stories.” … The NFL season is time to start, which means it’s time to make fun of the Bengals’ nameplate/yoke/sleeve inconsistencies. Here’s how it’s supposed to look: Nameplate complete on the orange yoke, which curves down to meets the sleeve stripes. (Note that we matched this style when designing Uni Watch membership cards.) But some players don’t have curved yokes (here’s another example), and sometimes the nameplate extends down into the white area. Yo, where’s the quality control? (Thanks to David Sonny for those pics.) … Separated at birth: Wallace Spearmon and Jeff Weaver. … Here’s something you don’t see very often: a tilde over an A (good spot by Jeremy Brahm). … Follow-up to my recent report on NFL captains probably wearing a “C” designation this season: According to this article (forwarded by Steven Wyder), the Bengals’ captains “will wear the NFL’s new captains’ patch on their uniform jerseys.” Not sure if this patch is simply a C or something more involved, but I’ve got a call in to the NFL and hope to have an answer tomorrow. … These trademark-infringement cases are getting seriously out of hand (with thanks to Caleb Borchers). … Perfect marriage of product and marketing campaign, as Old Spice is now sponsoring Tony Stewart’s armpits (as reported by my new neighbor and longtime Uni Watch pal Doug Kalemba — welcome to Brooklyn, buddy).

Major developments in the batboy realm lately, as several readers have noted that Mets batboy Matt has recently started wearing stirrups. But Matt, whose full name is Matthew Harris, isn’t just any batboy — he is, to my knowledge, the only uniformed MLB employee who’s also a card-carrying Uni Watch member.

I e-mailed Matt to ask why he’d made the hosiery switch, and whether the stirrups were provided for him by the team or if he had to procure them himself. His response:

We have always had them, but no one uses them. I wore them once a while ago and we lost, so I banned myself from wearing them. Then [for last week's series] against the Braves, I was like, ‘What the fuck, I’ll wear ’em.’ So I did. I always liked the look, probably why I am a Uni Watch fan. Some of the players commented on ’em, most like ’em, but I couldn’t see anyone on this team wearing them.

Matt wrote that last bit a day before Lastings Milledge broke out the blue stirrups on Saturday. Did Milledge get the idea from Matt? I wrote to ask him. His reply: “Well, before Friday night’s game, he saw me with them, and commented how he liked them and wanted a pair.” So there you go: Matt Harris, spreading the gospel.

And if you’re wondering (as I was) why a Mets batboy would choose a Pirates design motif for his membership card, Matt says, “I dunno, I just like the Pirates’ font, colors, and vests. I would have gone with Yankee pinstripes , but I wanted my name on it, so Pirates font it was.” Holy moly — a Mets batboy with a Yankee-themed card?! Talk about a narrow escape.

(Special thanks to Chris Flinn, who provided the photo of Matt walking across the infield.)

Uni Watch News Ticker: An interview with me will be airing today at 1pm and again at 1:30pm at Baseballchannel.tv. … Reprinted from Sunday night’s comments: Look what showed up on a children’s restaurant menu. … “Brendan ‘Boog’ Ryan was showing his stripes in Sunday’s Dodgers/Cardinals game,” writes Elena Elms. “With Anthony Reyes on the mound, it was a rare two-stirrup (or should I say four-stirrup?) day for St Louis.” … By now most of us have seen photos of the MLB uni regulations that are posted in every clubhouse. What you may not have seen are the corresponding NFL regs, which Mark Nussbaum recently photographed during a tour of Qwest Field (additional pics here, here, here, here, and here). That main poster is at least seven years old (I got a copy of it in 2000), and many of its main points obviously aren’t enforced very stringently — so much for the NFL’s much-vaunted “uniform police.” … Joe Torre used to wear a pinkie ring — but not while in uniform. Very amusing details here (with thanks to Richie Rich). … The new Syracuse helmets have inspired some interesting correspondence between the a fan and the team’s equipment manager (with thanks to Mike Alper). … Rugby news from Caleb Borchers, who writes: “Here’s a gallery of some Rugby World Cup warm-up games. One is Ireland vs. Scotland (both in brand new Canterbury jerseys) and the other is France vs. England (in their Nike nasties). Apparently random splotches of color on the calves is a common innovation of ugliness! I particularly don’t like Scotland’s dot matrix deal, which makes it look like they rolled around in white paint before the game. When you look at how good these teams looked just six moths ago, you can see how badly these companies and their templates have screwed things up.” … Awesome article here about Nike’s materials librarian, who sounds like someone I ought to interview (great find by Karen Peters). … World-class decal obsession from Eric Buzard, who writes: “While watching the Seahawks/Chargers game on Sunday night, I noticed how the American flag decal on the Chargers’ helmet is positioned so that it covers the end of the bolt. The exception is the Riddell Revolution helmet, which has a larger shell and more real estate to work with, so the flag doesn’t have to cover the bolt. You can see both styles here. What’s even more interesting is how the Rams have the fine-print warning label running portait-style [i.e., vertical], as opposed to landscape [i.e., horizontal], which is how most teams do it. The portrait-style allows the label to be placed on the one-inch raised area as found on a standard Riddell helmet. Not sure what the story is for Schutt helmets.” … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: David Carr was wearing gloves on both hands the other night (plus he appears to have cut his sleeves extra-short). Looks like he’s been doing it in practice, too. Too bad, since Carr used to play while wearing, depending on which report you choose to believe, either his wedding band or a piece of tape in place of his wedding band. Whatever it was, it looked like this, but I guess we won’t be seeing it anymore. … Latest uni-related superstition: Jermaine Dye is now hiking up his pants (nice find by Todd Usher). … “Having followed hockey for quite a while, I can’t remember seeing a goalie whose pattern for the pads and blocker used the team logo like this,” writes Matthew Lepke. “It’s not just a pattern based on the logo (we’ve seen that many times) — it is the logo.” … As previously reported/expected/etc., the Niners and Ravens have switched to black shoes. … The Niners also provided the first game-action view of their Bill Walsh memorial decal, although that photo is of interest primarily for other reasons. … Although it’s tough to see, the Dolphins have reduced the size of their drop shadow, going from this to this (with thanks to Al Muñiz for bringing me up to speed). … Prison team? Early mix of ballplayer and football ref? Nope — it’s Hall of Famer Dan Brouthers, who played in the late 1800s, when stripes were apparently very in (nice find by David Parker). … By the time most of you read this, I’ll be on Long Island, where I’m spending the day at Lelands auction house (writing a bizness story about them for the Financial Times). I expect to see — and, I hope, photograph — lots of cool uni-related stuff. Details to follow tomorrow.

HBO’s Brooklyn Dodgers: The Ghosts Of Flatbush debuted last Wednesday, but I was in St. Louis at the time and didn’t get around to seeing it until Saturday. Aside from all the relatively familiar sentimental musings about my home borough (I teared up, right on cue, during the sequence where Dem Bums finally won the Series in ’55), there was a wealth of interesting uni-related material. Check it out:

• I wrote about pinned-on uniform numbers in my last ESPN column. But check out this shot, which shows prospects being evaluated either at a tryout session or during spring training. As you can see, some of them have numbers pinned over the pre-existing uni numbers. Kinda feels like the baseball version of this.

• Here’s a spring training shot. Note the two guys with the big “VB” on their jerseys, which I assume stood for Vero Beach.

• My favorite shot in the entire show: Jackie Robinson in an absolutely killer UCLA football uniform.

• There was a roughly 20-second sequence that showed the Hollywood Star wearing their pinstriped shorts (here’s another view). Oddly, the voiceover narration made no mention of the shorts — the script simply noted that L.A. was a minor league town until the Dodgers arrived. Very strange.

• Interesting shot here. Note that Jackie Robinson and Junior Gilliam are wearing sanitaries but no stirrups.

My only gripe: There wasn’t any footage of Burt Shotton managing in street clothes.

Travel Advisory: In the 14 months since this site launched, I’ve gotten out of town for a long weekend here or a work-related trip there, but I haven’t taken a proper vacation. That will change this Thursday, when I head off for — well, never mind where I’m heading. The point is that I’ll be visiting friends, road-tripping hither and thither, and not thinking too much about uniforms. My goal is to not log on to the site even once during the eight days I’ll be gone. We’ll see how realistic that turns out to be, but you get the gist — I need a little break.

But fear not — things will continue apace. While I’m gone, several teams of bio-engineered chinchillas, fortified on Balco-quality “nutritional supplements,” will be running on treadmills to keep all the wheels and gears turning. A crew of illegal immigrants, working under the dual threat of deportation and being forced to watch Lou Dobbs broadcasts, is at this very moment learning to mimic my writing style, so fresh content will continue to appear each day. And the major sports leagues have all agreed to hold off on any major uni-related announcements until my return.

The one major change is that Vince will be in charge of things while I’m gone, and will also be assembling Ticker material. So from the 19th through the 26th, if you’ve got a question, an observation, or a contribution, don’t send it to me — send it to Vince at uniwatchintern at gmail dot com. Vince will also be equipped with a Bat Signal-like communication device to get in touch with me, so in the unlikely event of an emergency (Jose Cruz Jr. going on the DL, for example, or Bruce Froemming splitting his pants), I’ll be brought up to speed.

I will engage in one major bit of Uni Watch business while I’m away, however: Next Tuesday, July 24th, I’ll be passing through Toronto and will convene a party upstairs at the Imperial Pub and Library. Festivities will commence at 8 p.m. — hope to see all you Ontarians there.

Membership Update: I want to take a minute to point out some of the really great details that Uni Watch art director Scott M.X. Turner has been working into the membership cards lately. When recently asked to do an old-school Patriots treatment, for example, Scott did some photo research and noticed that the Pats routinely featured wide-spaced lettering on their nameplates back in the day, so he matched that style. And dig this EPL design, complete with the logos on the numerals! It’s little details like these that have made this project so much fun for us — and, we hope, for you.

One thing I’ve noticed is that designs that looked horrible as actual uniforms look really great on the back of a membership card. In addition to the Blues treatment shown above, check out this and this (plus comments section stalwart Teebz wanted us to do the Islanders’ seasick typography for his card, which I’m sure would’ve looked totally boss, but the type was too tricky to render, so Teebz settled for an all-star design [based on this]).

As always, you can see the growing gallery of card designs here. The active roster is here, and details on how you can join are here.

Lone Star Shout-Out: Member Jon Smith is interested in meeting other Uni Watch devotees in the Austin area. Feel free to contact him here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Uni-related quote of the day, from Barry Bonds after yesterday’s Giants loss: “It’s an embarrassment for me to be wearing this [expletive deleted] uniform ’cause of the way I’m playing.” Not sure, but I think the expletive was “polyester.” … Big non-sports uni news out of the UK, where it’s recently been announced that trial judges will no longer wear wigs. Additional info here (with thanks to Bernie Langer). … Big article here about the jeweler who made Barry Bonds’s earring. … Latest minor league theme-night brainstorm: Star Wars Night, courtesy of the West Michigan Whitecaps (further details here). … The new Lightning logos will apparently look like this (a minor improvement, I’d say, but I’d rather have seen an overhaul). And the Sharks’ name/number treatment will now look like this (thanks in both cases to JR Boucicaut). … On Friday I ran a photo of this 1971 serving tray, which Vince was nice enough to pick up for me at a yard sale. That prompted the following note from Richard Stover: “That tray was a Shell gas station promotion. For a fill-up, they gave you a glass [additional examples here and here). I remember getting a Broncos glass from my sister, who had moved to Colorado, so it must have been a nationwide promotion. A few extra bucks and you could buy a tray. I’m 50 years old, and like almost everything else I had as a kid, I replaced my cracked, broken tray with one purchased on eBay. But my New England Patriots glasses somehow survived.” … Garrett Malcolm was attending a Padres/Orioles game in San Diego and happened upon a gent wearing this jersey. “He told me that it was game-worn, and was from the early ’40s, when the Orioles were a minor league team. The number on the back was 7, and I think you’ll agree that it is just a beautiful piece of work.” Indeed. (Quick, someone put a drool cup under Joe Hilseberg!) … Anthony Pellegrino attended a Phillies game on Friday night and snapped a pic of a combo you don’t see very often (thankfully): stirrups and mandals. … Vince notes that someone did a really bad radial arching job on Curtis Thigpen’s jersey (compare to this). … Good catch by Andrew Stebbins, who notes that the MLB.com shop lists this as a Chad Cordero jersey, when it was actually Francisco Cordero who made the All-Star team. … Several sources are reporting that Kansas’s new football jersey will look like this. … The Brewers did their annual Cerveceros promotion yesterday (with thanks to Jared Simon for the screen grab). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Short TV news clip here regarding Wisconsin’s attempts to police its motion-W logo. … Also from yesterday: Jose Reyes has been wearing orange shoelaces. … Still more from yesterday: Adam LaRoche’s pirate sleeve patch was partially torn off on Saturday night.

Tuesday was a very good day.

I arrived in St. Louis at about 9:40 a.m. and headed straight for Liebe Athletic Lettering. This was just a “getting acquainted” visit, so I could get the lay of the land in advance of my video shoot the next day. It turned out to be an amazing facility, with patches, insignia, nameplates, and rolls of twill fabric all over the place.

Liebe is a subcontactor: They don’t manufacture jerseys, but the big manufacturers send their garments here to have numbers, letters, patches, and piping sewn onto them. For a long time they did most of MLB’s on-field jerseys; now, sadly, Majestic has taken all of that work in-house, but Liebe still does a lot of MLB’s retail authentics (including most of Mitchell and Ness’s throwback product), along with game-day and retail work for pretty much every big pro and college sports entity other than MLB. With the lovely Marcia Meyer as my tour guide, I was given complete access to the entire place, which means I was pretty much like the proverbial kid in the candy store. A very small sampling of highlights and observations:

• Although a lot of Liebe’s embroidery is now done by computerized machinery, an astonishing amount of the company’s sewing is still done by hand, primarily by women who look like they’ve been doing it forever. For example, although the main insignia on the Cardinals’ jerseys is done by machine (that’s just a sample piece of cloth, not an actual jersey), the finishing details, like the dark outlining, are all done manually.

• Back in the pre-digital days, the main embroidery work used to be done by hand too. Each logo had a pattern like this — basically a sheet of paper or plastic with lots of pinholes. The patterns would be positioned over a jersey and then a worker would smear some pigment over it, which would pass through the pinholes and replicate the pattern on the fabric. That would be the guide for the sewers to follow.

• Nowadays, sleeve patch designs are digitized and fed into a computer. But as recently as 25 years ago, the designs were blown up to six times their normal size to form a pattern. Every line on these diagrams represents a stitch. I can’t say I fully understood the explanation of the process, but the patterns were used to create rolls of paper with punches in them, like player-piano rolls. The punch rolls were then fed into the machine that would stitch the patch. The patterns, which are gorgeous pieces of artwork in their own right, aren’t used anymore, but they’re still floating around in old files, many of them dating back to the ’50s and ’60s.

• Here’s a nice little detail that nobody would normally know about: The Cardinals’ equipment manager arranged to have special patches sewn onto the shirttails of the Cardinals players and coaches attending the All-Star Game. This is a sample run of the patches.

• I spoke with a heat-press operator who griped about how little material there is to work with when pressing numbers onto football jersey sleeves. Check out his high-tech method of getting the sleeves to stay put on the press mount.

• Nowadays, all the letters, numbers, and logo appliqués are cut either by a laser cutter or a water jet. But they used to be die-cut, and Liebe still has drawers and drawers full of stamping dies (additional examples here and here). For some reason I found myself particularly charmed by this one, so the next day one of the plant managers used the die-stamper, three pieces of cloth, and a small heat-press to assemble a little Expos logo for me (look at an enlarged version and you can clearly see the cloth edges).

• The company has loads of old job order files. Here’s an old Rawlings order form for the 1989 Mets. Among other details, note that Lenny Dykstra wanted his sleeves shortened by half an inch, Keith Hernandez’s captain’s “C” was being removed, and lots of players wanted their pant legs to be a bit tighter.

I could go on, but you get the idea — it was basically a smorgasbord, a feast, an orgy of uni-related arcana. I didn’t want to leave, but I had to head downtown to the Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum, where assistant curator Brian Finch was waiting for me (along with Jeff Scott, who runs the excellent Birdbats site). After gawking at Brian’s World Series ring — which dwarfed the rest of my hand — I had him lead me to the museum. Here’s a sampling of highlights:

• Pretty much every version of the birds on the bat insignia that you can imagine is represented in the museum, including this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, this one (that’s actually replica that was made for an old-timers’ game, not an original 1927 model), this one (note the royal outline on the birds), and this one.

• This is the Cards’ 1956 road jersey — the only year since 1922 that the team hasn’t worn some version of the birds on the bat. But they made up for it by including the super-cool Slugger Bird sleeve patch.

• I especially dug a lot of the outerwear, especially this jacket, this jacket, this jacket, and, although it was hard to see and even harder to photograph, this sweater.

• It’s easy to forget that St. Louis was once a two-team town, so it was nice to see some Browns uniforms (additional pics here, here, and here.

• Did you know Ozzie Smith wrote “Oz” on his batting gloves? I didn’t.

• How awesome is the “Cardinal Organization” logo on this check?

• As you can imagine, I was particularly enthralled by these number-emblazoned stirrups, worn by Pat Crawford in 1934

• The Bowling Hall of Fame is in this same building, and they had some wicked cool shirts, as you can see here, here, here, here, and here.

After crashing for a bit at my hotel, it was off to the Uni Watch party. Small-ish turnout this time, but some very nice folks:

• Here’s Jeff Baxter, who I’d previously met at the Cards HoF, wearing what I believe is an actual game-worn Cards throwback jersey.

• Several people showed up in Blues jerseys, including Jonathan Karberg, J.R. Gain (here’s a rear view), and Mark Richter (rear view), who then did the striptease routine: Underneath his Blues jersey was a Cards jersey, and underneath that was something special that he wore just for me.

• Best attire of the night: Marty Hick and his old-school St. Louis Cardinals necktie. Marty also brought along some incredible show-and-tell materials, but I’m gonna save that for another day.

• To my surprise, two of the Liebe brothers showed up — a super-nice gesture that really impressed me. Here I am with Bill Liebe, whose grandfather founded the company about 80 years ago in his basement.

By 10:30 or so, I was pretty wrung out, so I scooted hotel-ward for some shut-eye. The video shoot the next day went extremely well, although I’m told that it will be boiled down to only three or four minutes after editing — a shame, since we taped so much great material. (I didn’t expect a half-hour feature, but I was hoping we’d clock in somewhere around the eight- to ten-minute range.) Not sure when it will be posted on ESPN.com — maybe as soon as next week, or more likely two weeks after that. I’ll keep you posted.

Membership Update: Scott’s been turning out some killer work, as you can see in the card gallery. We’re now over 250 members, and counting. Can’t even begin to tell you how happy I am over the way this project is evolving and growing — my thanks to all.

Signal Flare: Yo, Jeremiah McElwain — if you’re reading this, please get in touch. Thanks.

Uni Watch News Ticker: How great is my intern? This great: I got home from St. Louis yesterday afternoon and found a big package waiting for me, with a Cleveland return address. Inside was this old NFL serving tray, circa 1971. Wow. Thanks, Vince. … Some serious logo creep upcoming for the WNBA (with thanks to Matt Edwards). … “Looks like the Argentina women’s soccer team, which is competing in the Pan Am games, is wearing the uniforms of their male counterparts,” writes Jonathon Binet. “Why else would they still have the two stars above the AFA crest? The two stars represent the nation’s two [men's] World Cup wins in 1978 and 1986.” … JR Boucicaut of ModSquadHockey swears that this rendering of the new Sharks logo is legit. Personally, I think it’s an upgrade, if only because the tape goes all around the stick blade (which, as we’ve discussed before, wasn’t the case with the old logo). … Eli Ganias saw this MasterCard ad on the subway. He doesn’t understand it, and neither do I. What exactly is the point being made here — that you become “more than a fan” when you buy a cap with your credit card? … Several readers noted that Bruce Froemming (known, of course, for his tactful repartee) still had the All-Star Game logo patch on the side of his cap during last night’s Tigers/Mariners game.

When Gerald Ford died last winter, I wrote a blog entry about U.S. presidents wearing various sports uniforms. But it turns out, unsurprisingly, that there are lots of additional photos that I didn’t find. That news recently came my way from Satin Piping-level member Karen Hibbitt, who works at the National Archives, where they’re currently featuring an exhibit called “School House to the White House: The Education of the Presidents.”

As Karen explained to me, the exhibit focuses on “presidents (Hoover to present) during their school days, with LOTS of great athletic/uniform photos — and not just Ford (although we do have his Michigan varsity sweater on display).” Indeed, the exhibit’s web page includes great shots of Eisenhower playing football, baseball shots of LBJ (he’s the catcher) and George H. W. Bush, FDR posing with his high school baseball team (that’s him, back row, third from right [he was the student manager], although of course I’m more interested in the hoop-striped undersleeves), and JFK on the Harvard swim team (back row, third from left).

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Karen generously offered to send me additional photos from the exhibit, the best of which break down as follows:

• Here’s Dwight Eisenhower’s Abilene High School baseball team, with Ike shown in the top row, second from the right. (Note the awesome cuff stripes on the kid sitting in the center.)

• Man, I love the 1937 Harvard “second” football team’s uniform. That’s a young JFK, then a sophomore, in the middle standing row, third from the right.

• Most Poppy Bush sports photos that I’ve seen focus on his Yale baseball days (like this team portrait, showing GHWB is in the front row, far left). But Karen sent along lots of material from his days at Phillips Academy in Andover, including a soccer photo, his varsity letter award, and an all-purpose sports pass.

• I knew Ronald Reagan had been a lifeguard. But I didn’t know he’d been on his college swimming team (where his hair-gel habit already appears to have been well underway).

• FDR served as an usher at Harvard football games, where he wore this sash.

• We’ve all seen lots of football photos of Gerald Ford. But here’s one from his high school days that I haven’t seen before. And check this out: a recruitment letter from Curly Lambeau, who was trying to sign him for the Packers.

Big thanks to Karen for today’s content — much obliged!

Uni Watch News Ticker: Remember how the Mets were wearing their blue game caps during BP, instead of the new BP caps? Not anymore. A source with the team tells me, “We had to go back to the horrible BP hats, orders from MLB/New Era. We wore them this weekend, and will continue to for the near future.” … Member Jeffrey Soderberg contributed two good screen grabs yesterday: “The first one is Felipe Lopez (Nationals) vs. Indians on Friday the 22nd with a REEEDICULOUS-sized number pendant on his necklace. He’s only hitting .236, slugging .401 for the season — not exactly bling-worthy numbers. And from the same game, what the heck is a Yankees logo doing on a seat in the visiting bullpen during an Indians/Nationals game?” … Here’s how to perpetuate a bunch of really bad stereotypes: You run an article on same-sex couples adopting kids, as CNN.com did yeserday, and then pair it with this photo. Note that the kid is wearing his glove on the wrong hand. … The long-awaited Israel Baseball League has finally gotten underway. You can see a bit of the uniforms here and here, and the various caps are available here. “The cleverest is the one worn by the Netanya Tigers, in which the palm of the paw is the Hebrew letter tet,” writes Eric Trager, who also notes that player names on the jerseys are printed in Hebrew. … Andrew Connor points out that the p in the Capitals’ new logo is very evocative of this logo. … According to a Texas A&M message board, the Aggies’ new football unis will look like this and this. … The Bucks have unveiled a 40th-anniversary logo, and does that “40″ look super-clunky or what? … “Three years ago,” writes Tom K, “I would have never read this article on striped knit socks. But now, being a uni-watcher, I was all over it.” … Great contribution from Matt Nelson, who writes: “I was at the Cedar Rapids Kernels game tonight at Veterans Memorial Stadium, where the gift shop includes the Cedar Rapids Pro Baseball Hall of Fame. Their displays include a couple of pretty old jerseys, highlighted by a 1907 Cedar Rapids Bunnies jersey.” … Only one member of the Cardinals was showing his stripes last night: the batboy (with thanks to Chris Flinn, who was at the game). … Last week I reported that the U. of Minnesota would be enlarging the “M” on their football helmet. It will apparently look like the one shown here.