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Posts filed under 'Memorials'
By Bryan Redemske
The Phillies — those forward-thinking, tree-hugging Phillies — on Wednesday announced a “going green” initiative, starting with the purchase of 20 million kilowatt hours of Green-e Energy Certified Renewable Certificates (RECs). The EPA says it’s the equivalent of planting 100,000 trees … but without actually planting the trees.
The club is going to be recycling now, and also getting rid of condiment packages and going with dispensers and such instead. And to that, I say, “hurrah.” Good for them. But how to celebrate this new era in Phillies history? Hmmm … how about a green hat? Perfect!
Of course, the New Era factory had to be fired up to make them, and they had to be shipped and everything. Eh, we’ll save the environment tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow (which is now today, since I wrote this last night), it’s May Day. In celebration of that, all Major League Baseball teams will install a Maypole in a prominent location. Obviously, the Yankees will put it in Monument Park, but teams are free to place it wherever they like. Also, look for hat patches, too.
Here’s a look at the rest of baseball’s celebrations for May:
May 2: It’s Negro Leagues Day — the league’s first game was played on this day in 1920. All teams will wear Kansas City Monarchs uniforms, except the Royals, who will be wearing their powder blue alts.
May 3: Bitch about Walter O’Malley day. The former Dodgers owner agreed to move the team to Los Angeles on this day in 1957. The Dodgers will wear “LA” caps to celebrate the successful move.
May 4: Ken Oberkfell was born on this day in 1956. The Braves will honor him by refusing to acknowledge Atlanta’s pre-1991 history.
May 5: The Astros will honor the 47th anniversary of Al Shepard’s first trip into space by wearing replica Mercury suits. They will also retire the number 47.
May 6: It’s Willie Mays’ 77th birthday! All players — on the Mets — will wear their caps and sunglasses like this.
May 7: All teams will have a moment of silence before the game — and wear a special sleeve patch — to mourn the victims of the Great Natchez Tornado, which killed 317 people … in 1840.
May 8: The Pirates will celebrate Bill Cowher’s 51st birthday by wearing black and yellow.
May 9: Sticking with the birthday bent, it’s Twinkie day in San Diego: Tony Gwynn turns 48! The Padres will wear their camouflage jerseys to mark the occasion.
May 10: Teams will wear pink for Mother’s Day, only to find out they got the date wrong. They’ll change the promotion to celebrate the first day of the Giro d’Italia, a three week cycling stage race. The teams’ jerseys are now based on the leader’s pink jersey.
May 11: Teams will continue to wear pink, since it’s actually Mother’s Day now. The Yankees will decline to participate on both days, because they’re a-holes.
May 12: To honor Yogi Berra’s 88th birthday, broadcasters all over baseball will say things that make no sense. Again, the Yankees will decline to participate.
May 13: Today is Barry Zito’s 30th birthday, so it’s stirrups and a high ERA for everybody!
May 14: All starting pitchers will go 9 innings — but lose — to observe Roy Halladay’s 31st birthday.
May 15: The Yankees will retire Nos. 56, 1, and 1941 to honor the start of Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. The only numbers available for future players are 73, 94, and 97.
May 16: The No. 1 will be re-retired on what would have been Billy Martin’s 80th birthday. The Yankees will wear black ankle bands, since their sleeves are full of other patches.
May 17: The Padres will wear their camouflage jerseys in honor of the 1943 Dambuster Raids on German dams.
May 18: The Yankees, Orioles, Athletics, and Angels will all wear patches shaped like tinted prescription glasses for Reggie Jackson’s birthday.
May 19: The Blue Jays will celebrate Victoria Day by taking the day off, but having another ceremony later, like the Nationals on Jackie Robinson day.
May 20: It’s Hal Newhouser rubber jacket day in Detroit. To celebrate environmental consciousness, each jacket will be made from recycled tires taken off all current GM models.
May 21: Protective cup day in all parks, in an attempt to prevent future occurrences of … uh … this.
May 22: Mark Prior will undergo Tommy John surgery in honor of the 66th birthday of the surgery’s namesake. It was going to happen sooner or later — call it preventative maintenance.
May 23: The Padres will wear their camouflage jerseys in honor of Italy joining the Allies in World War I in 1915.
May 24: No activities planned. The Yankees decline to participate anyway.
May 25: It’s Star Wars Day across the majors in honor of the 31st anniversary of the film’s release.
May 26: Memorial Day — the Padres surprisingly don’t wear their camouflage jerseys, but the White Sox remember they have them and break them out for the first time.
May 27: It’s the 69th anniversary of the debut of Batman, prompting the Yankees to wear capes and little bat antennae.
May 28: Chleveland Honors Jhonny Peralta’s 26th birthday.
May 29: Today’s Red Sox game will be delivered in winks and nods in remembrance of Moe Berg, a former Sox catcher and U.S. spy.
May 30: The Cubs wear green hats in honor of grass, ivy, and the one-month anniversary of the Phillies’ green initiative.
May 31: Kenny Lofton, age 41 today, has his number retired by the Astros, Indians, Braves, White Sox, Giants, Pirates, Cubs, Yankees, Phillies, Dodgers, and Rangers.
Here’s Vince with the ticker …
Uni Watch News Ticker: As Paul has noted before, even fans get in on the whole misspelled jersey thing (thanks to Dan Cichalski). … Many people have emailed to say that Bob Uecker claimed during the Brewers/Cubs broadcast that Chicago’s Reed Johnson is the last among the Cubs to wear “old style” stirrups. Many also claimed that this claim doesn’t appear to be true. These photos seem to indicate Uecker is right, though. … There’s apparently some groundswell to have the NCAA allow USC and UCLA to both wear their home uniforms for their annual game (thanks to Eric Borer). … The Durham Bulls wore pink jerseys to support breast cancer awareness (thanks Josh Edney). …A New York Rangers sweater given to Bruce Springsteen is part of a larger auction you can find here (thanks to Michael Jaworski). … Reader Andrew has created a site devoted to the uniform history of the Diamondbacks. … If you haven’t checked it out ready, this blog devoted to ugly baseball cards is certainly a great time waster (thanks John Muir). … Patrick Ryan says that Houston had to wear their grey road uni’s for the first time this season because Arizona chose to wear their red alts. … Think Luis Sanchez really wants everyone to know whose jacket that is? (Thanks John Muir).
May 1st, 2008
Whatever you think of the House the Ruth Built, its impending demise has had at least one salutary side effect: New York’s tabloid papers have been publishing plenty of historically minded retrospective articles filled with, as Scott M.X. Turner puts it, “lots of photo yumminess.” Scott noted some interesting pics in this past Sunday’s Daily News, and reader Eric Hoey found something truly astonishing in Sunday’s Post. Let’s take a look:
• Scott describes the memorial armband in this Joe D. photo as “the world’s thickest mourning strip” (also, note the belt buckle disappearing into the belt tunnel). Interestingly, I had a similar comment last August about this Joe D. jersey, which was displayed in the Museum of the City of New York’s “Glory Days” exhibit. The two jerseys aren’t the same, obviously, since one is home and one is road, but the Yankee Clipper apparently liked his armbands extra-wide.
• Remember my recent blog entry about the “ruptured duck” honorable discharge patch, which several Cubs players wore in 1945? At the time, I mentioned that Red Ruffing of the Yankees also wore the patch, but I didn’t have a photo. Now, however, thanks to Scott and the Daily News, I do.
• “Forgit the beauties here,” says Scott. “Check out the different number fonts. Yankees fans forget — or more likely don’t know — that the Yanks and Red Sox shared that ‘Red Sox font’ for much of the Ruth/Gehrig/DiMaggio eras.”
• Here’s the real prize, spotted by Eric in Sunday’s Post: The Yanks won the 1932 World Series, so they raised their championship banner on Opening Day in 1933 (exactly 75 years ago today, coincidentally). And what were the players wearing there in the foreground? Check it out: Yankees capes! How cool is that?! Or maybe they were blankets, because I found this shot of Babe Ruth from an exhibition game a few days earlier — same white trim as the capes had, although the capes looked shinier. Anyway, we’ve all seen sideline capes in football, but I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this on a baseball field. Anyone know of any other examples? (Oh, and that other team across the way? That would be the Boston Red Sox, who had no idea how many decades of frustration lay ahead of them.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Cool socks worn by Kiara Franciso of Winter Haven High School in Florida (with thanks to Bob Rios). … Dave Concepcion not only wore No. 13, he also wrapped a Friday the 13th calendar page around the barrel of his bat! … “I grabbed this off the trailer for the Love Guru movie,” writes Carl Carlson-Drexler. “It looks like they’ve got Justin Timberlake wearing an old fiberglass mask, which would be slightly anachronistic — and bizarre, since they seem to have a lot of other things pegged (down to the Stanley Cup playoff patches).” … Check out the unusual downhill insignia worn by the 1924 Waterloo Hawks (the latest contribution from photo-historian David Eskenazi). … Good catch by Jere Smith, who was watching a replay of Mike Witt’s perfect game (September 30th, 1984) and noticed that all of the Angels had vertically arched NOB lettering — except for Reggie Jackson, whose lettering was radially arched. I couldn’t find any other 1984 rear-view pics of Reggie, so I’m not sure if this was a one-game aberration or something more extensive. Anyone know more? … Sharp-eyed Brett Crane notes that home plate ump Joe West was wearing two sets of memorial initials during last night’s Angels/Rangers game. The “EG” is for Eric Gregg, I’m sure, and I’m assuming that the “SC” is for former National League ump Shag Crawford, who died last summer. … Reader Paul Wiederecht was in town over the weekend and joined me for a beer. I paid for the suds, which was the least I could do after he presented me with a pair of genuine Mets stirrups, circa 1980. … While channel-flipping last night, I was surprised to stumble across the NCAA women’s bowling championships. Even more surprising: Arkansas State wore these skimpy shorts, while Maryland Eastern Shore wore short skirts. Can’t they just wear slacks, like the guys? Also note the NCAA patch, just like in the hoops tourney, and check out the uni numbers on the sleeves. And although I didn’t manage to get a photo, I just about slit my wrists when I saw one of the Maryland girls wearing one of those thin Nike swoosh bands on her upper calf (just like the ones being worn by most of the guys in this shot). … Max Rosenthal says this page features “a good roundup of/commentary on the shirts to be worn at Euro 2008 (the European soccer championship),” and I’ll take his word for it cuz I’m too busy right now to actually read the page. … I’m not the only one who has issues with corporate sponsorship (with thanks to Tom Konecny). … Jeremy Brahm reports that the Japanese softball team for this summer’s Olympics will look like this.
April 15th, 2008
It’s pretty simple, or at least it should be: You don’t wear an alternate uniform for the first game of the season. And that goes double when you’re playing the very first game at a brand-new ballpark.
But the Braves were more interested in selling a few shirts and caps than in having any respect for the game or for their hosts, so they chose Opening Night to unveil their new blue alternate road jerseys and solid blue caps. Nice going, John Schuerholz. Maybe at your home opener you can announce that you’ve sold the stadium’s naming rights to Coca-Cola.
Such unseemly breaches of protocol notwithstanding, how did the new togs look? Well, they’re waaaaay better than the red alt jersey (which, sadly, will still be worn for Sunday home games). The big problem is that the blue script and, especially, the blue uni numbers look sooooo Little League, like they didn’t have enough $$$ to shell out for an additional color or something. I never thought I’d ever be using a BP jersey to make a favorable comparison, but compare the BP shirt’s red lettering and numbering to the new gamers and it’s no contest. As someone on Chris Creamer’s site pointed out, the blue-on-blue uni numbers are very reminiscent of this and this, neither of which is the kind of thing you’d wanna be associated with. The jersey needs some red.
As for the navy-brimmed cap, I don’t mind that so much, esp. since it harkens back to an earlier era. But a spot of red would’ve been nice, even if only on the top cap button. And hey, how come they didn’t have solid navy batting helmets?
Other notes from the game:
• That little left-sleeve patch says, “Beach,” a memorial tribute to coach Jim Beauchamp.
• I didn’t realize that the Nats’ stadium sleeve patch was gonna be reprised as a cap patch. Let’s hope this is just just for the first game or first series of the season.1
• Odalis Perez had major undershirt-tag problems early in the game.
• Fans of double-flap helmets will be happy to hear that Willie Harris is still wearing one, just as he’s done earlier in his career. In addition, Brayan Pena wore one, something he has not previously done.
• I understand that stuff like this is unavoidable these days. But seriously, I am so sick of these mound logos. The mound is a place for serious work, not a billboard for you to tell people something they already know anyway.
• Speaking of Ws on the mound, we’ll never have to see this again, and that’s more than dandy with me. Go back to sleep, George.
Simple Rule: If someone posts a photo of an attractive female athlete — or just an attractive female, period — and if you respond by posting a dick-for-brains comment like, “Uniform? I don’t see any uniform!” or something of a similar ilk, my new policy as of right now is that you will be blocked from making any further comments on the site. This is not because such comments are offensive, but because they’re so totally lazy, stupid, and depressingly predictable. If you need to convince everyone that you’re heterosexual, at least come up with a more creative way of doing it, like by running for governor of New York or something. Thanks.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I hadn’t spent any time poking around Steve Dewing’s completely addictive photo site for a while, so I checked in the other day and, as usual, got completely sucked into the gorgeous imagery. Among the new finds: Keith Hernandez in white shoes (clearly from the 1987 All-Star Game) and this shot, which appears to show a Dodgers catcher wearing either a front-facing helmet or a brimless helmet. The thing is, this photo is almost certainly from 1969 (as evidenced by the MLB 100th-anniversary patch on Tony Perez’s sleeve), and I wasn’t aware of catchers going front-brimmed or brimless that early. … Chris Burris notes that Orlando Mendez-Valdez has been wearing the Western Kentucky logo on his socks. … Nice historical rundown of Coastal Carolina logos here (with thanks to Greg Sharp). … While looking for something else, I came across this 1988 photo. Check out that amazing American League umpire’s cap! … The Brooklyn Cyclones are planning to wear Hebrew uniforms for Jewish Heritage Night in a few months. Details here (with thanks to Mike Stutzman). … Good Converse article here. … David Stern floated a trial balloon the other day about possible uniform advertising for NBA preseason games overseas (a particularly disappointing prospect when you consider how interesting some of the country-based preseason designs have been over the past two years). If you’d like to help shoot that balloon down, you can contact the NBA here. … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Outstanding article about Rawlings gloves — highly recommended. … Remember Rob Ullman and his uni-themed cheesecake illustrations? Kent Foster certainly does: “Took your advice and had Rob create a hockey pin-up girl for me,” he writes. “The team is the University of Richmond Spiders and the girl is my wife, Monica. I actually got it for her for her birthday, although it was probably more of a present for me.” … “I think this is my favorite picture so far from the SI vault,” writes Jesse Spector. “I think you’ll really enjoy it too, for the little details like the red shoes, the sock stripes, and the Baltimore Clippers championship banner.” Indeed. … Padres news from Brian Hilemon, who writes: “CEO Sandy Alderson stated during his weekly radio chat that next season the Pads will have uniform designs to honor not only the Marines but other branches of the military as well.” Jesus Christ, why don’t they just put mosquito netting over the stadium, make fans salute when they go through the turnstiles, and install David Petraeus in the manager’s office already. … Headband or wannabe-monk? (As forwarded by Greg Riffenburgh.) … “I went to the games in Tokyo last week and got some cool shots of the unis in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and at the game,” writes Mark Bittick. “The Hall is mostly about uniforms (there’s something um, unsettling about the Hiroshima Carp’s sleeve patch), and the beer girls at the stadium are straight out of anime. They even wear stirrups!” … Good close-ups here of David Beckham’s 100th-match golden cleats, jersey, and cap (big thanks to Dana Prey). … Cool video segment about our friends at Distant Replays here. … Thoughts on the Civil Rights Game: Overall, the uniforms were really lame (duh), but the orange trim on the Mets’ attire looked really good (although it would’ve looked a lot better if they’d worn blue sleeves and caps, to match the chest insignia, instead of going with black). Interesting that the Mets had special pants made for the occasion, while the Sox just wore their regular road pants. Also interesting that both teams wore their regular caps (well, except for that little “Civil Rights Game” embroidery on the side), while the Cards and Indians wore specially designed caps (and helmets!) last year. … Strange boxing phenomenon the other night: Arthur Abraham was wearing Adidas gloves, or so it appeared during his bout with Elvin Ayala (in fact, Ayala had Adidas gloves too). But when the tape came off the gloves after the fight, it turned out Abraham’s gloves were also Everlast-branded — what gives? I have a friend at Everlast and hope to have an answer soon (big thanks to Richard Giron for spotting this one). … According to the little “Did You Know?” squib in the right-hand column of this page, the Sean Taylor memorial movement is alive and well (good catch by Daniel Weimann). … Really nice old baseball uniform available here. I’d bid on this one myself, but the seller says the jersey is 22 inches from pit to pit (i.e., a size 44), which means it’s too big for me. Dang. … Really, really good article here about rugby sponsorships, logo creep, and related issues (with thanks to Caleb Borchers). … Great article and audio slide show about some interesting behind-the-scenes details at Yankee Stadium. … Good catch by Brian Russ, who writes: “When CBS showed the brackets after the Memphis/Texas game, they misspelled Xavier on the screen.” … Jeremy Brahm notes that the Romanian women’s handball team has off-center uni numbers. … Jon Chin reports that New Era is now selling fitted MLB caps for women. The sales copy says they’re “fit for a woman!” (not sure if this refers to the cap’s tailoring or if they mean it in the “fit for a king” sense) and adds that the caps have a “re-designed fit with a re-sculpted crown and trimmed visor.” Not sure how this makes them more “woman”-ly. Anyone..? … At first I got all excited when Scott Marcusky sent me these awesome photos of a Pirates farmhand from Saturday’s Bucs/Twins spring training game. “Ah,” I thought, “Nyjer Mogan’s hosiery influence is spreading!” But then I checked the Pittsburgh roster and found that No. 79 is Luis Munoz, who (a) is a pitcher, (b) isn’t listed in Saturday’s box score, and (c) looks like this (tough to say for sure, but that doesn’t look like this fella). Now I’m inclined to think that the player in question might actually be Morgan himself wearing someone else’s jersey, as occasionally happens in spring training. If anyone can help confirm or refute my theory, I’m all ears. … As many readers have noted, the new NFL logo is now being featured on NFL.com. … Contrary to what I wrote a few days ago, the Dodgers never intended to wear throwback flannels for Saturday’s game at the L.A. Colisseum. Instead, a bunch of 1958 old-timers will wear the flannels during today’s Opening Day ceremonies at Dodger Stadium. Sorry to have gotten the two events mixed up. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Vince Young has a nameplate tattoo. … The Hershey Bears wore 1938-39 throwbacks on Saturday night. Additional pics here (courtesy of Mark Coale). … Check this out: baseball stadiums made out of Lego, plus an interview with the guy who designs them.
March 31st, 2008
The Pro Bowl, an annual Uni Watch bête noir, took place yesterday, but I’ll get to that debacle tomorrow. Today I want to take some time to address some sad news that came down over the weekend, namely that Karl Ehrhardt — better known to Mets fans as the Sign Man — had died on Thursday. You don’t have to have grown up watching Ehrhardt’s antics, as I did, to appreciate his contribution to athletics aesthetics. Although not a uni-related figure per se, he was definitely part of the Shea Stadium landscape from 1964 through 1981, just like the old Dodgers Sym-Phony was an integral part of the Ebbets Field scene.
When I went looking for photos of Ehrhardt to run with this piece, I was stunned by how few images of him were available on the web. Aside from the one shown above (here’s a larger, uncropped version, and dig that usher’s uni!), the only others I could find were this and this, along with two more recent shots taken at Ehrhardt’s home a few years ago.
But I remember plenty of other signs Ehrhardt held up over the years. When a ball went through an infielder’s legs, it was, “Look Ma, No Hands!” When Jose Cardenal struck out, it was always, “Jose, Can You See?” According to a 2006 article, “He took roughly 60 signs to each game; he once owned as many as 1,200, but only 12 remain.” Does anyone have more pics of Ehrdhardt’s work? If so, forward them my way and I’ll assemble them into a gallery.
Will the Mets memorialize Ehrhardt with a sleeve patch? I doubt it — he was never tight with the Wilpon/Doubleday ownership group (they didn’t like him holding signs that criticized the home team, although they eventually invited him back to Shea for the team’s 40th anniversary in 2002). But man, think of the graphic possibilities of an Ehrhardt patch! Consider, for example, the logo that Uni Watch’s own Scott M.X. Turner created for Jon Springer’s Mets by the Numbers site. Now imagine something like that with “Karl” or “K.E.” on the sign — would that make an awesome patch or what? And it would be especially apropos for this, Shea’s final season.
In any case, Ehrhardt will live on in the minds of all Mets fans — and, I hope, all sports aesthetes. R.I.P., Sign Man.
Membership News: My apologies to those of you who’ve been waiting for your membership kits. A combination of factors conspired to delay the latest batch a bit longer than usual, but a bunch of kits mailed out on Friday (including today’s showcase card, based on the Marquette hoops team), so watch your mailboxes.
Uni Watch News Ticker: “I’d heard that Babe Ruth was a catcher before he turned pro, but I had never seen a picture until now,” writes Cork Gaines. “The strange thing about the photo is that Ruth (back row, left end) is holding a right-handed catcher’s mitt. As a former catcher myself, I know there’s an advantage to being right-handed (throws to second tend to tail to the correct side of the bag, better positioned to throw out someone stealing third), but I never thought the advantage was so great that a lefty would play the position right-handed.” Anyone know more about this chapter of Ruth’s life? … The Museum of Flight in Seattle has a new exhibit devoted to flight attendants’ uniforms. Details here and here, and there’s a great photo gallery here (with thanks to Larry Draper and Brian Terreson). … Several readers are reporting that the Georgia Tech football players voted on new uniforms for next season. “They’re switching back to ‘old gold’ instead of ‘Vegas gold,’” says Ben Beck. “Word on the street is white shirt/gold pants for both home and road. Still deciding on which helmet, though.” Dan Skankar says there’s also talk of a blue pants option. … Good assortment of NBA All-Star Game uniforms on view in this video clip (with thanks to Josh Hansen). … Report from a reader who prefers to remain anonymous: “The UAB football program is officially switching to Nike for the upcoming season, and is getting a jersey redesign. I’ve seen them, and they are very similar to the Miami jerseys when they were first redone, with a gold stripe coming up the sides and meeting at a point in the middle of a green or white field. I’ll try to get some pictures of them soon.” … Fun design-your-own-uni site here (with thanks to Brennan Sullivan). … More green dots may be on the way. … Depending on how you look at it, this is either history’s worst attempt at radial arching or else an endearing case of typography illustrating the word in question. … Want a nice glove in the face? Here’s an entire article devoted to that tactic. … Incredible though it may seem, there are ways to raise cancer awareness that don’t involve the color pink. Case in point: The French rugby team wore a yellow daffodil patch on their right jersey sleeve in their 6 Nations match against Ireland on Saturday (with thanks to Ross Lake). … I think this means he’s injured, right? … Speaking of pink, check out the color-coordinated logo creep on ASU coach Charlie Turner-Thorne’s collar (awesome catch by Andres Douzoglou). … Xavier wore throwbacks yesterday — nice. … Good catch by Ben Waschman, who spotted the ACC black memorial strip for the Virginia Tech shootings on Duke’s black alternates (it’s on the upper-right chest, opposite the American flag on the left). … Reprinted from last night’s comments: This year’s Stanley Cup finals patch will apparently look like this. … Coupla soccer notes from Jeremy Brahm: First, AC Milan is partnering with the fashion label Dolce & Gabanna. And FIFA has awarded a jersey badge to AC Milan for winning the FIFA World Club Championship in Japan in December (details here and here).
February 11th, 2008
What’s been the biggest change in pro football over the past 30 years? A lot of things come to mind: modern training methods, the increased size of linemen, the overall increase in athleticism and speed, the advent of video review, the increasing dominance of African-American players, the disappearance of jersey sleeves, the utter joylessness of head coaches.
But if you ask me, the biggest development — and easily the most underrated one — is the ubiquity of gloves. Almost everyone wears them now, even quarterbacks, and it’s no exaggeration to say that most of the acrobatic catches you see receivers making these days wouldn’t be possible without them. Yeah, some players in the pre-glove era wore stickum, but I saw Lester Hayes and Fred Biletnikoff in their primes, and they couldn’t make any of these one-handed catches that you routinely see guys making today. Gloves have completely redefined the passing game.
All of which came to mind during yesterday’s Cowboys/Eagles game, which featured something I’d never seen before: Philly WR Kevin Curtis took a spill along the sideline, and at first it looked like his glove had come off during the play. But as he got up, it became apparent that the glove had actually fallen apart — the upper part was still on his wrist while the lower part had been ripped right off of his hand, much to Curtis’s own confusion.
In other developments from yesterday:
• Jason Taylor’s captaincy patch was coming loose by the end of the Dolphins/Ravens game.
• As has been noted here several times in recent weeks, the “Ravens” wordmark has been missing from Willis McGahee’s black jersey in recent weeks, but it was present and accounted for on his purple jersey yesterday.
• The Redskins usually wear these socks with their burgundy pants, but they went with these — ugh.
• Now that’s a football game. But if Derek Anderson was playing with a sewn-in pocket, why did he need an oven mitt?
(Big thanks to Chad Todd and Randy Williams from the Kevin Curtis screen grabs.)
Research Project: My ESPN colleague Mary Buckheit is working on a piece about women’s volleyball uniforms — why they’re so skimpy, why some players have issues with them, why they’re so different from the men’s uniforms, whether they’re so revealing that they’ve actually led some players to develop eating disorders, that sort of thing. Here’s a note from her:
The sport of volleyball has seen it all — unitards, mesh shorts, bun huggers, long sleeves, racerback jerseys, tall socks, no socks — what’s the deal? What is the functionality of volleyball uniforms, specifically the super-short spandex? Are women really inhibited by “cumbersome” traditional athletic shorts? You know, the ones that are perfectly suitable for soccer and basketball. Do the minis really make you perform better? Would men’s statistics spike if they dared ditch their mesh or board shorts in favor of a biker boxer brief type uni? Would they tally more digs that way? C’mon.
When you see volleyball on TV, do you stop and watch for an extra second to scope out the 6-foot college coeds in 3-inch spandex shorts? If so, any feelings on what it would be like as a father of a high school volleyball player knowing guys in the gym are doing the same thing to your 16-year-old sophomore setter?
If anyone has any thoughts on this, please feel free to contact me. Thanks!
I know at least a few of you know a lot more about volleyball than I do, so please share your knowledge with Mary. Thanks.
Raffle Reminder: In case you missed it on Friday, I’m currently raffling off a bunch of stuff. For details, scroll down to the middle of Friday’s entry. As always, you can increase your odds of winning by joining the Uni Watch membership program.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Check out this photo of Lou Gehrig, Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb, and Babe Ruth. Odd to see that the insignia on Ruth’s jacket is “N.Y.,” but on Gehrig’s it appears to be just “NY” — no periods (with thanks to Bruce Menard). … A member of the Winthrop women’s hoops team has changed her uni number to honor her late fiancé (as forwarded by Jonathan Carone). … A reader who prefers not to give his real name has gotten some good pics showing exactly how the Rangers are hemming their jerseys. … Yikes. … Northwest Missouri State safety Aldwin Foster-Rettig (who already has a lengthy NOB) tore his jersey on Saturday, leading to a rather makeshift repair (with thanks to Chris Wheeler). … Michael Poplawski reports that German Bundesliga club Werder Bremen modified their jersey crest to look like a Christmas tree on Saturday. Here’s a closer view. … Reprinted from Sunday’s comments: Wisconsin-Whitewater’s jerseys have a “Warhawks” wordmark, but it was missing from Justin Beaver’s jersey. … The Dayton hoops team has unveiled some alternate throwbacks (with thanks to Todd Herzog). … This has resulted in this. … More NFL fines assessed here. … Doug Weight, making his Ducks debut last night, was wearing a pair of Brad May’s gloves (good catch by Alex Warner). … Remember the recent Ticker item about the missing stripes on Bill Guerin’s jersey? Here’s a follow-up (with thanks to Michael Schuerlein).
December 17th, 2007
I don’t know if it was the lighting at Ford Field, the Lions’ awful black alternate jerseys, or the contrast between Detroit’s true silver pants and Dallas’s blue-tinted silver, but the Cowboys’ pants looked absolutely putrid yesterday. Seriously, did you watch that game, or see the highlights? Every time I caught a glimpse of that game on the TV screen, the Cowboys looked like this. Bizarre.
But not quite as bizarre as the sight of the officials wearing their cold-weather slacks for an indoor game. I’ve gotta believe this was a case of one official misplacing his regular pants and the whole crew therefore having to go with the Foot Locker look, but I’ll put in a call to the NFL today to get the scoop.
In other NFL news from yesterday:
• Some teams were still wearing the Sean Taylor memorial decal, others weren’t. There were even variations within individual teams: Most of the Chargers didn’t wear the decal, but a few of them did, including LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Cromartie. Oh, and this guy was still memorializing Taylor too.
• One team that didn’t wear the memorial decal — or any other rear-helmet adornment — was the Bills. They were wearing their gorgeous throwbacks, which always feature completely blank rear helmets — no flag, no league logo, no nothing (a phenomenon I first identified early last season). I’m told WR Roscoe Parrish wore the Sean Taylor decal, however. Couldn’t find a photo of that, but I did find a shot of his Taylor-ized eye black.
• It’s hard to see, but the “Riddell” logo on Plaxico Burress’s helmet was raised, just like the the “ny” on the team’s non-Riddell helmets.
• More lower-leg shenanigans from Al Harris.
• And in our weekly Flag Watch feature, Dallas Clark’s flag decal was still missing. No photo yet.
Friendly Reminder: I’ll be presenting a historical survey of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ uniforms tonight at Automotive High School’s gorgeous auditorium (which is located here), as part of the City Reliquary’s annual fund-raising gala. I can honestly say that I think anyone reading this would learn a few things from the presentation — I learned quite a bit myself while researching it. For $30, you get to see me, author extraordinaire Lawrence Weschler, live performances from Los Bomberos de Brooklyn and a live drum corps, and excerpts from a documentary film about a very specific Brooklyn subculture (I’ll let that part be a surprise), plus you’ll be supporting an extremely worthy cause that’s very dear to me. I hope some of you NYCers will show up. The event starts at 7 p.m., and I’m told that my segment will begin a little after 8 p.m.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The AHL’s All-Star Game jerseys will look like this (with thanks to Eric Hawkins). … Last Monday I mentioned that Braylon Edwards was playing bare-legged at the beginning of the Browns/Cards game, but I didn’t have a photo. Now, thanks to Jeffrey Nye, I do. … Interesting note from Andrew MacNamee, who writes: “When I first saw the Phillies’ new alternates, I knew they reminded me of something, but I couldn’t put my finger on it until a couple days ago. I remembered that they appeared on a couple baseball cards I had — namely, Mariano Duncan’s and Bob Ayrault’s 1993 Topps cards. Notable differences between these and the new alternates: The ‘P’ on the cap is in the Whiz Kids-era font, as opposed to the current ‘P’ on the new caps; the stars on the chest insignia are red, not blue; and no Cool Base jersey. According to a team source I e-mailed, this was a one-time uniform used for a throwback promotion against the Reds in 1992.” … “Mark Dodge, a linebacker for Texas A&M, wore his mother’s family name for his NOB during the A&M/Texas game,” writes Dustin Qualls. “He had to get special permission from the NCAA to do this. He was honoring his grandmother and aunt, who had both recently passed away. So his nameplate had ‘Thomas’ on it instead of ‘Dodge.’ I can’t find a picture, but here’s a story about it.” … Tons of great old stadium photos here (with thanks to Dave Soline). … Mike Lindsey notes that Bears punter Brad Maynard was wearing his chinstrap under his jaw on Thursday night. … The Reds will memorialize Joe Nuxhall with a sleeve patch next season. … Great find by Brian Castile, who writes: “Back in 1977, when Iowa State and the University of Iowa played football for the first time in 43 years, ISU wore ‘BEAT IOWA’ on the front of their jerseys, as you can see in this video clip. Unfortunately they lost the game. Later in the year, ISU played North Carolina State in the Peach Bowl and they altered the letters on the jerseys to read ‘PEACH BOWL.’ Again, they lost the game.” … The single-A Yakima Bears have unveiled a new identity system. I’m particularly fond of this. Full slideshow here (with thanks to Travis McGuire). … Further ursine-themed minor league action in Fresno, where the Grizzlies have released an updated design scheme. Details here. … We’ve all seen late-career photos of Yaz wearing an enlarged earhole, but I’d never seen the hole hollowed out to the extent seen here and here until Nicholas Bean sent me those two photos the other day. … Some seriously busy youth league unis being worn by the Staten Island Hurricanes — five kids, five different sock styles, plus check out the facemaks stripes on No. 6. And that’s not counting their other pants design (as found by Jeff Cooperman). … Lots of NBA throwback action over the weekend, as seen here, here, here, and here. … Speaking of which, good breakdown of the distinctions between the Lakers’ past and current uniforms here (with thanks to Ty Nowell). … Aaron Bolerjack reports that Man U will wear special non-sponsored uniforms on February 10th, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Munich air crash disaster. … By now most of you know that the libero on a volleyball team wears a different-colored jersey. But Jeremy Brahm notes that the liberos in Italy also have different sponsors. The most extreme example is the Pallavolo Modena team, whose libero is sponsored by Marvel Comics (additional pics here). … Jeremy also sent along this article about Sadaharu Oh, in which the Japanese slugger opines, “They (Japanese players) like to wear their pants too long like American players, where you can’t even see their shoes. I don’t like that. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but the old Cincinnati Reds uniforms would be nice.” … Jonas Feit notes that the official in this shot is wearing only one glove, which I guess means he’s a fan of either Michael Jackson or Jay Gibbons. … Jared Blank notes that Fred Jones of the Knicks recently had an NOB glitch. … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Monta Ellis appears to have tape on the soles of his sneakers. … Alex Auld made his Bruins debut Saturday night but was still wearing his Coyotes gear. … Good treatment of the situation regarding visors in the NHL here (with thanks to Karl Anderson). … Missouri is hinting that they may wear solid gold in the Cotton Bowl (as reported by Drew Wagner). … According to this listing of unusual MLB conract clauses, Dice-K is contractually guaranteed to wear No. 18 — which, as some of you may know, is considered a prestige number of pitchers in Japan (nice find by Scott Weicksel). … Anyone else think it was a bit odd that Floyd Mayweather’s operative color on Saturday night was gray?
December 10th, 2007
Okay, it’s official: The Bears have a serious problem with their helmet decals. It’s been brewing for a couple of seasons now, as the occasional player has shown up with a broken wishbone-C logo on his noggin. But last night it was practically a pandemic, as Alex Brown, Olin Kreutz, and Adrian Peterson all sported headwear malfunctions.
Giants equipment czar Joe Skiba has mentioned to me that helmet decals get more brittle in cold weather. But the NFL has been playing winter games for decades, and I don’t ever recall seeing a rash of decal destruction like the one currently being exhibited by da Bears. Decal guru Chris Willis, if you’re reading this (and I know you are), any idea what’s going on here?
Speaking of helmet decals, both teams were still wearing the “21″ memorial decal for Sean Taylor. No surprise that the ’Skins would continue to wear it for the rest of the season (they’re still wearing their “21″ jersey patch, too), but I raised an eyebrow upon seeing the Bears wearing it, since NFL deaths don’t usually get the league-wide memorial treatment for more than one week. In fact, none of the league’s three off-season deaths (Darrent Williams, Damien Nash, and Marquise Hill) resulted in league-wide remembrances. The last player to get memorialized by all 32 teams was, I believe, Pat Tillman in 2004, and that was only for one week.
Two other notes from this game:
• Mike Engle notes that Todd Collins was sporting double sock stripes.
• And Todd Davis points out that Mike Sellers appears to be the latest convert to the Schutt Ion helmet (here’s another view).
(Special thanks to John Okray for the screen grabs.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Giants equipment director Joe Skiba cryptically advises us that we keep an eye on Plaxico Burress’s nose bumper this Sunday. … Speaking of Skiba, he’s been featured in a series of video reports on the Giants’ web site. You can see the latest one, which is about tailoring footwear for specific field conditions, is available on the team’s home page. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Twin City Knitting is marketing a set of team-logo stirrups. Very nice, although I’d prefer to see a higher foot opening. … The Royals’ powder blue alt jersey doesn’t look as bad with the white pants as I had expected. Certainly no worse than any other solid-over-white MLB combo (although that isn’t saying much). … Speaking of the Royals, Steve Johnston reports that Alex Gordon is switching uniform numbers, going from 7 to 4. … Here’s something you don’t often see: Kari Lehtonen wearing a practice jersey that he had already autographed (with thanks to Jeff McRae). … Coupla excellent NOB finds by Jere Smith: First, check out Rudy Tomjanovich wearing “Rudy T.” And if you go to the 1:18 mark of this video clip, you’ll see several views of Elvin Hayes wearing “E” (complete with the world’s biggest quote marks), as seen here and here. … Great Uni Watch party last night in Boston — big crowd, really great people, and a reporter from the Globe was there to cover the event. Only problem is that I kept getting distracted by a TV screen that was featuring the Bruins/Habs game, which was a serious thing of uni beauty. Full party details coming next week. … It has come to my attention that communiqués sent to me via the “Contact” link at the top of the page haven’t been getting through lately. So if you want to get in touch, just e-mail me directly.
December 7th, 2007
There was a classic moment during yesterday’s press conference to unveil the Blue Jays’ new road and alternate uniforms. It came when they trotted out old-timers Lloyd Moseby and John Mayberry to model the team’s new 1979 powder blue throwbacks, which will be worn for Friday home games. At one point Moseby was asked what it felt like when he first wore that uniform back in the day. The prop boy must not have been holding the cue cards high enough for Moseby to see, because instead of giving a scripted reply, he chose to ad lib: “The uniform sucked, okay? So we ain’t gonna go there.”
After a moment of nervous laughter from the audience, followed by a beat or two of silence, Moseby added, “’Course, it was big to put on any uniform,” but it was too late — his point had been made, namely that these things were ugly back then and they’re still ugly now. I know many of you have some sort of nostalgic and/or kitschy fascination with this uniform, but come on — it’s totally minor league. With the centered crest and the pullover style, it looks and feels more like a hockey jersey than a baseball jersey. Plus they’ll be wearing it at home, which means we’ll be treated to blue-vs.-gray games — ugh. (Moseby, incidentally, gave some additional choice comments about the design to a Canadian reporter after the unveiling ceremony.)
While the original design had pants with a double-snap waistband, the throwback has more traditional belted pants (Moseby approved of this change: “When dirt got in your snaps, they wouldn’t work”). The mock-up in the MLB Style Guide shows a striped belt, presumably to simulate the striped waistband, but the belts at the unveiling were solid blue, which is probably for the best. On the other hand, I give them credit for sticking to one aspect of the original design: NNOB.
As for the new road jersey, I like it. Yeah, it doesn’t match the home design, but I count that as a plus, because the home design blows. I see at least four reasons to like this revision: 1) vertically arched lettering; 2) the ascension of blue from trim color to main color; 3) uni numbers finally appearing on the front of the jersey; 4) a pretty cool number font (soooooo much better than the old one). Problems? I count one: They’ve retained the super-clunky NOB typography. But at least it’s blue now, which is mild improvement. Now if we could just get them to wear a blue cap.
Finally, if you believe in omens, there was a bad one: The “N” in “Toronto” is supposed to look like this, with the shadowed side of the bevel down and to the right. But the “N” on the jersey that Jeremy Accardo was wearing was upside-down. Nice going, guys.
(Special thanks to the Chris Creamer board, where many of the above-linked photos were first posted.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Homeless man update from Mike Hennessy, who writes: “At a news conference sometime over the weekend, Belichick wore his regular sweatshirt with the hood cut off. I think with this he has hit rock bottom.” … Speaking of Belichick, for a few weeks now his headband has featured a Pats logo that I haven’t seen elsewhere. I kinda like it, especially since the “New England” part of the team’s name usually doesn’t get much play. Anyone know more about this logo? … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Steve Smith threw his cleats into the crowd after Sunday’s game. … Great catch by Jeremy Iwen, who noticed that the first “R” in Dominique Barber’s nameplate was backwards a few weeks back. … Ray Lewis memorialized Sean Taylor on his eye black last night.
December 4th, 2007
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