At the recent Uni Watch gathering in Pittsburgh, George Fetkovich was kind enough to give me this book, which has a bunch of great photos. Let’s take a look:
• Y.A. Tittle could have used this chest mark as his personal logo. No idea what it stands for, but I like it.
• Speaking of cool chest logos, look at this! Unfortunately, there’s no explanation of what the caption refers to as “their unusual jerseys.”
• Anyone wanna colorize this? I’m thinking royal with navy trim for the jerseys, and something mustard-ish for the shorts.
• Hey, fellas, why are you wearing bras? Never seen that pattern on a hoops jersey before.
• Never seen this one either. I really like it, though.
• Here’s an interesting football team portrait. Not sure why some players have the “A” jerseys and some just have stripes. Maybe one or the other was a practice jersey design..?
• There’s surprisingly little Pirates content in the book, but I was particularly fond of two shots: This one shows the awesome “P P” collar monogramming that I love so much, and this one shows another one of those heavy-knit baseball sweaters that I wish would make a comeback.
• Very odd football padding on this guy. Almost looks like he’s got tumorous growths coming out of his elbows and shoulders, no?
• Rough image quality, but I’m intrigued by this 1906 youth baseball shot. Note the “NE” script, for “New Eagle.”
• There’s no shortage of teams that have worn their team name or city name on their placket over the years (in fact, Phil devoted an entire entry to this phenomenon back in December). But until now, I’d never seen a team wear the first initial of its city along with its team name. Note that the little period in between the first two letters on each jersey — amazing.
• Sashes are so damn cool (especially when paired with striped socks).
• Although the caption simply refers to this as a “bowling” photo, the telltale small balls mean that these lanes are configured for either duckpins (which is found primarily in Baltimore and a little bit in New England) or candlepins (upper New England). I wasn’t aware of either game ever having a foothold in western Penna. — can anyone tell me more?
If you like what you see here, you can click through the entire book here. Thanks again, George.
Special opportunity for UW readers: As I mentioned a week or so ago, there’s a sports blog panel/conference thingie coming up in June, and the organizers are now offering a 20% discount for Uni Watch readers. To take advantage of this deal, enter the code “uniwatch” when checking out on the ticket ordering page.
About that No Mas event with David Wright tonight: Basically, everyone who e-mailed yesterday is in. The event is at 8:30 tonight at 21 Mercer St. in Manhattan. Enjoy, and someone be sure to ask David Wright why he goes high-cuffed for day games.
Raffle Results: You were totally convinced that you were gonna win this time. And you were right — if your name is Curtis Pidhorney.
In case you were wondering: Yes, the Uni Watch Classifieds are still an ongoing concern. Later today we’ll add a permanent link to them They now have their own perma-link on the home page, and later today I’ll be adding a few more listings. I realize this project has been slow to develop, but we’re getting there — thank for your patience.
Uni Watch News Ticker: For those who missed it yesterday: The “I’m Calling It Shea” T-shirts are now available (here’s what the blue version looks like). And you can get a 10% discount if you use the checkout code “uniwatch” … Not sure, but I think this is Rob Ullman’s first NBA-themed treatment. … Jim Ransdell’s Sports Design Blog continues to impress. His latest winner: a post featuring lots of great circa-’74 basketball graphics. … Decent article on kinesio tape here. … Nice article here about how the Shea family is coping with the demise of Shea Stadium. … Current issue of ESPN Mag has this shot of Michael Crabtree, in which he’s wearing socks with the old NFL logo (current logo is on the cleats, though). There’s also this shot, which finds Crabtree wearing old-logo wristbands (with thanks to Chris Flinn). … Did you know frequent Ticker contributor Tris Wykes used to work for the Tampa Bay Bucs? I didn’t, until he sent me this note yesterday: “Back in 1993, while serving as an equipment assistant for the Buccaneers, we played a preseason game at Miami and I snapped this picture of my boss, Frank Pupello, and his Fins counterpart, who I believe was named Bobby Monica. We were told the aqua Dolphins helmet prototype you see on the shelf was going to be the team’s regular helmet for 1994. Apparently, that plan was scrapped.” … Don’t eat any yellow snow ice. Details here (with thanks to Brian Castile). … Angel Cabrera wears a special glove on his cigarette hand (with thanks to John Muir). … Ryan Howard, on the other hand, smokes bare-handed. … Tony Kellogg found some old football pics at an antique shop — he says they’re from the 1930s, but I think they’re earlier than that — that show the officials wearing white, which was common in the pre-zebra era. … Now the NHL postseason is starting, it’s time to grow a playoff beard (with thanks to James Huening). … Check out the “B” on Wes Unseld’s socks (with thanks to Dave Holland). … Steve Cook did some quick Photoshopping to show how the new Bosox alt cap logo would look with a white outline. Much better, sez I. … Who’da tunk Leo Sayer, of all people, had such good taste in hockey jerseys? (With thanks to Scott Stone.) … No photo, but I’m told that the Mariners have had an Ichiro jersey hanging in the dugout, which is odd for two reasons: (1) I thought Ichiro’s teammates hated him, and (2) since when is going on the DL cause for a hanging-jersey tribute? … Joan Jett, rockerballplayer. Chris Falvey saw that photo on the wall of a New Orleans eatery. Not sure of the backstory. … Bryan Justman just finished his latest DIY project, a Guy LaFleur Nordiques jersey. … Lids for Yids (with thanks to Trevor Williams). … Teebz is running his annual NHL playoff pool over on his blog. Details here. … Who’s going to wear 42 tomorrow? Apparently everyone. … ANaGELS? … Oh dear (blame Dan O’Connor). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Michigan’s spring football game featured a QB wearing red uni numbers, presumably in place of a red no-contact jersey. … Pretty great uni-related Bruins commercial here (with thanks to Michael Blinn). … The Orioles debuted their new “Baltimore” road uniforms last night. Or is it “Balttimore”? And here’s a great spot by Tom Hedrick: Brian Roberts began the game with the wrong script on his right sleeve. Someone must have noticed, because it had been fixed by his second at-bat. … No photo, but here’s something I’d never seen before: At several points during last night’s Mets/Padres game, cameras caught San Diego outfielder Jody Gerut consulting a little crib sheet that he kept in his back pocket. Presumably had info on outfield positioning. … Also, in that same game, Mets batboy and Uni Watch membership enrollee Matt Harris christened the new Shea by wearing stirrups. Nicely done, Matt, but I also saw you untucking your jersey while you were still in the dugout after the last out was made. Save that until you’re back in the clubhouse! … Speaking of Shea’s inaugural game, a cat showed up on the field. John Okray got a video grab. … See that guy in the front row? That’s New York Governor David Paterson. He’s legally blind — and yet, as pointed out in last night’s comments, even he knew which Mets cap to wear last night, unlike the Mets themselves. … Last night I got an e-mail from one of my ESPN editors, Thomas Neumann, with the subject line “I’m assuming alcohol was involved.” The e-mail contained this link. … Pirates had their home opener yesterday and used the occasion to memorialize those three Pittsburgh police officers who were murdered by a gun-toting nut 10 days ago. The Bucs and ’Stros both wore Pittsburgh police caps during pregame ceremonies, and the Pirates kept wearing them during the game. They also added a “PBP” patch (for Pittsburgh Bureau of Police). … Speaking of the Pirates, I think someone mentioned this over the weekend, but it’s interesting that their collar piping extends all the way down the inner edge of the jersey. … Good spot by Brian Hunsicker, who notes that the “N” on the front of Wilfredo Ledezma’s jersey was upside-down yesterday. … Dave Gilmore hosts a weekly podcast on BaltimoreSportsReport.com, and this week his guest was Kevin Brotzman of Oriolesnumbers.com. “We talked about Uni Watch, Mets by the Numbers, a whole bunch of stuff,” says Dave. Check it out here.
One of the highlights of my recent trip to Pittsburgh was a visit to the Heinz History Center, which includes the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum. I took a lot of photos here, so let’s get right to it (with apologies for the inevitable problems with glare and reflection when photographing things in glass cases):
• Here’s a great factory team uniform, circa 1955 (details here), along with a jacket from the same team, different year.
• This is an autographed 1960 Dick Groat jersey, notable primarily for its tagging.
• Would you believe that a big league GM gave a player a raise in 1948 without the player even asking for it? It’s true, at least according to this letter.
• May favorite thing in the entire museum was this display, devoted to a local marble-shooting champion. Yeah, I know, marbles, but c’mon — look at that jersey and patch!
• If you’ve spent any time looking at Negro Leagues photos, you know it’s practically an iron-clad rule that one player was always wearing last year’s uniform, or another team’s uniform, or something out of step with the rest of the team.
• Here’s a really great story: In 1949, a local schoolgirl embroidered this shirt with the likenesses of Ralph Kiner, Wally Westlake, and Babe Ruth, and then sent it to Kiner and Westlake for them to autograph (the Babe had already died, alas). Kiner not only autographed it but sent it back with this cover letter. Dig that stationery!
• Apparently the Pittsburgh boxing community is still pissed off about the Louis/Conn fight (Conn was a local hero). I didn’t get any pics of the Conn memorabilia at the museum, but I did get a shot of this great robe and accompanying set of trunks. Not sure why a Pittsburgh fighter had “NY” on his trunks, but whatever — gorgeous.
• This is Chuck Cooper’s All-American uniform. Note the photo at lower-right — I didn’t realize the Celtics had once worn uni numbers on their shorts. And why doesn’t the shorts number match the jersey number?
• Several excellent old basketball uniforms here.
• Finally, there’s this. I’ll let it speak for itself.
Phew! It’s worth noting, incidentally, that the Heinz facility also features a really great exhibit that documents the history of the Heinz company itself, including a photo of the Heinz baseball team, circa 1907 (note that they’re even using Heinz baseball bats), and a display showing the uniforms worn by female workers at the Heinz plant. Just goes to show that all roads lead back to uniforms.
And now a word from Vince Grzegorek: If I have one lasting legacy at Uni Watch, it probably won’t be writing about Brownie the Elf at every opportunity, or for being Paul’s first intern. No, it most likely will be for running the site’s annual NCAA tournament contest.
So let’s get this going. In the past I’ve come up with convoluted point systems and spent a lot of time scoring each entry by hand. But I’m much too busy for that this year, so screw that. Instead, we’re going to run a normal bracket challenge. To sign up, go to this site. Our group name is Uni Watch, our group ID is 68140, and our password is stirrups (all lowercase).
The top five winners will get to choose from the following prizes, all provided by Paul:
Top winner gets his or her choice of prizes, second-place winner gets to choose from the remaining four prizes, and so on.
Hey, how about that economy?: Paul here again. As some of you are aware, changes are afoot at Distant Replays. Here’s a quick imaginary press conference about what this means from a Uni Watch perspective:
New enrollees in the membership program used to get a $10 Distant Replays gift code. Are you still offering that benefit?
No, effective immediately.
I ordered my membership card a few weeks ago but haven’t received it yet. I thought I was getting the $10 gift code. What happens to me?
There are 16 of you out there who fit this description (some of you have been waiting way too long for your cards, and I’m sorry about that — life has been hectic lately). Those 16 cards will mail out this week, and unfortunately they will not be accompanied by Distant Replays gift codes. If you feel gypped or baited-and-switched, get in touch and we’ll work something out.
I received my Distant Replays gift code with my membership two months ago but haven’t redeemed the $10 code yet. Will I still be able to redeem it when the company goes back online?
Good question. I’ve asked Andy and Rav about this, and so far they haven’t responded. I know them well enough to know they aren’t just blowing me off — I think they just have much bigger things to worry about at the moment. If I had to guess, my hunch would be that old gift codes will not be honored when DR resurfaces. But we’ll have to wait and see.
Sorry for the hassle. Feel free to be in touch if you have further questions about any of this.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Thrashers appear to have a 10th-anniversary logo slated for next season, and holy shit is it a stinker. … Negro Leagues shorts alert! That’s Prince Joe Henry, the Detroit Clowns player who often had some, uh, unique uniform stylings (but not always). Those pics were contributed by Jared Wheeler, who also sent along shots of an old Houston warm-up jacket from the Slama era, a 1940s Harvard hoops jersey, a Senators jersey with a Jerry Cosby tag (”Never seen his tag on a baseball uniform,” says Jared), a Willie Stargell cap (that’s the closest look I’ve ever gotten of the stars — note that only the one on the right appears to be properly oriented), and — the real prize — a sleeve patch from the 1944 minor league Orioles. Thing of beauty, no? … This is really cool (nice find by Charles Neiswender). … But this is just ridiculous (blame Mark Doescher). … Jordan Wiley has created an interesting project: He’s created an a listing of the best logo treatment for each letter of the alphabet. In other words, this is A, this is B, etc. I don’t agree with most of his choices, but that’s kinda beside the point, cuz it’s an interesting little project. I wish he’d put all his letter choices side by side in one big composite alphabet (get working on that pronto, Jordan!), but for now you can check out his breakdown here. … On Friday I mentioned that I’d been surprised to learn that the Milwaukee Braves had offered stock to the public. That prompted the following from Terry Paffenroth: “The stock was a huge issue when the team’s new ownership started making the plans to move the team out of Milwaukee, because they had buy up that remaining stock from people, most of whom who were not about to sell and lose the team. The plan that eventually took shape was that minority stockholders who would not sell were given a letter saying that their shares were being voided in exchange for a voucher for season tickets — in Atlanta. And just for the first season. Next time I see my grandparents, I’ll try and find their old stock certificate, along with the letter and voucher. They small stockholders and were given two tickets. The largest number I have come across was for six tickets.” … Kentucky wore black uniforms on Friday. … The Fresno Grizzlies have some new alt/promo jerseys (with thanks to William Paul Barrett). … Check out this square-formatted NOB (nice find by Robert Saietta). … Tequila sundrise over Blacksburg. … Brett Crane notes that Kevin Youkilis is wearing his #20 elbow guard in the WBC, even though his WBC uni number is 21. … Maybe we’ve covered this before and I’m just suffering from brain-lock, but what’s up with the ‘Pops’ patch? … Here’s the logo for the 2011 Pan-Am games (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Bob Ruffolo was inside the new Yankee Stadium on Saturday and took a bunch of photos. … The Rangers’ two-tone helmet lives on, at least for now, in a team commercial (screen grab courtesy of Josh Jarmon). … Lots of college basketball uni musings here. … Greg Riffenburgh notes that Arsenal’s Russian signee, Andrei Arshavin, has been wearing at least two different kinds of cleats, as seen here and here (that’s him in the background). … Soccer note from Joe DeLong, who writes: “I was watching Serie A soccer highlights on Sunday and saw that Filippo Inzaghi of AC Milan scored his 300th career goal and was immediately presented with a No. 300 jersey.” Details here. … Doug Keklak sent along this shot from the 1956 Johnstown High School yearbook. Weird to see that the whole team had uni numbers in the 70s and 80s — I realize those numbers were legal in h.s. hoops back then, but it’s still odd that they’d only use numbers in that range. … Luke Mohamed reports that Sidney Crosby, who normally wears a visor, was visor-free during part the first period of yesterday’s Pens game. … The 1898 Spalding Ice Hockey and Ice Polo Guide, which is believed to be the earliest hockey guidebook, is now accessible online — complete with ads. … Interesting 2005 story here about bunting — this kind, not this kind (nice find by Mike Ortman). … St. Paddy’s Week has officially arrived, as the Raptors wore green last night. … As promised, supercross racer Kevin Windham wore Saints-themed gear on Saturday (with thanks to Sean Clancy). … Don D. snapped this shot of an adult league hockey team called the Charlie Browns. “The uniform also has a shoulder patch with Snoopy biting through a hockey stick, à la the Sharks,” he adds. … Only in America, or so I’d assume (thanks, Phil). … Also from Phil: Think this guy’s got enough swooshes?
Ah, Punt, Pass & Kick. Like many of you, I grew up watching many a PP&K competition televised during halftime of various NFL games. I was always struck by how the participants got to wear the uniform of their hometown NFL teams. But as a Long Island kid who liked the Giants but liked the 49ers even more (a preference rooted in a Ken Willard card that I got in a box of Corn Flakes when I was seven), I always wondered if the kids had any choice regarding the uniforms they wore. Like, what if you lived in Miami but hated the Dolphins? Could you choose, say, a Steelers uniform instead? If I entered (which I never did), would I be allowed to wear a 49ers uniform?
With that question and other uni-related issues in mind, I recently asked readers to contribute any uni-related PP&K experiences they’d had while growing up. More than 30 people responded, most of whom said they never got out of the first round and therefore only got to wear T-shirts and sweatpants. But some others advanced several rounds into the competition, and a few additional folks had other visual details to share.
Most of the participants mentioned that they had fond memories of the colorfully illustrated tips booklet that was distributed to participants each year at local Ford dealerships. Jeff Ash was kind enough to scan the 1969 edition (which features some amazing visuals) and arrange it into a slideshow, which you can see here. (Jeff also found this photo of a PP&K pin on the web, although he says, perhaps semi-bitterly, “I remember nothing about a pin.”)
Here’s a good selection of additional contributions (with big thanks to all who responded):
• From Brian Flynn: “I made it to Giants Stadium as the Long Island champion representing the Jets in 2003 and 2005. Each team in the NFL has representatives who won the local contests, so yes, you must wear the jersey of the team you are representing. Once you arrive at the stadium, you check in at the practice bubble outside. They give you a uniform, which consists of a replica team jersey and gray sweatpants with the PP&K logo. The jerseys are the same kind you would buy at the store, but instead of numbers they have the PP&K logo heat-pressed on the front and the team’s logo on the back. The second time I appeared, they also gave us a tan hat with the PPK logo. The organizers of the event were very picky about having us wear it when we went out onto the field during halftime. Some of the other participants didn’t want to wear the cap but were forced to. Another interesting note: The second time I was there, they added the Pepsi logo to the sweatpants. I still have the uniform somewhere in my house.”
• From Chris Janke: “After I won the Western Massachusetts portion of the PP&K, I received a jersey in the mail, along with the rules and tickets to the Patriots game I would be competing at. The jersey had the PP&K logo on the front with two Patriots logos on the sleeves and FNOB in an unusually small font size. The jersey was the mesh kind that high schools use for practice. If I remember correctly, the number given was either the year, or 00, or something I wasn’t happy with. I’d wanted to wear No. 4 for my favorite player, Brett Favre. I think I even wore a Packers hat with the PP&K jersey during the competition. I brought cleats with me for the competition but was told by a ‘higher up’ that I couldn’t wear them because of the ‘unfair advantage over the others’ that they would provide. I finished third in the group of about 12 but didn’t advance any further (because I couldn’t wear cleats, obviously).”
• From Doc Ginn: “My older brother won the sixth grade competition one year, I believe, and received a Cleveland Browns jacket (our ‘home’ team at the time, pre-Bengals). It included a Browns patch that was the shape of the NFL shield but had the ‘Brownie’ logo within. When I won my competition, my prize was a Green Bay “autographed” football. When I got home and opened the box, I found, to my dismay, that all the ‘autographs’ were mass-printed on the ball, and a couple of them smeared as I pulled the ball from the box the first time. In fact, I remember leaving the ball in the box, because whenever I tried to remove it, I would invariably smear one of the autographs. It wasn’t that the ink was wet — it just wouldn’t stick to the leather ball very well.”
• From Robert Eden: “I recall wearing simply jeans and a T-shirt to the local PP&K competitions. I wasn’t good enough to advance to the regionals (or whatever they called it), but one year I did finish in third place locally — here’s the trophy.
• From Tommy Turner: “I participated in 1967 in Danville, Virginia. We received a Redskins gumball helmet keychain.” Tommy also provided photos of some MacGregor PP&K helmets (the kind used in PP&K nationals from 1960 through 1968) and also some Rawlings PP&K models (used from 1969 through ’73).
• From Steve Mandich: “I just wore my regular clothes for the PP&K and didn’t advance beyond the first round. I don’t remember seeing any related memorabilia, but I do remember the Punt, Pass & Kick Library book series.”
• From Bob Tusso: “My friend Paul Umhoefer won this helmet in a PP&K contest for the area around Stoughton, Wisconsin, in about 1965, when he was about 10 years old. He got second place, and seems to think that first place got a helmet and the chance to compete in a statewide contest. He doesn’t have the facemask for it anymore.”
• From Lee Whitaker: “I participated in my local competition (Paoli, Pennsylvania) in the mid-’70s. I won my age group at the local competition and advanced to the district final, where I finished fourth. For the local event, I competed in my Pop Warner uniform (think classic Patriots with red jersey and red pants), because the PP&K was held following our game. The local ‘awards’ ceremony was held in the showroom of the local Ford dealership, where I got to shake the sales manager’s hand and get my picture taken with Bill Bergey (#66) of the Eagles.”
• And from David Murphy: “My dad entered me in PP&K back around 1970. I was no athlete, but it made my day when my placekick sailed low but good enough for third place in my age group. … The kids who made the regional competitions wore those replica unis, complete with colored socks. They even wore replica helmets! To this day, I’m a sucker for those helmets whenever I see one selling for a dollar at a thrift store. Got dozens in my attic.”
Great stuff, people. Thanks for sharing.
Victory Lap: Got a note early this morning from Giants equipment director Joe Skiba that I thought you’d all like to see:
I just wanted to thank the Uni Watch fans out there for an incredible season. It means the world to me that fans out there pay attention to all the little details — and also important ones — that go into the equipment side of sports. Every day I read the web site and the blogs to learn what is being used and worn by athletes across the leagues. Hopefully I have made Giants fans out of you, and fans of mine as well (haha)! I hope you’ll share in the celebration of this tremendous win — you guys deserve it as well.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Remember those great old curling sweaters that I recently wrote about? Reader Graham Bakay reports that the vintage threads have been banned by the geniuses at the Alberta Curling Federation, who really need to get a ticket for the clue train. … Did you know that the Rams wore a jersey patch during home games in 1988? According to this page, the patch reads, “Drug use is life abuse” (nice find by Erik Little). … Good analysis here of how Nike botched its entry into the hockey market.
Very uni-unusual day in college football on Saturday, with all sorts of anomalies running rampant on the gridiron. Let’s start with Notre Dame’s 1977 throwbacks. Personally, I prefer this green-and-gold combo better than the one they wore on Saturday. But oh, those sock stripes — you know I loved those, although it was distressing to see how many players left their socks at ankle-level.
A sampling of other uni observations from Saturday:
• Oregon went solid white, which looked kinda chalky. Better than their usual visual carnival, natch, but the green helmet was the one really good component of this uniform — here’s hoping they go back to it next week.
• Florida wore a memorial decal for walk-on defensive back Michael Guilford, who died in a motorcycle accident last week (and whose nickname was Sunshine).
• Florida State wore a red “BV” helmet decal in honor of team videographer and cancer victim Billy Vasini, who’s currently in hospice care.
• No photo, but Vince says Michigan State’s Peter Clifford “pulled an L.T. and wasn’t wearing an American flag decal on his helmet” (a handy coincidence, since the Chargers had a bye this week, so we all might’ve gone through missing-decal withdrawal if not for Clifford).
• Graham McCulloch says that Michigan’s Mario Manningham’s surname was direct-sewn onto his jersey, instead of being on separate nameplate. I couldn’t find a good rear-view shot of Manningham, although this photo suggests that the lettering may indeed have been direct-sewn. If so, it would mark a change from how Manningham’s name has been applied in the past.
Intern Update: In case you missed it last week, Vince will soon be moving on to greener pastures, so I’m in the market for a new intern. For further details, scroll down to the “Help Wanted” section of last Wednesday’s post.
For those of you who’ve already applied, hang tight. I can’t acknowledge everyone, but I’ll be getting in touch with a handful of finalists soon. And my sincere thanks to all applicants — it’s humbling to see how many people want to work on Uni Watch.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Iowa State’s official logo specs and identity standards are available for viewing in this PDF file (with thanks to Brian Castile). … Andrew Flynn was recently at the Packers Hall of Fame, where he snapped a shot of the team’s 1962 yearbook cover. Obviously, they tinted those facemasks in the photo (colored facemasks didn’t debut until over a decade later, with the 1974 Chargers), although it’s hard to fathom why they would’ve done that. … Always good to start ’em young (good find by Jay Kuperstein). … Mike Orr noticed a bunch of interesting South Carolina high school football quirks over the weekend: (1) Chester High uses some really big-ass rear helmet numbers. (2) One of the Chester players has a helmet number that doesn’t match his jersey. (3) Lugoff-Elgin uses the biggest TV numbers I’ve ever seen. (4) The Lugoff-Elgin QB is apparently a Sean Taylor fan. … Victory Pennants prexy Morris Levin just scored this excellent postcard showing the Phillies’ uniform history (here’s the other side). Interestingly, the player images on the front of card are also used on the Phils’ web site. … If Curt Schilling’s gonna insist on wearing a Cool Base jersey, could he at least stop saluting the crowd, so we wouldn’t have to look at that stupid underarm mesh insert? … Good article here on the NFL’s latest uniform cop. … Dave Madison says Kevin Youkilis had the Majestic wordmark — instead of just the Majestic logo — on the left sleeve of his road jersey during Games 4 and 5 of the ALCS, suggesting that he might have been wearing a replica jersey. I don’t see any wordmark here, here, here, or here, but it does look like he might have had a wordmark under the logo here. I’m trying to get that photo enlarged so we can get a better look. … I reported lat week that Wisconsin would be wearing this throwback outfit on December 3rd, but the auction for the unis is already underway (with thanks to Nicole Haase). … Mark Coale reports that the Hershey Bears wore 70th-anniversary sweaters on Saturday. A nice idea, except the crest looked like a glorified sleeve patch. … Reprinted from Sunday’s comments: Adalius Thomas has been wearing one red glove and one blue. Additional views here and here. … I don’t care how many field goals you kick — this is still a really bad look. … The Devil Rays’ uni-unveiling event is gonna be a real, um, barn-burner (as noted by Morris Levin). … Dave Eskenazi, who’s contributed many Pacific northwestern baseball pics in the past, has now provided some gorgeous old hockey photos from that same region, as seen in these shots of the Portland Rosebuds, Seattle Metropolitans, Victoria Aristocrats, and Vancouver Millionaires. That’s Lester Patrick — “Yes, that Lester Patrick,” as Eskinazi puts it — here. … The Saskatchewan Roughriders wore throwbacks yesterday (with thanks to Garry Sum). … Two weeks ago I reported that the Wisconsin women’s hockey team was using this design. What I hadn’t noticed in that photo — but what Andy Seeger has now pointed out — is that the “C” and “A” designations are stacked under the uni numbers, which looks awful-and-a-half. … Matthew Lepke notes that Bryce Salvador is wearing Blues-branded boot protectors. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: The Broncos’ socks are supposed to have just a thin band of orange between the navy and white areas, but Brandon Marshall apparently wore navy leggings and white sanitaries with orange tape in between (additional pics here, here, and here, and the tape he uses is probably something like this). … And we conclude with a nice little video report on USC’s equipment staff (as provided by Ryan Whitacre):
Meanwhile: We all know about the futuristic uniforms that most MLB teams wore in 1999. You may also recall that about six months ago I linked to a hilarious SportsCenter diatribe about said uniforms. That video mentions that the ’99 Turn Ahead the Clock program was actually based on a “futuristic” Royals/Mariners game from the previous season.
I hadn’t been aware of that game, or else I’d forgotten about it, until I saw it mentioned in the SportsCenter report. And I’d forgotten about it yet again until yesterday, when the pseudonymous TC (the same guy who brought us all the cool stuff in this report) sent me a two-minute video taken from a 1998 installment of This Week in Baseball, which provides lots of jaw-dropping footage from the Royal/Mariners game in question. TC has asked that the video not be YouTubed, but he’s allowed me to make screen grabs.
Some quick background: The game was played on July 18, 1998, at the Kingdome. It was a simple one-game promotion by the Mariners, much like today’s throwback games. And the time-warped year was supposedly 2027 (as opposed to the 1999 futuristic program, which was set in 2021, because the whole thing was sponsored by Century 21).
Now then:
• The Mariners’ design was at least vaguely similar to what they wore for the Century 21 promotion the following year. But the Royals’ concept of futurism underwent a big change from 1998 to 1999.
• Both teams wore special helmets for the game. The M’s put big-ass uni numbers on the front and a logo decal on the earflap side, while the Royals did the reverse.
• Both teams looked like they stole their pants piping from the NFL.
• The M’s wore their jerseys untucked and their caps backward (except, apparently, for their pitchers).
This promotion strikes me as idiotic but harmless, which is more than you can say for the 1999 program, which was a corporate boondoggle for Century 21.
Photo Follow-Up: A few days ago I linked to the photo shown at left (here’s a larger view) and wondered what was up with Willie’s non-pinstriped Mets home uni (a design that didn’t yet exist in 1976, when the photo was taken). Quite a few readers suggested that Willie was actually wearing a road uniform (the Mets used the same script insignia on their home and road jerseys that year), and that the photo was simply overexposed, creating the illusion of a white home design. Okay, but then why was Hank wearing a road uniform as well? What circumstance could have brought both of them together in road attire in 1976 (when Mays was a National League coach and Aaron was still an active American League player)?
Reader Bill Tyrrell may have provided the answer. Check out the note he sent me last night:
The first game that I ever attended was the 1976 Hall of Fame Game in Cooperstown between the Mets and Brewers (August 9th). I vividly recall that both teams wore their road uniforms. According to Retrosheet, the Mets were coming back from a series in Pittsburgh, and Milwaukee had stopped in Cooperstown between series in Boston and Oakland [which would explain why both teams wore road attire]. … The Mets wore their pillbox caps that day. The only part that doesn’t figure is that the photo appears to have been taken at night — the HoF game was played during the day.
Faaaaascinating. And here’s a little postscript from Bill: “Although a coach at the time, Mays made a pinch-hitting appearance and singled. Aaron had one at bat, striking out swinging before we gave him a standing ovation.”
Membership News: After a few marathon data-entry sessions, I believe every membership enrollee is now listed on the active roster. The only exception is Patrick Ratliff (let me know which number and design you want, at your convenience). For everyone else, if you signed up in the past week and don’t see your name on the roster, let me know.
It’ll take a while to get all the new orders printed, laminated, and mailed, so bear with us — thanks. Meanwhile, we now have our first non-charter member, Sean Sandoloski, who signed up yesterday. And so the new era begins.
Also: Several early enrollees have mentioned they now regret their original card-design choices and wish they had asked for something else. You can request a new design when renewing your membership next year, of course. But if you’re suffering from a serious case of buyer’s remorse and can’t wait until then, existing members can get a redesigned card for $15 (which, I assure you, is a very fair price, given the amount of time and effort that go into creating these things).
As an aside, I should mention that Scott and I are both having a blast with this project. A lot of the requests you’ve given us have been really interesting and imaginative, and we usually learn something even from the simple requests. Thanks for making this endeavor such a success.
Tech Crap: If you’re reading this, you’ve successfully managed to access the site (duh). But I’m continuing to get sporadic reports of people who can’t log on — aftershocks from Wednesday’s server problem, apparently. If this happens to you, or if you hear of it happening to someone else, try googling “Uni Watch” and then entering the site via the Google link. If that doesn’t work, type the site’s full URL into a fresh browser window (including the “http://www” at the beginning) instead of using a bookmark or a shortened version of the URL.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Reebok is planning to open an hockey-themed store (with thanks to Neal Schaffer). … David Conely notes with digust that KG left the stickers on his cap when throwing out the first pitch at Fenway the other day. And several readers noted with even greater disgust that they gave him a home jersey with his name on the back — sacrilege! … Great article here about Penn State’s equipment manager. Click on the photo for a cool slideshow (nice find by Bryan Koval). … The 49ers’ memorial helmet decal for Bill Walsh will look like this. … More info on those new Utah hoops unis here (as forwarded by Bryan Packer), and larger images here. … This year’s Little League World Series uniforms are shown in this PDF file (nice find by Tony Lombardo). … “Snapped some interesting shots on a recent trip to Graceland,” writes Patrick Woody. “Elvis was a big sports fan, and his entourage would play football and baseball games in full uniforms. Note the stirrups with the football pants, which could be accurate — or just the result of the exhibit curator being clueless.” … Big Blazers fan Clark Farrand notes that first-round pick Greg Oden was given a number-inclusive jersey for his NBA Rookies photo shoot but second-rounders Taurean Green and Josh McRoberts had to go number-free. “I guess I kind of understand, in that since they haven’t earned roster spots yet, they haven’t been assigned numbers,” writes Farrand. “But wouldn’t you think that if they were considered good enough to be sent to the photo shoot, they would at least give them temporary or expected numbers in case they do make the roster?” … According to a small item buried on this page, Marlon Anderson wanted to wear No. 8 with the Mets, but that number, while not officially retired, is out of circulation, in deference to Gary Carter. … New uniforms this year for University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Further details, and a link to a photo gallery, here (with thanks to Ronnie Poore). … New design for Tulsa as well (additional view here, with thanks to Tod Meisner, who also reports that Rice’s new helmet will look like this). … And new Air Force unis too (additional pics and info here). … Brandon Hall turned up a site featuring some amazing vintage NFL posters. For the full selection, look here and here. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: I’d forgotten that the 1976 pillbox cap trope also extended to the World Series umpires. … Riley Anderson reports that plate ump Kerwin Danley worked the first half of Tuesday night’s Angels/Mariners game with his fly unzipped. No photos yet, but Vince is working on it. … The Nationals had Walter Johnson’s grandson throw out the first pitch last night and then wore throwback caps, which I thought looked pretty good.
Several people have contributed good info about the College World Series, but I’m gonna save that until tomorrow or Thursday. Today we’re going to look back a bit further than college baseball — all the way back to Little League.
That topic was inspired by a note I got last week from reader Wally Steidley, who said he coached Little League in Wylie, Texas. “My assistant coach and I are huge fans of Uni Watch,” he wrote, “so we took it upon ourselves to spend a little extra and get our boys outfitted like real baseball players. We have some limitations from the league but put together a pretty nice combo, including stirrups and sanitary socks. All the other teams went with the one-color soccer sock, so we really stood out as the finest uni’ed team in the entire league.”
Cool, I thought — teach ‘em young and all that. So when Steidley offered to send me some photos, I said, “Sure, let’s have ‘em.” That’s when I discovered that he’d left out one pertinent detail. He hadn’t just dressed up his team like real ballplayers — he’d dressed them as one of history’s most idiosyncratic teams: the A’s. Here’s Steidley‘s rundown:
We had some challenges getting the kids to wear everything correctly, but it was worth it, as everyone in the league noticed our classic stirrups and gold sanitary socks. We did have to explain the stirrup and how to wear them to the kids, but the parents thought it was a cool look, so they helped us out by requiring that they wear them correctly. You will also note the white cleats, which were difficult to find, but we talked the parents into them.
The gold belts were used because last year we were the Pirates, and the parents didn’t want to have to buy more belts. I gave in because my assistant coach and I had already purchased helmets, with MLB sticker packs, and fronted the money for the socks and stirrups. This is something we’ll be able to fix with next year’s team.
Amazing. So now there’s a bunch of nine-year-olds in Texas who think “real” ballplayers wear yellow sanitaries and white cleats. That should warp their little minds quite nicely. Still, Steidley’s devotion to uniform protocol is admirable. After Jason Giambi arranges to have Bud Selig bumped off, could we maybe get Steidley in line to take over the Commissioner’s chair?
Membership Update: I’ve added about two dozen more rear-card designs to the membership roster and to the card gallery (including, as you can see at right, our first referee-based design). My continued thanks to all who’ve joined.
Uni Watch News Ticker: One of the San Diego Union-Tribune columnists wrote a bit of a Padres uniform manifesto yesterday (with thanks to Josh Berliner). … And a St. Looie columnist has weighed in on the suits-on-the-sidelines situation (with thanks to Luke Pellegra). … Good photo here (helpfully provided by Tom Konecny of the Toledo Mud Hens’ uni-laundering scene. The accompanying article isn’t really about uniforms, though. … One last Father’s Day oddity: Ray Durham wore one of those light blue wristbands on his head during BP (with thanks to Bosox bloggerJere). …Ehan Lewis notes that the NFL recently held its annual NFL Softball Challenge event. If you’ve always wanted to see Jeff Lurie swinging a bat (among other sights), a full gallery of pics is available here. … Nice find by Ethan Rowley, who came up with this portrait of Cardinals greats, which functions as a de facto timeline of the team’s uniform. According to …this article (forwarded by Wes Johnson), “[Minnesota] Gophers football coach Tim Brewster made it clear that there will be only one change in the team’s uniforms this fall: the letter ‘M’ on the helmets will be much bigger.” Which means it’ll look even more like an upside-down W than it already does. … Excellent slide-show essay on the history of — and problems with — U.S. soccer uniforms here. … Latest player spotted wearing Oakley Thumps during BP: Bartolo Colon (great shot by Zach Gibson). … Member Eric Bonus has scanned and uploaded an excellent 1987 article about hockey uniform numbers. … More really disturbing Chris Cooley hot pants pics here. … Carlos Delgado went high-cuffed last night, and it was a thing of beauty. Take note, class: His pants didn’t break right at the knees but, rather, just slightly down the shins. This is exactly — exactly — how it should be done. Such a splendid example of the form that I’m willing to overlook the lack of stirrups. … Pitt’s new secondary logo has been leaked. …Michael Maurino works for the single-A Dunedin Blue Jays and recently attended the Florida State League All-Star Game, where the teams wore East and West jerseys that almost make the Pro Bowl look good by comparison — especially when you factor in the number font — yeesh. The guy wearing double-zero in that last photo is Francisco Cervelli of the Tampa Yankees, who normally wears 34, but that was taken by Omar Malave, who managed the West team. Anyone know which other minor leagues use generic all-star unis instead of letting the players wear their regular team attire? … The Angels are giving away an item I’ve never seen before: wristbands with a built-in watch. If you haven’t seen it already, check out the super-cool animated Watch Your Back ad, now running near the top of the right column.
Coupla things I’ve been meaning to get to, all of them slightly bigger than typical Ticker fare but not quite weighty enough to merit full-scale blog entries of their own. So without further ado…
Got a great tip recently from Joel Brigham (who does some writing for these guys), who pointed me toward this site, where you can digitally design your own basketball uniforms. Start by choosing one of the stock templates on the right, then custom-colorize it using the options on the left. “I spent HOURS messing with it the other day,” he writes, and it’s easy to see why once you start using the site. I like some of Joel’s designs better than others, but it’s a nifty tool either way. Have fun, and don’t blame me (well, not more than you already do) if you get nothing else done today.
• We all know that the A’s have been wearing white shoes for over 40 years now. So when Michael Turner recently wrote to ask if I had any photos of the A’s wearing green shoes in the early ’80s, I said, “Nope,” and privately wondered what the hell he could have been thinking about.
Shows what I know. Turns out there are quite a few shots of the A’s wearing dark shoes on the road in 1982, although it’s tough to say if they include green — maybe (here’s another potential candidate), maybe not.
Interestingly, Dressed to the Nines (which I obviously should have consulted before so blithely dismissing Turner’s query) shows the A’s wearing green footwear on the road in 1983, and what appears to be black cleats in ‘81. But for 1982 — the year in which all those photos were taken — they’re listed as only wearing white. (And yes, almost all those photos were of Rickey Henderson, but I also found dark-shod pics of other players, so it wasn’t just a Rickey thing.)
When the Padres recently wore their early-’70s throwbacks, which were made by Majestic, you may recall that the pants featured real belts instead of the period-appropriate elastic waistband. That prompted the following note from one of Majestic’s competitors, who prefers to remain anonymous:
We actually bid that job. We had a gold fabric that was a little less brassy than the one Majestic used. The problem is that Majestic gives each team such a large marketing credit that most clubs want to get all of their uniforms as near as free as possible. It’s very frustrating for us, because we really feel like we are being “played” by clubs a lot of the time, but Majestic hands over the big money to squash guys like us. Ninety percent of the time, these [throwback] projects are being handled by the [team's] marketing department, and they generally lack the experience to execute a uniform’s details flawlessly.
A few days ago I asked about the origins of “Clemson cut” pants, which brought this response from DJ Gordon:
My father, Doug Gordon, was the head equipment manager at Clemson University from around ‘83 to ‘94. The “Clemson cut” pant was originally made by a clothing company called Powers. The rep from Powers would come help my father fit the entire baseball team with their pants. The Clemson cut is called so because Clemson was one of the first schools to fit players by their waist, calf, thigh, and inseam sizes. They were custom-fit for each player to fit their legs. Most players got three pairs each, due to the fact that they always wear the white-styled pant. The web site you have shown [in the link above] is odd to my father, because the Clemson cut pants never had stirrups in them. I myself am an equipment manager at the University of South Carolina, so I just happen to have an interest in the whole uniform genre.
Gotta love that — the family that equipment-manages together, uh, what rhymes with that? Too bad about the whole calf/inseam thing, though — this may have been ground zero for the ruination of baseball hosiery.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Very telling fold of the fabric here (as spotted by David Fleming). … “I went to my brother-in-law’s senior art show at Washington University in St. Louis this past weekend,” writes Dan Brown. “While I was there, I saw this painting by Elena Rodriguez.” Man, someone needs to commission Elena for a big mural, pronto! … Veeeery interesting blog entry here regarding the cost of English Premier League sponsorships (with thanks to Dominic Litten). … Here’s an eBay auction with another jersey featuring the number on the “wrong” side. … Some really sensational uni-related bits (and, by any standard, some very cruel moments of sexism) in this video of Babe Ruth teaching women who to play ball (nice find by Crhis Manes). … Good article here regarding cyclists pulling their socks up high (as forwarded by Lee Wilds). … Yesterday I linked to a photo gallery from the shooting of the Ernie Davis biopic. Turns out that a reader who prefers to remain anonymous was watching the film shoot through a fence and took some great additional pics, as seen here, here, here, and here. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: I didn’t realize that the Rockies originally had logo-emblazoned stirrups! The photo is taken from this timeline. … Cathy Reeder sent along some interesting Florida Little League photos, including shots of a kid with mismatched socks, a kid with no socks, and a team that wears its uni numbers on the caps. … Remember Frank DiPino? Yeah, I barely do either, but apparently he wrote, “Get Somebody OUT!” on his underbill, and you can have that cap for your very own here (nice find by Eric Stangel). … Not only do the Diamandbacks and Astros now have similar color schemes, but as Chris Shastid points out, they have similar problems regarding the integrity of their lettering across the placket. … The Yokohama Bay Stars will be wearing these uniforms during the Japanese interleague games. “They’ve added a brick-red panel and color to the cap, plus a gold neckline,” writes Jeremy Brahm. “But look at the serif on the 2 — it would look fine without it, but it is huge.” … Great contribution from Larry Brunt, who writes: “I’ve been reading a bunch of baseball picture books with my four-year-old, including Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man, by David Adler. The illustration that accompanies the text of him taking himself out of the game that ended his streak is here. I’m quite impressed that the artist (Terry Widener) included the historically accurate sleeve patch the Yankees wore in 1939 for baseball’s centennial.” … Thomas Harris notes that there’s some good stuff going on in the Coastal Plain League (”The Nation’s Hottest Summer Collegiate Baseball League”), including some killer stirrups being worn by the Thomasville HiToms and the completely endearing logo being used by the Columbia Blowfish (who also appear to have one of history’s greatest mascots). Even the league’s logo gets it right. … Bosox pitcher Julian Tavarez has been wearing Big Papi slippers in the clubhouse (where he’s also been spotted wearing a “Manny Being Manny” T-shirt) and even in the dugout on days when he’s not pitching.
Like a lot of Americans, I don’t really follow horse racing but still get a kick out of the Kentucky Derby, mainly because it’s a good excuse for a party. So on Saturday I baked a derby pie, put Uni Watch designated raceday tomato Amanda Madden on my arm, and headed over to Watch Your Back impresario Brian Corrigan’s pad, where a TV/BBQ party was in full swing. In between bites of grilled chicken and swigs of beer (no mint juleps for me this year), I made the following observations:
Winning jockey Calvin Borel looked fairly sharp, bow tie and all. I kept wondering what happened to the propeller on his beanie, though. Also: I know it was muddy out there, but why did he have four pairs of goggles (here’s another view)? Was he switching them on the fly during the race? If anyone knows more about how this works, fill us in.
I liked how the tape on some of the horses’ ankles created the equine equivalent of striped socks.
From there I headed over to the Mendez Boxing Club in Manhattan, where I joined No Mas principals Dave Larzelere and Chris Isenberg to watch the Mayweather/De La Hoya bout. It was a pretty raucous scene, never more so than when Floyd donned that big-ass sombrero for his ring entrance. He also wore the Mexican colors on his robe, trunks, and shoes, plus his cornermen were wearing “Mexico Loves Mayweather” T-shirts, all of which seemed like an obvious ploy to steal De La Hoya’s Mexican-identified mojo. Since turnabout is fair play, I was hoping Oscar would come out in blackface and some gangsta tattoos, but wit has never been the Golden Boy’s strong suit. Anyway, it was way too loud at the Mendez for me to hear any explanation that Jim Lampley or Larry Merchant might have offered for Mayweather’s Mexican-themed attire. Did they discuss it?
Meanwhile, anyone know the story behind the little portraits appearing on Mayweather’s WBC belts? Like, are they the faces of the current champions in the various weight divisions? The faces of fighters Mayweather beat to win his titles? If anyone knows, kindly fill us in.
Missing Persons Dept.: Hey, Ben Nickerson, if you’re reading this, please get in touch asap. Thanks.
Uni Watch Midwestern Road Trip Update: I’m happy to announce that the venue for this Saturday’s Uni Watch Chicagoland party will be the Montrose Saloon. So the weekend party itinerary is now set: We’ll be convening in Minneapolis this Friday evening, 7:30pm, at the very wonderful Nye’s Polonaise Room. And then, precisely 24 hours later, I’ll see all you Chi-town folks at the Montrose. Looking forward to it.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Not sure how we all missed this until now, but someone on the Chris Creamer boards alertly noticed that the Mariners have switched from using nameplates (that photo is from last season, and so are this, this, and this) to direct-sewn lettering (as additionally seen here, here, here, and here) — a major improvement. … Good slide show here on the history of sponsorship in the German Bundesliga soccer league (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Interesting eBay items here, here, here, and here. … The Giants did the Gigantes thing for Cinco de Mayo. … Interesting note from Kel Hinkle, who writes, “I was at my daughter’s softball game on Saturday and the opposing team’s pitcher wore a mask.” Yikes — looks like Hannibal Lechter on the mound! … Bit of golf attire commentary here (as spotted by Seth Horowitz).
